| Gotye – Somebody That I Used To Know Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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This song is basically about two different relationships, one in the past and one in the present, let me explain: "Now and then I think of when we were together, like when you said you felt so happy you could die. I 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." - It follows a guy who every now and then thinks of his old relationship with an ex-girfriend. He's remembering when she told him she was so incredibly happy and he told himself that she was right for him. It sounded like he realized that he sort of forced his feelings for her because he was telling himself that she was right, he didn't necessarily feel it. However, even though he told himself he was happy there was always a part of himself that felt distant from her. However, he thought what they had was true love and regardless of whether or not it was it's something he still continues to remember and feel. "You can get addicted to a certain kind'a 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." - Here, the guy is describing the end of the relationship, how he knew it was ending but even a deteriorating relationship was better than none at all. It's like ripping off a band aid. The resignation of relationships is typically, in this case, when the worst has happened and there is no other choice but to give up. The guy and his ex-girlfriend realized they didn't fit together like they thought they had and she offered friendship in place of the relationship, he sadly admitted he was glad it was over because it was such a heavy burden on him. "But you didn't have to cut me off, make out like it never happened and that we were nothing. I don't even need your love, but you treat me like a stranger and that feels so rough." - The guy is now upset because after the relationship ended there really wasn't a friendship. In fact, the ex-girlfriend treated him like a stranger if they ever ran into one another. Here the guy is angrily admitting he didn't need her love to go on and that he did want them to end on a better note, however, she didn't and it bothers him. "No, you didn't have to stoop so low, have your friends collect your records and then change your number. Guess that I don't need that though now you're just somebody that I used to know." - Here, the guy could be saying she is acting childish about their relationship ending by going to the lengths of taking back all of her things and changing her number. He realizes he doesn't need these little things because she isn't the same person he knew and loved, she's just somebody that he used to know (like a grocerer, no one special). Now, here is where the present girlfriend (Kimbra) is speaking. "Now and then I think of all the times you screwed me over but had me believin' it was always something that I'd done." The guy from the beginning is now in a new relationship with a different girl. This girl is thinking of all the times he'd wrong her, in little ways, by maybe comparing her and his ex or maybe he's reacted a certain to something. She had always blamed herself for the problems or misunderstandings in their present relationship. "But I don't wanna live that way, reading into every word you say. You said you could let it go, and I wouldn't catch you hung up on somebody that you used to know." - Here is the most powerful part of the song. The girlfriend is admitting she doesn't want to have the relationship they do, she isn't happy with what they have. She hates having to be extra cautious of what he says, hoping it somehow doesn't relate to his ex-girlfriend. She is unsure of his true feelings for her and his true feelings for his ex-girlfriend. She reminds him of his promise to her, telling her he was finished what what he had but she catches him (not physically) but emotionally that he is still hung up on his ex-girlfriend, the somebody that he used to know. The rest of the song repeats the chorus and the male repeating the line: "Somebody that I used to know." After the girlfriend finished her part, I believe she left the relationship knowing that he was never going to get over his ex-girlfriend and she didn't want to be a shell for that. The guy is left pondering on his ex-girlfriend. Now, Gotye did say the song is about the guy and his ex-girlfriend arguing back and forth in the song but I see this way makes more sense to me since I totally understand the scenario I wrote out and it seems a far sadder realm. |
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| Bonnie Raitt – I Can't Make You Love Me Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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I don't believe the song is only past tense, I believe it could be present tense. To me, the song is about a boy and girl in a very caring relationship, but the girl is hopelessly in love with him and she clearly knows he doesn't love her, he hasn't reached that understanding yet. To break it down: "Turn down the lights, turn down the bed, turn down these voices inside my head, lay down with me. Tell me no lies, just hold me close, don't patronize, don't patronize me." - Right here, in the girls aspect, she's saying let's just lay here together, in each others arms. Be completely open and honest with me. The voices in her head are doubt or worry and she is turning them down because she hates the worry of him never loving her or feeling the same way. She just wants to endure him and he to her. "Cause I can't make you love me if you don't, you can't make your heart feel something it won't. Here in the dark, in these final hours I will lay down my heart and I will feel the power. But you won't, no you won't cause I can't make you love me." - However, she knows no matter what she does she can't force him to love her, and you can't make herself have feelings or love for another, they just are. The part about being in the dark, I feel, in complete and total vulnerability. By laying down her heart, she is completely letting her emotions take over her and let him feel the fullest extent of her love and she will embrace it. However, she knows he won't do the same because he doesn't love her that way and she can't make him. "I'll close my eyes, then I won't see the love you don't feel when you're holding me. Morning will come and I'll do what's right. Just give me till then to give up this fight and I will give up this fight." - By closing her eyes, it could mean physically closing her eyes or shutting away her intense feelings for the time being. I believe it's physical and she might rest her head on his chest because she doesn't want to see for herself that even though he is holding her so lovingly and warm, he doesn't love her. He cares and adores her but he doesn't love her yet and yet she holds him with everything she has. However, when the next day comes and she wakes up she knows what she has to do. The fight is her feelings battling his own. She knows she has to stop trying to force his love in even the smallest ways. That the only true love is his decision to love her back. She will still love him but knows that the fighting and battling of her emotions and even trying to manipulate his are wrong and untrue. |
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