Somebody That I Used to Know by Gotye

On July 5, 2011, Gotye released the single "Somebody That I Used to Know" from his album ‘Making Mirrors.’ The song that featured New Zealand musician Kimbra went on to earn 8× platinum status in USA and 11× platinum status in Australia. It peaked at #1 in numerous national charts, including the Belgian Singles Chart, the Australian ARIA Singles Chart, the Dutch Megacharts, the Official UK Top 40 and the German Media Control Chart.

Though the chorus doesn't come in until almost halfway through the song, it has a familiarity right from the beginning thanks to the xylophone riff, which is taken from the nursery rhyme Baa Baa Black Sheep. In this instance, however, Gotye uses a minor variation of the nursery rhyme theme, which givers it a dark and mysterious feel.

Gotye says writing “Somebody” was a gradual and linear process, starting with a sample, then adding some drums, working on lyrics and the melody, and then the addition of a wobbly guitar-sample melody. Gotye took a break from the song for a few weeks, before coming back to it and deciding on a chord progression and chorus melody.

Gotye often approaches his song writing this way, as seen in this short documentary in the video below. For his song, ‘Eyes Wide Open’, Gotye was first inspired by samples he recorded using the famous ‘musical fence’ in Winton in far west Queensland.

Related videos

Gotye - The Making of Eyes Wide Open - documentary

Somebody That I Used to Know - Walk off the Earth (Gotye - Cover)