World Where You Live

Album: Crowded House (1986)
Charted: 65
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Songfacts®:

  • Written by lead singer Neil Finn, this was the first single released worldwide by Crowded House, who were formed by formed Split Enz members Neil Finn, his brother Tim Finn, and Paul Hester. In America, the song wasn't released until after "Don't Dream It's Over" caught on there. The band's first single, "Mean To Me," was released only in Australia.
  • Neil Finn explained the unusual inspiration for this song in a 1998 interview with Goldmine. Said Finn: "I was staying in my manager in L.A.'s house, and there was a woman that lived next door to him who always seemed to be having wild sex at about 6 in the morning. It used to wake me up. And I had no idea anything about her, except that she was really rampantly enjoying the thrash-around.

    I think that's where I got the lines 'I don't know where you go, do you climb into space, to the world where you live,' just speculating about this mystery life that was going on next door."

Comments: 4

  • Bernard Douglas Cook from Foley, Al, Usa@Martha from Knoxville, interesting...if I'm reading you correctly, I think I would agree that Finn is not being honest about the inspiration for his song. Great observation.
  • Bernard Douglas Cook from Foley, Al, Usa@Rob D from Madison, exactly...I agree completely.
  • Rob D from MadisonWow. Not what I was expecting. I often give songwriters way too much credit for depth on sources of their lyrics
  • Martha from Knoxville, TnI helped someone with a school English assignment using this song as an illustration of a character from Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams) . Guess which character. I don't generally believe Mr. Finn,
    although I love his work.
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