Joy Will Find A Way

Bruce Cockburn - Joy Will Find A Way - 1975
Joy Will Find A Way – 1975

RELEASE DATE: 1975
PURCHASE: iTunes | True North

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

6. Burn (4:08)

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

7. Skylarking (3:20)

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



Includes the classic ‘Burn’.

Album Info:

All songs written by B. Cockburn except + [Starwheel] by B. Cockburn-K. Cockburn © 1975 Golden Mountain Music Corp. (SOCAN) (BMI) All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission.

Produced by Eugene Martynec for True North Productions

Musicians:
Dennis Pendrith-Bass
Terry Clarke-Drums
Dido Morris-Percussion
Pat Godfrey-Keyboards
Eugene Martynec-Guitar
Beverley Glenn-Copeland-Background Vocals
Bruce Cockburn-Acoustic and Electric Guitars, Dulcimer, Vocals

Background Vocals on “Burn”: Linda Page Harpa, Malika Hollander, Zezi Tado, Alexa de Wiel, Jeffrey Crelingston, Beverley Glenn-Copeland
Recorded at Eastern Sound, Toronto, July-August 1975
Engineer: Ken Friesen
Digitally Remastered by Vic Anesini, Sony Studios, NY

Cover Paintings: Blair Drawson
Art Direction: Bart Schoales