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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I think his ego is dented..nobody wants to feel that you were nothing in a relationship..you still want your ex to acknowledge you even if you don't want them.. Human nature :))
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Him and her broke up and they said they'd still be friends, only to find that she changed her number and everything, so she'd just cut him out. He's upset.
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She broke up with him, and even though he admits he didn't love her (enough), he's upset she cut him out of her life so completely. As a listener, we are now feeling bad for the guy.
She replies that this is unfair: she tried to make the relationship work, thinking she was to blame for the things that went wrong, but realized (maybe even only after the break-up) that the reason they didn't work out wasn't her, but his old girlfriend: "You said that (...) I wouldn't catch you hung up on somebody that you used to know." I.e.: his previous girlfriend. We get a different view here: he was still mooning over someone else when he got together with the girl singing here. This is why it didn't work out and why she got so bitter.
The song shows how we often mess up our current relationships because we can't let go of the people "we used to know". It's about how hard it is to let go of anyone you were in a relationship with. Do you cut them out of your life? Does it ever really work? And do we ever really know how our partners feel about their exes? -
With Kimbra's part, "You said that you could let it go And I wouldn't catch you hung up on somebody that you used to know", I believe she means he cheated on her. He's all moody about the break up because there truly was something there (i.e. love) and she completely cut him out of her life. In the video when she starts in on him he takes a deep breath, because she is stating the fact that HE threw away the relationship. In the end he still hangs on to blaming her for the way it ended and the current state of the now non existent relationship.
Wish the song writers would chime in here to tell us their actual meaning... -
I think it is about a relationship that started out good and they seemed to be happy but as time went on they realized they were not good together, there was no connection and that is why he felt lonely in her company. They decided to be over and thought it was a good choice but deep down he misses her and can't move on from it. What hurts most is she said they would be friends and then cut him off completely. He gets in a new realtionship but is hung up on the previous one and takes it out on the new girl.
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For me the meaning of this song is about a couple that didn't work out. The man knew it wasn't working but didn't want to see the truth in it. The woman was tired of trying to make things work so they decided to just be friends. But it was hard for him because he still loves her and she was done in the relationship.he found how she treated the end of there relationship harsh, and seemed like she wanted nothing to do with him anymore. I think she still loved him enough to let him go. Which meant not even being friends.
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the first verse describes the powerful relationship he had in the past with a female who in her turn showed him more love and affection then is common the powerful feelings were enough to keep the relationship strong so much so that he over looked the deferens between them and told himself she was right for him even though often there common narrative being strong affection wasn't enough when he needed to express himself leaving him feeling she doesn't understand him
the verse ends concluding that the powerful emotions despite the miss match were indeed love calling them anything else is sarcastic.
The second verse talks addresses the break up head first not explaining at first just describing- that the pain of parting feels good almost narcotic good addictive like telling your boss u resign but different sometimes break ups r like resignation is to an end in other words a conscious choice to stop things that r already set to motion the inevitable end always the end ….
The verse ends addressing the back round of the break up despite there love she realizes there is nothing to hold there relationship together except for unexplainable emotions the common denominator is now zero. He now concludes that he admits he is glad it is over
The chorus is very self explanatory he still loves her but doesn't need her love u can feel for someone and not need to be involved with them but cutting them off is horrible the meaning of x communication goes far beyond the act itself its an act of mistrust and repulse not letting someone so close to u know how u feel inside is a big hurt .
He concludes what hurts so much in the finall line now your just somebody I used to know –like putting someone in the ground.
The 3rd verse starts as the answer from the females point of view(the man concluded his point) now that I know that u were like a tic nursing off the relationship for love . I look back at all the times we got messed up because we were simply not right for each other from your end of the line but u had me believing it was all me,
A relationship that doesn't make sense leads ppl to make up reasons for every out of the order behavior the couple starts keeping score Instead of admitting there just not right for each other, (of course all relationships are hard but this is a relationship in which he doesn't respect her as a spouse only as a friend) soon they start analyzing past arguments he said she said syndrome
The artist ends the verse by changing our perspective of who's talking sending the song story into a never ending loop : the trauma and baggage were creating now is triggered by a similar past relationship u cant tell if the speaker is the female of this story or 1 relationship later retrospection the woman's point of view is split into 2… -
He is reminiscing about the girl he just broke up with. Initially he's glad they broke up b/c although he loved her they "didn't make sense" and he "felt lonely in her company". But she acted very immature at the end of their relationship, acting like nothing ever happened between them and even going so far as to change her number. He tries to say it doesn't matter b/c he doesn't love her anymore and now she's just someone he once knew but her treatment of him burns and he agonizes over it b/c it hurt him. So th girl he is with now (kimbras part) is trying to make a relationship work with a guy who is truly damaged goods. But when issues come up they are always her fault and she gets screwed over by him b/c he is hung up on somebody he used to know even though he said he was over and done with that girl.
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This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
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She left him. He, secretly, was glad, knowing that it wasn't going anywhere. He wasn't initially bitter.
However, she broke up out of bitterness. And, in his eyes, her immaturity reduced the person who he thought she was. Her immature behaviour leads him to realise that he had engineer her perfection in his mind.
She then explains why she left him, and why she's bitter - trying to convey that her bitterness, her anger, isn't as irrational as it seems to him.
His response is that, regardless, she shouldn't "have stooped so low". -
A former couple sings about their turbulent relationship and how disconnected and uninvolved they are presently. He's in denial and thinks he made the right move by breaking it off, but he still wants her. He still has strong feelings for her, and blew his only chance to keep her in his life. He hates how he doesn't matter to her anymore. He made bad decisions in the past. She moved forward and doesn't want anything to do with him, although she told him they would still be friends. Staying friends would just make it harder to move on. It's all or nothing. She realizes she could find someone to really love her, who is completely satisfied in a relationship, and not toy with her. She has given him many opportunities to really love her, and he failed to do so. Cutting him out of her life shows she respects herself, is success driven, and is a strong woman with hope and ambition. She wants to leave the past in the past and won't try to drag out a relationship or try it over with only a handful of pleasant memories.
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