The Killers: Somebody Told Me Meaning
Song Released: 2004
Somebody Told Me Lyrics
Seventeen tracks and I've had it with this game
I'm breaking my back just to know your name
But heaven ain't close in a place like this
Anything goes but don't blink you might miss
Cause heaven ain't...
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The rumor is that she's lesbian
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I think it's a story of how he's always picking up chicks in the club and how much fun it is to do "heaven ain't close to a place like this". But this one chick is especially challenging because she heard a outrageous rumor about him. This just makes him want her more. So he tries to convince her that what she heard is bullshit by saying "well, somebody told me you had a boyfriend who looked like a girlfriend I had in february"- basically implying to her that anyone can make up shit. This is the infamous line that he clearly loves to express because it got her attention. when he finally gets her attention he says "pace yourself for me, I said maybe baby please" either because he's being the tease now, or that he's having second thoughts of going home with this freaky girl. anyways not know the whole album I can't say this is the correct interpretation, but this is what think about when I hear the song.
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Generally speaking, I think that the following apply:
1) the narrator is straight;
2) he's trying to get in touch with a girl but he's having a hard time, because she evidently does not tust him that much and she's giving him little confidence (a common situation in a disco, if you think about it);
3) he's trying to be brilliant and make up funny jokes to break the ice, but he simply turns out to be goofy (the made up rumor he's relating is just to silly to get him anywhere);
4) by the way, the rumor he pretends to relate has a double goal: a) he wants to know if the girl has a boyfriend (it happens in a disco to approach someone only to discover after a while that her/his partner is just returned from the restroom); b) he wants to present himself as a macho, someone who can satisfy a girl better than anyone else (a very straight approach, if you ask me).
At least, that's what it comes to my mind when I listen to this (great) song. -
Here's the way I see it:
"Breaking my back just to know your name
Seventeen tracks and I've had it with this game"-
It sounds like he's in a dance club of some kind and he's trying to pick up a girl. He's apparently been trying for "17 tracks" or in other words 17 songs have gone by.
"I'm breaking my back just to know your name
But heaven ain't close in a place like this
Anything goes but don't blink you might miss"-
Keep in mind here that the Killers are Mormon so they DO believe in God. I think heaven here is talking about morals and whatever and since it's "not close" he's willing to ignore his morals (not necessarily his morals but it's like the expression "I'd do anything for..."). This also goes along with "Anything goes". The next part of the line I think he's just saying he want all focus of the girl on him.
"Bring it back down, bring it back down tonight
Never thought I'd let a rumor ruin my moonlight"-
I agree with somebody else who posted on here with this line. It sounds like the girl is saying stuff she "heard" about him and he wants her to "bring it back down" or get more realistic. "...a rumor ruin my moonlight" could just mean that the "rumor" she heard is hurting his chances.
"Well somebody told me
You had a boyfriend
Who looked like a girlfriend
That I had in February of last year
It's not confidential
I've got potential"
I also agree with a poster here. It sounds like he's being sarcastic back to her and telling her what he "heard" about her. I think the last line of the chorus is saying that he could actually be "the one" for her if she'd give him a chance.
"Ready? Let's roll onto something new
Taking its toll and I'm leaving without you"-
He wants to stop playing games and actually get to meet the girl.
"A rushin', a rushin' around"
When you're "rushin' around" usually it means you're going back and forth from place to place. This could be talking about their conversation. They're just saying what they "heard" about the other one back and forth and back and forth.
"Pace yourself from me
I said maybe baby please
But I just don't know now
When all I wanna do is try"
I have no idea what he's trying to say here but here's my best guess. It sounds like he's kinda breaking the ice with her and saying he's going to give her a good time. "I said maybe" could be referring to when she at sometime asked him an "are you" or did you" question and he jokingly said "maybe". But now she's bringing it back up and using it as a fact. "Baby please"- pretty much just saying don't go there. The next line could mean that since she opened up that wound he doesn't know if he wants to pursue her any more. The last line I think he still wants to give it a chance though.
This song is typical of the Killers because it seems to be an inside story that we're on the outside of so it's hard to interpret but I did my best :Dd -
Brandon Flowers seems to be accusing his girl of cheating on him with another woman.
It's about rumors! -
Guys the song is not about gays or lesbians at all!
The narator is a guy that dated a girl back in February that he has now broke up with!
Now he wents into a bar and finds out a nice girl that is so hard to get, then somebody told him that this girl has a boyfriend in order to make him to let her go! But then he finds out that she was a friend of his ex-girlfriend and girl friends do not exchange boyfriends so this was why she was so hard to get! But he likes her a lot and he keeps on trying to convience her. -
I think it's Brandon slagging a certan style that the girls boyfriend is, (Emo) and it's more in likely someone told him "Yeah, Sophie's (popular name) boyfriend is an Emo" and he edited it to slag her boyfriend off and to convince her to break up with her boyfriend and go with a real guy, him.
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The guy just found out that his girlfriend cheated on him. "Never thought I'd let a rumor ruin my moonlight." He is dumping her with the "style" by telling her that he also cheated on her. He wants to make her suffer.
Never thought I'd let a rumor ruin my moonlight.
Well somebody told me
You had a boyfriend
Who looked like a girlfriend -> He is making fun of him
Then:
(other girl, girlfriend) That I had in February of last year -> this is the most important sentence in the song, he is making his point. He also cheated on her
It's not confidential
I've got potential
...
Taking its toll and I'm leaving without you
bye, bye... -
The guy just found out that his girlfriend cheated on him. "Never thought I'd let a rumor ruin my moonlight." He is dumping her with the "style" by telling her that he also cheated on her. He wants to make her suffer.
Never thought I'd let a rumor ruin my moonlight.
Well somebody told me
You had a boyfriend
Who looked like a girlfriend -> He is making fun of him
Then:
(other girl, girlfriend) That I had in February of last year -> this is the most important sentence in the song, he is making his point. He also cheated on her
It's not confidential
I've got potential
...
Taking its toll and I'm leaving without you
bye, bye... -
he was probably just high wen he wrote the song...lol jk. well, sort of. the rumor is about HIM. he's trying to put it in the past.
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"Breaking my back just to know your name
Seventeen tracks and I've had it with this game
I'm breaking my back just to know your name"
Okay this is OBVIOUSLY saying that he is working his ass off(metophorically of course, as you see he is in a bar or club) to find out this girl's name. He has been at it for a while("Seventeen tracks and I've had it with this game" that could equal between 51 minutes to an hour and twenty minutes)
"But heaven ain't close in a place like this
Anything goes but don't blink you might miss
Cause heaven ain't close in a place like this
I said heaven ain't close in a place like this"
this is a reference to the dating game. "Anything goes, but don't blink you might miss" ever hear of "all is fair in love and war"? "I said heaven ain't close in a place like this" heaven=the place you go for doing good(in most sociities anyway) for doing good in the dating game what do you get? that's right! You get to have SEX!
"Bring it back down, bring it back down tonight
Never thought I'd let a rumor ruin my moonlight"
"Bring it back down" is saying get back on the ground/earth etc. You have to get serious
"Never thought I'd let a rumor ruin my moonlight" okay most people could interpert this as either or, but! You the chorus starts.
"Well somebody told me
You had a boyfriend
Who looked like a girlfriend
That I had in February of last year
It's not confidential
I've got potential"
okay "Well somebody told me you had a boyfriend who looked like a girlfriend' that just means "somebody tolde me that you were a lesbian"(the next line "that I had in Februrary of last year indicates that he is in fact referring to an ex-girlfriend" "It's not confidential, I've got potential" He is either saying that he is relationship worthy OR that he is good in the sack.
"Ready? Let's roll onto something new
Taking its toll and I'm leaving without you "
this line of lyrics is basically saying, that if she is a lesbian let him know because this game takes its toll mentally and physically and he is going to go try and woo someone else if she is in fact a lesbian
"Pace yourself from me
I said maybe baby please
But I just don't know now
When all I wanna do is try"
This set of lyrics kinda is random, like he had a sudden memory or a phone call(I believe he has called his ex and is trying to reconcile)
tah dah! -
He has spotted a girl he is interested in 'having'. Based on the rest of the album he is intending on murdering her. It's a very dark song. Especially 'Heaven ain't close in a place like this' He'd rather be somewhere with her where he can basicly kill her. Just like Jenny in Track 1 ;)
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I agree with the first one, but it also has something to do with him not believing the rumor because rumors can be rediculous somebody told me you had a boyfriend who looked like a girlfriend that I had in February of last year...
I heard that on a radio talk show that was discussing this song. So I think that the Chorus has double meaning, but you nailed the rest of the song. -
It's about a guy who's jealous and pissed. So he doesn't like the guy the girl he's interested in is dating, and therefore he says he looks pathetic and like a wuss, "you had a boyfriend, who looks like a girlfriend that i had in February of last year", meaning: "stop dating that pathetic excuse for a man and go out with a real man like me". =p
After all, "I've got potential".
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