Night Vision

Bruce Cockburn - Night Vision - 1973
Night Vision – 1973

RELEASE DATE: 1973
PURCHASE: iTunes | True North

1. Foxglove (1:29)

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

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

8. Deju Vu (5:36)

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

9. Lightstorm (2:34)

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



Includes the classic ‘Mamma Wants To Barrelhouse All Night Long’.

Album Info:

Of all the albums I’ve been involved with, this has been the most exciting for me, and the one I’ll probably be able to actually listen to in times to come (thanks to the fine playing of Dennis, John and Pat). The music is both a departure and a return. For various shifts and re-enforcements of point of view, I’m indebted to:
Kitty, Gene
Samuel R. Delaney (Driftglass)
Django Reinhardt
L. Durnell, (and my brother)
John (the Alexandria Quartet)
David Wiffen (in spite of himself)
life going round and round
I hope you like it
-Bruce Cockburn

All songs written by B. Cockburn © 1973 Golden Mountain Music Corp. (SOCAN) (BMI) All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission.

Produced by Eugene Martynec and Bruce Cockburn for True North Productions

Recorded at Thunder Sound between February and May 1973
Engineer: Bill Seddon
Rehearsals and Pre-Production at Tatsi (Toronto)
Digitally Remastered by Vic Anesini, Sony Studios, NY

Musicians:
Pat Godfrey-Keyboards
Dennis Pendrith-Bass
John Savage-Percussion
Bruce Cockburn-Guitars, Banjo, Vocals

Cover Painting: A. Colville (1954)
Inside Photo and Art Direction: Bart Schoales