Nearly Midnight, Honolulu Lyrics
It was nearly midnight in Honolulu
We were waiting for the shuttle to take us to the aeroplane
When your mother said, your mother said
Like I couldn't hear her, she said
"Get the fuck away from me!
Why don't you ever shut up?
Get the fuck away from me!"
Oh, oh
Well, I just want to say that it happened
'Cause one day when you ask yourself
"Did it really happen?"
You won't believe it, but yes, it did
And I'm sorry
And I'm sorry
'Cause it happens everyday
They won't believe you
When you tell them
They won't believe you
When you say, "My mother, she did not love me
My mother, she did not love me"
No (no) [x8]
And people will rush to make excuses for you
You'll hear yourself complain
But don't you ever shut up
Please, kid, have your say
'Cause I still love you
Even if I don't see you again
About
This song is about a real incident she witnessed, but also about how it relates to her own childhood and feeling unloved by her parents:
“I was waiting for a shuttle to go to the airport and a mother with a little girl who was about 5-ish, I think, and the little girl was singing a song to herself. She’s being cute,” Case says. “And the mom was screaming at her — ‘Just get the F away from me.’ Like, ‘Don’t you ever shut up?!’ And I was like, ‘That’s too close to home.’
[…]
"They’ve really never been my parents,” Case tells NPR’s Steve Inskeep. “I mean, they are my biological parents, but they never wanted a kid. And so I just wasn’t really parented, per se. I don’t miss them at all. But, you know, you go back and you start to think about why you missed them your whole life but you never knew you were doing because when you’re a little kid that’s all you know.”
Q&A
Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning
- 3.Man
- 6.Nearly Midnight, Honolulu
- 8.City Swans
- 9.Afraid
- 10.Local Girl
- 12.Ragtime
