Listen to the song until the time stamp of 2:38. 

This section of the lyrics ends with what I have described here as a paucity of words.  Finn writes what we feel after witnessing or being involved in violence. 

The lyric says how we feel in the gut, “There are no words.”

Then pick up the new emotional resonance of the interlude. Think through your own life.  If you are angry and seeking revenge, do you say to yourself,  “Well, they will get what they deserve.”  That makes sense.  We want order restored and often finding justice in the situation does allow victims to move forward. Something beyond revenge opens up. Can you hear it during the poetic interlude? What do you think Neil Finn is examining about his heart?

As the song transitions out of  the beautiful interlude of peaceful notes with woodwinds and grieving humming sounds–– he speaks again.  

In the case of this mass shooting in Paris at the Bataclan Theater you sense that he is speaking for the musicians, the ones that find a member of the band or crew as well as an abandoned leather jacket in the dressing room.  Picture the fear as one of their own has gone missing. It is midnight. The show was abruptly stopped by the sound of bullets ringing out from the back of the auditorium.  

Neil Finn is grappling with trauma. What if it has been his show?  Maybe he was in the city or he had a personal friendship with the band performing on stage.  –whatever the case.  His next words portray his heart taking a turn in the opposite direction.  He decides against becoming the evil he has felt first hand.

His revenge?   What will it be?

He writes, “In my distant home–I will write a melody–And I will sing for you–When I return–It may not change a lot–But I’ll give it everything I’ve got–It will come to life, because of you . . .”

He reaches for creativity emanating from a broken heart to outshine the darkness of the senseless murders in Paris.  This is a good example of working below a reflexive empowerment to find true empowerment after tragedy.