"The Idiot" is a song written by

Stan Rogers Stanley Allison Rogers (November 29, 1949 – June 2, 1983) was a Canadian folk musician and songwriter. Rogers was noted for his rich, baritone voice and his traditional-sounding songs which were frequently inspired by Canadian history and th ...

, found on his albums ''

Northwest Passage The Northwest Passage (NWP) is the sea route between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans through the Arctic Ocean, along the northern coast of North America via waterways through the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. The eastern route along the Arct ...

'' and ''

Home in Halifax ''Home in Halifax'' is a 1993 live album by Stan Rogers. It was recorded by the CBC during a concert Rogers performed at the Rebecca Cohn Auditorium in Halifax, Nova Scotia in March 1982, 11 years prior. The concert was put together as a live ...

''. On ''Home in Halifax'', Rogers introduces the song by explaining that it is about the movement of people away from the

Atlantic Provinces Atlantic Canada, also called the Atlantic provinces (french: provinces de l'Atlantique), is the region of Eastern Canada comprising the provinces located on the Atlantic coast, excluding Quebec. The four provinces are New Brunswick, Newfoundlan ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

to the province of

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

for work. The introduction also states that the song contains the "knuckle-dragging" beat characteristic of

Morris dance Morris dancing is a form of English folk dance. It is based on rhythmic stepping and the execution of choreographed figures by a group of dancers, usually wearing bell pads on their shins. Implements such as sticks, swords and handkerchiefs may ...

tunes.

Story

The song's narrator recounts how he moved to Alberta six years earlier. Many factories in his home province had closed, employment was scarce, and he did not want to go on unemployment because he "take nothing free." Instead, he moved west and took a job in a refinery. He finds his new city unpleasantly dirty and he misses his old hometown, but he respects himself for making his own living and not having to rely on social assistance. He urges other young men from the Eastern provinces "who've been beaten to the ground" to follow his example, saying that they will probably miss their hometowns, as he does, but they will have "self-respect and a steady cheque" rather than the "government dole" that will "rot

heir Inheritance is the practice of receiving private property, titles, debts, entitlements, privileges, rights, and obligations upon the death of an individual. The rules of inheritance differ among societies and have changed over time. Officiall ...

souls." The song however ends on a melancholy note in Seth Staton Watkins's version, where the narrator reflects that this is just a story that he tells himself when he misses home. "I tell myself I'm doing right" the narrator states while reflecting that he is not free even here in the last line of the song, "Why can't I just be free".

Recordings

Song

* Stan Rogers on ''

'' (1981) and ''

'' (1993) * Seth Staton Watkins on his 2022 album ''Working Folk'', with an additional verse.

Tune

The “knuckle-dragging rhythm” of the tune, so described by its author on ''

'', has inspired many, primarily Cotswold, Morris teams to write dances to the tune. Some examples are: * Merrimac Morris (New Hampshire, USA) wrote a dance to be danced to the tune of "The Idiot", in the Field Town style of morris dance, in 1986. * Uptown-on-Calhoun Morris of Minneapolis does a dance to the tune of "The Idiot". * The Bassett Street Hounds morris team of Syracuse, N.Y. have written a dance called "The Drunken Idiot", performed to the same tune but with alternative words written by Jon Berger. * Maple Morris wrote a big morris to the tune, seen performing it at the Sidmouth Folk Week in 2011. *

Corb Lund Corb Lund is a Canadian country and western singer-songwriter from Taber, Alberta, Canada. He has released eleven albums, three of which are certified gold. Lund tours regularly in Canada, the United States and Australia, and has received several ...

used the tune of the song for his song "I Wanna Be in the Cavalry" on the 2007 album Horse Soldier! Horse Soldier!.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Idiot, The Stan Rogers songs 1981 songs Songs written by Stan Rogers