The song is named after the town of Bobcaygeon, Ontario, which sits about 160 kilometres northeast of Toronto. While the name is very specific, the story behind the song is much more universal.
The narrator works in the city as a police officer, a job he finds extremely stressful. He’s clearly at a point in his life where he’s thinking about quitting and doing something else. Gord Downie once loosely described the song as a cop love song.
In the story, the officer works in Toronto and travels to Bobcaygeon to visit someone he loves. In the original music video, the cop’s partner is female. But over the years, Downie sometimes introduced the song in concert as being about a couple of gay police officers who fell in love.
That’s part of what makes Bobcaygeon so special. There are a lot of different backstories attached to it, and none of them are definitive. The song isn’t locked into one interpretation, it can apply to anybody, or any relationship.
Downie also said that while he really liked the name Bobcaygeon, it wasn’t necessarily meant to be that exact town. To him, it represented any small town outside a big city, a place to escape the pressure and stress of urban life.
And in classic Gord fashion, there’s also a practical reason for the name. Bobcaygeon is one of the only place names that actually rhymes with the word consultation.
One of the many amzing songs from Canada’s band.
