Lyrics for Someone Great as interpreted by someonegreat

Someone Great Lyrics
I wish that we could talk about it,
But there, that's the problem.
With someone new I couldn't start it,
Too late, for beginnings.
The little things that made me nervous,
Are gone, in a moment.
I miss the way we used to argue,
Locked, in your basement.

I wake up and the phone is ringing,
Surprised, as it's early.
And that should be the perfect warning,
That something's, a problem.
To tell the truth I saw it coming,
The way, you were breathing.
But nothing can prepare you for it,
The voice, on the other, end.

The worst is all the lovely weather,
I'm stunned, it's not raining.
The coffee isn't even bitter,
Because, what's the difference?
There's all the work that needs to be done,
It's late, for revision.
There's all the time and all the planning,
And songs, to be finished.

And it keeps coming,
And it keeps coming,
And it keeps coming,
Till the day it stops
(Repeat x3)
And it keeps coming,
(Repeat x7)
Till the day it stops.

I wish that we could talk about it,
But there, that's the problem.
With someone new I could have started,
Too late, for beginnings.
You're smaller than my wife imagined,
Surprised, you were human.
There shouldn't be this ring of silence,
But what, are the options?

When someone great is gone.
(Repeat x8)

We're safe, for the moment.
Saved,
For the moment.

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stressica
11-09-2007

Rated 0 
The video for the song really solidifies the idea behind a death of a loved one (particularly a girlfriend).
Not that videos are always

The wife, could be seeing a body in a coffin?
Someone new I couldn't start...possibly starting love over.

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loudenupnow
11-26-2007

Rated 0 
yeah, the video does imply death of a girlfriend, as well as friend to others. the lyrics make sense for a breakup, though, but i don't buy the abortion thing at all.
it's about how after the loss the speaker feels the strong presence of the absence of "someone great," if that makes any sense.

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bollywoodtoile
12-21-2007

Rated 0 
I too would say this song is about the death of a loved one. notthedestroyer said it beautifully.

This song is absolutely phenomenal; I'm moved to tears just reading the lyrics...

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interpolsimon
12-22-2007

Rated 0 
I think this song is about a past love who died on 9/11/01. The video is set in New York. The sky was clear on that day. The breathing part could refer to some of the final calls victims made that day.

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djskein
12-24-2007

Rated 0 
Well when I was listening to the lyrics, it seems to be about an affair leading to the end of a relationship but I like to think this song is about the death of someone close to you. When I think of the song that way, it really affects me. I haven't had anyone close to me die yet but this song gives me a good idea of how I'm going to feel if someone does.

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The Flying Dutchman
01-07-2008

Rated 0 
to me this song is about someone you greatly love breaking up with you, or at least thats what it makes me think of whenever i listen to the lyrics,especially the refrain:"When someone great is gone." and:
"And that should be the perfect warning,
That something's, a problem.
To tell the truth I saw it coming,"

could be about something else though.

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emzor
01-09-2008

Rated 0 
the singer is directing the lyrics toward the newborn of a mother who died in childbirth.....perhaps

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AngONYC
01-09-2008

Rated 0 
I think the song is about a death. The first line is saying "I wish i could talk about this to you, but i can't cause your not here" "Saying that they could start with someone new"means that if he could start over as a different person he would. But he cant cause it too late to start over. All the little feelings he felt for that person All of those moment that Him & this other person felt the moment they only knew like "the figting in the basement" were gone in one moment (which is that moment that person died.)

He wakes up & the phone is ringing which he finds weird cause its not a time that the phone rings. & that should be a sign that something is wrong cause it is such a weird hour to be calling. After finding out that this person has died. He now puts the pieces together but recalling that he knew by the way they were breathing. He know when he says "But nothing can prepare you for it" He is almost nopt talking to "somegreat" (Cause in the song is talking to that person the song is about" But when he says "But nothing..Ect" he is talking to us, to the listerns saying "you really cant do anything to stop, there nothing you can do" It just hits you. & it hit him when the person who called him so early told him that these person had died.

He is saying the thing that sucks is the world is still going. Its a nice day out. Which by how is feels it should be raining it should a dark. It's like nothing happened the coffee still tasted good. & he is shocked that it is cause this person that died without them his world feels like it should be the same. & it seems like he is the only one who realyl does care there gone. So he kinda comes back with "Who Cares" Cause No one seems to care about it much as he does. he is saying there is all this work that needs to be done. There is all the planning & everything needs to still be done.

& When he says "And it keeps coming till the day it stops" Hes saying this feeling is just gonna keep on coming day over day. Till in time it stops. You move on.

Saying his "Wife" or someone along those lines that. But saying that maybe they didnt know this person & when they saw this person beacuse he talked to highly of them. They are Surprised that there not a god but they are only a person. the next line he is saying they shouldn't be silence but what can he do. there dead.

the last line i really don't understand but i think its just his little input. maybe something that means something the he only knows.

but, hey whata i know.

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epiphony11
01-17-2008

Rated +1 
I actually have a connection to the singer of LCD Soundsystem through a great friend. He happens to be this friends uncle and I decided to ask her what the song was about. Apparently he went to a therapist in New York for around 10. My friend couldn't remember the name, but she says he was noted for creating group therapy. Anyway, the therapist decided to keep his sessions in a basement setting. Hence, "I miss the way we used to argue. Locked, in your basement." Needless to say, the singer developed a strong relation with this man. Unfortunately, the therapist suddenly died of a heart attack. This song is about dealing with his death.

Hope this helps. I am not making any of this up. I heard it from his niece.

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kjohn2624
01-25-2008

Rated 0 
This song is definitely about a breakup with a lover, NOT about a mother/father relationship, death, etc. It describes the feelings you go through during a breakup so perfectly, it couldn't possibly be anything else. The line "You're smaller than my wife imagined" I interpret to mean that somehow his wife got a look at the person he's cheating on her with and thought "Wow, she's smaller (i.e. shorter) than I was picturing her" As in, she knew about the affair and had wondered what the other woman looked like....and was surprised to find out she actually existed ("surprised, you were human").

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jady
01-26-2008

Rated 0 
That story by epiphony11 would certainly solve everything, but I'm not sure it passes the smell test. At any rate I think this has to be about a death--the description of the phone call, and the surprise at how nothing about the conditions fits the mood; I've had that exact same reaction. The line "you're smaller than my wife imagined" says to me that at the viewing of the body his wife is surprised by how small the person is, given how he talked about him as if he were a giant. He says that he wishes that we could talk about it", meaning the pain of the person's death, with the person, but "that's the problem" -- of course he can't (this lends credence to epiphony's story, too). What seals it is the repeated "and it keeps coming 'till the day it stops" in which he is ruminating on how we complain about all the hardships in life that suddenly come to a halt at death.

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1fish
02-02-2008

Rated 0 
epiphony11 is right, I think. Isn't Sound of Silver dedicated in the memory of Dr. Something or another?

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jady
02-08-2008

Rated 0 
Two other things I thought about listening to the song just now: 1) Why would he be writing about a breakup when he has a wife? People rarely write about breakups years later. 2) More importantly, when he says "you WERE human" it is the past tense. Gotta be a death.

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here4amin
02-19-2008

Rated 0 
The Line
--------------------------------------
I wish that we could talk about it,
But there, that's the problem.
--------------------------------------
would certainly be ironic if he is singing about a therapist that passed away. The person he always go to deal with difficult situations is now gone.

This would also easily explain "all the work that needs to be done" and "arguing locked in your basement". I don't know too many couples that lock themselves in a basement, argue, and enjoy it. This seems to describe a therapeutic relationship.

Love is only mentioned once, and it concerns the weather. No talk of pretty eyes, soft hands, or affection. I don't get the feeling that this was a romantic relationship.

With one or two lines taken out of context this song can be perverted to mean anything, but the loss of a therapist fits well. Not to mention the album was dedicated to a deceased therapist.

But who knows maybe it is about an aborted fetus... HAHA

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here4amin
02-20-2008

Rated 0 
if it's about death, the 'with someone new i couldn't start it' line doesn't make sense. at all.

It does if he is talking about starting therapy again with someone new.

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djebola
02-27-2008

Rated 0 
Are we sure on the lyrics? What if the line "Smaller than my wife imagined" is "Smaller than I might imagine"? If that is so, it could totally be about a breakup.

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peripatetic13
03-03-2008

Rated 0 
It makes a lot of sense that it's about George Kamen, if what someone wrote about him being in therapy for ten years with the guy is true.

Here4amin said that if it was about a death, the line about "with someone new I couldn't start it" makes no sense, and that's totally wrong. Particularly with a shrink that someone became close to; one of the people you *most* feel the need to talk about a loss like that is a shrink (if you have one), but if the shrink is the person who died... and if you start going to a new shrink, you have to go through the whole process of starting it all, them learning about what your issues are, you getting to trust them... makes total sense.

And if the shrink had such an impact on him, when Murphy talked about to his wife, he probably sounded larger than life...

And no, it's not about a fucking abortion.

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callmedrlove
03-16-2008

Rated 0 
yeah its got to be a break up..have you guys seen the video?especially read these lines::::

With someone new I couldn't start it,
Too late, for beginnings.
The little things that made me nervous,
Are gone, in a moment.

how it sucks to start brand new with someone new

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fairno
03-25-2008

Rated 0 
its seems hes not happy in his relationship so has to say goodbye or...

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divo92
03-27-2008

Rated 0 
This song is about a couple losing a infant and then their relationship inevitably dissolving because of this.

The first grouping of lines refers to the author wishing he could talk to his partner about what happened with their child, longing to go back to a time when they were able to talk about things, argue in the basement.

The second grouping of lines could either refer to the phone call telling the author that the relationship is over or, and what I think, the phone call notifying the author that his child has died. It should have been the perfect warning that it was early, and he could tell by the way the person on the other end of the phone was breathing (perhaps crying, distraught) that something was wrong. And of course, he could not prepare himself for that news.

The third grouping of lines refers to how life goes on after death. How it isn’t far that the weather is nice and the coffee is sweet. The author wishes the world around him reflect the pain he is going through. And then there is all the work that needs to be done, life doesn’t stop even when your world is upside down.

The chorus, and it keeps coming I feel refers to the pain that just keeps coming until the day it stops. After losing someone the waves of pain just come and come for what seems like forever.

The last four lines in the last grouping of lines is where I get most of my interpretation of the song. You’re small than my wife imagined, surprised you were human is what makes me believe the song is about an infants death and then “there shouldn’t be this ring of silence” refers to how there should be a child crying, not nothing.

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ws205
04-28-2008

Rated 0 
might b wrong, but i defenatly get a 9/11 vibe from this song, especially with the new york connection with james murphy. there are references to it being in the morning like which was when it took place. and the telephone call where somethings wrong sounds like the messages people left to their loved ones from the plane before it crashed. also it was sunny on that day too hence reference to lovely weather. anyways, those were my thoughts on the song..

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ajk1979
05-14-2008

Rated 0 
After re-reading the lyrics, I get the feeling that this has to do with a breakup - at least one the singer didn't want to happen. Now, this person who broke up with him is calling to say she/he has found someone else. This was obviously a watershed relationship for the singer because it's devastating.

I don't know, though. Lots of explanations seem viable. I just know I've felt that way when I've heard that my exes are getting married.

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light_bulb101
05-31-2008

Rated 0 
i doubt its about 9/11... seems like a way too personal song for that.

its about a death, the dr thing kinda makes sense.. and with the reference to being smaller than his wife imagines, surprised you were human would imply that his wife didnt have a strong relationship with this person

but majority of the song is about greif, and how dificult it is to just get on with life after someone great is gone..

definetly not about a breakup... well thats what i think anyways

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epiphony11
06-05-2008

Rated 0 
Everyone takes this song differently, which exactly why it is so beautiful. From what I said earlier (death of a therapist) and reading the reactions I would just like to reiterate, the song (as written by James Murphy) is about dealing with the death of his longtime friend and mental therapist Dr. George Kamen. The album insert itself contains a dedication to the late Dr. Kamen.

That's the "true" story, but all other theories are certainly great to hear and meditate over. I love this song.

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Vespertine
06-07-2008

Rated 0 
I think this song is either about death, or about the death of someone's therapist, or the inability to see them anymore.

I think that if it were to be about death, it's probably death by cancer, especially lung-cancer from smoking.

'To tell the truth I saw it coming,
The way, you were breathing.'

that line shows that the narrator new that the person was probably going to get cancer, as they could tell from their difficulty in breathing (or smoker's cough)

If it's about someone who's died, it's probably about a mother or father figure of some form. The phone call that the narrator receives is probably the first contact he's had with the person for several years, due to an unresolved feud.

'You're smaller than my wife imagined,
Surprised, you were human.'

I believe that line refers to the physical size of the person. The wife may have never seen the caller (mother, father, therapist or whoever) before, and the size of the person is different than the narrator had explained to her. This, i believe, is a good indicator the person is probably very old, and has actually shrunk in height, as people do when they get older (especially if they have illnesses like cancer).

The narrator realizes that his chance to reconcile his relationship with the person has now passed, then the line 'Too late, for beginnings.'


If the song is about a therapist how has died or is dying, the reference to 'arguments in the basement' is probably a metaphor for a therapy room.

'I wish that we could talk about it,
But there, that's the problem.
With someone new I couldn't start it,'

These lines clearly show that although he wants to keep talking to his therapist, he can't, but he can't start anew with another therapist.

Again, if the therapist is dying (as is suggested by the second stanza) he is probably dying of lung cancer or similar.

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