"Don't Dream It's Over" (Crowded House)

"Don't Dream It's Over" from Crowded House's 1986 self-titled album marked the point at which I began really listening to song lyrics as a kid.  Before that, I heard song lyrics and could often repeat them, verbatim.  But I never really thought about lyrics having meaning. 
Granted, that could have something to do with mainstream radio in the 80s playing tons of crappy pop with vapid, meaningless lyrics.  (Su-su-sudio, anyone?  **shudder**)
The first time I heard "Don't Dream It's Over," I remember thinking: this guy's just singing about everyday stuff.  Towing his car.  Holes in the roof.  How could that be a song!?  
My 8-year-old self dubbed it "stupid."
But as I kept hearing it after that, something about the song kept drawing me in, apart from that anthemic melody and Mitchell Froom's not-too-trendy production.  I remember taping it off the radio onto a blank cassette (how 80s is that?) so that I could listen to it, again and again.  It was still a little too lyrically complex and mature for me to unravel the whole thing, but I began to understand that it was a song about not giving up.  When that clicked in my head, it hit me: maybe lyrics could have different layers of meaning, and maybe other artists out there were writing lyrics like that, too.
Years later, I realized songwriter Neil Finn was saying that holes in roofs and broken-down cars are inevitable life stuff, but they often make us feel like we can't win—especially if we're already struggling in some other way (finances, relationships, etc.).  The song is basically a pep-talk to himself.
As Finn later told Rolling Stone magazine, "It was just about on the one hand feeling kind of lost, and on the other hand sort of urging myself on—don't dream it's over."