"The Idiot" is a song written by Stan Rogers, found on his albums Northwest Passage and Home in Halifax.
The introduction also states that the song contains the "knuckle-dragging" beat characteristic of Morris dance tunes.
Many factories in his home province had closed, employment was scarce, and he did not want to go on unemployment because he "take[s] nothing free."
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 [their] souls."