Coneycat Wrote:I felt very clever, and yet quite stupid, when I finally figured out that cryptic "drop a caribou" line. (It's the same as "dropping a dime," only pay phones now take quartrs, not dimes, adn the Canadian coin has a caribou on it. Duh!)
You're not alone. Of all the crap on my site, that little nugget of info still lands me the most e-mail.
I've actually given people quarters in the States after telling them about the lyric.
On an unrelated note, when Casey and I were in line with a couple who were seeing the Hip in Boston for the first time, they were interested in the loonie and twonie I had in my wallet.
There's just something about Canadian coins I guess.
As for what the song is about; it comes from an era when Gord was more likely to sing about fictional events with obvious/literal references mixed in, today the opposite is true.
I think KWT's assessment is closest to what I've always heard, perhaps with a condemnation of the girl for being selfish or self centred by either 'mom' or 'him,' hence the "dead to rights and wide awake."
I think 'he' is saying that a watershed moment has come in their relationship, maybe he's finally telling her it's over, despite the fact that she's run away to be with him, and threatening to call her mom and tell her where she is.
)---and there's the symbol of the confused weatherman trying to see how the wind is blowing, probably a metaphor for indecision. But I don't see anything in the tune that contradicts this basic reading of the lyric.
