The song was indirectly inspired by a dinner meeting between Cockburn and a relative that worked in a defense-related government position. The relative suggested that there was considerable concern that a war might break out between China and the Soviet Union saying, "We could wake up tomorrow to a nuclear war". Cockburn was upset, and had dreams that night about lions at his front door, but not in a threatening way. When he awoke the next morning to find war had not broken out, he began using elements of the dream to compose the song.[2]
Chart performance
It was Cockburn's only Top 40 hit in the United States, peaking at No. 21 on the Billboard Hot 100,[3] and it peaked at No. 92 in Australia.[4]
While also a Top 40 hit in Cockburn's native Canada, it was not his biggest hit in that country, where seven of his subsequent singles reached higher chart positions. It was, however, named the 29th greatest Canadian song of all time in the 2005 CBC Radio series 50 Tracks: The Canadian Version.[5]
