25) Somebody That I Used to Know - Verse 3 Part 2

But I don't wanna live that way
Reading into every word you say
You said that you could let it go
And I wouldn't catch you hung up on
Somebody that you used to know


Hello and welcome to Learning English with Lyrics, I am your host Jake, and today we are discussing verse 3 of the song "Somebody That I Used To Know" by Gotye. If you haven't heard the first eight episodes in this series, I recommend starting with the episode where we discuss Verse 1. And if you've never listened to the podcast before, I want to give you a warm welcome, and I am glad that you've decided to join us. However, before continuing this episode, I'd recommend pausing right here and listening to the episode titled "Introduction" before continuing. That will give you a good idea of how this podcast works, and that will help you as you continue to listen.

After this short break we just had, I am so glad to be back. I've missed you guys! Today we are FINALLY finishing our song, but before we do that, I wanted to give a shout-out to one of our listeners who wrote to me this week. His name is Rui, I'm not sure if I'm pronouncing that correctly, I'm sorry Rui if I am not. He is originally from Brazil, but now he lives in the United States in the great state of Florida. Go Buccaneers! His favorite English language song is "Have I Told You Lately" by Rod Stewart. I don't think I know that one Rui, but I'll have to give it a listen! Thanks again for writing in!

If YOU would like a shout-out on the podcast, or just want to drop me some encouragement, please don't hesitate to reach out. I love hearing from you guys. It always makes my day.

To "make someone's day" means that you've done something that they loved so much, that it was the best thing that happened to them that day. When I read emails and comments from you guys, it almost always brings a big smile to my face!

Alright enough of that, let's get back to our song!

We last left our song with the ex-girlfriend of our singer finally getting her chance to speak. And she revealed some interesting information. Perhaps our singer wasn't the victim at all. Perhaps...he was abusive. She sang about how he "screwed her over" and how she felt like she was being gas-lit by him. That doesn't sound good.

So, once she realized what he was doing...how did she react?

That's where we pick up our verse!

The line says, "But I don't wanna live that way"

She doesn't want to live "that" way. What does it mean to do something "that way" or "in that way"? It means that we are talking about the form or method of doing something. The way in which we do something, that is to say, the manner in which we do it. For example, when my son was a baby, he liked to eat food with his hands. Now that he's older, he doesn't eat that way anymore. That is to, the manner in which he ate his food, HOW he ate his food, is different now. I have a friend that drives their car very fast all the time. I *don't* drive in that way. I drive carefully and slowly. Sometimes too slowly.

A more informal way to say "in that way" is to say "like that". Using our song for an example, we could change the sentence to say "I don't want to live like that". She does not want to live in that manner. She doesn't want to live the way in which she is describing to us. Does that make sense?

When she's talking about "how she lives", that means the way in which she lives her life. It's not talking about being alive, but what she does in her life every day. It's talking about her behavior, not life and death. "Living in a certain way" is talking about the things you are doing every day, and how you are doing them. You have probably heard the phrase "live like every day is your last". This phrase is encouraging you to act regularly in the way that you would if you were going to die tomorrow. Your behavior, your choices, everything that you do, is how you "live".

So when she's saying that she doesn't want to live "that way", she means that she doesn't want to continue acting in the way that he has caused her to be acting. So, what is "that way"?

Well, we talked a bit about it last week. He has been screwing her over and blaming her for things that aren't her fault. She's tired of living that way. The next line in our song gives us more details about the kind of behavior she wants to avoid.

The line says "Reading into every word you say"
So the full sentence could be "I don't want to live that way, reading into every word you say."

So this is part of that same idea. She wants to stop living in a way that causes her to have to read into every word that he says. I know. It's complicated. Let's talk about what it means to "read INTO" something.

This is a really good phrase, and you're definitely going to want to add this one into your vocabulary.

We all know what it means to read, don't we? If you read the transcript along with this podcast, you're reading right now. (Secret note for the transcript readers: you guys are cooler than everyone else :p).

But what does it mean to read INTO something?

To read INTO something, means that you are searching for deeper meaning about something. Usually this is something someone has said or written, but it can be applied to actions as well. For example, if a friend is being very nice to you, and complimenting you about how strong you are, you might try to "read into" their actions. Maybe you decide that they are being so nice and complimenting your strength because they are going to ask you for help moving some furniture later! You don't trust that their reasons are completely innocent.

But, just because you read into something, doesn't mean that you are correct. Maybe your friend is just being nice, because they felt like being nice. If that's the case, we would say that you are reading "too far" into your friend's kindness. You've read too deep into it, and you're not correct at all!

So, going back to our song, she doesn't want to keep reading into every word that he says. In this case, because he is gas-lighting her, and being deceitful, she feels like she has to question, or dig deeper into everything that he says to her. She has to read into his words, because she knows that they have more than one meaning. He's trying to be tricky. He's trying to be deceitful.

Our next line says "You said that you could let it go"

She has now ended the previous thought and jumped to a new one. She's changing the subject slightly. She's saying that he said that he could let it go.

What does it mean to "let it go"?

This one is pretty simple. To "let something go" means to release it. If you are holding something in your hand, and you drop it on purpose, you've "let it go". She is of course not talking about something physical. In the song she's using it in the figurative sense. To let something go figuratively means that you are done thinking about it or talking about it. If my friend and I have a big argument about something, and he won't stop arguing about it even though I'm done, I might say to him "Can you PLEASE just let it go?" That is to say, can you please just stop talking about this. Can you get over it? Can we move on? You might remember that last phrase from a recent episode.

So she says that he said that he could let it go. In other words he claimed that he was able to let it go.

What is the "it" in this sentence?

Think back to our other verses we've talked about. The "it" here represents their relationship. He said that He could let our relationship go. That is to say that he can release it and stop thinking about it.

This seems to match up with what he said in previous verses. They were in agreement that they should break up. He was okay with it.

When she says "You SAID that you COULD let it go", she's trying to make him feel bad and implying that he ISN'T letting the relationship go. He claimed that he was able to get over the relationship, to move on from it. But now that the relationship is over, he is still trying to talk to her, and he is mad that she is not interested in talking. She doesn't think that he is willing to let the relationship go.

Our last two lines say, "And I wouldn't catch you hung up on somebody that you used to know"

We've already discussed the last part of the line in a previous episode. She is now considered "somebody that he used to know". But what does it mean to "catch" somebody "hung up on" somebody else?

Catch has several different meanings, but we're going to focus on the meaning in our song.

To "catch" somebody doing something means that they are doing something that they are not supposed to be doing, and you see them doing it. For example, if my son sneaks into the kitchen to take some cookies, I might "catch" him in the act of taking cookies. He's been "caught" doing the action. The action of taking cookies. The idea is of trapping somebody in a bad situation that they've put themselves in.

If you are "hung up on" somebody, that means that you can't "move on" from them or "get over" them. It means that you are stuck thinking about them and you can't stop. You know that you need to stop, but you can't. In this case, she's saying that he said that she wouldn't catch him hung up on her. I know that's hard to keep track of. To say it differently, he told her that if they broke up, she wouldn't find out later that he was still interested in her.

So in the song, she is implying that even though he said these things, that it wasn't actually true. He didn't let the relationship go and he is still hung up on her.

Well, that was a complicated one, and I hope that it all made sense! If it didn't make sense...let me know! I would be happy to explain more fully.

I hope that you've enjoyed this song as much as I have/ We've learned a lot. But of course, I'm excited to start a new song next week, and I'll talk to you all then!

As always, you can find the transcript for this episode in the description. If you enjoyed this podcast, please rate it and subscribe, wherever you're listening to it! And of course, don't forget to tell your friends about us! We post a new episode every Wednesday!  We also have even more English learning related content on Instagram, just search for the username "lelpodcast". Finally, if you have any questions, comments, critiques, or suggestions for songs, don't hesitate to send us a message to any of our social media accounts, or to our email address "[email protected]". We hope to hear from you soon!