18) Somebody That I Used To Know - Verse 2 Part 1

You can get addicted to a certain kind of sadness
Like resignation to the end, always the end

Hello and welcome to Learning English with Lyrics, the podcast where we break down English language song lyrics to help you improve your English! I'm your host Jake, and today we are starting on verse 2 of the song "Somebody That I Used to Know", by Gotye. If you haven't heard the first episode of this series, I recommend starting with verse 1. That's our last episode we came out with. If you've never listened to this podcast before, I'd recommend listening to the episode titled "Introduction" for a brief explanation of how this podcast works. Let's get started!

What's interesting about this song, is that it jumps straight from verse 1 to verse 2! We're going to do the same thing!

The first line says "You can get addicted to a certain kind of sadness".

If you've listened to our previous episodes, you know that the word "get" can be a bit confusing. In this case, it means the same thing as the word "become". You could say "You can become addicted to a certain kind of sadness." The word "get" is a bit more casual in usage, but it also adds an idea that this wasn't your choice, or that it was forced upon you. It's a type of passivity, almost an excuse. This works really well with addiction because addiction is not usually voluntary or on purpose.

Just in case you don't know what addiction is, it is when you are either physically or psychologically dependant on something. We could also say that you are "reliant" on something. Usually, an addiction is something that is not necessary to survive, that now feels necessary for you to survive. You can't be addicted to water for instance, because water is already something that you need to survive. On the other hand, an alcoholic is addicted to alcohol. He doesn't need alcohol to survive, but because he's physically addicted, his body craves alcohol. It actually needs the alcohol now. In the case of alcohol, it is a physical addiction, but it's also possible to be psychologically addicted. This means that your brain thinks you need the thing that you are addicted to. Addictions are rarely seen as positive things, and oftentimes they can be dangerous. A drug addiction can lead to a fatal overdose, which means taking too much of a drug and dying. An addiction to overeating can lead to massive weight gain and bad health.

Instead of saying that someone is addicted to something, we can also say that they are "hooked" on it. A "hook" is a curved piece of something, usually metal or wood. You use "hooks" to grab or to catch things. A fishhook, for example, is probably the most common thing that you think of. A fishhook is used to catch fish. Because it is curved, if a fish bites down on the hook, they can't easily escape. It's the same idea for an addiction. Once you are "hooked", it's very difficult to escape the addiction.

Although addictions are normally very serious, we also use the words "addicted" and "hooked" to mean "obsessed". If I have a TV show that I really like, I might say that I'm "addicted to this show!" or that I'm "hooked ON this show." Pay special attention to the prepositions that we're using here. You're addicted TO something. You're hooked ON something. When we talk about being "addicted" to a TV show or a a book or something like that, we don't mean that it is a serious or life-threatening addiction. We just means that it's something that we really like a lot.

Alright, let's move on.

So our singer is say you "can" get addicted to a certain kind of sadness. The "can" here just means that it is a possibility. That there are scenarios or situations in which it is possible that this might happen.

A "certain kind of" sadness is an interesting thing to say. A "kind" of something is the same thing as a "type" of something. It is a classification of that thing. For example, a poodle is a kind of dog. Spaghetti is a kind of pasta. Water is a kind of liquid. Oreos are a kind of cookie that I am addicted to.

A "certain" kind of something means that he's specifying a particular classification of something. In this case, a particular kind of sadness. He's saying that there are different kinds of sadness. And he's saying that among these different types of sadness, there is at least one that is possible to get addicted to.

You can use this in other contexts as well. For example, "I need a certain kind of soap for my laundry." or "I want you to pick up a certain kind of burger for me." or "There are certain kinds of people that I don't get along with." or "There is a certain type of cookie that I am addicted to. Oreo!!!"

Err...let's move on.

"Like resignation to the end, always the end"

This line is actually pretty complicated, but we're going to work it out.

The word "like" here indicates that he is explaining his previous thought. He's giving us an example. So once again, we can replace it with "For example".

So what he's describing here is that "certain kind of sadness" he mentioned in the previous line. He's giving us an example of a type of sadness that you can get addicted to.

Resignation is a bit of an odd word to use here, but let's see if we can figure out what he's saying. The most common meaning of "resignation" is to "resign from a job" or in other words, "to quit a job".  However, that's not what he's using here, and we know that because well...for one thing, we're talking about a relationship and not a job, and secondly, because he says "resignation to the end". If you "resign" from a job, that is a singular action and then it is finished. You can't continue to resign "to the end" of a job. So we know this is a different meaning.

The second meaning of resigned, is to be "resigned" to something. This means that something is happening, or is going to happen that you do not like. Even though you don't like it, or maybe you're even against it, you have decided to accept that it is going to happen and try to make the best of the situation. You're going to try to make it work. What are some ways we can use this phrase?

Well, let's say that I have a toothache because I ate too many cookies, and for weeks and weeks and weeks, I've been taking medicine for the toothache, but the pain will not go away. I realize that I need to go to the dentist. Unfortunately for me, I hate the dentist! But I know that I have to go. Even though I have been fighting against it and avoiding going, I eventually convince myself that I should go to the dentist. I have "resigned myself" to the fact that I need to go to the dentist. What are some situations that you can think of in your life where you have "resigned yourself" to something?

And what exactly is our singer resigned to? "Resigned to the end..." indicates to us the amount of time he is resigned for, but not the situation he is resigned to. "The end" we can assume is the end of the relationship. So based on this, and what we know about the relationship, we can assume that our singer was unhappy with the relationship, but stayed in it anyway. He "resigned" himself to the state of the relationship, that is to say, the fact that it wasn't going to work out. We can presume that he was hoping that the relationship would end naturally or that she would break up with him. Or perhaps he was just hoping that things would get better. It's also possible that he simply didn't think that he could be in a better relationship and so he was content to stay in a bad relationship. He was resigned to his fate.

Well, this verse has a lot going on, so we're actually going to stop here and pick in the next episode. Join us next time as we finish up verse 2.

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