Gord Downie has said that this song was inspired by a couple that was fighting outside a house beside the house the band was staying in while recording "Day for Night" in New Orleans. Gord Sinclair facetiously said "I guess it's springtime in Vienna" while watching this couple tear each other's heads off. Downie decided to elaborate on that paradox by writing about the the Nazi's invading Austria in the spring. The most beautiful time of the year, in one of the most beautiful places in the world is the backdrop for a violent invasion. This is an example of "surviving our paradoxes".
Gord Downie has said that this song was inspired by a couple that was fighting outside a house beside the house the band was staying in while recording "Day for Night" in New Orleans. Gord Sinclair facetiously said "I guess it's springtime in Vienna" while watching this couple tear each other's heads off. Downie decided to elaborate on that paradox by writing about the the Nazi's invading Austria in the spring. The most beautiful time of the year, in one of the most beautiful places in the world is the backdrop for a violent invasion. This is an example of "surviving our paradoxes".