When Jim Adams gave us songs by Indie Rock or Indie Pop groups as this week’s Song Lyric Sunday theme, I was at a loss. I had to Google “Indie Rock Songs” and when I did, it didn’t help much. I didn’t recognize any of the songs or artists. Except for one. “Somebody Told Me” from The Killers. I recognized this song because The Killers is one of my daughter’s favorite bands and “Somebody Told Me” is one of her favorite songs by that band.
The Killers is an alternative rock, indie rock band. “Somebody Told Me” was a song released as the second official single from the group’s debut studio album Hot Fuss in 2004. The song was written by band members Brandon Flowers, Mark Stoermer, Dave Keuning and Ronnie Vannucci Jr.
When the Killers first started out, their music was little noticed by music buyers and the media, which is why “Somebody Told Me” has been released twice in slightly different forms. The first release was little noticed and had poor sales. But after being re-released, 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. When it was re-released in January 2005, it reached number three. In 2009, it was voted at number nine in XFM’s Top 100 Songs of the Decade.
Flowers said the song is a look inside the mind of a young man laden with testosterone and libido. “We were going out to clubs a lot at the time,” he told Entertainment Weekly. “It speaks to a young man’s frustration, the difficulty of picking up girls.” Flowers was 20 or 21 at the time he wrote the lyrics and said, “I was just trying to write about what I was doing and seeing in these indie nightclubs in Vegas. I was listening to Pulp and David Bowie, trying to channel all of that stuff.”
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
This, That, and the Other 