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Gift Shop Lyrics
The beautiful lull,
the dangerous tug
we get to feel small
from high up above
and after a glimpse
over the top
the rest of the world
becomes a gift shop
The pendulum swings
for the horse like a man
out over the rim
is ice cream to him
the beautiful lull,
the dangerous tug
we get to feel small
but not out of place at all
We're forced to bed
but we're free to dream
all us human extras,
all us herded beings
and after a glimpse
over the top
the rest of the world
becomes a gift shop
I don't know what to believe,
sometimes I even forget
and if it's a lie,
terrorists made me say it
the beautiful lull,
the dangerous tug
we get to feel small
from high up above
from high up above
the dangerous tug
we get to feel small
from high up above
and after a glimpse
over the top
the rest of the world
becomes a gift shop
for the horse like a man
out over the rim
is ice cream to him
the beautiful lull,
the dangerous tug
we get to feel small
but not out of place at all
but we're free to dream
all us human extras,
all us herded beings
and after a glimpse
over the top
the rest of the world
becomes a gift shop
sometimes I even forget
and if it's a lie,
terrorists made me say it
the beautiful lull,
the dangerous tug
we get to feel small
from high up above
Song Info
Submitted by
black_cow_of_death On Jan 26, 2002
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I could listen to this song until my ears bleed. It's that good.
Jus maken a post, and complimenting on how well they pull it off on the album "Live Between Us". I have no clue what the lyrics mean, but its a real good song to listen to. I think a band can do anyting if they have 5 hours for every song to master it in the studio, but to pull it off perfect live, in front of thousands of people, it takes some real talent earned only through hard work and experiance. I'm a guitarist and i know how hard it is to make live stuff sound good... plus the crowd will mess yeh up.
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.
This one is my all time favorite in terms of lyrics and poetry lol. I did a project on Gord Downey for my adult high English class, back in 2010. He's my favorite poet. I was floored by the fact that he didn't see himself that way... He didn't fancy himself a poet. He wrote the music, and filled it with what ever words he thought fit best from the likes of what he could muster. He just didn't know his own strength. All of Tragically Hip's lyrics are stunning works of poetry.
Also, I'm a bit annoyed with other explanations here - "The rest of the world becomes a gift shop" means, this is what we are here for, and everything else is just the gift shop on the way out. There's a woman moaning in the intro lol. It's about sex!
I love this song because the meaning is much simpler than most of their other songs. It seems to me this song is about a person caught in a dream where he or she is looking down on the world and out into heaven. When we get to heaven, the earth in all of its splendor and glory are nothing more than trinkets that were here for our needs. We don't trinkets with us. Beautiful metaphor if you ask me.
I like what opinionhead said. That really makes sense with the "beautiful lull...dangerous tug" of materialism.
For any hip fans who want to search potential meanings of songs...
www.hipmuseum.com
According to this awesome site, this song was inspired by the big hole in the ground in Northeastern Arizona.
After watching this video a number of times, I can't help but see this song as an unintended memorial toward 9/11. It came out five years before that, but the video for the song shows a few shots of the Twin Towers in all their glory. Maybe I'm drawing the wrong conclusion here, but I just happen to see it that way at this moment.
I don't believe that's what it means but believe me I started thinking the same thing, especially when the shot with Manhattan in it, followed later on by the empty snow globe with all of the sparkles flying around the empty globe, eerily reminded me of all of the papers flying around the city when the buildings were hit :/
I don't believe that's what it means but believe me I started thinking the same thing, especially when the shot with Manhattan in it, followed later on by the empty snow globe with all of the sparkles flying around the empty globe, eerily reminded me of all of the papers flying around the city when the buildings were hit :/
I think of Gift Shop as the thoughts going through Gordie's mind as he is taking a flight somewhere - "the dangerous tug" being the plane as it takes off. When we travel away from home, "the rest of the world becomes a gift shop". Looking down at the world "from high up above" he ponders our shared human existence and the vastness of the world ("we get to feel small").
But he also affirms our existence with lines like "we're forced to bed / but we're free to dream" and "we get to feel small / but not out of place at all". And for all of the thoughts he is pondering (perhaps taking into account many of the seemingly petty issues of the times) he ultimately admits "I don't know what to believe / sometimes I even forget".
To me, the deeper genius of describing the world as a gift shop is also a pointed critique of consumerism, and how it affects our lives and world in so many ways (contributing to us feeling small). But hey, "if its a lie, terrorists made me say it".