Neil Finn is a singer and songwriter and one of Te Awamutu, New Zealand's f… Read Full Bio ↴Neil Finn is a singer and songwriter and one of Te Awamutu, New Zealand's foremost musicians. Along with his brother Tim Finn, he was the co-frontman for Split Enz and is now the frontman for Crowded House. He has also recorded several successful solo albums, recorded two albums with his brother as the Finn Brothers, and assembled diverse musicians for the 7 Worlds Collide projects.

Finn is said to have decided to become a musician at the age of 12 and throughout his school years performed in hospitals and prisons, as well as at home gatherings. In 1976 he formed a group known as After Hours with Mark Hough, Geoff Chunn and Alan Brown. The following year, in 1977, Finn was invited to London to join Split Enz, the band formed by his elder brother, Tim Finn. Split Enz broke up in 1984 and Neil Finn formed a new band, Crowded House, with several other Australian and New Zealand musicians.

Crowded House had a string of hits over the next 10 years, releasing four albums and culminating in a concert in the forecourt of the Sydney Opera House. Finn went solo after this, releasing several albums as well as two albums with his brother Tim (Finn Brothers).

In 2007, Finn re-united Crowded House and released a new album, Time on Earth, and the band began a world tour. In 2010, another new album, "Intriguer", was released and coincided with another world tour.

In 2012, Finn recorded the track "Song of the Lonely Mountain", which was featured in the end credits of the movie "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey".

Last to Know
Neil Finn Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

I went down the track, made the wrong turn
Finished up where I started
Noticed a change come over me
Fell in love with my own reflection, yeah

How does it feel beneath your own wheel?
Feel like an accident waking up
Under a bus with my fingers crossed

Now is the time we could make it up

So, you lost the fear, it wasn't that bad
Left to your own devices, yeah
Still a young girl, eyes on the clock
Tick like a motor running out

Magnets and words up on the fridge
Speak to the poet in all of us
I missed the page that you thought about

Drew in the frost on the windowpane
And who I wonder could fail to notice
The aching silence come down
I'm humbled now

I hope you might come back
In your own time
Left to your own devices

And so, that's how it goes
Never the first, always the last to know

Overall Meaning

The opening verse of Neil Finn's song "Last to Know" describes a feeling of stagnation, of being stuck in a place you didn't intend to be. The singer has made a wrong turn and ended up where they started, noticing a change has come over them in the meantime. The imagery of falling in love with one's own reflection suggests a kind of self-obsession, or perhaps a sense of being alone in one's struggles. The verse ends with a question about how it feels "beneath your own wheel," suggesting a theme of personal agency and responsibility.

The second verse introduces a new perspective, someone who has "lost the fear" and is now "left to [their] own devices." This person is still young and ambitious, but feels the pressure of time ticking away like a motor running out. The bridge of the song brings together a series of images - magnets and words on a fridge, a missed page, frost on a windowpane - that speak to the creative impulse and the way that even our most private thoughts and actions can communicate something larger about the human experience.

The final verse is a plea for someone to come back, to return in their own time and find whatever it is they're looking for. But the chorus brings everything back to the title phrase, "never the first, always the last to know." There's a sense of resignation here, perhaps an acknowledgment that even our most heartfelt entreaties might go unheard or unnoticed. Ultimately, "Last to Know" is a song about the search for meaning in the midst of uncertainty and the desire for connection in a world that can feel isolating.

Line by Line Meaning

I went down the track, made the wrong turn
I made a mistake and ended up where I started

Finished up where I started
I ended up back where I began

Noticed a change come over me
I realized I had changed

Fell in love with my own reflection, yeah
I became enamored with myself

How does it feel beneath your own wheel?
How does it feel to be in control of your life?

Feel like an accident waking up
I feel like a mistake in the morning

Under a bus with my fingers crossed
Hoping things will turn out okay despite the odds

Now is the time we could make it up
The present moment is an opportunity to fix things

So, you lost the fear, it wasn't that bad
Overcoming fear wasn't as difficult as expected

Left to your own devices, yeah
Given freedom to do as you please

Still a young girl, eyes on the clock
Despite age, time is still a concern