I assume that "Our Retired Explorer," the narrator, is somebody who once knew explorer Ernest Shackleton, not Shackleton himself. Shackleton died before Foucault was born. 1961 is when Foucault earned his Doctorate by publishing Madness and Civilization. I assume "Thank you for the flowers and the book by Derrida" to be an allusion to Foucault's homosexuality. In whole I interpret this song to be about two men, professionals in totally different fields, having lengthy discussions of their careers that the other doesn't quite understand. I'm probably missing something. But I like it.
I assume that "Our Retired Explorer," the narrator, is somebody who once knew explorer Ernest Shackleton, not Shackleton himself. Shackleton died before Foucault was born. 1961 is when Foucault earned his Doctorate by publishing Madness and Civilization. I assume "Thank you for the flowers and the book by Derrida" to be an allusion to Foucault's homosexuality. In whole I interpret this song to be about two men, professionals in totally different fields, having lengthy discussions of their careers that the other doesn't quite understand. I'm probably missing something. But I like it.