“Somebody Told Me” by The Killers

“Somebody Told Me” mainly focuses on the struggles experienced by the narrator in an attempt to gain the other party’s attention. As the lyrics show, the writer could be talking about a love interest he is flirting with. At the same time, he could metaphorically be referring to the struggles of songwriters.

You can view the lyrics, alternate interprations and sheet music for The Killers's Somebody Told Me at Lyrics.org.

In the first verse, the narrator talks about possibly being at a dance club trying so hard to woo a woman he’s interested in. Since she is being rather difficult, he expresses how he’s tired of trying after at least 17 songs playing in the background, which could signify the amount of time he has spent flirting. He further attempts to convince this girl by suggesting that they have both dated people with similar characteristics, thus they might fit perfectly since they have comparable attractions.

On the other hand, the singer may be talking about the fact that he works so hard to write songs and is getting tired because even after producing 17 songs, none of them seems to be a hit. He further states in the chorus that someone else already has a track that is quite similar to the one he is creating. He continues to suggest that he never thought the rumor of this similar previous song could ruin his own song. And as such, he’ll probably put that song away altogether, start a new one and keep trying.

Facts about “Somebody Told Me”

Appearing on the band’s “Hot Fuss” album, “Somebody Told Me” was officially released on 15th March, 2004. The Killers released it as the second single from the album, following “Mr. Brightside“.

Brandon Flowers and his bandmates are the sole writing team behind “Somebody Told Me”. They went on to work with music producer Jeff Saltzman to produce the song.

The Killers actually released this song on two different occasions. The second release was largely due to the fact that the first release performed poorly (commercial-wise). Release #1 happened in March 2004 whereas release #2 occurred in January of 2005.

It was the latter release that transformed this song into one of the most successful songs of 2005. Release #1 took the song to position 28 in Britain’s official singles chart, giving the band their first top-40 hit on this very important chart. However, release #2 gave them even greater chart success, for it took the song all the way to a peak position of 3 on this very vital British record chart.

“Somebody Told Me” was also very successful outside Britain. For example, in the following countries, it was a top 10 hit:

  • Denmark
  • Ireland
  • Scotland

Actually, in the latter country, it reached the very impressive position of 2. This is therefore one of the Killers’ most significant hits in Scotland.

In the United States (on the Hot 100), “Somebody Told Me” enjoyed a modest peak position of 51.

Grammy Nominations

One of the biggest accolades of this song was receiving two Grammy nominations in 2005. In one of these nominations, it contested with five other songs for “Best Rock Song”. However, it and the songs listed below lost to U2’s “Vertigo“.

  • Green Day’s “American Idiot
  • Modest Mouse’s “Float On”
  • Velvet Revolver’s “Fall to Pieces”

7 Responses

  1. Anonymous says:

    It could also be a man who is trying to woo a lesbian. (Somebody told me you had a boyfriend who looked like a girlfriend)

  2. Anonymous says:

    I took it to mean that he had heard that someone he had dated previously was transitioning from female to male and the rumour of his past liaison was playing on his mind.

  3. Anonymous says:

    I always thought it was about them both dating the same person a girl that transitioned to male. Those were the images it created when I heard it as a preteen.

  4. anonymous says:

    could also be saying that someone she dated was similar to an old ex of his, maybe both being bad partners. or maybe that her ex was someone not masculine, maybe unable to protect her.

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