This, That, and the Other

For this week’s Song Lyric Sunday theme, Jim Adams has given us “alternative rock” songs. Jim explains that alternative rock is a subgenre of rock that developed between the 1970s and the 1990s. He also explains that what makes alternative rock alternative is that it’s far more abstract lyrically. Oh, okay.

I googled “Alternative rock bands” and was surprised to recognize quite a few of them, I suppose because my daughter was really into alternative rock in the nineties. One of her favorite alternative rock bands was The Killers and she persuaded my wife to go with her to see The Killers perform live. After that, my wife became a fan of that band and her favorite Killers song was “Somebody Told Me.”

“Somebody Told Me” was by the American alternative rock band The Killers. It was released as the second official single from the group’s 2004 debut studio album Hot Fuss. The song was written by band members Brandon Flowers, Mark Stoermer, Dave Keuning, and Ronnie Vannucci Jr.

The song had been released twice in slightly different forms. The first, with the pink background cover, is the rarer version of the single as it was their first release of it; due to poor sales, not as many were produced. When re-released, the cover art sported a blue background color and is the more common version of the single.

The single peaked at number 51 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. In the UK, it charted at number 28 upon its first release in March 2004, becoming the band’s first hit in the Top 40, and when it was re-released in January 2005, it reached number 3.

Brandon Flowers explained that the song is a look inside the mind of a young man laden with testosterone and libido. He said, “We were going out to clubs a lot at the time and the song speaks to a young man’s frustration, the difficulty of picking up girls.”

Bender magazine asserted that the single is a superb blaze of synthesizers and guitars that builds to the year’s best one-liner: “Somebody told me you had a boyfriend who looked like a girlfriend I had in February of last year.” Some have suggested from that line, that the singer seems to be accusing his girl of cheating on him with another woman.

Here are the lyrics to “Somebody Told Me.”

Breakin' my back just to know your name
Seventeen tracks and I've had it with this game
A breakin' 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 close in a place like this
I said Heaven ain't close in a place like this
Bring it back down, bring it back down tonight (hoo hoo)
Never thought I'd let a rumor ruin my moonlight

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

Ready let's roll onto something new
Takin' it's toll then I'm leaving without you
'Cause Heaven ain't close in a place like this
I said Heaven ain't close in a place like this
Bring it back down, bring it back down tonight (hoo hoo)
Never thought I'd let a rumor ruin my moonlight

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

A rushing, rushing around

Pace yourself for me (for me)
I said maybe, baby, please (please)
But I just don't know now (baby, baby)
When all I want to do is try

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

A rushing, rushing around

Now 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

A rushing, rushing around

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

A rushing, rushing around