Jamie Reidy shares his embarrassment over being late to the Gotye party.
Saturday afternoon I was riding the back seat of my friend’s car as we drove to a BBQ. The copilot switched from radio station to radio station in search of good tunes. Finally, a song came on and the singer’s voice sounded quite familiar.
“How come I haven’t heard this Peter Gabriel song before?” My pals informed me that that’s because it wasn’t Peter Gabriel. In fact, they claimed it didn’t really sound like the legendary singer of the greatest love song ever, “In Your Eyes.”
Alas, the DJ didn’t mention the artist’s name and the station is one of the few that doesn’t provide that info on the digital dial. So, I sent myself an email to remind me to find out the identity of the act.
This morning, I googled, “Song that sounds like Peter Gabriel.” Several people had already asked this question on Yahoo Answers. I clicked on the link to Goyte and, voila, found the song we’d heard on Saturday.
Had I simply moved onto something else vitally important, I wouldn’t be crushed by depression right now. But I just had to go and check how many views the video has on You Tube. 208,497,959 That can’t be, I thought. Stunned, I rubbed my eyes and looked again. Sure enough, people have watched “Somebody I Used to Know” more than 208 – pinky at corner of mouth – million times.
WTF?! How have I never heard of this guy? I didn’t even know how to pronounce it. Got-ya?
So, I googled “how to pronounce Gotye.” And learned that the answer is “Got-ee-ay” thanks to this helpful video:
Now, at least I’d heard of Got-ee-ay… but I didn’t exactly know what he/it was. Turns out that “Somebody I used to Know” was a #1 song on the Billboard Top 100 in 2011.
Sigh. Tough way to start the week: feeling like my old man.
Drat, and here I thought it was pronounced Go-tee-ay.
I used to love a song by the same title, by Elliot Smith “Somebody That I Used to Know”. Now don’t go around saying “Who’s Elliot Smith?”
Listen, it’s great: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fq2QKo8n_5g
I agree on all fronts. I do think it’s Go-tee-yay… I say it French-style. Go-chee-yay.
The Elliot Smith song is WAY better.
Way.
Check out the 3 yo girl, Grace, grooving to the Gotye song on youtube…
Just groove with it, Jamie….!
Michael, yeah, I didn’t know who she is either! But that’s some voice.
Thanks for making me feel better, Heather!
Well seeing as you’re introducing me to Gotye…don’t feel so bad. I’m even later to the party. 😀
IMO, “Somebody…” issn’t even one of his better songs…Try “Heart’s a mess”…it’s the song that introed me to Goyte, quite good.
Jamie, I hope you are prepaired for bad news… That woman singing with him in the vidio… She’s an increasingly big thing too. Kimbra is her name. Look her up.