The song lyrics were written by the band Van Halen, as they were asked to write a song for the 1979 movie "Over the Edge" starring Matt Dillon. The movie (and the lyrics, although more obliquely) are about bored, rebellious youth with nothing better to do than get into trouble. If you see the movie, these lyrics will make more sense. It's a great movie if you grew up in the 70s/80s you'll definitely remember some of these characters from your own life. Fun fact, after writing the song, Van Halen decided not to let the movie use it.
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 can get addicted to a certain kind of sadness
Like resignation to the end, always the end
So when we found that we could not make sense
Well you said that we would still be friends
But I'll admit that I was glad it was over
But you didn't have to cut me off
Make out like it never happened and that we were nothing
And I don't even need your love
But you treat me like a stranger and that feels so rough
No, you didn't have to stoop so low
Have your friends collect your records and then change your number
I guess that I don't need that though
Now you're just somebody that I used to know
Now you're just somebody that I used to know
Now you're just somebody that I used to know
Now and then I think of all the times you screwed me over
But had me believing it was always something that I'd done
But I don't wanna live that way
Reading into every word you say
You said that you could let it go
And I wouldn't catch you hung up on somebody that you used to know
But you didn't have to cut me off
Make out like it never happened and that we were nothing
And I don't even need your love
But you treat me like a stranger and that feels so rough
No, you didn't have to stoop so low
Have your friends collect your records and then change your number
I guess that I don't need that though
Now you're just somebody that I used to know
Somebody (I used to know)
(Somebody) now you're just somebody that I used to know
Somebody (I used to know)
(Somebody) now you're just somebody that I used to know
I used to know, that I used to know, I used to know somebody
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 can get addicted to a certain kind of sadness
Like resignation to the end, always the end
So when we found that we could not make sense
Well you said that we would still be friends
But I'll admit that I was glad it was over
But you didn't have to cut me off
Make out like it never happened and that we were nothing
And I don't even need your love
But you treat me like a stranger and that feels so rough
No, you didn't have to stoop so low
Have your friends collect your records and then change your number
I guess that I don't need that though
Now you're just somebody that I used to know
Now you're just somebody that I used to know
Now you're just somebody that I used to know
Now and then I think of all the times you screwed me over
But had me believing it was always something that I'd done
But I don't wanna live that way
Reading into every word you say
You said that you could let it go
And I wouldn't catch you hung up on somebody that you used to know
But you didn't have to cut me off
Make out like it never happened and that we were nothing
And I don't even need your love
But you treat me like a stranger and that feels so rough
No, you didn't have to stoop so low
Have your friends collect your records and then change your number
I guess that I don't need that though
Now you're just somebody that I used to know
Somebody (I used to know)
(Somebody) now you're just somebody that I used to know
Somebody (I used to know)
(Somebody) now you're just somebody that I used to know
I used to know, that I used to know, I used to know somebody
Lyrics submitted by 60_miles_an_hour, edited by PoonKnows, Nemo123
Somebody That I Used to Know Lyrics as written by Walter Andre De Backer Luiz Bonfa
Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd., Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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In regards to the meaning of this song:
Before a live performance on the EP Five Stories Falling, Geoff states “It’s about the last time I went to visit my grandmother in Columbus, and I saw that she was dying and it was the last time I was going to see her. It is about realizing how young you are, but how quickly you can go.”
That’s the thing about Geoff and his sublime poetry, you think it’s about one thing, but really it’s about something entirely different. But the lyrics are still universal and omnipresent, ubiquitous, even. So relatable. That’s one thing I love about this band. I also love their live performances, raw energy and Geoff’s beautiful, imperfectly perfect vocals. His voice soothes my aching soul.
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This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
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This song was originally written by a guy called Peter Gutteridge. He was one of the founders of the "Dunedin Sound" a musical scene in the south of New Zealand in the early 80s. From there it was covered by "The Clean" one of the early bands of that scene (he had originally been a member of in it's early days, writing a couple of their best early songs). The Dunedin sound, and the Clean became popular on american college radio in the mid to late 80s. I guess Yo La Tengo heard that version.
Great version of a great song,
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To me, this song is about clinging onto an illusion of the perfect person, the 'person that you used to know'. After discovering that you had in fact put them on a pedastal, and that they never were that perfect person, you are still unable to let them go because your illusions clash with reality and it is a never ending struggle between accepting who they are- and who you thought they were.
"You said that you could let it go And I wouldn't catch you hung up on somebody that you used to know..."
It is about that tiny little fibre in your body that cannot erase the memory of them, and that tiny little fibre is what causes most of the conflict: your voice speaks and says that you would never be hung up over this person, and yet, the entire song is dedicated to the memory of that person and the damage they have caused you. so you ARE, after all, hung up on them...and that is the contrast between your voice (voice of reason) and your heart (with which your true feelings lie)....I think that might be why there is such a huge play on body parts in the video clip...and how each body part is colored differently...it represents all the different thoughts in your mind that are contradicting each other.
I think that you have made a great point...he is caught up on his illusion of the perfect person. He wanted so badly for this girl to be his everything, although she wasn't and the relationship wasn't meant to be. Who gets caught up with someone whom he feels "so lonely" in her company and is glad when it is over? He starts to paint himself and her in the same colors, trying so desperately for this to work and for her to be what he wants her to be.<br /> <br /> It seems like during the relationship, she was tired of being put on that pedestal and tired of being expected to be his perfect someone. She "found that we could not make sense" and didn't want to deal with the pain and sadness of trying to be perfect for him any longer. I think the colors coming off of her at the end of the song is here breaking out of his perfect girl mold...becoming herself once again.
I personally think you nailed it.
I really don't know how you managed to get that impression. There was nothing in the song that mentioned anyone being on a pedestal or would imply that they were idealized into some perfect form. Nor, was there any mention about any kind of clash between illusion and reality.
Actually there is an illusion with the music video. They are being painted to give the illusion they blend in to an abstract background. So I agree with missxt. I think you completely nailed the story behind the song.
agree on the mix up between illusion and reality. oh my.
you couldnt have explained it any better!! since hearing it the first time that's what it meant to me
I really can't argue with your interpretation so I'll just add to it. The first verse is just his 20/20 hindsight on the relationship well before the breakup and how he deluded himself. The line "told myself you were right for me" is the prime example of his delusion along with his association of love as an aching feeling instead of that feeling just being a bad vibe for him. <br /> <br /> The second verse sounds like his feelings towards the end of the relationship just before the breakup occurred. The addiction to sadness shows how negative feelings have become so common place in this relationship that it is hard to separate it from the two people involved. The last three lines of this verse is just his break from delusion and him finally finding some relief in the end of the relationship til . . .<br /> <br /> The chorus of course is his post breakup feelings and how things were handled. This is where the song can go for a great twist by having the person singing this part doing it as a solemn sort of begging or as a quiet pain in that they are hurt by the fact that they are hardly even a foot note in the other person's life.<br /> <br /> The third verse is great in showing how the pain and sacrifice in the relationship didn't just belong to the first person (assuming that this is being done as a duet). It demonstrates the same signs of delusion, compromise, and sacrifice that the first two verses illustrate and the eventual realization how it isn't meant to work out. <br /> <br /> This third verse can also explain the current coupling as a result from a previous one. How he made her believe that she had done something wrong and how he was still clinging to the idea of another person from his past that he sees her as. <br /> <br /> The chorus of course is the same but it can be done in a slightly different way. Instead of singing it in a quiet and saddened way, the person can sing it as a mad, painful rant as if he's trying to defend himself in an intense argument.
Are you guys seriously this in love with this comment? This song isn't about the 'perfect person.'<br /> <br /> "Told myself that you were right for me<br /> But felt so lonely in your company"<br /> <br /> He knew all along she wasn't the perfect person. He's bemoaning the fact that even though they both spoke about how they would remain friends after the break up she's an entirely different person, somebody that he used to know...
I agree with the replies who disagree with you. There is no lyrical evidence whatsoever that the girl was put on a pedestal. <br /> <br /> The only part that you quote to defend your interpretation is 'person that you used to know' -- this saying does not have to imply that one thought that their loved one was 'more perfect before than now.'<br /> <br /> 'Somebody that I used to know' is a common idiom, saying or phrase with a specific meaning. It is clear that it is merely referring to the fact that one person really meant a lot to the other person, but after breaking up they aren't nearly as significant, they are just 'somebody that __ used to know.' <br /> <br /> In regard to the rest of your interpretation:<br />
Wow you got right on it, that's exceptionally perception, from one whom has been through that and was able to concur that somebody. I Love this song, it speaks of my current relationship. to the letter. i love your comments on that. thanks for sharing.
@missxt This interpretation is far fetched.