Memory of Broken Relationship

"Someone Like You"

I heard that you're settled down
That you found a girl and you're married now.
I heard that your dreams came true.
Guess she gave you things I didn't give to you.

Old friend, why are you so shy?
Ain't like you to hold back or hide from the light.

I hate to turn up out of the blue uninvited
But I couldn't stay away, I couldn't fight it.
I had hoped you'd see my face and that you'd be reminded
That for me it isn't over.

Never mind, I'll find someone like you
I wish nothing but the best for you too
Don't forget me, I beg
I remember you said,
"Sometimes it lasts in love but sometimes it hurts instead,
Sometimes it lasts in love but sometimes it hurts instead"

You know how the time flies
Only yesterday was the time of our lives
We were born and raised
In a summer haze
Bound by the surprise of our glory days

I hate to turn up out of the blue uninvited
But I couldn't stay away, I couldn't fight it.
I'd hoped you'd see my face and that you'd be reminded
That for me it isn't over.

Never mind, I'll find someone like you
I wish nothing but the best for you too
Don't forget me, I beg
I remember you said,
"Sometimes it lasts in love but sometimes it hurts instead."

Nothing compares
No worries or cares
Regrets and mistakes
They are memories made.
Who would have known how bittersweet this would taste?

Never mind, I'll find someone like you
I wish nothing but the best for you
Don't forget me, I beg
I remember you said,
"Sometimes it lasts in love but sometimes it hurts instead."

Never mind, I'll find someone like you
I wish nothing but the best for you too
Don't forget me, I beg
I remember you said,
"Sometimes it lasts in love but sometimes it hurts instead,
Sometimes it lasts in love but sometimes it hurts instead

The song “Someone like you” is composed by English singer-songwriter Adele and Dan Wilson, an American famous songwriter and producer. This song is written for Adele’s second studio album. In the song, Adele sings only accompanied by a piano, telling a story about the end of a relationship with the speaker’s ex-boyfriend. This song became Adele’s first number one single in Britain, and it stayed on the top of the chart for five weeks. I chose “Someone like you” to analyze in my third blog article not only because it’s famous and the melody of the song, but also because the lyrics sound like a story, because a lot of rhetorical devices are used in the lyrics. In this article, I will analyze those rhetorical devices, showing that these devices can make the song become more interesting, touching, and impressive.   

The song uses first person point of view and sticks the verbs to the subjects. This simple subject-verb-object sentence structure is common used in people’s daily chat, so the lyrics sounds like some friends sitting around the table and one of them is telling a story about her ex-boyfriend. This kind of sentence structure gives a natural feeling to the listeners, making them understand and get into the song quickly.

I think the most interesting and common used rhetorical devices are Anaphora, Epizeuxis, and Hypophora. The composers use Anaphora (which means repeating a word or words at the beginning of successive phrases, clauses, or sentences) and Epizeuxis (repeating a word or short phrases immediately after stating it) a lot in this song:

I heard that you're settled down
That you found a girl and you're married now.
I heard that your dreams came true.
Guess she gave you things I didn't give to you.

This repetition establishes a sad emotion at the beginning, showing that the speaker had lost the contact with her ex-boyfriend, and everything she knew about him is told by someone else. At the end of this stanza, the speaker makes an assumption (Aporia, which means expressing real or pretended doubt about a fact, idea, or conclusion), “Guess she gave you things I didn't give to you,” assuming that the new girlfriend is better than her. And the Epizeuxis, “Sometimes it lasts in love but sometimes it hurts instead, Sometimes it lasts in love but sometimes it hurts instead,” is used to show the speaker’s true feeling about breaking relationship.

In the second stanza, the speaker uses Hypophora, which means asking questions and then proceeding to answer them, to ask “Old friend, why are you so shy? Ain't like you to hold back or hide from the light.” The speaker calls her ex-boyfriend “old friend,” showing that she wants to maintain this friendship, but she doesn’t get information from him. This stanza is an emphasis on the first stanza, emphasizing the sad emotion.

I think the reason why this song is so famous is because most people have had broken relationships, and this song tells exactly people’s true feelings about the relationships. The song uses the story format, telling the sad feelings and life experience after broke up. Just like Adele said:

I was really emotionally drained from the way I was portraying him, because even though I'm very bitter and regret some parts of it, he's still the most important person that's ever been in my life, and 'Someone Like You,' I had to write it to feel OK with myself and OK with the two years I spent with him. And when I did it, I felt so freed.

Some people may argue that this song is written in the plain language style and is not a very creative work like a poem, so they may think this is not an actual creative writing. However, from my own perspective, poems are a kind of creative writing which uses simple words and phrases to build imageries, using those imageries to attract the readers and making readers imagine what the writers’ feelings about the world. Songs like “Someone Like You,” are another kind of creative writing which tells stories in a plain way. “Someone Like You” doesn’t contain a really attractive imagery within, but the emotion in the song is real and does resonate with the readers.

In conclusion, I think the text I chose is a kind of creative writing which is different from poems. With those rhetorical devices in the song, it becomes more interesting and impressive.

by Ximing Yu