When I first heard that Boyce Avenue was covering the song, my first thought was, "Ughhh.....WHY?!" Then I remembered, this is Alejandro we're talking about. He can sing anything and make me love it. I should know by now not to question the why's behind his choice of covers. It doesn't matter how much I dislike a song. If Boyce Avenue covers it, I stop and listen. So that's what I did. And this cover hit me like a freaking freight train.
Like I said, I had never listened to this song all the way through, so I wasn't familiar with the lyrics. But listening to Alejandro sing it, I realized that this song sums up perfectly how I feel about my ex-husband and our failed marriage. And the way he sings it resonates so powerfully with me, it completely changed my opinion of the song.
I was married for eight years. I am not exaggerating when I say that six of those years were unhappy. When I first met Matthew, I thought I had found my soul mate, and he told me that I was everything he had ever dreamed of. We decided to marry after a very brief courtship. The first year or so was happy, and then, slowly, things changed. The last two years of the marriage were incredibly lonely and unhappy for me (and most likely for him as well) but I kept trying and kept fighting to make it a happy marriage while he became more and more disloyal and detached. I always felt like it was my fault that we were unhappy. When we decided to go our separate ways, he said that we would always be friends, but we haven't spoken since I left.
Our divorce left me shattered. I moved back to Seattle to pick up the pieces and start over. Almost immediately, he was involved with someone new. Within months of our divorce, she had moved in with him. A year later, they were married. He moved on as if the nine years we were together had meant nothing to him. I fell into a deep depression, feeling like I had failed at the most important relationship of my life.
Over the past two years, I have come to realize that the failure of our marriage was not just my fault, and that it did not make me a failure. He gave up on us long before I did, and I fought like hell to save it, but it just wan't meant to be. I hold no ill feelings toward him. I hope he and his wife have a long, happy life together. My time with him has helped shape me into the woman I am today. I am grateful for the love we shared, and saddened by the memory of those moments when we brought out the absolute worst in each other. And now he's just somebody that I used to know.
So, that's why this song hit me so hard when I finally stopped and listened to it. And I absolutely LOVE the way Boyce Avenue does this song. It starts out quiet for the first verse and the first chorus, and you can really hear the sadness in the lyrics:
"I told myself that you were right for me,
But felt so lonely in your company.
But that was love and it's an ache I still remember."
(Sidenote: I really wish Alejandro had left the second verse in their version of the song, because I think lyrically it's the best of the three verses. I'd love to know why he chose to leave it out.)
Then the third verse kicks in. This is Kimbra's verse in Gotye's version, and in my opinion, this is where the lyrics transition from sadness and resignation to anger and resolve.
"But I don't wanna live that way,
Reading into every word you say,
You said that you could let it go,
But I wouldn't catch you hung up on somebody that you used to know...."
(Another sidenote: I love that Alejandro puts his own spin on this verse, adding a little "Ohhhh...." at the 1:23 mark, and the way he sings, "Somebody that I used to know" at the 2:19 mark....those little runs that are characteristic of his style and should sound familiar to the most hardcore fans.)
This is where the magic happens for me in this cover. Alejandro takes his vocals up a notch and puts a little more power into the chorus, which fits the transition of the lyrics, and subsequently the mood of the song, really well. At the 2:31 mark, he belts out, "Somebody....Oh, somebody that I used to know...." with such emotion that I have to resist the urge to exclaim, "Woooh!!! Sing it, Alejandro!!" He does it again at the 3:31 mark, and it sounds just as sexy the second time he does it as it did the first time.
Personally, I think this cover is brilliant, and I can't stop listening to it. If you love it too, you can download it, along with some other amazing covers, on the New Acoustic Sessions, Volume 3 album, now available on iTunes. (Click here to check it out.)
Since I am now a fan of the song, I went and checked out Gotye's video featuring Kimbra, and it's actually a really cool video. Watching them sing it, you can really get a feel for the gamut of emotions in the song. (Watch it here.) But the music still drives me crazy, so I'll be sticking to Boyce Avenue's version. :)
