I think much like another song “Anti-Matter” (that's also on the same album as this song), this one is also is inspired by a horrifying van crash the band experienced on Nov 3, 2022. This, much like the other track, sounds like it's an extension what they shared while huddled in the wreckage, as they helped frontman Garrett Russell stem the bleeding from his head wound while he was under the temporary effects of a concussion. The track speaks of where the mind goes at the most desperate & desolate of times, when it just about slips away to all but disconnect itself, and the aftermath.
There's an empty place inside that is hurting me
A place that keeps my heart out on it's own
A disconnected function of my wretchedness
That keeps me so hard pressed
It's a place where words are spoken you
Will never hear
A broken bridge of lines that just won't come
An empty lung that won't give the wind
To speak at me
How far can it be from home
Why you gotta be so mean to me
Why you gotta drag me down just to make me see
You know I don't listen good and I'm always in need
So why you gotta be so mean to me
Do you think that it got up and left
For good this time
A crowd of faceless strangers moving on
A feeling that you left it all behind you now
That it doesn't hurt somehow
To know
Why you gotta be so mean to me
Why you gotta drag me down just to make me see
You know I don't listen good and I'm always in need
So why you gotta be so mean to me
So open up the book that you keep deep inside
Let the pages yellow in the sun
Show them that you're not afraid to let them see
How far you can be From home
Why you gotta be so mean to me
Why you gotta drag me down just to make me see
You know I don't listen good and I'm always in need
So why you gotta be so fucking mean to me
Why you gotta be
Why you gotta be
Why you gotta be
Why you gotta be
Why you gotta be
Why you gotta be
Why you gotta be so mean to me
A place that keeps my heart out on it's own
A disconnected function of my wretchedness
That keeps me so hard pressed
It's a place where words are spoken you
Will never hear
A broken bridge of lines that just won't come
An empty lung that won't give the wind
To speak at me
How far can it be from home
Why you gotta be so mean to me
Why you gotta drag me down just to make me see
You know I don't listen good and I'm always in need
So why you gotta be so mean to me
Do you think that it got up and left
For good this time
A crowd of faceless strangers moving on
A feeling that you left it all behind you now
That it doesn't hurt somehow
To know
Why you gotta be so mean to me
Why you gotta drag me down just to make me see
You know I don't listen good and I'm always in need
So why you gotta be so mean to me
So open up the book that you keep deep inside
Let the pages yellow in the sun
Show them that you're not afraid to let them see
How far you can be From home
Why you gotta be so mean to me
Why you gotta drag me down just to make me see
You know I don't listen good and I'm always in need
So why you gotta be so fucking mean to me
Why you gotta be
Why you gotta be
Why you gotta be
Why you gotta be
Why you gotta be
Why you gotta be
Why you gotta be so mean to me
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Umm.... I think these lyrics are wrong?
Actual lyrics:
She came all the way from America She had a blind date with destiny And the sound of Te Awamutu Had a truly sacred ring Now her parents Are divorced And her friend's committing suicide
I could not escape A plea from the heart You know what it means to me She said don't walk away I'm down on my knees So please don't be mean to me
So I talked to you for an hour In the bar of a small town hotel And you asked me what I was thinking I was thinking of a padded cell With a black and white T.V To stop us from getting lonely
I could not escape A plea from the heart You know what it means to me You said don't walk away I'm down on my knees So please don't be mean to me
You know I could not escape A plea from the heart Mysterious sympathy I couldn't wait for a chance Walk out the door You know what it means to me
I... I...
I saw you lying in the arms of a poet I I heard him tell you ta...tantalizing Lies What'd'ya know Whad'd'ya know
I could not escape You're down on the floor You know what it means to me I couldn't wait for a chance Walk out the door Mean... Mean... I could not escape Down on my knees You know what it means
What it means What it means
In the arms of a poet You know what it means
this was about some demanding fan .
Te Awamutu is the New Zealand town Neill and Tim Finn grew up in. This song is about a girl that Neill met, and her story. She was american, and was there just out of luck. Te Awamutu sounded like something different so she packed up and went. Everyone hda left her, and she pleaded for Neill to stay. So he talked to her, in the pub which they met. Thikning of a padded cell-he didnt want to be there, felt like he was stuck. Black and White TV to stop us from getting lonely-Little else in the pub.
Neill for some reason stayed-showing Mysterious Sympathy.
Then she ending up getting drunk, and sleeping with one of his friends who was a poet.
The thing I really love about this song is the double meaning of 'mean'. The rest of the song seems to be constructed around flipping the meaning of 'mean' from 'nasty' to 'understanding' in the chorus.
He's stuck talking to a self-absorbed tourist who's being inappropriately revealing. He feels obligated to stay physically, but is in every other way disconnected.
re: I saw you lying in the arms of a poet verse... I always interpreted that as meaning they ended up getting together. He was the poet - again disengaged - and he was lying to her (as he had been all night). Getting together surprised him ie. 'whaddaya know... whaddaya know.'
This song, according to Neil Finn himself, is about a girl who comes out from America just to see the band she is obsessed with and some guy ends up taking her for a ride in his car.
I know that part of this is true, there was a fan who came out from America but i'm not sure if the guy taking her for a ride is true
O.K. So everything here is pretty much true...only it is in bits and pieces
This girl from America was really obsessed with Neil and flew to Te Awamutu to meet him... She met him one night after a gig when he was sick and nursing headache. She sat down next to him at the bar and started telling him the many woes of her life 'her parents are divorced/her friends committed suicide'. Neil realised that he was talking to a crazy and eventually managed to pass off to a friend of his (I forget the name now) who was a poet and left her with him.
I read an interview with him a few years ago where he discussed this...The lyrics do appear to be reffering to this story
i love his voice in this song 'Walk out the door!!'... 'down on my knees' espcially near the end 'in the arms of a poet' its so good