Past Life – English Lyrics

• By: Tame Impala
• Album: The Slow Rush

Lyrics & Translation

Dive into the psychedelic world of Tame Impala with 'Past Life'! This song is a perfect tool for language learners to master expressive, emotive vocabulary and understand how abstract concepts like time and memory are articulated in English through rhythmic, modern pop.

[English]

I was picking up a suit from the dry cleaners

Which is standard for me

Thursday, 12:30

I've got a pretty solid routine these days

I don't know, it just works for me

Anyway, I was leaving

I was getting in my car

And I went to adjust the rearview mirror

But in its reflection, just for a second

I saw a figure, started to trigger

Memories flooded back

Stopped me in my tracks

Who was that?

It was my lover

My lover from a past life

...

From a past life

Feel like I saw a ghost

From a past life

So unexpected

From a past life

I was transfixed

From a past life

...

Well, somewhere between a lover and a friend

It was different back then

Surreal, poetic, but uncertain

Like a bizarre chick-flick with a confusing end

But I shut it down, closed it off

The sounds and smells I made myself forget

A cheap solution to block out regret

But it was real

It just feels like a past life

...

From a past life

Crazy

From a past life

(It takes a lot to trip me out)

I always wondered if you wanted my love

For the first time

In a long time

I always wondered if you wanted my love

...

So I go about my day as normal

But I can't seem to pass it off as just a random event

It consumes me

I thought I was moving on, but I guess I was just switching off

And now I see my life as the banal slog it instantly became

And I don't know if I can go on the same

But I don't wanna dig up old bones

I mean, I don't even know if she has the same phone number

Who knows? Maybe she does

...

From a past life

I guess there's no harm in trying

From a past life

What's the worst that could happen?

I always wondered if you wanted my love

For the first time

In a long time

I tried to say it, but it never came out right

...

Past life

From a past life

You're not a stranger if you're always on my mind

For the first time

I know it's late, it just didn't feel right

In a long time

...

Hello?

...

Key Grammar Structures

• I've got a pretty solid routine these days

  ➔ Present Perfect Tense

  ➔ "I've got" is a colloquial way to use the present perfect to describe a current state that has developed over time.

• I thought I was moving on, but I guess I was just switching off

  ➔ Past Continuous Tense

  ➔ "was moving on" and "was switching off" describe ongoing actions that were happening in the speaker's past perspective.

• I always wondered if you wanted my love

  ➔ Reported speech / Indirect question

  ➔ The clause "if you wanted my love" acts as an indirect question following the verb "wondered".

• You're not a stranger if you're always on my mind

  ➔ First Conditional

  ➔ The structure uses "if" + present simple to express a logical consequence (a real possibility).

• I don't even know if she has the same phone number

  ➔ Present Simple for current states

  ➔ "has" is used in the present tense because the speaker is questioning a current fact.

• I was picking up a suit

  ➔ Past Continuous

  ➔ The phrase "was picking up" sets the scene for a background action in the past.

• I don't wanna dig up old bones

  ➔ Modal verb construction (informal)

  ➔ "wanna" is a contraction of "want to", a common informal modal-like construction.

• It just feels like a past life

  ➔ Stative verb

  ➔ "feels" is a stative verb here, describing an internal perception rather than a physical action.