I think it's just a song about childhood. There are various allusions to childhood nostalgia. The line about not fucking with the 401 is probably referring to Highway 401 that runs through the north side of Kingston, the hometown of The Hip. They could have possibly played as children in that section of the highway while it was being built. The references to Great-grandfathers and the like, could be the bragging that most kids are inclined to do. "My great-grandfather did this...etc." Each new reference to a relative seems to out-do the last. "Her great-grandfather saw the future," then "My great-grandfather saw the blimp on Sundays," (some obviously more far-fetched then others). I think the song on a whole is trying to say that we live in this sort of bubble as children (or Terrarium). Everything is huge and daunting (Titanic) - "Its bigger than us and larger than we bargained" (The 401).
I think it's just a song about childhood. There are various allusions to childhood nostalgia. The line about not fucking with the 401 is probably referring to Highway 401 that runs through the north side of Kingston, the hometown of The Hip. They could have possibly played as children in that section of the highway while it was being built. The references to Great-grandfathers and the like, could be the bragging that most kids are inclined to do. "My great-grandfather did this...etc." Each new reference to a relative seems to out-do the last. "Her great-grandfather saw the future," then "My great-grandfather saw the blimp on Sundays," (some obviously more far-fetched then others). I think the song on a whole is trying to say that we live in this sort of bubble as children (or Terrarium). Everything is huge and daunting (Titanic) - "Its bigger than us and larger than we bargained" (The 401).