Composition
1
Mr.
Burk
November
1st, 2012
Analysis
Paper: Music Analysis
“Somebody
I Used To Know” by Gotye
Talking
about a situation every single person on earth will or already did
experience, Gotye’s song “Somebody That I Used to Know” from
the Album Making
Mirrors
went
straight to the hearts of his listeners and can be connected to their
love lives in many different ways. The popularity of this song can be
connected to the fact that the lyrics describe a situation everybody
knows and experienced and it tells about the same pain the listeners
have been through. They can relate their own experience to the song
and build a connection to it because of it's situation.
Commonly
there are three kinds of attitude that people take when their
romantic relationship with someone fails. Some of them choose to keep
a relation to each other and stay friends, without regretting the
good time they had and moving on with the knowledge that it just did
not work out or that their relationship was just not strong enough to
survive the hard times they went through. The second group just leave
each other by walking different directions. They moved away
from each other and their relationship remains as something
unimportant, more like a pale shadow in their lifetime story. They
neither hate each other nor stay friends, they just have no
relationship to each other anymore and continue their lives without
any feelings. The third part of the persons with a broken
relationship choose to abruptly change their attitude toward their
ex-lover. Most of the time, this feeling just belongs to one of the
two, the one who got dumped by his or her lover but still has
feelings left and is left with a broken heart and hurt. They form a
kind of hate against the one who broke up to hide from the knowledge
that they still have feelings for them and just can’t get over
them.
The
first group will usually keep in touch with each other. Of course,
initially it is very difficult.
But
if they try hard and give each other time to get over their
relationship, it will work out and they can continue as even good
friends. The second group will just move on with the memory but no
feelings compared to them. They walk away in different directions and
won’t turn around again. Meanwhile, instead of trying to keep good
relationship, the third group will choose to consider their ex as
strangers or worse, enemies. They avoid meeting with their ex-lovers
and if they accidentally meet, they’ll try to hide from them or
walk another way in order to not meeting them or crossing their ways.
.Of course, such attitude will hurt both sides, but the one hiding
away will get even more hurt because they still miss the relationship
in a way that is too deep to get over it in short amount of time.
The
Song “Somebody That I Used To Know” was sung by Gotye and Kimbra.
Gotye starts the song with the phrase “Now
and then I think of when we were together” what
shows that he’s still not over the relationship because he still
thinks about it. With saying “Told myself that you were right for
me, but felt so lonely in your company” he believes that actually
she was the problem in the relationship, because she didn’t love
him as much as he loved her. He felt lonely and didn’t get the love
back he wanted. He underlines that statement with the phrase “You
can get addicted to a certain kind of sadness, like resignation to
the end, always the end”. He got used to the feeling that he’s
the only one having feelings in this relationship. After the break
up, she said that she wants to stay friends but he was just glad that
it was over and don’t want any relationship to her anymore. In the
Chorus he complains about the fact that she cut him completely out of
his life. He can’t believe that she moved over him so easily and it
makes him upset because he’s still hurt but she just cut him out of
her life without any regrets. Moreover, Gotye's stolz
is
more hurt than he wants others to know.
After
the Chorus, Kimbra tells about her view of the story. She complains
about how he acted with her and how he made her feel through the
relationship. The listeners get an idea of the real nature of the
relationship. Not just Gotye is hurt, also Kimbra got hurt throughout
their time together but she ended it to do what's best for her. She
does not want to have a relationship which makes her feel more bad
than good. Breaking up and moving on gave her a better feeling and
was the best decision for her. The listener gets to know now that it
wasn't just one's fault that their relationship failed. Both sites
were part of the failure and, in opposite to Gotye, Kimbra moved on
with her life. After Kimbra's part of the song, Gotye answers with
the chorus. He still can't believe that she just cut him out of her
life. Furthermore, you can see the whole song as an conversation
between two exlovers talking about their broken relationship, telling
each other what were the reasons for their break-up. The song ends
with the words “Somebody … I used to know, somebody.” He
finally gets over her but he still can not deny that he misses her.
I
personally can make a connection to the meaning of the song. I got
into the same situation, but of both sites. A relationship is never
easy. It's not said which actually were the problems of them and the
reasons for their break-up, but the meaning stays the same. There are
many reasons for the end of a relationship, and it is difficult for
both sites most of the time. I can understand why Gotye still can not
get over the fact that he was unimportant enough to get over him so
easily but I also can understand Kimbra that there are reasons for a
break-up and that it is not just one's site fault that it did not
work out. She was hurt in the same way as he is hurt now but she can
not change the fact that the break-up was a better choice for her.
And it was not easy for her at all too, she just took the possibility
to make a decision and leave what is not good for her anymore. In
opposite of Gotye, Kimbra already realized that the break-up was not
just her fault because she accepted that they just did not work out
together. Moreover, she accepted the fact that both sites are hurt
but that they have to move on with what they have and make what is
best for her.
The
song touched my heart from the first time I heard it and I still
listen to it a lot.