Released February 1999 Length 4:55 | Recorded 1998 Label Universal | |
Genre Alternative rock, Folk rock Writer(s) Rob Baker
Gordon Downie
Johnny Fay
Paul Langlois
Gord Sinclair | ||
"Bobcaygeon" is a song by Canadian alternative rock group The Tragically Hip. It was released in February 1999 as a single from their sixth album, Phantom Power.
Contents
Background
The song is named after Bobcaygeon, Ontario, a town in the Kawartha Lakes region about 160 km (100 mi) northeast of Toronto. Its lyrics also obliquely reference the Christie Pits riot of 1933, which arose from tensions between Toronto's working-class Jewish community and anti-semitic Swastika clubs following a baseball game ("their voices rang with that Aryan twang").
According to Downie, the song was not specifically written about the town itself, but rather he chose the town's name for the lyrics primarily because it was the closest rhyme to "constellation" that he could find among small towns in Ontario. In live performances, Downie has typically explained "Bobcaygeon" as a "cop love song," though the gender and identity of the narrator's beloved change from performance to performance. Recent concerts have seen him introduce the song as "about a couple of gay cops that fall in love. One lives in the city, and the other lives in the country."
Awards
The song won the Juno Award for Single of the Year in 2000.