It’s Going Down Slow – 2003 rewrite

Posted on: January 20, 2017 by: adminsuper

Originally written and released in 1971 on the Sunwheel Dance album. This version was re-written & re-recorded 2003, for the Peace Songs album compilation put out by warchild.ca.

It's Going Down Slow - 2003 rewrite - Peace Songs [Disc 2] warchild.ca

Lyrics: 2003

Go tell the sergeant-major
To get that thing repaired
The lunatics rule in the asylum
Chaos is in the air
Oh oh oh
It’s going down slow
It’s going down slow

They’re grinding the marrow of history
The ground underneath us quakes
The board of directors is looting
What’s left of the ship of state
Oh oh 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 oh 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

Recorded at Studio Frisson in Montreal on March 19, 2003.
Thanks to Daniel Keebler.

Bruce Cockburn honoured on postal stamp

Posted on: January 18, 2017 by: adminsuper

Bruce Cockburn gets stamped — Bruce Cockburn at the National Art Centre in Ottawa with his stamp image. (CNW Group/Canada Post Corporation)

5 May 2011 – Bruce Cockburn poses with his forthcoming stamp, which will be issued June 30. (Canada Post)

Canadians might find Bruce Cockburn in their mailbox this summer, following Canada Post’s announcement of a new stamp featuring the celebrated singer-songwriter.

Canada Post said Thursday that a stamp honouring Cockburn will be issued on June 30 as part of the third installment of its Canadian Recording Artists series.

Bruce Cockburn gets stamped - May 11, 2011 — Bruce Cockburn gets stamped – May 11, 2011

His stamp will join the previously announced stamps of Kate and Anna McGarrigle, Robbie Robertson and Ginette Reno.

The series will be issued June 30.

“This is very exciting,” the Ottawa-born Cockburn said in a statement.

The stamp’s design — a black and white image of him against a red background featuring titles of his hit songs — is “beautiful,” he added.

Over the years, the folk-rock singer and activist has won multiple awards for his music, which includes hits such as The Coldest Night of the Year and If I Had a Rocket Launcher. His original songs have inspired covers by a wide range of artists — from Jimmy Buffett to the Barenaked Ladies.

Bruce Cockburn gets stamped - photo True North Records — Bruce Cockburn gets stamped – photo True North Records

He released his 31st album, Small Source of Comfort, in March and is currently touring the U.S. Cockburn, who is also an officer of the Order of Canada and member of the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, is slated to publish his memoir in April 2012.

Credit: CBC News, via Bernie Finkelstein.

Bruce Cockburn to Receive People’s Voice Award

Posted on: January 11, 2017 by: adminsuper

Folk Alliance International to Launch People’s Voice and Clearwater Awards
Posted by: Jerod Rivers

11 January 2017 – As part of a permanent commitment to honoring the socially-conscious roots of folk music, Folk Alliance International (FAI) will launch two new awards during the 2016 International Folk Music Awards show.The People’s Voice Award will be presented annually to an individual who has unabashedly embraced and committed to social and political commentary in their creative work and folk music career. The Clearwater Award will be presented annually to a festival that prioritizes environmental stewardship and demonstrates public leadership in education and sustainable event production. Additional awards include Lifetime Achievement, Spirit of Folk, and Album, Song, and Artist of the Year presented on Wednesday, February 15, 2017, at the Westin Crown Center in Kansas City, Missouri.

Folk Alliance International Awards Show
Wednesday, February 15, 2017, 6 pm
Westin Crown Center Hotel, Century C Ballroom
Kansas City, Missouri USA
Open to FAI conference delegates and registered members of the press.

Bruce Cockburn

Bruce Cockburn to Receive People’s Voice Award

The inaugural People’s Voice award will be presented to multi-platinum recording artist Bruce Cockburn, whose 40-year career has consistently highlighted environmental, social, and indigenous issues globally.

Bruce Cockburn has been all over the world to Mozambique, Nepal, Vietnam, Baghdad, Nicaragua, and Guatemala to protest refugee camps, landmines, and Third World debt. He has been tirelessly vocal in support of native rights, the environment, the promotion of peace, and has highlighted the work of Oxfam, the UN Summit for Climate Control, Amnesty International, Doctors Without Borders, and Friends of the Earth.

His songs “Mines of Mozambique” from album The Charity of Night, “Stolen Land” (Waiting For A Miracle), and “If a Tree Falls” (Big Circumstance) have traveled the globe providing context for some of the world’s biggest issues of the day, while exhorting to all who listen for engagement with our shared humanity.

In over 300 songs on 30 albums that range from folk to jazz-influenced rock, he has sold more than seven million records worldwide and prolifically captured the story of the human experience through protest, romance, spiritual searching, and politics. In an interview with Rolling Stone in 1985, after observing the horrors of refugee camps along the Guatemalan-Mexican border he shared that he went back to his hotel room, cried, and wrote in his notebook, “I understand now why people want to kill.” The experience led him to write “If I Had A Rocket Launcher” from the album Stealing Fire.

Cockburn is the recipient of 13 Juno Awards, the Allan Waters Humanitarian Award, nine honorary doctorates, the Governor General’s Performing Arts Award for Lifetime Artistic Achievement, and the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal. He has been inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, and is an Officer of the Order of Canada. Pacing the Cage, a documentary film about his life, music, and politics was released in 2013. His memoir, Rumours of Glory, was published by Harper Collins in 2014.

“We can’t settle for things as they are,” Cockburn has warned. “If you don’t tackle the problems, they’re going to get worse.”