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Montreal Lyrics
She used to like lavender pantsuits
Long black velvet gloves
Smiles across crowded rooms
To the only boy she ever loved
Don't you worry
Her mama's gonna make her look good
Don't you worry
Her mama's gonna make her look good
She didn't care for leopard coats
Or tall thin millionaires
Kissing girls on New Year's Eve
Sitting up in leather chairs
Don't you worry
Her mama's gonna make her look good
Don't you worry
Her mama's gonna make her look good
Won't you give me the chance
The chance to explain
Ah well, explain away
The snow is so merciless
Poor old Montreal
In spite of everything that's happened
Yeah, in spite of it all
Don't you worry
Her mama's gonna make her look good
Don't you worry
Her mama's gonna make her look good
Because a coward won't die alone
Long black velvet gloves
Smiles across crowded rooms
To the only boy she ever loved
Don't you worry
Her mama's gonna make her look good
Don't you worry
Her mama's gonna make her look good
Or tall thin millionaires
Kissing girls on New Year's Eve
Sitting up in leather chairs
Don't you worry
Her mama's gonna make her look good
Don't you worry
Her mama's gonna make her look good
The chance to explain
Ah well, explain away
Poor old Montreal
In spite of everything that's happened
Yeah, in spite of it all
Her mama's gonna make her look good
Don't you worry
Her mama's gonna make her look good
Song Info
Submitted by
dwaynelove On Sep 14, 2006
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you can hear the last part of this song during "courage" from live between us.
I agree with tweedwoldscream, this definitely is about the 1989 Montreal Massacre.
But notice how he describes what the girl likes. She likes really simple, sweet, innocent things. She's only been with the "only boy she ever loved", and she doesn't dress too over the top (pantsuits). She didn't like any of the things that negative stereotypes of women would imply (leopard coats, or being with rich men, or faux-pas lesbianism). These are the sort of negative stereotypes that the sexist killer of the massacre would assume of women (they want rich men, they're all dykes, etc.).
This girl is nothing like how the 'coward' perceives her. Yet he's too blinded to recognize it. Hence "give me a chance to explain". Maybe if he had to really get to know her as a human being, without his sexist point of view, he would've found a good person he might've been friends with. But he never gave her that chance to 'explain' herself.
But I could be totally wrong.
I've heard that Gord once introduced this one as "a song about the identification process", meaning that it's about the mother of one of the victims of the 1989 Montreal Massacre, identifying her daughter's dead body at the police station.
I wrote an article on my blog about the song, partly in French and in English: https://sergestarno.com/2021/12/06/montreal-the-tragically-hip/