Gotye: Somebody That I Used to Know Meaning
Somebody That I Used to Know Lyrics
Now and then I think of when we were together
Like when you said you felt so happy you could die
Told myself that you were right for me
But felt so lonely in your company
But that was love and it's an ache I still remember
You...
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This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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i think that the meaning of the vid. is the colors are his past (know and then i think of when we were together) and as he starts to talk about her the colors start getting painted on her as he remembers her and as they fight he starts to relize its time to move on and her colors start to fade as she becomes just 'somebody that he used to know
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it's about a relationship that was broken up but they stil l love each other but think the other person hated them. so they tell their side of the story and blame the other person
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This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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Obviously GOTYE is mulling over a past relationship - the Female in the end is Not the ex girlfriend though, but in fact the NEW Girlfriend who is realizing that she is the REBOUND Relationship. nuff said...
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I see something slightly different. After their relationship is over (even though he claims to feel relief), he becomes obsessed with her to the point that he stalks her. This is what I think she means when she says "I wouldn't catch you hung up on somebody..." etc. That "somebody" is her, and although she had initially stated they could still be friends, his stalker act made her need to have her friends collect the records and change her number.
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The reviewer on April 13th was dead-on. Anyone who says it is just about one guy and his one former lover is wrong. There is a THIRD PARTY in the song. In this song, Gotye obsesses over an old lover, not over Kimbra at first. Then after Kimbra says her peace about how Gotye did her wrong in their relationship by obsessing over a ex-lover, Kimbra actually becomes the new ex-lover and assumes position as the NEW focus of his obsession. Love this song.
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I think that they're talking about the future, rather than the past. They only make small references to what has happened and the lyrics are more current state- oriented, based on which you should make predictions for the future, rather than their past. I think the video supports this theory, seeing as he gets "painted" and she gets "cleaned", which could mean that no matter what he's saying, "I don't even need your love" etc. is just denial of a dark and depressive future while her getting cleaned could symbolize that even though right now she's sad and disappointed, she'll get better.
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This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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I think the "I wouldn't catch you hung up on somebody that you used to know" is what is happening right now. He sets it up as she is now just somebody that he used to know. But he feels bad with how it ended, wants to be friends, and is upset that she doesn't. I think it is about not knowing what you have until it's gone. He didn't care. They broke up. Now he cares. Now he is hung up on somebody that he used to know.
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He cheated on "Kimbra". He was in a relationship with a Kimbra and then had an affair - their relationship is now rocky.
In the beginning he is singing about the affair he had. It was so magical in the beginning but then it ended because he reconciled with his girlfriend.
He wants it all - he's hurt his affair cut him off and pretended it never happened.
In the Kimbra verse we hear the girlfriend's version of the tale...She's sick of his cheating ways and him being hung up on his affair...She cuts him off and he becomes someone she used to know... -
He is still hung up on his last relationship. Kimbre was the "rebound." He enjoyed playing house but issues of the ex would resurface. Kimbre waited and ask for him to see her and love her and at one time asked if he could leave his past in the past. He agreed he could. As time went on no progress was made,he had baggage too great for a relationship. She left him. She was so turned off by him she sent friends to his place to get her things. He may have called a few times... Maybe for sex(you said we could be friends) maybe sweet talk her. Tired of his antis she changes her number.
In The video they are both painted in a complxed design. Then as she leaves... Returning back to her painted area,her paint comes off signifying she was involved with his chaos and mixed feelings. She left him to sort out his crazy emotions. He was left to figure things out. She moved on clean to a new relationship,unlike him she didn't bring the baggage of her relationship into the new one like he did. She knew how it felt. -
he ended a relationship with a girl, saying she was caught up by someone she used to no.. that he remembers that relationship, and how he misses it, but glad it is over, thats y he is naked at the begining, then as it goes on, the backround become drawn, showing he started moving on, becomes painted into a picture of their relationship, the dif shapes are parts of them that are hurt or broken, he is fully now painted and shen she comes in, not all the way painted with her verses, saying she tired of being blamed for her, that he wouldt be caught up with someone he used to no, she then ends the relationship the same way he did in the past one. now he knows the pain. she beomes unpainted, while he remain. its a vicious circle, he did it to his ex she did it to him and the next guy will do it to her and he will the next girl etc....
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i think that the song is about is about two relationships. Gotye broke up with a girl because they weren't happy "But felt so lonely in your company" and is now with a new girl (the female signer).
she however feels that he still has feelings for his ex "You said that you could let it go
And I wouldn't catch you hung up on somebody that you used to know" i think she is talking about another woman who he is "hung up on" and can't let go because of the unfinished business, the fact she is acting like it never happened angers him and keeps feelings there which he doesn't want to admit and is trying to reassure the break up was right "I guess that I don't need that though" -
This song is about a guy who would not accept that he had made the bad decision of letting the girl he loves go.
I see a man who entered a relationship with a girl whom he saw loved him-a lot ('Like when you said you felt so happy you could die. Told myself that you were right for me'). In the relationship itself, he might have felt 'lonely' or 'isolated' at the time; contemplating how her enthusiasm towards the relationship did not match his uncertainty. But in the next line itself, he finally admits that he did love her after all and he ironically says he ‘remembers’ the ache but he uses the present tense-it obviously 'still' hurts i.e. he still loves her.
He refers to a sadness you can get addicted to. I see this line as a follow-up to the last one. He just says it's something he's addicted to but he just doesn't want to admit that he still loves her-which is what fuels this addiction. In this sense, the 'resignation' he speaks of, is a reminder to himself. He resigned on his love for her so he must stay 'addicted' to it i.e. stay in this cycle of giving up on his love-especially when she's already cold to him. Hence he repeats to himself again, 'always the end'. Pretty much telling himself to lay in the bed he made.
Back when they had the 'talk', he continued to resign his love for her. Not even defending his feelings when they said how they 'could' not make sense and continued to give up when she broached about being 'friends'. In this flashback, we can figure that the talk was just a discussion of where they were going as the word 'could not' was used not 'did not' nevertheless, he didn't give the girl enough reason to stay.
This makes sense when the girl's part comes on. Every time she wanted to work on their relationship, he 'screwed her over' with his indecisiveness. To the point that she's made a habit in trying to read between the lines with this guy which is unnatural in a relationship. You're supposed to communicate clearly, that's why she said she doesn't' wanna live that way'. And to prove her point about him going around in circles, she quotes him 'You said that you could let it go.
And I wouldn't catch you hung up on somebody that you used to know' but the reality was, here he was singing about how hung up he was about her. And she knows better because she's so used to 'reading into every word' he says.
And right after she finishes, the guy says 'but you didn't have to cut me off' this response shows that the girl was right in thinking the way she does. When she presented her argument; instead of confessing his true feelings, he chooses his ego over his love for her and he decides to argue that he was still in the right, keeping up the facade that she was just somebody that he used to know...
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