Somebody Once Told Me

About

“Somebody Once Told Me” is the first line of the 1999 Smash Mouth song “All Star.” After appearing in the opening scene of the 2001 animated children’s film Shrek, when the protagonist slams a door, the line became part of a photo set meme involving characters who smashed or slammed things.

Origin

“All Star” was the first single on rock band Smash Mouth’s sophomore album, Astro Lounge, which was released on June 8th, 1999. Shrek, an animated children’s comedy film, was released on May 18th, 2001. In the opening scene of the film Shrek, the protagonist, slams a door open just as the song begins.

This lead to a photo meme which splits a scene from a TV show or movie which features something slamming, or someone being surprised by a slam or loud noise into two parts, one before the slam captioned “some-” and one after the slam captioned “body once told me.”

One of the earliest examples features Pokemon character Gary Oak slamming a door on Ash. The photo set was published by Tumblr user jelly-fishes^[1] on April 9th, 2013. As of June 2014, it had gained over 21,000 notes.

Spread

In 2013 there were five Somebody Once Told Me posts published on Tumblr which gained over 1,000 notes.

On April 19th, Tumblr user wet-monsoon^[5] published a post which featured characters from Gravity Falls. As of June 2014, the post had gained over 1,500 notes.

Also on April 19th, Tumblr user puella-la^[6] published a post which featured characters from Homestuck. As of June 2014, the post had gained over 1,500 notes.

On April 20th, Tumblr user electric-emperor^[2] published a post which featured characters from Fullmetal Alchemist. As of June 2014, the post had gained over 4,000 notes.

On May 9th, Tumblr user rory-odair^[4] published a post which featured characters from A Very Potter Musical. As of June 2014, the video had gained over 2,000 notes.

On August 8th, Tumblr user sennpie^[3] published a post which featured a character from the Japanese video game Dangan Ronpa. As of June 2014, the post had gained over 1,500 notes.

Related Memes

The World Was Macaroni

On April 20th, 2010, YouTuber GaMeSkZeRo^[7] uploaded a video titled “Somebody Once Told Me The World’s Was Macaroni,” which featured a flip book style music video for a parody of “All Star,” which changes the first line from “Somebody once told me the world is gonna roll me,” to “Somebody once told me the world’s was macaroni.” As of June 2014, the video has gained over 240,000 views. On October 10th, 2010, YouTuber howToBe12t^[8] uploaded a video titled “Somebody Song (Allstar Parody),” which featured a similar parody of “All Star” set to a cartoon music video. As of June 2014, the video has gained over 97,000 views.