86-year-old Utahn sings Christmas song on The Killers' album

86-year-old Utahn sings Christmas song on The Killers' album

(Christine Peterson)


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SALEM, Utah County — In The Killers' recent album “Don’t Waste Your Wishes,” Brandon Flowers sings “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” with an unlikely featured artist — his 86-year-old fourth-grade teacher.

Ned Humphrey Hansen, who lives in Salem, taught Flowers in fourth grade at Taylor Elementary School in Payson.

“I was so surprised when I found out that he was with a group called The Killers, because as a student he was very mild and timid and … he wouldn’t even kill a fly I don’t think,” Hansen said. “He’s a very good student and he listened and apparently things stuck in his mind things that we did and so he was a very good student.”

Something that stuck in Flowers’ mind was when Hansen sang “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” to his class in 1990 and taught them what the song meant, according to Hansen.

Hansen sang “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” for his class around Dec. 7 or 8 that year, he said.

“I told them about all of the men who were called into the service after Pearl Harbor and they thought that the war they were going to would be a very short one,” Hansen said. “And they thought in early 1942 that they would be home by Christmas and that kind of became their theme in the army. I think that each year as the war didn’t end, they kept saying 'Well, this year we’ll be home by Christmas.' But every year ... for several years until the war was over, they talked about being home for Christmas and that they would be home. But they would just be dreaming about it. And that’s what the last line in the song says if only in my dreams.”

About a month ago, Hansen recorded his part of the song at a recording studio in Provo. Flowers and Hansen recorded their voices separately, according to Hansen.

Hansen said he enjoyed recording the song, and it was scary.

“But it’s been kind of fun really since it was made available for people to hear on YouTube,” he said. “I’ve had a lot of comments from friends who have heard it — friends and former students — and so it’s been kind of a fun experience, especially for a guy my age.”

According to RollingStone, “Don’t Waste Your Wishes” was released on iTunes and Apple Music Nov. 18 and will be released as a limited edition CD Friday on IslandRecords.com. The Killers will be donating 100 percent of the proceeds to The Global Fund via (RED), which is a charity working to eradicate AIDS in Africa.

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