Mean To Me

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