Jeff O'Handley

The Doubting Writer Finds His Voice

Musical Monday: Somebody That I Used to Know

Funny how things can be. Some  time ago, I kept seeing references to ‘Gotye’ around the web, and I had no idea what anyone was talking about. The name–or whatever it was–would get tossed around. It would catch my eye and fade away, and I’d vaguely wonder what it was or who it was, but never enough to find out.

Flash forward a few months. I’ve been doing a lot of driving in the last month, and as we have all of three radio stations that come in consistently, and one of them is ‘Today’s Best Hits,’ I’ve been hearing this song quite a bit. It’s catchy to the point where I had to look it up and find out who did it. Gotye? Who? What? Ah, now I get it. Anyway, the song has a great vibe to it, very moody, with what I think of as a Late Night Sound. And I like having Kimbra singing the third verse. She’s got a great voice, and it gives the song an interesting slant. It would have worked fine having it just sung from one point of view; instead, we get two parties, both of whom feel wronged. And it’s another video that just looks so cool.

On another note, thank you all for your comments on Friday’s post. A lot of you went somewhere I almost went: sexism. I hesitate to play any -ism cards, but, like a number of you, I can’t help but see sexism in it as well. Would there be the same brouhaha in Oxnard had Ms. Halas been a Mister Halas? Not, perhaps, had it been ‘straight’ porn (however, had it been a Mister Halas doing gay porn, I’m sure the result would have been the same).

That’s about all I’ve got for today. I doubt that I’m done with Friday’s subject, but I’m not prepared to do more with it today. Have a great week, all, see you on the other end of it.

12 Responses

  1. That song is so interesting with two points of view, I agree. 🙂 Although after all the fun the internet has had with that song, it's a little hard for me to take it seriously now, which is a shame.

  2. That must be why Gotye sounded so familiar, there was some kind of internet thing with him that I was largely clueless about. To investigate, or not to investigate, that is the question….

  3. That was quite cool, Dan. I've never seen five people play the same guitar at the same time before. Well done! Thanks for sharing.

  4. I really like the two points of view in this song and video. It puts a different spin on the song. As you said, two parties, both of whom feel wronged. Hmmm, it seems conflict is always interesting, doesn't it? : )

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