Very, very pretty music. A vocal duet between the song's composer and the wonderful Ms Elias, possessor of beautiful, slightly husky voice and superb pianistic skills.
Her trio here includes Eddie Gomez and Jack DeJonette, both once of Bill Evans's trio. There are a few delicate touches of synth which compliment the mood, used like a string orchestra.
very simply put, this song is interesting. it can almost be split in two, the monotone first part and the almost screeching end. the whole song conveys hopelessness (or is it helplessness) in a very precise way.
the obligatory references to the city are here as well as an interesting verse, 'you can only go so far for womankind' which always reminded me of 'i've lost my faith in womanhood'--a bit in the smiths' "pretty girls make graves".
Crowded House seem to be deeply unpopular at the moment - perhaps they were too popular in the early 90s, or perhaps, as I tended to think, even more than with most groups, the simpler, less good songs were released as singles, achieved success, and sort of "labelled" the band, seemingly colouring their subsequent output.
Anyway, this is a well-executed Beatle-ish song, most of whose lyrics I've never fathomed. The album is by far the band's best, though I think it was the worst seller. (Not an unfamilair scenario, of course).