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"
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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I think this song is two perspectives.
A man thinking about an old relationship. He fell in love with her, even thought it wasn't perfect. He knew that, but tried to convince himself otherwise. Later, we discover that things didn't work out.
He was addicted to the sadness of the situation. Or of her. Or both. The idea that he knew it was doomed. And that is what made him stay in the relationship.
And then they discovered this wasn't going to work. She said that they could still be friends. And he was relieved, because finally, the expected ending had arrived. Finally, what he was waiting for, had been anticipating this entire relationship, had happened. They were over.
Ah, but why?
As she tells us, now and then she thinks off all the time he screwed her over. Times he went to see the ex-girlfriend. The one he still thought of, even though it was doomed, and did end. This woman realizes that, while she wants him, he was still hung up on another girl. Still thought of her. Missed her. Maybe even compared the two. Her and the last girl. She and somebody that he used to know. So she has this sadness with her. And he sees that this relationship is doomed. But he still can't stop dwelling on the ex-girlfriend. So what does she do? She dumps him. She doesn't want to see him at all. Doesn't want to hear from him. Has friends pick up her stuff. Just like the last girl did.
And this triggers something in him. Now he wants her. He forgets the last ex-girlfriend. He can't understand why this one doesn't want anything to do with him. Why does she avoid him when he sees her out with friends? How come she doesn't respond to his texts? Why has she become just somebody that he used to know?
And so the cycle continues.
Our hero, forever pining after a love that he will never receive because it is always too late; loving somebody that he used to know.
Exactly what I was thinking - a sick cycle. <br /> <br /> Absolutely awesome, though. The lyrics, music and voices... so beautiful.
Great interpretation! The cycle hits us in reality more often than we'd like, but such is life, unfortunately...or people i should say. :)<br /> <br /> Cheers.
''As she tells us, now and then she thinks off all the time he screwed her over. Times he went to see the ex-girlfriend. The one he still thought of, even though it was doomed, and did end. This woman realizes that, while she wants him, he was still hung up on another girl. Still thought of her. Missed her. Maybe even compared the two. Her and the last girl. She and somebody that he used to know. So she has this sadness with her. And he sees that this relationship is doomed. But he still can't stop dwelling on the ex-girlfriend. So what does she do? She dumps him. She doesn't want to see him at all. Doesn't want to hear from him. Has friends pick up her stuff. Just like the last girl did.''<br /> <br /> i don't get why people keep referring to the singers fixation with another ex girlfriend,the 'somebody i used to know' is the ex girlfriend who ignores him,theres no 3rd party,its all based on two people and no other relationship.
everyone can look at this song in their own way. But i agree with billythepub, this song is btwn 2 people, no 3rd party at all in the song. Atleast thats how i see it. it's good there are more ways to see the song though. that way more can relate.
Of course there is/are another/others. She was screwed over by the boy. That involved a past gal. She gave him multiple chances. He failed because she was not the one. He's hung up on somebody he used to know, and that ain't her.
There is no ex-girlfriend, it's so much clearer than taking third party into the song. It's just how the girl used to be or how he used to think of her. Now she wants to forget about him. Come on, NO EX in this song!
@rscofield Had trouble piecing together all of the lyrics into words, so I came here, but I think you nailed it. <br /> <br /> Also, if you watch the video, it matches this. The man starts out being unpainted - he is free and happy. As he starts talking about the relationship, he becomes enmeshed in the background (the relationship and/or his emotions). The colors are red (anger) and grey (sadness). The girl starts out painted as well, but she is also green (jealousy). She leaves the trap of the relationship, becomes free and unpainted, but he is still trapped in the background of his emotions.<br /> <br /> I've been here. Pining over a lost relationship that I remembered as being perfect and never moving on. Eventually life goes on and you discover something great, but this song perfectly captures that time.
@rscofield I see this song as working on multiple levels. At first I thought it was Kimbra he was alluding to and she was answering him. Then I realized Kimbra was telling him how he did the same thing to her. I see him in his own pain have a momentary glimmer of understanding then again is engulfed in his pain. Irony and the faults we see in others reflected in ourselves without our own knowledge or understanding. His voice, the imagery, the lyrics, Kimbra, a truly beautiful and strangely haunting song.