I read many years ago in an interview with one Rob or Paul (can't remember exactly) where it was said that this song is essentially about Niagra Falls. Another Hip song, Daredevil, deals with it specifically. The story goes that Gord was sent letters from an elementary school class that was asked to interpret the lyrics to Daredevil, and Gift Shop was born out of that correspondance. I don't know if it's true or not but I've lived with the interpretation ever since.
I don't know what to believe,
sometimes I even forget
and if it's a lie,
terrorists made me say it
Seems to me to touch on the divide between Canada and US that the Falls partially represent. In Canada we have a habit of structuring certain social ideologies in contrast to the US, to the point where if one were to consider themselves happy with American ideology and yet live in Canada (a possibility considering the geography), one would be perpetually confused as to what to believe.
I read many years ago in an interview with one Rob or Paul (can't remember exactly) where it was said that this song is essentially about Niagra Falls. Another Hip song, Daredevil, deals with it specifically. The story goes that Gord was sent letters from an elementary school class that was asked to interpret the lyrics to Daredevil, and Gift Shop was born out of that correspondance. I don't know if it's true or not but I've lived with the interpretation ever since.
I don't know what to believe, sometimes I even forget and if it's a lie, terrorists made me say it
Seems to me to touch on the divide between Canada and US that the Falls partially represent. In Canada we have a habit of structuring certain social ideologies in contrast to the US, to the point where if one were to consider themselves happy with American ideology and yet live in Canada (a possibility considering the geography), one would be perpetually confused as to what to believe.