Look out the window, what do I see?
Cows hangin’ out under spreading trees.
Zoom! They’re gone behind the sign
White letters pointing to the long white line
and I’m going to the country
O, la la la la la
I’m going to the country
Sunshine smile on me

I can smell the grass growing in the field
Wind in my hair tells me how it feels
Farm house, silver roof flashing by
Tractor-trailer truck says goodbye with a sigh
And I’m going to the country
O, la la la la la
I’m going to the country
Sunshine smile on me

Birds singing, I’m singing in my bones
Doesn’t much matter now where I’m going
Get it when I get there is what I’ll do
If I get enough I’ll give some to you
And I’m going to the country
O, happy as can be
I’m going to the country
Sunshine smile on me

released 1970

Also On:
Waiting For A Miracle – 1987
Rumours Of Glory box set – disc 1 – 2014
Greatest Hits (1970-2020)

Rain rings trash can bells
And what do you know
My alley becomes a cathedral

Eyes can be archways
To enter or leave by
Vacuums replaced by a crystal

Jesus don’t let Toronto take my song away

It’s easy to love if
You let yourself love it
But like a moth’s wing it’s easily crushed

Jesus don’t let tomorrow take my love away

released 1970

Also On:
Mummy Dust – 1981
Rumours Of Glory box set – disc 1 – 2014

So many things to see in this old world
But all I can see is you
In a crowded subway train
Or walking in the country rain
You’re there with me too

Of all the songs sung in any day
Your voice is all I hear
For though each song has its own place
And, finished, quickly fades away
I hear you everywhere

And though I know you won’t be pleased
By all that I do
Surely we can find a way
To overlook what you don’t like

It’s been said many times that we’re all by ourselves
And each man is on his own
I don’t care, that may be true
I just want to be with you
Together alone

released 1970

Drift along
Hear the gravel crackle
Butterflies
Shades of the eternal dancer
God has buttered the land with sunlight
Sunlight

Corn grows high
Like a tall watusi
Katydid
Hums a monotonous tune
Rather hypnotically
Hmmmmmm
Overhead there’s a parrot with boxing gloves
Singing like me
What a clever bird
Even knows the words
But he doesn’t seem to see
Me
Making my great escape

You can just take so much of your own advice
Who needs a king
Sitting in a tree
So loquaciously
Pigeonholing everything
Pigeons have a way of taking wing

Back again
Purple thistles bristle
All around
Bane of the Eternal Dancer
Hmmmmmm

Home is just around the bend…
The end

released 1970

Sable sky anoints the earth with crystal ‘neath my foot
Wide-eyed, white-plumed owl plays upon his magic flute
Silver-circled moonlight cresting waves of shadow blue
And the river is secretly flowing

Shining stars dance high above the cobweb treelimbs’ grace
Fairy castles crowned with light fly banners of white lace
Tangled boughs of holly watch with eyes of scarlet hue
And the wind is silently blowing

Are no men is only Man seeking one love
Searching vainly for excuse among the stars above
Eyes too tired to see the river flowing ‘neath the ice
And too numb to see the purpose behind knowing

released 1970

Musical friends are keeping me happy
They know what I need
Now I can sleep on anyone’s floor without
Feeling cold
Inside or outside me

The closer we get the easier life be –
Comes for each of us
We can sing songs and play at each other
Over wine
In bottles or in pipes

And we can pass
On endings till the end
We can laugh
Me and my musical friends

Nobody’s quite sure just where they’re going
They’ll find out soon enough
When they get there some sunny morning or
Windy night
If they can just keep moving

And we can pass
On endings till the end
We can laugh
Me and my musical friends

Musical friends are keeping me happy
They know what to do
Musical friends have many things to
Offer you
And you can be one too

(Who ever heard of drinking wine from a pipe anyway?)

released 1970

Also On:
Waiting For A Miracle – 1987
Rumours Of Glory box set – disc 1 – 2014
Greatest Hits (1970-2020)

Living in the past
Is not living at all
The old fear going fast
Everybody’s scared to fall
Turn with the times
Change your mind

Sullen and profane
The ancient temple stands
Dissolving in the rain
Its gods long turned to sand
Forgotten childhood rhyme
Change your mind

Listen for the ring
Of tomorrow’s bell
Be the first to sing
From beyond the wishing well
Know what’s behind
But change your mind

released 1970

Also On:
Rumours Of Glory box set – disc 1 – 2014

I’m looking to be by a window
That looks out on the sea
Anybody here know
Where such a place is?

Surf of golden sunlight
Breaking over me
Man of a thousand faces

In the Garden paths take form
But the hailstorm guards its own
Things forbidden, things unknown
You must travel on alone

In memorium friends come round
But the hard ground holds its own
Time for pulling, time to ride
It’s my turn but where’s the guide?

On the jetty shadows lie
And the gulls cry once or twice
Swelling thunder, truth is hid
Behind the glass eye of the idol…
Anybody here know
Where such a place is?

You know, these city towers,
Jewels on the Serpent’s crown,
Twist the space between them
Till every eye is blinded

Lord will you trade your sunlit ocean
With its writhing filigree
For any one of my thousand faces?

released 1970

Also On:
Rumours Of Glory box set – disc 1 – 2014

When we come
When we come again
To celebrate renewal
At the heart
At the heart of us
Our eyes will touch life

Though we may be hard to find
Where we stand in time
The mirrors of the past shine
With the light of unborn days
We wander in the flames
With nothing but our names
And no-one for the blame
We love so well to focus on

When we come
When we come again
To search beside the Fool
For the heart
For the heart of us
Our eyes will touch Life

By ornaments entranced
We trace in frenzied dance
The patterns carved by chance
On the pavement of memory
Seasons turning yet again
The Mother’s breast is full again
As in heaven, so with men
Is now and ever shall be

Till we come
Till we come again
To recognize renewal
At the heart
At the heart of us
Our eyes will touch life

released 1970

When thoughts rush by
And your signals seem to fly
Keep it open
Keep it open
And help me keep mine open too

Some will lie behind
But we needn’t be unkind
Keep it open
Keep it open
And help me keep mine open too

Sun stoned in the east
In our eyes let there be peace
Keep it open
Keep it open
And help me keep mine open too

released 1970

Good day to you
Fat balloon man
May you always have air
You sing a song everybody can believe

Good day to you
Uncle tom cat
Out to trick the whole world
You carry a tune for nobody but yourself

Bonjour a toi
Herr policeman
May your boots always fit
Someday you’ll find a song you can believe

Good morning good people
The sun is long sailing
The only clouds you see
Are carried within
Soon they’ll be blown all away
Wind’s gonna rise and blow those clouds away
Wind’s gonna rise and blow your blues away
Your sun’s gonna shine in my back door some day …

September 28, 1969 – Montreal, Canada

My canoe lies on the water
Evening holds the bones of day
The sun like gold dust slips away

One by one antique stars
Herald the arrival of
Their pale protectress moon

Ragged branches vibrate
Strummed by winds from o’er the hill
Singing tales of ancient days

Far and silent lightning
Stirs the cauldron of the sky
I turn my bow towards the shore

As we grow out of stones
On and on and on
So we’ll all go to bones
On and on for many a year

But let us go laughing — O
Let us go

And may the holy hermit’s staff
On and on and on
Guide you to the shortest path
On and on for many a year

And let us go laughing — O
Let us go
Let us go laughing — O
Let us go

July 1969 – Toronto, Canada

Also On:
Rumours Of Glory box set – disc 1 – 2014

In the place my wonder comes from
There I find you
Your face shines in my sky

In your heart where the world comes from
There you will find me
Your eyes dance in my mind

Come with me
We will sail on the wind
We will sway among the yellow grass
When you be beside me
I am real

Though my eyes be closed forever
Still I would find you
You shine across my time

Come with me
We will sail on the wind
We will sway among the yellow grass
When you be beside me
I am real

In the place my wonder comes from
There I find you

released 1971

Also On:
Circles In The Stream – 1977

Oh I have been a beggar
And shall be one again
And few the ones with help to lend
Within the world of men

One day I walk in flowers
one day I walk on stones
Today I walk in hours
One day I shall be home

I have sat on the street corner
And watched the bootheels shine
And cried out glad and cried out sad
With every voice but mine

One day I walk in flowers
one day I walk on stones
Today I walk in hours
One day I shall be home
One day I shall be home

June 1970 – Burritt’s Rapids, Ontario, Canada

Also On:
Circles In The Stream – 1977
Waiting For A Miracle – 1987
Rumours Of Glory box set – disc 1 – 2014
Greatest Hits (1970-2020)

UShe moves like a golden serpent all day long
Moves like a golden serpent all day long
She lights the candle when the day is gone

She likes to give me honey when I’m down
She likes to give me honey when I’m down
If I ever was a king y’know she was the crown

She carries all the lines down in her palms
She carries all the lines down in her palms
She can drive away the devil with a song

May 27, 1970 – Ottawa, Canada

High winds
White sky
Wild birds do glide
Tattered smoke fades
Embers in the pipe
Move like
Life beginning

High winds
Pyramids
Glittering ring
Blood of the king
Daughter of the stars
You are
Life beginning

The wind’s travellers’ tales tease the tops of the trees
the ships have all sailed to the mouth of the sea…

High winds
Wheel turns
The spider spins
Hands draw us in
River-scented skin
Moves in
Life beginning

Falsehood lies panting like a fish in the palm…

June 1970 – Ottawa, Canada

You point to the sky
The sky
Is reflected in your eyes
And I
Want to fly
On a carpet of brown leaves
We retrace the steps of change
Construct a tapestry of what will come

You point to the sea
I see
What seems to be so free
Bound by
Empty sky
On a tower of gray earth
Far above the spray-struck stone
We climb toward the melting point of time

Here we tumble down the path
Comic beggars trading laughs
For scraps from the tables of the wise

November 18, 1970 – Toronto, Canada

When the sun falls
The bird of paradise
Spreads his wings wide

When the rain shines
The earth sighs gratitude
And spreads her hues bright

You come to me
Bringing the sun and rain
Bringing my song

Winter 1969 – Cumberland, Ontario, Canada

Instrumental

released 1971

I went up on the mountain side
To see what I could see
To see what I could be
On the shining mountain

I watched the day go down in fire
And sink in the valley
And sink into the sea
Drown in golden fire

Fireflies danced in the forest night
The trees began to sing
The crags began to sing
Above the black forest

I went up on the mountain side
To know what I did know
To know whence I did know
On the crowning mountain

August 15, 1970 – Chilliwack, British Colombia, Canada

Also On:
Rumours Of Glory box set – disc 1 – 2014

Crows are flying baby and
I’m tired of the cold
Crows are flying baby and
I’m tired of the cold
So honey come and help me build this totem pole

The lantern in the window
beamed me right to you
The lantern in the window
beamed me right to you
So honey come and help me
And I’ll try and help you too

My hearts been hanging up too long
My soul is wearing thin
My hearts been hanging up so long
My soul is wearing thin
So honey come and help me build a house
to put it in

So honey come and help me build this totem pole.

released 2003

Somebody made off with my favourite toy
That I bought with my government grant
The world situation seems to be taking
A definite turn for the worse

Somebody put me in reverse

What fence would hold my pride and joy
Unless he was a man-eating plant
That mother is asking to wind up basking
In fame in the back of a hearse

Somebody made my bubble burst

Call in the guard, he’s out in the yard
been lax in his duties for real
Take him to task for being so crass
As to let someone in who would steal

Great thrills are in store for us all
While the world is on such a slant
Though he’s a bit funky
The girls love his trunk
He’s a hit without deodorant

But somebody stole my elephant

If you should meet him please give me a call
The number is inscribed on the bathroom wall
You’re bound to see him
At the beach or the be-in
Even though some people can’t

Get used to believing in elephants

Call in the guard
He’s out in the yard
He bungled this job up for sure
He blew it in style
But he’s just a child
We’ll send him away for the cure

And we’ll all go away for a cure

released in 2003

Also On:
Rumours Of Glory box set – disc 4 – 2014

Up above my shoulder the ragged rooftops rise
Casting shadows over streets they seem to despise

Come on, come on, wind and rain
I know the sun will shine again
Till then my lady and my Lord will keep me sane

I went down to the dead lake shore to see what I could see
Along the breeze came, away my cap went, my head it was set free

Come on, come on, wind and rain
I know the sun will shine again
Till then my lady and my Lord will keep me sane

And I hear a far away tune come drifting through the gray
It clears a path before my feet, it makes my fingers play

Come on, come on, wind and rain
I know the sun will shine again
Till then my lady and my Lord will keep me sane

Come on, come on, soot and storm
I know the sun will break your arm
Till then my lady and my Lord will keep me warm

released 1971 & 2005

Also On:
Sunwheel Dance – 2005

Feet fall on the road
Bound to motion
Though chains be of gold
They are chains all the same

Traveler on the bridge
Awakens to find
It’s not the river that flows
But the bridge that moves o’er

In the hand of the cloud
Liquid as time
The heron’s wings well
Know the grace of space

released 1971

Also On:
Waiting For A Miracle – 1987

Cloud pillars clinging like vines to the sky
Don’t cry
We’ll walk down the meadow with sunrise inside
So dry your eyes
The winds of all kingdoms meet where we stand

The gray forest people cast off their old clothes
Good-bye
Everything’s sleeping as winter draws near
So close your eyes
The mists of all twilights dance close at hand

The rust-coloured river is now slowing down
Going dry
Harvest has lifted the crown from the ground
But don’t you cry
The song of the seasons brings life to the land

released 1971

Also On:
Rumours Of Glory box set – disc 2 – 2014

Instrumental

released 1971 & 2005

Also On:
Speechless – 2005
Rumours Of Glory box set – disc 1 – 2014

Up on the hillside you can see the cross shine
Out in the alley hear the hungry dog whine
You and I, friend, sit waiting for a sign
See how the sunset makes the lake look like wine

Over the mountain I can hear myself called
I want to come running but my window’s too small
The cliffs are so high and I might fall
What were you saying? — oh, it’s nothing at all

Yes, the world’s in convulsions and the weather is fine
Buicks get bigger and five cents costs a dime
I must get going, you know, there’s not much time
The road is waiting and I’m running out of rhyme
Up on the hillside, see how the cross does shine

released 1971

Also On:
Waiting For A Miracle – 1987

Waves can’t break without rocks that dissolve into sand
We can’t dance without seasons upon which to stand
Eden is a state of rhythm like the sea
Is a timeless change

Turn your eyes to the world where we all sit and dream
Busy dreaming ourselves and each other into being
Dreaming is a state of death, can’t you see?
We must live through who we are

If we can sing with the wind song
Chant with thunder
Play upon the lightning
Melodies of wonder
Into wonder life will open

We are children of the river we have named “existence”
Undercurrent and surface pass in the same tense
Nothing is confined except what’s in your mind
Every footstep must be true

If we can sing with the wind song
Chant with thunder
Play upon the lightning
Melodies of wonder
Into wonder life will open

released 1971

Go tell the sergeant-major
To get that thing repaired
They’re losing their pawns in Asia
There’s slaughter in every square
Oh —
It’s going down slow
It’s going down slow

Go get the fire department
To bring that hose along
And them and the schoolboy bandits
Can water each other’s lawn
Oh —
It’s going down slow
It’s going down slow

Everybody seems to be leaving
Better say your travelling prayers
It don’t matter how you get it
It’s where do you go from there
Oh —
It’s going down slow
It’s going down slow
It’s going down slow
It’s going down slow

God, damn the hands of glory
That hold the bloody firebrand high
Close the book and end the story
Of how so many men have died
Let the world retain in memory
That mighty tongues tell mighty lies
And if mankind must have an enemy
Let it be his warlike pride
Let it be his warlike pride

released 1971

Also On:

Mummy Dust – 1981
Waiting For A Miracle – 1987

Update: 2003 – This song was rewritten and rerecorded for a compilation album put out by warchild.ca.

When the sun falls
The bird of paradise
Spreads his wings wide

When the rain shines
The earth sighs gratitude
And spreads her hues bright

You come to me
Bringing the sun and rain
Bringing my song

released 1971

He came from the mountain
To walk among the wounded
They couldn’t see him
But the snow did melt whenever he passed by

He came behind winter
His face was like the sun
They wouldn’t see it
But he sang on the bank and made the waters run

In his world we wait
In his hands our fate
Keep on climbing
We shall see his gate
In good time

He came to the lowlands
He said we must have faces
So we could see like him
Before our wings would ever come to fly

In his world we wait
In his hands our fate
Keep on climbing
We shall see his gate
In good time

released 1971

Also On:
Rumours Of Glory box set – disc 1 – 2014

Standing on a rock in a river
Staring at the splintered sun
You could drown yourself in jewels
Like a thousand other fools
While you stand there looking down at what you’ve won

Sitting on a mountain of ashes
Face to face with past regrets
You could roll down to the canyon
Piss away this incarnation
But remember that you pay for what you get

And he says, “But don’t you know
How hard it is
To hit the ground and mean it.
And mean it?”

Walk the jangling streets of the city
Trying to find the buried sun
You could drown yourself in jewels
Like a thousand other fools
While you wander waiting for it to be done

And he cries, “Why don’t we celebrate?
Why don’t we celebrate?
Love can make you sad.
Come on, let’s drive ourselves mad.”

And he’s aware
How hard it is
To kiss the sun and mean it.
And mean it.

And he screams, “Why don’t we celebrate?
Why don’t we celebrate?
Life can make you sad.
Come on, let’s drive ourselves mad.”

Standing on a rock in a river
Staring at the rain made one
On the surface flashing diamonds
Rolling down the twilight canyon
And we shall kiss the sun in spite of him

So why don’t we celebrate?
Why don’t we celebrate?
Why don’t we celebrate?

released 1971

Also On:
Circles In The Stream – 1977
Resume – 1981

Hmmm — every day
Flashes like a spray of blue jays
Hmmm — a golden crown upon each one

Like an eagle seen against the sun

released 1971

Wind chimes flicker
Brittle corners slide away
Smile back at the day
Shadows flying
Like the mist before the sun
See the sadness run
Silk-spun web of pearls
Glistens in the grass in summer
North wind changes all the fields
To dazzling glass in winter

Come near to me
Hear this song I sing to you
Are you singing, too?

Written in 1968 – released in 2005 – (also 1972 as b-side to It’s Going Down Slow)

Up above my shoulder the ragged rooftops rise
Casting shadows over streets they seem to despise

Come on, come on, wind and rain
I know the sun will shine again
Till then my lady and my Lord will keep me sane

I went down to the dead lake shore to see what I could see
Along the breeze came, away my cap went, my head it was set free

Come on, come on, wind and rain
I know the sun will shine again
Till then my lady and my Lord will keep me sane

And I hear a far away tune come drifting through the gray
It clears a path before my feet, it makes my fingers play

Come on, come on, wind and rain
I know the sun will shine again
Till then my lady and my Lord will keep me sane

Come on, come on, soot and storm
I know the sun will break your arm
Till then my lady and my Lord will keep me warm

released 1971 & 2005

Also On:
Sunwheel Dance – 2005

Instrumental

released 1973 & 2005

Also On:
Speechless – 2005
Rumours Of Glory box set – disc 1 – 2014

So we wait beside the desert
Nothing left to give away
Naked as the Hanged Man’s secrets
Nothing left to do but pray

You don’t have to play the horses
Life’s a gamble all the same
It don’t take much to make you lose sight
Of the object of the game

Anyone can be a soldier
It’s a prevalent disease
Oh God I don’t know where to step now
Help me find the right road please

So we wait beside the desert
Nothing left to give away
Naked as the Hanged Man’s secrets
Praying for the break of day

February 9, 1972 – Ottawa, Canada

Also On:
Mummy Dust – 1981
Rumours Of Glory box set – disc 1 – 2014

I’ve been down to parliament, I’ve been in school
I’ve been in jail to learn the golden rule
I’ve been to the workhouse — served my time in those hallowed halls
The only thing I know is the blues got the world by the balls

I’ve been to the tundra and the mountain too
I’ve been in paris doing what the frenchmen do
I’ve been in boston where the buildings grow so tall
Everywhere you go the blues got the world by the balls

You can catch ’em from the preacher or from the pool shark
You can find ’em in the grammar of the socialite’s remark
Or down in the washroom you can read it on the wall
Everywhere you look the blues got the world by the balls

Spring 1972 – Mostly Chilliwack, British Colombia, Canada

Also On:
Rumours Of Glory box set – disc 2 – 2014

I was up the road on easy street
Watching everybody stand around and cheat
A man comes up and says, “Move along
Down to the corner where you belong”
But mama just wants to barrelhouse all night long

I hear the city singing like a siren choir
Some fool tried to set this town on fire
TV preacher screams “come on along”
I feel like Fay Wray face to face with King Kong
But mama just wants to barrelhouse all night long

Sometimes I wonder what I am
I feel like I’m living in a hologram
It doesn’t seem to matter what’s right or wrong
Everybody’s grabbing and coming on strong
But mama just wants to barrelhouse all night long

January 19, 1973 -Toronto, Canada

Also On:
Circles In The Stream – 1977
Resume – 1981
Waiting For A Miracle – 1987
Slice O Life – 2009
Rumours Of Glory box set – disc 2 – 2014

Instrumental

released 1974 & 2005

Also On:
Speechless – 2005
Rumours Of Glory box set – disc 2 – 2014

You tell me tomorrow may be coming
Sometimes I wonder if it hasn’t already been
But like the firebreathing rebel
I’m not sure what I mean
All I know is you’re not me and that you’ll never be

He tells me the future is not to be believed in
“Don’t waste your wishes on what hasn’t already been”
But like the strong arm policeman
He’s not sure what he means
All he knows is he can’t see what he will come to be

He says if we burn up the roof from above us
We surely will see the light and maybe more
But like the burnt out hooker
We’ll only see down to the floor
All we know is that we’re here until we are set free

September 28, 1969 – Ottawa, Canada

When the sun goes nova
And the world turns over
I don’t want to be alone
So honey come on home

If you’re in the valley
When the dam breaks, palley
You is going to feel alone
So honey come on home

If you’re on the bum
And the policemen come
If you lose your grip
Or your trousers rip
I’ll be waiting dear

Honey won’t you come on home…

Spring 1972 – Between Jasper and Valleyview, Alberta, Canada

Deja vu
Glass cafe faces
Fade into the wash
Of brick-dust-yellow afternoon

Deja vu
Slow lines on pages
Shape words like echoes
Of a ball bounced in an empty street

Deja vu
Sun on hair dancing
To breeze-borne snatches
Of a lost music box melody

October 22, 1972 – Toronto, Canada

Instrumental

released 1973

Night comes
The mask of the world
Resolves into round bits of silver on the table
Round arrow nocked against the bow
Round fruit devoured by time
While the moon climbs

Sea swells
Illusion is queen
In the shallow graves of experience time-centred
Grave silence reigns over the stars
Graven image hanging in time
While the earth unwinds

With rain the world grows us older
Lord let us not be lost
God bless the children with knowledge of the cost

Day comes
The hawk of gold
Springs forth in flame from a highway paved with diamonds
Lion rampant on a green field
Ramparts cracked into the sky
While the Christ stands by

With pain the world paves us over
Lord let us not betray
God bless the children with visions of the Day

June 14, 1972 – Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

Also On:
Circles In The Stream – 1977

All the diamonds in this world
That mean anything to me
Are conjured up by wind and sunlight
Sparkling on the sea

I ran aground in a harbour town
Lost the taste for being free
Thank God He sent some gull-chased ship
To carry me to sea

Two thousand years and half a world away
Dying trees still grow greener when you pray

Silver scales flash bright and fade
In reeds along the shore
Like a pearl in sea of liquid jade
His ship comes shining
Like a crystal swan in a sky of suns
His ship comes shining.

July 25, 1973 – Stockholm

Also On:
Circles In The Stream – 1977
Mummy Dust – 1981
Waiting For A Miracle – 1987
Rumours Of Glory box set – disc 2 – 2014
Greatest Hits 1970-2020

Instrumental

released 1974 & 2005

Also On:
Speechless – 2005

Don’t want to be on no rooftop
Frying in the afternoon sun
Don’t want to sit by no fountain
Listening to the man-made stream run
Just want to stand where the sea-spray
Gleams like fire with you
And I don’t have to tell you why

Don’t want to go to no parties
Full of fair-weather friends
Don’t want to be in no “in” crowd
Chasing after every trend
Just want to stand on some hillside
In Wales with you
And fly — don’t have to tell you why

Don’t want to live in no mansion
Ornate as a crown prince’s church
Don’t want to live on no sidewalk
Underneath no pigeon’s perch
Just want to stand at the rainbow’s
Real end with you
And I don’t have to tell you why

December 1, 1973 – Toronto, Canada

Also On:
Rumours Of Glory box set – disc 4 – 2014

Small windows
Looking outward
Show me a sequined sky
Rubies shine in my glass of wine

Dusk breezes
On oiled water
Paint a pointillist facade
It’s ceaselessly shifting world —

Like today I’m far away
I see your face behind each time-blurred pane

Strings vibrate
Music leaps out
In a shimmering intrigue
Words unsaid whirl away like dust

From the sidewalk-sweeper’s broom
Across a fold in space you touch my hand

June 26, 1973 – London, England

Instrumental

released 1974 & 2005

Also On:
Speechless – 2005
Rumours Of Glory box set – disc 2 – 2014

Wind across the quay-side
Grit in my eyes and fish in my nose
White as whalebone, wheeling seagulls cry

Outside the bar in the high street
Blind fingers spin an accordion reel
Shoes and sedan wheels grudgingly keeping time

Fishing boat stretched out at low tide
Dog and a black man work on the deck
Bright as a bottle, sunlight skips wave to wave

Part of a map of somewhere
Teases my foot like a haunting dream
Never so free, i’m lost in the seagulls’ flight

July 6, 1973 – Sheffield, England

Also On:
Circles In The Stream – 1977

Instrumental

released 1974

Heard the rooster crowing
Couldn’t see no dawn
But I know it won’t be long

To keep the fire burning
Ain’t no easy game
But we’ll do it just the same

I’m going to the northland
Where the weather keeps you real
Till this devil’s law is repealed
And I know it won’t be long

released 1974

Fire-bright faces in winter night
A dog in the distance barks
The sky speaks in patterns of starlight
The fire replies in sparks

The stream is a motionless moment
Salmon in the sea swims deep
Pregnant with force as a prayer is
Spring in the hard earth sleeps

Like the snow on the stark spruce limb
Coated with ice, then stripped by wind
We melt away and return again
Stronger for the tempering flame
Stronger for the Saviour’s name.

December 25 1973 – Cumberland, Ontario, Canada

Song swaying in the air
I’m hand dancing in your hair
You’re hand dancing in my soul

June 18, 1974

Distant times in distant lands
Worthless money changing hands
“Changing them to what?” — I wonder
As in the dust the jet plane thunders
Carries every feeling into gloom
I miss you like I miss the flowers in bloom

There’s a crisis in the outer world
In the sky the smoke trails curl
Some Winnipeg boys are Cyprus-bound
I hope they live to touch home ground
I hope we live to touch, if just once more
I need you like the river needs the shore

In life so delicate and strange
Understanding seldom comes in range
We stumble through familiar scenes
Never thinking what it means,
In this cluttered landscape to be loved
I need you like I need the stars above

February 2, 1975

Orion’s high in the south-west sky —
You’re bound to move on and so am I
On this world we’ve had time to burn —
how come nobody ever seems to learn?
See how the starwheel turns.

Crystal drift on the whistling wind —
Constant change is the space we’re in
You may use a slide rule or a golden crown
But nothing’s worth it that you can pin down —
See how the starwheel turns.

Don’t go playing no shell game with God —
Only Satan’s going to give you odds
We’re given love and love must be returned —
That’s all the bearings that you need to learn
See how the starwheel turns.

January 23, 1975

Also On:
Circles In The Stream

Note: Lyrics/music co-written with Kitty Cockburn

The crescent moon is rising slow
Swiftly blades in ice do grow
On the branches star-bleached snow
Waits while time is passing

Outside the door the dancer whirls
Chiming bells and shining curls
Flying footsteps in the snow
Rhyme the rhythm of ruin

Beside the wall the beggars call
“Man have mercy on us all”
The night-bound choir inside chants on —
A hymn to brick and pistols

You can stumble, you can fall
Or you can make the nations crawl
But when death comes in to call
He don’t care about it

Oh, Satan take thy cup away
For i’ll not drink your wine today
I’ll reach for the chalice of light
That stands on Jesus’ table

February 23, 1975

Make me a bed of fond memories
Make me to lie down with a smile
Everything that rises afterward falls
But all that dies has first to live.

As longing becomes love
As night turns to day
Everything changes
Joy will find a way

September 6, 1974

Also On:
Circles In The Stream – 1977
Mummy Dust – 1981
Rumours Of Glory – 1985

Look away across the bay
Yankee gunboat come this way
Uncle Sam gonna save the day
Come tomorrow we all gonna pay…

And it’s burn baby burn
When am I going to get my turn

Something dead under the bed
Local diplomats hang their heads
Never mind what the government said
They’re either lying or they’ve been misled…

And it’s burn baby burn
When am I going to get my turn

Phillipines was yesterday [updated lyrics June 2003] – Vietnam was yesterday
Santiago and Greece today [updated lyrics June 2003] – Kabul and Baghdad today
How would they ever make the late news pay
If they didn’t have the CIA?

And it’s burn baby burn
When am I going to get my turn

Here it comes, the loaded gun
“Must keep the Commies on the run ” [updated lyrics June 2003] – gotta keep the bad guys on the run
You’d buy or bury everyone
For liberty and life
And just plain fun

And it’s burn baby burn
When am I going to get my turn

January 28, 1974

Also On:
Waiting For A Miracle – 1987

Instrumental

released 1975

Can’t trace this conversation —
Words fragment and fall
Into blue shadows by a white-baked wall.
Through shimmering spaces a single thrush calls —
A song when it’s over is no song at all

And you know I long to feel that sail
Leaping in the wind
And i long to see what lies beyond that rim
Oh, ever-new lover and friend
Sing me that love song again.

Time measured in summersaults
And flickering kids’ play —
Cross-world and southward it’s a fine summer day
Translucent life-span evaporates away
To bead on the cool grass in a cyclic ballet

November 25, 1974

Sky-wild
Far cry
Wings-slash-free
Christ is born for you and me

Wind rush
Reed bend
Storm tossed sea
Christ is nailed upon a tree

Mists part
Sunrise
Shining key
Christ is risen to lead us free

December 13, 1974

Arrows of light, come
Pierce my soul
Pierce my soul

Breath of the bright wind
Make us one
Make us one

Life is singing
Like a great bell ringing

July 1975

Also On:
Circles In The Stream – 1977

Lord of the starfields
Ancient of Days
Universe Maker
Here’s a song in your praise

Wings of the storm cloud
Beginning and end
You make my heart leap
Like a banner in the wind

O love that fires the sun
Keep me burning.
Lord of the starfields
Sower of life,
Heaven and earth are
Full of your light

Voice of the nova
Smile of the dew
All of our yearning
Only comes home to you

O love that fires the sun
keep me burning

May 12, 1976 – Burritt’s Rapids

Also On:
Circles In The Stream – 1977
Resume – 1981
Rumours Of Glory – 1985
Rumours Of Glory box set – disc 2 – 2014

Vagabondage
La danse du paysage
Et dans les nuages
Le decoupage
D’un tour billon avec des naufrages
Vagabondage

Toujours en route
Nous sommes encore en route
On joue du tambour
On joue de la flute
Comme l’eau qui bondit d’une chute
Nous sommes en route

Et bientot
Dans le berceau
Un autre petit tzigane
Qui jouera du piano
Pour les chemineaux
Dans les bistros de la lune

Saut perilleux
Subitement il pleut
De la lumiere partout
Et puis tout a coup
Nous sommes trois clowns fabuleux
Faisant des sauts perilleux

Nous cinglons
Dans le wagon
D’un train qui grandit sans cesse
Comme l’univers:
Haute dans les airs
Une rose des veuts
Pointe vers des nouvelles plages

TRANSLATION: “Drifting”

Drifting
The dance of the landscape
And in the clouds
The cutout
Of a whirlwind with shipwrecks
Drifting

Always on our way
Again we’re on our way
Somebody plays the drum
Somebody plays the flute
Like water leaping from a waterfall
We’re on our way

And soon
In the cradle
Another little gypsy
Who will play the piano
For the hobos
In the bars on the moon

Somersault
Suddenly it’s raining
Light all over the place
And then all at once
We’re three improbable clowns
Doing somersaults

We skim along
In the coach
Of a train that’s perpetually expanding
Like the universe:
High in the air
A compass-card
Points toward new shores

July 10, 1976 – Ottawa, Canada

Also On:
Waiting For A Miracle – 1987

And the lights lie tumbled out like gems
The moon is nothing but a toothless grin
Floating out on the evening wind
The smell of sweat and lube oil pervades the night
And the rush of life in flight at the speed of light

A million footsteps whispering
A guitar sounds — some voices sing
Smoke on the breeze — eyes that sting
Far in the east a yellow cloud bank climbs
Stretching away to be part of tomorrow’s time

Earthbound while everything expands
So many grains of sand
Slipping from hand to hand
Catching the light and falling into dark
The world fades out like an overheard remark
In the falling dark

Light pours from a million radiant lives
Off of kids and dogs and the hard-shelled husbands and wives
All that glory shining around and we’re all caught taking a dive
And all the beasts of the hills around shout, “such a waste!
Don’t you know that from the first to the last we’re all one in the gift of grace!”

March 9,1976 – Ottawa, Canada

Little seahorse
Swimming in a primal sea
Heartbeat like a
Leaf quaking in the breeze
I feel magic as coyote
In the middle of the moon-wild night

In the forge-fire time
Your mother glowed so bright
You were like a
Voice calling in the night
And I’m watching the curtain
Rising on a whole new set of dreams

The world is waiting
Like a Lake Superior gale
A locomotive
Racing along the rail.
It’ll sweep you away
But you know that you’re never alone

Little seahorse
Floating on a primal tide
Quickening like a
Spark in a haystack side
I already love you
And I don’t even know who you are

December 14, 1975 – Toronto, Canada

Also On:
Rumours Of Glory box set – disc 2 – 2014

Instrumental

released 1976 & 2005

Also On:
Resume – 1981
Speechless – 2005

High speed drift on a prairie road
Hot tires sing like a string being bowed
Sudden town rears up then explodes
Fragments resolve into white line code
Whirl on silver wheels

Black earth energy receptor fields
Undulate under a grey cloud shield
We outrun a river colour brick red mud
That cleaves apart hills soil rich as blood

Highway squeeze in construction steam
Stop caution hard hat yellow insect machines
Silver steel towers stalk rolling land
Toward distant stacks that shout “Feed on demand”

100 miles later the sky has changed
Urban anticipation — we get 4 lanes
Red orange furnace sphere notches down
Throws up silhouette skyline in brown

Sundogs flare on windshield glass
Sudden swoop skyward iron horse overpass
Pass a man walking like the man in the moon
Walking like his head’s full of irish fiddle tunes

The skin around every city looks the same
Miles of flat neon spelling well-known names
USED TRUCKS DIRTY DONUTS YOU YOU’RE THE ONE
Fat wheeled cars squeal into the sun

Radio speakers gargle top 40 trash
Muzak soundtrack to slow collapse
Planet engines pulsate in sidereal time
If you listen close you can hear the whine

July 21, 1976 – Burritt’s Rapids

Also On:
Resume – 1981
Mummy Dust – 1981
Waiting For A Miracle – 1987
Bruce Cockburn – Live – 1990 / 2002
Rumours Of Glory box set – disc 2 – 2014
Greatest Hits (1970-2020)

Instrumental

released 1973

Working out on Gavin’s woodpile
Safe within the harmony of kin
Visions begin to crowd my eyes
Like a meteor shower in the autumn skies
And the soil beneath me seems to moan
With a sound like the wind through a hollow bone
And my mind fills with figures like Lappish runes of power1…

And log slams on rough-hewn log
And a voice from somewhere scolds a barking dog.

I remember a bleak-eyed prisoner
In the Stoney Mountain life-suspension home
You drink and fight and damage someone
And they throw you away for some years of boredom
One year done and five more to go —
No job waiting so no parole
And over and over they tell you that you’re nothing…

and I toss another log on Gavin’s woodpile
and wonder at the lamp-warm window’s welcome smile.

I remember crackling embers
Coloured windows shining through the rain
Like the coloured slicks on The English River2
Death in the marrow and death in the liver
And some government gambler with his mouth full of steak
Saying, “If you can’t eat the fish, fish in some other lake.
To watch a people die — it is no new thing.”

And the stack of wood grows higher and higher
And a helpless rage seems to set my brain on fire.

And everywhere the free space fills
Like a punctured diving suit and i’m
Paralyzed in the face of it all
Cursed with the curse of these modern times

Distant mountains, blue and liquid,
Luminous like a thickening of sky
Flash in my mind like a stairway to life —
A train whistle cuts through the scene like a knife
Three hawks wheel in a dazzling sky —
A slow motion jet makes them look like a lie
And I’m left to conclude there’s no human answer near…

But there’s a narrow path to a life to come
That explodes into sight with the power of the sun

A mist rises as the sun goes down
And the light that’s left forms a kind of crown
The earth is bread, the sun is wine
It’s a sign of a hope that’s ours for all time.

November 17, 1975 – Burritt’s Rapids

Also On:
Rumours Of Glory box set – disc 2 – 2014

I’m gonna fly someday
I’m gonna fly someday
If I keep ready and watch and pray
I’m gonna fly someday

February 29, 1976 – Calgary, Canada

Also On:
Waiting For A Miracle – 1987

An elegant song won’t hold up long
When the palace falls and the parlour’s gone
We all must leave but it’s not the end
We’ll meet again at the festival of friends.

Smiles and laughter and pleasant times
There’s love in the world but it’s hard to find
I’m so glad I found you — I’d just like to extend
An invitation to the festival of friends.

Some of us live and some of us die
Someday God’s going to tell us why
Open your heart and grow with what life sends
That’s your ticket to the festival of friends.

Like an imitation of a good thing past
These days of darkness surely will not last
Jesus was here and he’s coming again
To lead us to his festival of friends.

Black snake highway — sheet metal ballet
It’s just so much snow on a summer day
Whatever happens, it’s not the end
We’ll meet again at the festival of friends.

April 5, 1975 – Burritt’s Rapids

Instrumental

released in 2002

Instrumental

released 1977

Note: The album notes say this song – a solo bagpipe piece – is performed by Pipe Major Ray MacKay. The first part of the tune I don’t recognise but is probably a traditional Scottish pipe tune, the second part is “Scotland The Brave”. On the album, the song serves as an introduction to Starwheel.

Instrumental
released 1977

On attends
Quelque chose
Peut etre le vent
Ou l’ouverture d’une rose
Moi je suis en courant
En courant

La cite
Bouche-bee
Semble de boire
La voie lactee
Moi je suis un homme brûlant
Homme brulant

Et dans la lueur
Tu m’appele
Habillee
Des arcs en ciel
Et je brule

Chatoyaut
Vert de mer
Je deviens
Une riviere
Et toi
Tu es l’ocean que je cherche
Que je cherche.

TRANSLATION: “Burning Man”
They’re waiting
For something
Maybe the wind
Or the opening of a rose
Me, I’m flowing,
Flowing

The city
Open-mouthed
Seems to be drinking
The milky way
Me, I’m a burning man
Burning man

And in the glow
You call me
Dressed in
Rainbows
And I’m burning

Sparkling
Sea green
I become
A river
And you,
You are the ocean I’m seeking
I’m seeking.

March 8,1977 – Quebec

Got no social graces
Never know my place
Ine thing I am sure of
You can’t judge a man by his race
Birth don’t come easy
Freedom doesn’t come cheap
Rules and worlds get swept away
While you waste your time in sleep

Grow up you
Grow up me
Grown together
Free to be

There’s music in the forest
Children laugh in the school yard
On the skid row of the spirit
Hear the ranting of the Western Guard
Why don’t you cool out
Can it be so hard
to love yourself without thinking
someone else holds a lower card

Grow up you
Grow up me
Grown together
Free to be

Wired to the switchboard
Always on the move
Things we love to cling to
But there’s nothing we can prove
You can only deal with
What’s before your face
And the life you’re given’s no use at all
If you burn it up in hate

Grow up you
Grow up me
Grown together
Free to beJanuary 30, 1977 – Burritt’s Rapids

Also On:
Waiting For A Miracle – 1987

Instrumental
released 1977

Went to the museum, red brother
Saw your ancient bloom cut, pressed and dried
A sign said wasn’t it clever what they used to do
But it never did say how they died

Hey hey hey
Hey hey hey

Went to Regina, red sister
Heard a cab driver say what he’d seen
“There’s a grand place to eat out on Number One
All white ladies if you know what I mean”

Hey hey hey
Hey hey hey

Went to a pow wow, red brother
Felt the people’s love/joy flow around
It left me crying just thinking about it
How they used my saviour’s name to keep you down

Hey hey hey
Hey hey hey

July 26, 1976 – Burritt’s Rapids

Also On:
Mummy Dust – 1981
In The Falling Dark – 2002
Rumours Of Glory box set – disc 2 – 2014

Instrumental

released 1977