RELEASE DATE: June 10, 2003
PURCHASE: iTunes | True North
Tried and tested
By the cries of birds
By the lies I’ve heard
By my own loose talk
By the way I walk
By the claws of beasts
By the laws of priests
By the glutton’s feast
By the word police
By the planet’s arc
By the falling dark
By the state of the art
By the beat of my heart
By dark finance
By the marketing dance
By the poverty trance
By the fateful glance
Tried and tested
Tried and tested
By the pressure to rhyme
By the wages of crime
By the drop of a dime
By the ghost of the times
By the spurs of desire
By “What does love require”
By what I waited for
By what showed up at the door
Tried and tested
Tried and tested
By the nation wide
By the tears I’ve cried
By the lure of false pride
By the need to take sides
By the weight of choice
By the still small voice
By things I forget
By what I haven’t met yet
Tried and tested
Tried and tested
Pierced by beauty’s blade and skinned by wind
Begged for more — was given — begged again
I’m still here
I’m still here
Tried and tested
Tried and tested
May 19, 2002 – Ottawa
Musicians:
Bruce Cockburn: Electric Guitars and Vocals
Gary Craig: Drums
John Dymond: Bass
Hugh Marsh: Violins and Loop
Ben Riley: Additional Drums
Sam Phillips: Harmonies
I always wake up nervous
Light comes at me sideways
I hold my breath forever
I never live with balance
Though I’ve always liked the notion
I feel that endless hunger
For energy and motion
Open
Open
Open
I never live with balance
I wanna feel you near me
There’s an aching in my hipbone
Wanna let my heart drop open
It’s daylight in the city
There’s thumping in the stairwell
Kundalini sunrise
A clamoring of church bells
Open
Open
Open
You like to let me worry
But I don’t take you for granted
Come over here and kiss me
I’m savoring your picture
The street is filled with noises
Life going up and down
Light comes at you sideways
Enfolds you like a gown
Open
Open
Open
Open
Open
Open
May 9, 2001 – Montreal
Musicians:
Bruce Cockburn: Acoustic & Electric Guitars and Vocals
Gary Craig: Drums and Percussion
John Dymond: Bass
Hugh Marsh: Violin
Colin Linden: Electric Mandolins
Sarah Harmer: Harmonies
Also On:
Greatest Hits (1970-2020)
His the wind in which all must sway
All sane people, die now
Be lifted up and carried away
You’ve got no home in this world of sorrows
There’s a parasite feeding on
Everybody’s bag of rage
What goes out returns again
To smite the mouth and burn the page
Under the rain of all our dark tomorrows
I can see in the dark it’s where I used to live
I see excess and the gaping need
Follow the money – see where it leads
It’s to shrunken men stuffed up with greed
They meet and make plans in strange half-lit tableaux
Under the rain of all our dark tomorrows
You’ve got no home in this world of sorrows
April 25, 2001 – Montpelier
Musicians:
Bruce Cockburn: 12-string Guitar and Vocals
Gary Craig: Drums
John Dymond: Bass
Hugh Marsh: Violins and Loops
Ben Riley: Additional Drums
Emmylou Harris: Harmonies
Pinstripe prophet of peckerhead greed
You say ‘Trust me with the money — the keys to the universe’
Trickle down will give us everything we need
Brand new century private penitentiary
bank vault utopia padded for the few
And it’s tumours for the masses coughing for the masses
Earphones for the masses and they all serve you
Trickle down give /em the business
Trickle down supposed to give us the goods
Cups held out to catch a bit of the bounty
Trickle down everywhere trickle down blood
What used to pass for education now looks more like ignoration
Take the people’s money and slip it to the corporation
Yellow rain golden shower pesticide firepower
Summon feudal demons of sweatshop subjugation
Workfare foul air homeless beggars everywhere
Picturephone aristocrats lounge around the pool
Captains of industry smiling beneficently
Leaking hole supertanker ship of fools
Trickle down give me the business
Trickle down supposed to give us the goods
Cups held out to catch a bit of the bounty
Trickle down everywhere trickle down blood
Take over takedown big bucks shakedown
Schoolyard pusher offer anything-for-profit
First got to privatize then you get to piratize
Hooked on avarice- how do we get off it?
Trickle down give me the business
Trickle down supposed to give us the goods
Cups held out to catch a bit of the bounty
Trickle down everywhere trickle down blood
Trickle down give me the business
Trickle down supposed to give us the goods
Cups held out to catch a bit of the bounty
Trickle down everywhere trickle down blood
Trickle down
March 2001 – Toronto.
co-written with Andy Milne
Musicians:
Bruce Cockburn: Electric Guitar and Vocals
Rich Brown: Bass
Gary Craig: Percussion kit
Hugh Marsh: Violins
Ben Riley: Drums
Andy Milne: Piano
2000 – New Hampshire.
co-written with Andy Milne
Musicians:
Bruce Cockburn: Acoustic Guitar and Vocals
Gregoire Maret: Harmonica
Andy Milne: Piano
filled up with feelings I can’t name
Images of life appear —
regret and anger, love and fear
Dark things drift across the screen
of mine behind whose veil are seen
love’s ferocious eyes, and clear
the words come flying to my ear
Go on — put it in your heart —
Put it in your heart
Terrible deeds done in the name
of tunnel vision and fear of change
surely are expressions of
a soul that’s turned its back on love
All the sirens all the tongues
The song of air in every lung
Heaven’s perfect alchemy
put me with you and you with me
Come on — put that in your heart
Come on, put it in your heart
All the sirens all the tongues
The song of air in every lung
Heaven’s perfect alchemy
Put me with you and you with me
Come on, put it in your heart
Come on, put it in your heart
November 18, 2001 – Montreal.
Musicians:
Bruce Cockburn: 12-string Guitar, Electric Guitar, Baritone Guitar and Vocals
Gary Craig: Drums & Percussion
John Dymond: Bass
Hugh Marsh: Violin
Maury Lafoy & Graham Powell: Harmonies
Also On
Slice O Life – 2009
Rumours Of Glory box set – disc 6 – 2014
Greatest Hits (1970-2020)
“Do you ever find yourself talking with the dead?”
There are three tiny deaths heads carved out of mammoth tusk
on the ledge in my bathroom
They grin at me in the morning when I’m taking a leak,
but they say very little.
Outside Phnom Penh there’s a tower, glass paneled,
maybe ten meters high
filled with skulls from the killing fields
Most of them lack the lower jaw
so they don’t exactly grin
but they whisper, as if from a great distance,
of pain, and of pain left far behind
Eighteen thousand empty eyeholes peering out at the four directions
Electric fly buzz, green moist breeze
Bone-colored Brahma bull grazes wet-eyed,
hobbled in hollow of mass grave
In the neighboring field a small herd
of young boys plays soccer,
their laughter swallowed in expanding silence
This is too big for anger,
it’s too big for blame.
We stumble through history so
humanly lame
So I bow down my head
Say a prayer for us all
That we don’t fear the spirit
when it comes to call
The sun will soon slide down into the far end of the ancient reservoir.
Orange ball merging with its water-borne twin
below air-brushed edges of cloud.
But first, it spreads itself,
a golden scrim behind fractal sweep of swooping fly catchers.
Silhouetted dark green trees,
blue horizon
The rains are late this year.
The sky has no more tears to shed.
But from the air Cambodia remains
a disc of wet green, bordered by bright haze.
Water-filled bomb craters, sun streaked gleam
stitched in strings across patchwork land and
march west toward the far hills of Thailand.
Macro analog of Ankor Wat’s temple walls
intricate bas-relief of thousand-year-old battles
pitted with AK rounds
And under the sign of the seven headed cobra
the naga who sees in all directions
seven million landmines lie in terraced grass, in paddy, in bush
(Call it a minescape now)
Sally holds the beggar’s hand and cries
at his scarred up face and absent eyes
and right leg gone from above the knee
Tears spot the dust on the worn stone causeway
whose sculpted guardians row on row
Half frown, half smile, mysterious, mute.
And this is too big for anger.
It’s too big for blame
We stumble through history so
humanly lame.
So I bow down my head,
say a prayer for us all.
That we don’t fear the spirit when it comes to call.
July 1999 – Cambodia/Toronto
Musicians:
Bruce Cockburn: Acoustic Guitar and Vocals
Colin Linden: Additional Basses
Steve Lucas: Bass
Hugh Marsh: Violins and Keyboard Percussion
Ben Riley: Drums
Emmylou Harris: Harmonies
Everything’s transforming into pure crystals of light
The heart is a mirror; it throws back the blaze of love
Bathed in that glow it’s no secret what I’m thinking of
I want to wait no more
Wait no more
Wait no more
Sipping wine with angels in this torch-lit tavern by the sea
What does it take for what’s locked up inside to be free?
Fold me into you, you know where I’m dying to be
When my ship sets sail on that ocean of deep mystery
I want to wait no more
Wait no more
Wait no more
What does it take for the heart to explode into stars?
One day we’ll wake to remember how lovely we are
Lightning’s a kiss that lands hot on the loins of the sky
Something uncoils at the base of my spine and I cry
I want to wait no more
Wait no more
Wait no more
July 16, 2001 – Montreal
Musicians:
Bruce Cockburn: Dobro and Vocals
Gary Craig: Percussion Kit
Larry Taylor: Upright Bass
Hugh Marsh: Violin
Stephen Hodges: Drums, Percussion
Jonell Mosser: Harmonies
Also On
Slice O Life- 2009
Rays of the moon in the mountain air
I’m steeped in the steam of the last wild hot spring
Maybe I’m melting but I don’t care
There’s darkness in the canyon
But the Light comes pounding through
For me and for you
Tomorrow may be a hissing blowtorch
Maybe a silken sky shaken by the wind
The world’s in the wake of those whispering horses
But there’s always a pillar of cloud on the valley’s rim
There’s darkness in the canyon
But the Light comes pounding through
For me and for you
Still river full of the depths of the candles
Burning for the free ones riding on the other shore
Even at the heart of these breathing shadows
You can feel us gathering at the door
There’s darkness in the canyon
But the Light comes pounding through
For me and for youFor me and for you
August 18, 1978 – Nelson, BC. – Summer 2001 – Montpelier
Musicians:
Bruce Cockburn: Electric Guitar and Vocals
Gary Craig: Percussion Kit
Larry Taylor: Upright Bass
Hugh Marsh: Violin
Stephen Hodges: Drums, Percussion Jackson Browne: Harmony
Also On
Slice O Life – 2009
Rumours Of Glory box set – disc 2 – 2014
I’m talking to you
Been travelþing 17 hours
Irradiated by signals, by images
of viruses, of virtues
like everyone
Like exiled angels we swing out of the clouds
Above night city-
Fields of light broken by the curve of dark waterways
On the other side of the world
an unhappy teenage girl sets fire
to herself, her house, her neighbourhood and some that dwell therein
Sorry simulacrum of sad dawn
You’ve never seen everything
Sleep of the just, sleep of reason, any damn kind of sleep please!
I’m trying to balance on a sloping bed in Naples
or is it Skopje? I forget
Through the thin hotel wall a man groans in his dreams
And on the other side of the world
the drug squad busts a child’s birthday party
Puts bullets in the family dog and the blood goes all over the baby
And the Mounties are strip-searching schoolgirls
because they can
And a car crashes and burns on an offramp from the Gardiner
Two dogs in the back seat die, and in the front
a man and his mother
Forensics reveals the lady has pitchfork wounds in her chest –
Pitchfork!
And that the same or a similar instrument has been screwed to the dash
to make sure the driver goes too
You’ve never seen everything
I see:
A leader of the people with a ring in his nose
And the leaders of business tell him which way to go
With tugs on the golden chain which once led the golden calf
And we’re supposed to be impressed with their success
But my mind goes blank before the unbelievable indifference
shown life
spirit
the future
anything green
anything just
Bad pressure coming down
Tears – what we really traffic in
ride the ribbon of shadow
Never feel the light falling all around
Years ago when my brother was in India
A small town baker got a bright idea
He cut his flour with pesticide
and sent a bunch of neighbours on their longest journey
He was just being cheap -trying to make a profit
Didn’t even have shareholders to answer to
But it’s worth remembering, as we sell off the forest
gene-splice the world’s food into an instrument of control
maim and destroy as acts of theatre,
what came next –
That when the survivors looked around
and understood what had been done
they butchered
that baker
Snow swirls in the parking lot light like flour
like pesticide There’s a trade war brewing – or at least that’s the face they paint on it
But it’s only more transnational manipulation
It’s all bad magic and gangrene politics
Hormone disruptors and carcinogenetics
Greed twists eternal in the human breast
But the market has no brain
It doesn’t love it’s not God
All it knows is the price of lunch
Here I sit
Staring at my own shadow
Feeling my blood move
Trying not to have a drink
Trying to find somewhere to put the rage I’m carrying
Bad pressure coming down
Tears – what we really traffic in
ride the ribbon of shadow
Never feel the light falling all around
Never feel the light falling all around
You’ve never seen everything
August 1, 2001 – Montreal
Musicians:
Bruce Cockburn: Electric Guitar and Vocals
Gary Craig: Percussion Kit
Larry Taylor: Upright Bass
Hugh Marsh: Violin
Andy Milne: Piano
Dr. Divorce: Loop
Stephen Hodges: Percussion
John Whynot: Whistling
Emmylou Harris: Harmonies
and all the stories dreamt and lived
Amid the clangour and the dislocation
and things to fear and to forgive
Don’t forget
about delight
Y’ know what I’m saying to you
Don’t forget
about delight
Y’ know
Amid the post-ironic postulating
and the poets’ pilfered rhymes
Meaning feels like it’s evaporating
Out of sight and out of mind
Don’t forget
about delight
Y’ know what I’m saying to you
Don’t forget
about delight
Y’ know
Though you find yourself alone and stranded
with no friend to take your side
On the endless road afoot and empty-handed
where the wild-eyed Cossacks ride
Don’t forget
about delight
Y’ know what I’m saying to you
Don’t forget
about delight
Y’ know
Spring birds peck among the pressed-down grasses
Clouds like zeppelins cross the sky
Anger drips and pools and then it passes
And I say a prayer that I
Don’t forget
about delight
Y’ know what I’m saying to you
Don’t forget
about delight
Y’ know
February 22, 2002 – Montreal
Musicians:
Bruce Cockburn: Acoustic Guitar and Vocals
Steve Lucas: Bass
Hugh Marsh: Violin
Ben Riley: Drums
Sarah Harmer: Harmonies
sun coming up paints the snow all around with rose light
In front of the house where I’m supposed to be born
I don’t think I’m ready to walk through that door just yet
To be one more voice in the human choir
rising like smoke from the mystical fire of the heart
The wind that blows through everything
sweeps out the halls of my heart when I sing to you
It carries the moon and the stars and the rain
Carries the seagulls and carries my shame away
Spins me around, stops me running away
from all the things I’ve been waiting to say But don’t
Here
is bigger than you can imagine
Now
is forever
Sun coming up paints the snow all around
Rose on the roofs and the trees and the ground
And the stream
In my dream
Messenger wind swooping out of the sky
Lights each tiny speck in my human kaleidoscope
With hope
May 19, 2001 – Montpelier
Musicians:
Bruce Cockburn: Acoustic Guitar and Vocals
Gary Craig: Percussion Kit
Larry Taylor: Upright Bass
Hugh Marsh: Violins
Stephen Hodges: Marimba
You’ve Never Seen Everything is Cockburn’s first full-length studio album since his 1999 critically acclaimed and JUNO Award winning Breakfast in New Orleans Dinner in Timbuktu. With a career that spans over three decades, countless tours and 27 albums, Cockburn has never stopped reflecting on political and social causes.
You’ve Never Seen Everything mirrors Cockburn’s deepening frustration with a world out of balance. Songs like the tense opening ‘Tried and Tested,’ the hypnotic ‘All Our Dark Tomorrows’ and, especially, the swirling jazz of ‘Trickle Down’ represent some of Cockburn’s most political songs since his ‘Call it Democracy’ and ‘If I Had a Rocket Launcher’ classics of the mid-1980s. Cockburn’s solution comes through in some of the most powerful songs of hope he’s ever written: the joyous ‘Open,’ the euphoric ‘Put It in Your Heart’ and the gorgeous closing ‘Messenger Wind.’
Co-produced with longtime associate Colin Linden, You’ve Never Seen Everything finds Cockburn collaborating with old friends as well as new acquaintances to create one of his most complete works yet. Guest vocalists include Emmylou Harris, Sarah Harmer, Jackson Browne and Sam Phillips.
Album Info
Production notes:
Produced by Bruce Cockburn & Colin Linden
Recorded and Mixed by John Whynot
Additional recording by Colin Linden
All songs written by Bruce Cockburn and
Published by ©2002 Golden Mountain Music Group
except: Trickle Down written by Bruce Cockburn, Andy Milne and Carl Walker and published by Golden Mountain Music Corp./Triborg Publishing/Phoe13 Myuzik
and
Everywhere Dance written by Bruce Cockburn and Andy Milne and published by Golden Mountain Music Group Corp/Triborg Publishing. All songs SOCAN.
Recorded between October 7, 2002 and December 16, 2002 at Studio Frisson, Montreal; The Clubhouse, Toronto; Deep Field, Nashville; Groove Masters, Los Angeles and Devonshire, Los Angeles
Mixed at Skip Saylor Sound, Los Angeles
Assisted by Jason Gossman, Bill Lane, Barry McClellan, Con Muurnaghan,Chris Schneer-Dyck,Rich Tosi,Jason Vescio,Jiulio Wehrti
Mastered by Greg Calbi at Sterling Sound, New York
Art direction, design, layout, digital illustration & photography by A Man Called Wrycraft, Toronto Original photograph of Bruce: Carrie Nuttall
Direction: The Finkelstein Management Company, Ltd.
260 Richmond Street West, Suite 501
Toronto, Ontario Canada M%V 1W5
PH: 416-596-8696 FX 416-596-6861
e-mail: general_inquiries@truenorthrecords.com
www.truenorthrecords.com
www.brucecockburn.com
Grateful thanks to the following for their part in the making of these songs; the Infinite and his many agents; Marc Bregman; Don Cockburn; JenCockburn; Federico Fellini; Shams-ud-din Muhammad Hatiz (by way of Daniel Ladinsky); the hospitable folks in the Slocan Valley whose names, alas, I no longer recall; Andy Milne; Sally Sweetland; the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation.
Thanks to M. J. Richardson for a beautiful place for Andy and me to work in, and for the following (possibly apocryphal) quote from Nostradamus:
“Come the millennium, month twelve, in the home of the greatest power, the village idiot will come forth to be acclaimed leader.”
Thanks to Debbie Van Dyke of Doctors Without Borders for her recording of the frogs of northern Zambia.
Thanks for the ongoing support of Judy Cade, Leslie Charbon, Bernie Finkelstein and all at True North, Sarah Ives, Sue Jenkins, John Laroque, Linda Manzer and Matt Talham.
Jackson Browne appears courtesy of: Elektra Entertainment
Sarah Harmer appears courtesy of: Round Records
Emmylou Harris appears courtesy of: Nonesuch Records
Colin Linden appears courtesy of: Sony Music Canada
Sam Phillips appears courtesy of: Nonesuch Records
Alternate cover for the US:
Speechless
RELEASE DATE: September 25, 2005
PURCHASE: iTunes | True North
Original release 1973 & 2005
Production Notes:
Bruce Cockburn Guitar
Taken from the True North Album Night Vision
Produced by Eugene Martynec and Bruce Cockburn
Recorded at Thunder Sound, Toronto between February and May 1973
Engineered by Bill Seddon
circa July 1992 & 2005
Production Notes:
Bruce Cockburn Guitar
Taken from the True North Album Dart To The Heart
Produced by T Bone Burnett
Recorded at Bearsville NY, March 1993
Engineered by Joe Schiff
Mixed by Glyn Johns at Narnham Lodge Farm England
released 1976 & 2005
Production Notes:
Bruce Cockburn Guitar
Taken from the True North Album In The Falling Dark
Produced by Eugene Martynec
Recorded at Eastern Sound, Toronto between September and November 1976
Engineered by Ken Friesen
New release 2005
Production Notes:
Bruce Cockburn Guitar
New recording
Produced by Bruce Cockburn and Colin Linden
Recorded and mixed by Colin Linden
Recorded at Chapel of Shadows, Canada, June 2005
Mixed at Pinhead Recorders, Toronto
released 1996 & 2005
Production Notes:
Bruce Cockburn Guitar
Gary Burton Vibes
Taken from the True North Album The Charity Of Night
Produced by Bruce Cockburn and Colin Linden
Recorded at Reaction Studios, Toronto, Summer of 1996
Mixed at Kingsway,New Orleans
Recorded and mixed by John Whynot
(“To Knock About the World”) — released 1974 & 2005
Production Notes:
Bruce Cockburn Guitar
Jack Zaza Clarinet
Taken from the True North Album Salt, Sun and Time
Produced by Bruce Anthony and Eugene Martynec
Recorded at Thunder Sound, Toronto between May and August, 1974
Engineered by Bill Seddon
Mixed at Manta Sound, Toronto by Leo de Carlo
released 1974 & 2005
Production Notes:
Bruce Cockburn Guitar
Taken from the True North Album Salt, Sun and Time
Produced by Bruce Anthony and Eugene Martynec
Recorded at Thunder Sound, Toronto between May and August, 1974
Engineered by Bill Seddon
Mixed at Manta Sound, Toronto by Leo de Carlo
released 1973 & 2005
Production Notes:
Bruce Cockburn Guitar
Taken from the True North Album Night Vision
Produced by Eugene Martynec and Bruce Cockburn
Recorded at Thunder Sound, Toronto between February and May 1973
Engineered by Bill Seddon
1999 & 2005
Production Notes:
Bruce Cockburn Guitar and bells
George Koller Bass
Ben Riley Drums
Previously available only in Japan — [on the Japanese edition of 1999’s Breakfast in New Orleans, Dinner in Timbuktu]
Produced by Bruce Cockburn and Colin Linden
Recorded and mixed by John Whynot
Recorded at Reaction Studios, Toronto, 1999
Mixed at Sound City, Los Angeles -)
April 29, 1989 – St. Louis
Production Notes:
Bruce Cockburn Guitar
Taken from the True North Album Dart To The Heart
Produced by T Bone Burnett
Recorded at Bearsville NY, March 1993
Engineered by Joe Schiff
Mixed by Glyn Johns at Narnham Lodge Farm England
released 2005
Production Notes:
Bruce Cockburn Guitar
New recording
Produced by Bruce Cockburn and Colin Linden
Recorded and Mixed by Colin Linden
Recorded at Chapel of Shadows, Canada, June 2005
Mixed at Pinhead Recorders, Toronto
April 1990 – Mississauga, Canada
Production Notes:
Bruce Cockburn Guitars
Edgar Meyer Bass
Booker T. Jones Organ
Michael Blair, Ralph Forbes Percussion
Mark O’Connor Mandolin
Taken from the True North Album Nothing But A Burning Light
Produced by T Bone Burnett
Production Assistant Joe Henry
Engineered and mixed by Pat McCarthy
Recorded at Ocean Way, Hollywood CA between May and July 1991
1999 & 2005
Production Notes:
Bruce Cockburn Guitar
George Koller Bass & Dilruba
Rick Lazar Percussion
Taken from the True North Album Breakfast In New Orleans Dinner In Timbuktu
Produced by Bruce Cockburn and Colin Linden
Recorded and mixed by John Whynot
Recorded at Reaction Studios, Toronto, 1999
Mixed at Sound City, Los Angeles
Released September 2005 (written circa 1999)
Production Notes:
Bruce Cockburn Guitar, Tibetan bowl, Navajo flute and baritone guitar
New recording
Produced by Bruce Cockburn and Colin Linden
Recorded and Mixed by Colin Linden
Recorded at Chapel of Shadows, Canada, June 2005
Mixed at Pinhead Recorders, Toronto
released 1971 & 2005
Production Notes:
Bruce Cockburn Guitar
Taken from the True North Album Sunwheel Dance
Produced by Eugene Martyne
Recorded at Thunder Sound, Toronto between September and December 1971
Engineered by Bill Seddon
Bruce Cockburn’s first instrumental album featuring 3 brand new recordings and one track previously only available in Japan.
Album Info:
Compilation produced by Bruce Cockburn & Colin Linden
Mastered by Greg Calbi at Sterling Sound, New York City
All songs written by Bruce Cockburn ©Golden Mountain Music Corp. (SOCAN)
Art Direction, Design and Layout by A Man Called Wrycraft, Toronto
Photography by Kevin Kelly
Angel with accordion, light on wood floor photographs by Michael Wrycraft
Direction:
The Finkelstein Management Company Ltd.
260 Richmond Street West, Suite 501
Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5V 1W5
PH: 416-596-8696 FX 416-596-6861
e-mail: general_inquiries@truenorthrecords.com
websites:
www.truenorthrecords.com
www.brucecockburn.com
www.rounder.com
ROUNDER 11661-3250-2
* Brand new recordings
-) Previously available only in Japan
www.rounder.com
www.truenorthrecords.com
®&© 2005 High Romance Music Ltd. under license to Rounder Records Corp.
Rounder Records, One Camp Street, Cambridge MA 02140 USA.
ROUNDER is a registered trademark of Rounder Records Corp
Life Short Call Now
RELEASE DATE: July 11, 2006
PURCHASE: iTunes | True North
And tattoos “done while you wait”
Possible futures all laid out
On the sweeping curve of the interstate
Got no city, got no land
Got no lover, got no wife
How many ways to say goodbye
Can one man fit in a nomad life?
Life short-call now
Lone car waxes, then it wanes
Leaves only voices in the hall
And in the room next door to mine
The bed is banging on the wall
You’ve no idea how I long
For even one loving caress
For you to step into my heart
Without deception or duress
Life short-call now
April 1, 2003 – Montreal
Pushing lethal steel
Wanted me to watch his back
While he did his deal
He must have been a loser
Or he wouldn’t have looked to me
But I have to say, I liked the thought
Of living that guilt-free
Watching the way the women walk
Makes me think of you
And all my sins and all my stalkers
Affect me that way too
The pain on the horizon
Can’t sink me in sorrow
‘Cause I know I’m going to be
Seeing you tomorrow
O–see you tomorrow
See you tomorrow
See you tomorrow
Look at that big fat full moon
Hanging in the night
When I feel it calling me
The shackles seem to bite
These chains of flesh are sour and sweet
But these we must explore, oh
I know I’m going to feel complete
When I see you tomorrow
O–see you tomorrow
See you tomorrow
See you tomorrow
December 12, 2005 – Kingston
Also On
Slice O Life – 2009
Mystery
Mystery
You can’t tell me there is no mystery
It’s everywhere I turn
Moon over junk yard where the snow lies bright
Snow lies bright
Snow lies bright
Moon over junk yard where the snow lies bright
Can set my heart to burn
Stood before the shaman, I saw star-strewn space
Star-strewn space
Star-strewn space
Stood before the shaman, I saw star strewn space
Behind the eye holes in his face
Infinity always gives me vertigo
Vertigo
Vertigo
Infinity always gives me vertigo
And fills me up with grace
I was built on a Friday and you can’t fix me
You can’t fix me
You can’t fix me
I was built on a Friday and you can’t fix me
Even so I’ve done okay
So grab that last bottle full of gasoline
Gasoline
Gasoline
Grab that last bottle full of gasoline
Light a toast to yesterday
And don’t tell me there is no mystery
Mystery
Mystery
And don’t tell me there is no mystery
It overflows my cup
This feast of beauty can intoxicate
Intoxicate
Intoxicate
This feast of beauty can intoxicate
Just like the finest wine
So all you stumblers who believe love rules
Believe love rules
Believe love rules
Come all you stumblers who believe love rules
Stand up and let it shine
Stand up and let it shine
April 20, 2004 – Montreal
As I gaze out today
On the planes of the city
All polychrome grey
When the skin is peeled off it
What is there to say?
The beautiful creatures are going away
Like a dam on a river
My conscience is pressed
By the weight of hard feelings
Piled up in my breast
The callous and vicious things
Humans display
The beautiful creatures are going away
Why? Why?
From the stones of the fortress
To the shapes in the air
To the ache in the spirit
We label despair
We create what destroys,
Bind ourselves to betray
The beautiful creatures going away
October 25, 2004 – Montreal
Neocon old con got to put the brakes on
Slow down fast
Lights out veins plugged zap it with another drug
Genejacker pharma thug say hello to superbug
Slow down fast
Shills and hawkers and rockers with walkers
Bombs in the lockers and brain dead mockers
Slow down fast
One-eyed sun leering through the haze
Hordes of loveless marching while the little drummer plays
Nail in the coffin rats in the maze
Dancing arm in arm towards the looming end of days
Got to slow down
Oil wars water wars tv propaganda whores
Fire alarm met with snores no one gets what’ gone before
Slow down fast
Flagwave hammer slave gonna be a close shave
Stay brave jump the grave got to save what we can save
Slow down fast
Got to slow down fast
Slow down fast
CSIS won’t you tell me what you’ve got on me?
January 9, 2006 – Kingston
Out in the desert with your smoking gun
Looks like you’ve been having too much fun
Tell the universe what you’ve done
Tell the universe what you took
While the heavens trembled and the mountains shook
All those lives not worth a second look
Tell the universe what you took
You’ve been projecting your shit at the world
Self-hatred tarted up as payback time
You can self destruct-that’s your right
But keep it to yourself if you don’t mind
Tell the universe where you’ve been
With your bloodstained shoes and your dunce’s grin
Got to identify next of kin
Tell the universe where you’ve been
April 21, 2003 – Boston
As Generation Two tries on his tragic flaw
America’s might under desert sun
I saw her frightened eyes behind the muzzle of her gun
Uranium dust and the smell of decay
Sewage in the street where the kids run and play
Not enough morphine and not enough gauze
Firefight in darkness like snapping of jaws
This is Baghdad
This is Baghdad
This is Baghdad
This is Baghdad
This is Baghdad
This is Baghdad
This is Baghdad
You couldn’t see the blast-the morning was bright-
But some radiant energy flared up into the light
Like the sky throwing its hands up in a horrified dismay
Or the souls of the dead as they sped on their way
Carbombed and carjacked and kidnapped and shot
How do you like it, this freedom we brought
We packed all the ordnance but the thing we forgot
Was a plan in case it didn’t turn out quite like we thought
This is Baghdad
This is Baghdad
This is Baghdad
This is Baghdad
This is Baghdad
This is Baghdad
This is Baghdad
April 19, 2004 – Montreal
I had to let her know
It was never meant to be
And she had to let it go
She was pissed and hurting
But what was I supposed to do
I did not love her, but it’s
Different when it comes to you
Lamentations everywhere
All the colours turned to blue
Desperation laid her bare
She told me everything I could do
She told herself a story
That flat out wasn’t true
She made me feel sorry
But it’s different when it comes to you
I don’t want to go home tonight
I want to turn loose my lust
I want you to squeeze me tight
Do the things that we discussed
I bring you my broken self
With zero hidden from your view
I don’t usually do that but it’s
Different when it comes to you
I didn’t know I could do that, but it’s
Different when it comes to you
June 20, 2005 – Kingston
Also On:
Greatest Hits (1970-2020)
Wave forms crash in
Sea’s too big to fit in my brain [heart]
Nothings too big to fit in my heart
Seas come, seas go
Where they stood deserts flow
Time’s too big to fit in the brain
Nothing’s too big to fit in my heart
Spacetime strings bend
World without end
God’s too big to fit in a book
Nothings too big to fit in my heart
July 15, 2005 – Kingston
This is Bruce Cockburn’s 29th studio recording entitled LIFE SHORT CALL NOW. This beautiful album follows up 2005’s Speechless – Cockburn’s first-ever instrumental record. Life Short Call Now was recorded at Puck’s Farm outside of Toronto. It includes 12 Cockburn originals and features guest appearances from Ani Difranco, Ron Sexsmith, Hawksley Workman and Damhnait Doyle. Life Short Call Now was produced by JOHNATHAN GOLDSMITH who also produced Bruce Cockburn’s Stealing Fire in 1984. Several of these songs were written during and after Bruce Cockburn’s 2004 fact-finding mission to Baghdad. Some tracks feature Cockburn with a twenty-three piece orchestra which is a first for Bruce.
ALBUM INFO:
Produced by Jonathan Goldsmith
Recorded at National Treasures’ Studio, at Puck’s Farm, Schomberg Ontario
February 1 to February 25, 2006
Engineered by Jeff McMurrich
Assisted by Walter Sobzcak
Mixed at Phase One Studios, Toronto, Canada
March 5 to March 20, 2006
Engineered by Jeff McMurrich
Assisted by Greg Kolchinsky
Mastered by Greg Calbi
at Sterling Sound, New York, New York
All songs written by Bruce Cockburn
(c) Golden Mountain Music Corp. (SOCAN)
except Tell the Universe written by
Bruce Cockburn, Julie Wolf, Ben Riley and Steve Lucas and
published by Golden Mountain Music Corp/six pounder music/Ben Riley/Steve Lucas
Photography by Kevin Kelly
Art Direction, design, layout, digital illustration (bullet through world)
and photography (phone on fire) by A Man Called Wrycraft, Toronto
Direction:
The Finkelstein Management Company, Ltd.
260 Richmond Street West, Suite 501
Toronto, Ontario Canada M5V 1W5
PH: 416-596-8696
FX: 416-596-6861
e-mail: info@truenorthrecords.com
www.truenorthrecords.com
www.brucecockburn.com
The musicians are:
Gary Craig: Drums and Percussion
David Piltch: Acoustic and Electric Bass
Julie Wolf: Piano, Harmonium, Wurlitzer, Fender Rhodes, B3, Accordion and Melodica
Jonathan Goldsmith: Celeste, Glockenspiel, Maikotron, Prepared Piano, Piano on Mystery, and Fender Rhodes on Nude Descending a Staircase
Kevin Turcotte: Flugelhorn and Trumpet
Bruce Cockburn: Guitars and Vocals
Horns on Mystery:
David Buchbinder: Alto Horn
Kevin Turcotte: Alto Horn
Scott Suttie: Double Bell Euphonium
Paul Neufield: Sousaphone
Background Vocals:
Ron Sexsmith on Mystery
Hawksley Workman on Mystery and Slow Down Fast
Damhnait Doyle on Mystery, Life Short Call Now and Different When It Comes To You
Ani DiFranco on See You Tomorrow
Julie Wolf on Tell the Universe and To Fit In My Heart
String Orchestra:
Violas: Parmela Attariwala, Virginia Barron, Caroline Blackwell, Johnthan Craig, Steve Dann, Kathleen Kajioka, Jeewon Kim, Gary Labovitz, Teng Li, Nick Papadakis, Douglas Perry, Anna Redekip, Christopher Redfield, Angela Rudden, Beverly Spotton, Scott St. John, Josef Tamir, David Willms
Cellos: Maurizio Baccante, Roman Borys, Matt Bruceck, David Hetherington, John Marshman, Paul Widner, Winona Zelenka
Basses: Roberto Occhipinti, Charles Elliot
Score Preparation by Dan Parr
Strings Arranged and Conducted by Jonathan Goldsmith
Strings recorded by Jeff McMurrich at Glenn Gould Studios, Toronto on March 2 and 3, 2006
Assisted by Dennis Patterson and Pete Lawlor
We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Department of Canadian Heritage (Canada Music Fund).
Ani DiFranco appears courtesy of Righteous Babe Records
Ron Sexsmith appears courtesy of Warner Music Canada
Hawksley Workman appears courtesy of Isedora/Universal
Slice O Life – Live Solo
RELEASE DATE: March 31, 2009
PURCHASE: itunes | True North
Songs are linked to original album for lyrics.
Songs marked with ** are new songs.
And ++ indicates stories about the songs.
Disc One
1. Intro – Applause (0:46)
2. World Of Wonders (5:59)
3. Lovers In A Dangerous Time (4:36)
4. Mercenary Story ++ (3:07)
5. See You Tomorrow (4:41)
6. Last Night Of The World (4:52)
7. How I Spent My Fall Vacation (6:17)
8. Tibetan Side of Town (6:29)
9. Pacing The Cage (5:05)
10. Bearded Folk Singer Story ++(1:17)
11. End Of All Rivers (5:47)
12. Soul OF A Man (4:20)
Disc Two
1. Wait No More (5:49)
Hear that rumblin under ground
The citys hungry
Hear that rumblin under ground
You better think twice
Before you go downtown
Man on a park bench
Face in a paper sack
Man on a park bench
Face in a paper sack
Look at him flyin
Above those tall smoke stacks
River wrapped in concrete
Hills made to stand in chains ?
River wrapped in concrete
Hills made to stand in chains ?
Ain’t the city pretty
Shines like tear drops when it rains
The citys hungry
Hear that rumblin under ground
The citys hungry
Hear that rumblin under ground
My baby grabs me
She starts to dance around
She starts to dance around
She starts to dance around
Brooklyn, New York
Musicians:
Bruce Cockburn
3. Put It In Your Heart (5:11)
4. Tramps In The Street Story ++ (1:27)
5. Wondering Where The Lions Are (4:49)
6. If A Tree Falls (6:08)
7. Celestial Horses (7:48)
8. If I Had A Rocket Launcher (5:57)
9. Child Of The Wind (4:41)
10. Tie Me At The Crossroads (3:45)
Soundcheck
I’m happy where I am.
I don’t know where I am,
But the trains don’t go there anymore.
If you want to see me drop a line
I’ll catch it if I can
And give it back to you
And we won’t be lonely anymore,
Now can you see I’m sort of lost here?
With no idea where to go.
You know I’d send for you
But the trains don’t run here anymore.
No the trains don’t run here anymore.Brooklyn, New York
This song was co-written by Bill Hawkins
Musicians:
Bruce Cockburn
12. Kit Carson – Soundcheck (4:53)
13. Mama Just Wants To Barrelhouse All Night Long (5:06)
Bruce Cockburn – Slice O Life / Live Solo – by Nick Jennings
The best live albums create the illusion of being there, witnessing an artist in a memorable performance. Bruce Cockburn has recorded three previous live recordings: Circles in the Stream (1977), Live (1990) and You Pay Your Money and You Take Your Chance (1997), each critically acclaimed and featuring Cockburn in concert with a backing band. Now, the celebrated musician-activist delivers something new: his first-ever live solo album.
Recorded last spring (2008) over a series of dates in the northeastern United States and one in Quebec, Slice O Life is a double CD that showcases a cross-section of Cockburn’s finest songs and some of his most dazzling guitar work. The album, produced by longtime associate Colin Linden, also includes one new song, ‘City is Hungry,’ three tracks recorded at sound checks on the tour and some between-song banter that shows Cockburn to be both a quick wit and an engaging storyteller.
Slice O Life features such hits as Cockburn’s controversial ‘If I Had a Rocket Launcher,’ his classic ‘Lovers in a Dangerous Time’ and his breakthrough ‘Wondering Where the Lions Are,’ which he rightly quips may be the only song ever to make the Billboard chart that includes the word ‘petroglyph.’ Originally recorded with a full band, these and other songs like ‘World of Wonders’ have been rearranged and performed on acoustic guitar—often with stunning results. In particular, the polyrhythmic solo on ‘Rocket Launcher,’ full of complex, cascading notes, is especially mesmerizing.
Besides the hits, the album recasts lesser-known songs such as ‘Wait No More’ and ‘Celestial Horses,’ both originally featured on Cockburn’s 2003 album You’ve Never Seen Everything, in a dramatic new light. The latter, full of slow, haunting reverb, now seems like an overlooked psych-folk masterpiece, while the former, played in a fast, bluesy drone on a Dobro guitar, takes on a compelling urgency. Similarly on ‘Tibetan Side of Town,’ Cockburn’s single guitar conveys a full, rich accompaniment—fluid, jazzy treble notes and Big Bill Broonzy-style droning bass notes—for his vivid tale of sensory nights in Katmandu.
Cockburn has often cited the influence of the blues on his music, especially the work of country-blues pioneers like Mississippi John Hurt. The blues tinge shines through in several other performances on Slice O Life, including Cockburn’s gut-wrenching rendition of Blind Willie Johnson’s ‘Soul of a Man’ and ‘City is Hungry,’ an hypnotic urban blues number in which Cockburn warns “hear that rumbling underground/better think twice before you go downtown.”
Meanwhile, the sound checks and introductions to songs reveal another side of the award-winning artist. One sound check involves Cockburn jamming wildly on his 12-string guitar before segueing into ‘The Trains Don’t Go There Anymore,’ a rare track he co-wrote in the 1960s with Ottawa poet Bill Hawkins. Cockburn’s humor comes across in anecdotes about panhandlers who claim to know his music and a mercenary who once offered him a summer job as a gun-runner while he was a student at Boston’s prestigious Berklee School of Music.
Fortunately for us, Cockburn turned down the job and stuck with music. Over 35 years, the Ottawa-born musician has recorded almost as many albums while earning respect for his charitable and activist work. “My job is to try and trap the spirit of things in the scratches of pen on paper, in the pulling of notes out of metal,” Cockburn said when he was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 2001. He was also made an Officer of the Order of Canada and has been the recipient of honorary degrees in Letters and Music from several North American universities, including Berklee and Toronto’s York University. His many other awards have included the Tenco Award for Lifetime Achievement in Italy and 20 gold and platinum awards in Canada.
As a songwriter, Cockburn is revered by fans and musicians alike. His songs have been covered by such diverse artists as Elbow, Jimmy Buffett, Judy Collins, the Skydiggers, Anne Murray, Third World, Chet Atkins, k.d. lang, Barenaked Ladies, Maria Muldaur and the Grateful Dead’s Jerry Garcia. As a guitarist, he is considered among the world’s best. The New York Times called Cockburn a “virtuoso on guitar,” while Acoustic Guitar magazine placed him in the esteemed company of Andrés Segovia, Bill Frisell and Django Reinhardt. With Slice O Life, all of Cockburn’s formidable gifts are on full display. ~ Nick Jennings
Album Info:
Liner Notes written by Bruce Cockburn:
Over the years, several live CD’s have come out with my name on them. For purely circumstantial reasons, they been recordings of me with bands I’ve had at the time. I’ve liked this, because each band has been unique and interesting, and it’s felt good to have some of the performances preserved and made available to listeners who might not have heard them in person.
Those CDs have been well received, but there have always been people requesting a solo live album. Since half of what I do is solo, this made sense. So here it is. Sorry it took so long.
These performances are drawn from ten concerts recorded in May ’08. We’ve made an effort to put them together as one show, in the hope of giving you the feeling of being present in the flesh. For the same reason, we chose not to apply too much polish. What you hear is what it was.
We recorded all the sound checks as well as the shows. Out of these we captured songs and some random playing which turned out quite well but never ended up in the formal events. Bernie Finkelstein had the thought that we should create a section of the album to accommodate some of these. I liked this idea, and so as well as the concert, you’ll hear “the sound check.” (Maybe someday we’ll do a whole CD of sound check stuff.)
I think that’s all I need to tell you. Thanks are due to Bernie, Colin Linden, Jon Erickson, Steve Martin and Joshua Dick for making both the tour and the recording happen, and to all the promoters and venues involved, whose cooperation was crucial.
A special thank you to Linda Manzer for her guitars.
Hope you enjoy this little slice of the touring life!
Production:
Produced by Colin Linden
Recorded Live between May 14 and May 25 at Northhampton MA,
Boston MA, Ithaca NY, Rochester NY, Sellersville PA,
Recorded by Colin Linen & Jon Erickson
Mixed by Colin Linden
at Kampo Studio C New York & Pinhead Recorders, Toronto
Assisted by Jonathan Altschuler
Mastered by Greg Calbi at sterling Sound, New York New York
Photography by Joel Goldberg &Kiarash Sadigh
Courtesy of Riddle Films Inc.
Art direction, design, layout & video stills selected by
A Man Called Wrycraft www.wrycraft.com
Colin Linden thanks Janice Powers, Pat Dellett, Roma Baran
Ethan Coen, Greg Calbi, Brian “Brain” Harrison,
Jeff long at Long & McQuade Music-Toronto, John Whynot
All songs written by Bruce Cockburn.
Published by Golden Mountain Music Corp. (SOCAN)
Except: Silhouettes written by Bob Crewe and Frank Slay Jr. published
by Regent Music Corp., Soul Of A Man written by Blind Willie Johnson
/arrangement by Bruce Cockburn published by Golden Mountain Music
Corp. and The Trains Don’t Run Here Anymore written by
Bruce Cockburn & William Hawkins and published by Bytown Music.
We acknowledge the finacial support of the Government of Canada
through the Canada Music Fund for this project.
Tour Management and Front of House Sound: Jon Erickson
Bus Driver: Jon Glas Bus Supplied by Haljoe Coaches
US Agents and good friends:
Steve Martin and Joshua Dick at The Agency Group New York.
Direction:
The Finkelstein Management Company
137 Berkeley Street
Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5A 2X1
PH: 416-596-8696 ex 222
FX: 416-596-6861
bernie@finkelsteinmanagement.com
www.finkelsteinmanagement.com
www.brucecockburn.com / www.truenorthrecords.com
© Bruce D. Cockburn Ent.under exclusive license to High Romance Music Inc.
Marketed and Distributed by True North Records. All Rights Reserved. Made in Canada.
www.truenorthrecords.com
Discography
2023
2021
2020
– 2019
2017
2005
2002
1997
– 1994
– 1993
1990 / 2002
1988 / 2005
1986
1985
1984 / 2003
1981 / 2002
1981
1981
1980 / 2003
1978 /2002
1976 / 2002
1975
1974
1973
1971 / 2005
1970
The complete Bruce Cockburn album catalog is available in multiple digital formats (mp3-alac-flac) as well as individually by song or album, bundled and on cd. Follow the link from the album page to True North purchase page, or use this link to True North Label Store.
Small Source of Comfort
RELEASE DATE: March 8, 2011
PURCHASE: itunes | True North
never know what to expect
they wanted to know what church I’m in
and what things I collect
they’re trying to plug holes in the hull
while flames eat up the deck
the captain and his crew
don’t seem to get the disconnect
Passing through the iris of the world
Passing through the iris of the world
I WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU
on a boulder by the shoulder
the paint will likely outlive
both the feeling and the holder
in the age of Global Warming
when all things are growing colder
it’s beautiful the writer
opened up his heart and told her
Passing through the iris of the world
Passing through the iris of the world
I’m good at catching rainbows
not so good at catching trout
I’m good at blowing holes in things
and ranting in self doubt
I’ve got a way with time and space
but numbers freak me out
I’ve mostly dodged the dogmas
of what life is all about
Passing through the iris of the world
Passing through the iris of the world
I’m talking in strange voices
to myself the way I do
the road under the half moon sky
rolls out in shades of blue
I’m raw anticipation
of our rhythmic rendezvous
loving the gift of the loving I get
and the loving I give to you
Passing through the iris of the world
Passing through the iris of the world
November 1, 2009 – Camden East
Musicians:
BC – Vocal, Guitar, Sansula
Jenny Scheinman – Violin, Harmonies
John Dymond – Acoustic Bass
Gary Craig – Drums, Percussion
you wouldn’t know it but I used to be the king of the world
compared to last time I look like I’ve hit the skids
living in the project with my two little kids
it’s not what I would of chose
now you have to call me Rose
I was boss of bosses the last time around
I lived by cunning and ambition unbound
the suckers said they’d stand behind me right or wrong
as if they thought that hubris was the mark of the stong
I was an arrogant man
but now I’ve got it in hand
it’s not what I would have chose
now you have to call me Rose
call me Rose
call me Rose it’s not what I would have chose
now you have to call me Rose
My name was Richard Nixon only now I’m a girl
you wouldn’t know it but I used to be the king of the world
I’m back here learning what it is to be poor
to have no power but the strength to endure
I’ll perform my penance well
maybe the memoir will sell
it’s not what I would of chose
now you have to call me Rose
January 19, 2005 – Montreal
Musicians:
BC – Vocal, 12 String Guitar
Jenny Scheinman – Violin
Colin Linden – Mandolins, Hammertones
Celia Shacklett – Harmonies John Dymond – Bass
Gary Craig – Drums, Percussion
Also On:
Greatest Hits (1970-2020)
Musicians:
BC – Guitar
Gary Craig – Drums
low-sun lit, golden
radiance is a woman
all women
all life
She turns her gaze to the window
daylight on her eyes
radiance is a woman
all women
all life
She laughs into her headset
like silver bells moonslashed
radiance is a woman
all women
all life
December 7, 2009 – Camden East
Musicians:
BC – Vocal, Guitar
Gary Craig – Drums
Jenny Scheinman – Violin
Tim Lauer – Accordian
Knots in my muscles, too much traffic in my mind
traffic in my mind, traffic in my mind
knots in my muscles, too much traffic in my mind
it was five fifty-one, gray light creeping through the blind
Small source of comfort, dawn was breaking in the air
breaking in the air, breaking in the air
small source of comfort, dawn was breaking in the air
you don’t take these things for granted when you think of
what’s in need of repair
Out on the sidewalk there was diesel on the breeze
diesel on the breeze, diesel on the breeze
out on the sidewalk there was diesel on the breeze
they’re always getting away with something when they
think there’s no one there to see
Middle of the night cops came kocking on my door
knocking on my door, knocking on my door
middle of the night cops come knocking on my door
still don’t know what my neighbor went and called them for
Knots in my muscles, too much traffic in my mind
traffic in my mind, traffic in my mind
knots in my muscles, too much traffic in my mind
it was five fifty-one, gray light creeping through the blind
March 2008 – Brooklyn
Musicians:
BC – Vocal, 12 String Guitar, Harmonica
Gary Craig – Drums
Colin Linden – Slide Electric Baritone Guitars, Harmony
driving away, driving away
Angel in the heart lost out this time
driving away, driving away
The calamity of seeing, and fleeing the sight
driving away, blue as the night
Driving away, blue as the night
mustang, lizard, mud and light
blood and diamonds, fight or flight
right?
The picture of the world that’s coming clear
driving away, driving away
The things you never thought your ears would hear
driving away, driving away
The ashes of a heart drift past the lights
driving away, blue as the night
Driving away
Blue as the night
Mustang, lizard, mud and light
Blood and diamond, flight or flight
© Bruce Cockburn and Annabelle Chvostek, 2007
winter 2007 – Montreal
Musicians:
BC – Vocal, Guitar, (right side)
Gary Craig – Drums
John Dymond – Acoustic Bass
Annabelle Chvostek – Guitar (left-side), Duet Vocal
Musicians:
BC – Bariton Guitar
Gary Craig – Drums, Percussion
Jenny Scheinman – Violin
Colin Linden – Bass
and a Church of Christ in a double-wide
clouds overhead are ghostly gray
it snowed a little but it didn’t stay
Red-winged blackbird on a mileage sign
ghost town gutted like a dried-up mine
stark faces in the windows of a speeding train
we love our blindness and we love our pain
Standing by the lake sucking poison mist
lungs clenched tight like an angry fist
picking at sores in the hope they heal
hungry and harrowed and caught in the wheel
I feel these serpents of desire
ripple my skin like ropes of fire
all I ever wanted, all along,
was to be the “you” in somebody’s song
Seven dances for the spirits
running a race, running a race
seven dances for the saints
running a race, running a race
looking for the stillness in the womb of space
Boundless
Boundless
The howling wind, it sings to me
the sky looks troubled but I feel free
visions and feeling and ink on my hands
you can travel forever and never land
In the crashing chaos where stars are born
the strong get fed and the weak get torn
look at that cosmos eating its tail
circled like the lip of the holy grail
Seven dances for the spirits
running a race, running a race
seven dances for the saints
running a race, running a race
looking for the stillness in the womb of space
Boundless
Boundless
February 4, 2009 – Montreal
Musicians:
BC – Vocal, Guitar, Harmony, Chimes
Gary Craig – Drums, Percussion
John Dymond – Bass
Jenny Scheinman – Violin
Annabelle Chvostek – Mandolin, Harmony
Colin Linden – Harmony
called me back, called me back
my so-called buddy never called me back
I don’t know what to think about that
I coulda been croaking on the floor of my flat
floor of my flat, floor of my flat
I coulda been croaking on the floor of my flat
the bugger never called me back
Then again he could have troubles himself
troubles himself, troubles himself
then again he could have troubles himself
I better try him once more
He could be going through a bitter divorce
bitter divorce, bitter divorce
he could be going through a bitter divorce
or a quadruple bypass
Maybe his mother ran afoul of the law
afoul of the law, afoul of the law
maybe his mother ran afoul of the law
you never know with that gang
He coulda slid into a society scene
society scene, society scene
he coulda slid into a society scene
and left his old friends behind
My so-called buddy never called me back
called me back, called me back
my so-called buddy never called me back
I don’t know what to think about that
the bugger never called me back
I better try him once more
January 27, 2009 – Camden East
Musicians:
BC – Vocal, 12 String Guitar, Harmonica, Human Grunting Jug, Tibetan Cymbals
Gary Craig – Drums, Percussion
Jenny Scheinman – Violin
Colin Linden – Slide Guitars, Harmony
Celia Shacklett – Harmony
Musicians:
BC – Electric Resonator Guitar
Gary Craig – Drums
Jenny Scheinman – Violin
shadows stretching long
the ramp is lowered gently to the tarmac
and all of us, we wait
in this sea of gravity
for the precious cargo to appear
Here come the dead boys
moving slowly past
the pipes and prayers and strained commanding voices
and the tears in our hearts
make an ocean we’re all in
all in this together don’t you know
You can die on your sofa
safe inside your home
or die in a mess of flame and shrapnel
we all in our time go
you know you’re not alone
you’re in the hearts of everybody here
Each one lost
is everyone’s loss you see
each one lost is a vital part of you and me
Some would have us bow
in bondage to their dreams
of little gods who lay down laws to live by
but all these inventions
arise from fear of love
and open-hearted tolerance and trust
Well screw the rule of law
we want the rule of love
enough to fight and die to keep it coming
if that sounds like confusion
brother think again
we know exactly what we chose
Each one lost
is everyone’s loss you see
each one lost is a vital part of you and me
September 13, 2009 – Camden East
Musicians:
BC – Vocal, Guitar, Harmony
Jenny Scheinman – Violin, Harmonies
Tim Lauer – Accordian
Colin Linden – Bass
September 13, 2009 – Camden East
Musicians:
BC – Guitar, Harmonica
Jenny Scheinman – Violin
Tim Lauer – Accordian
Colin Linden – Electric Guitar
Musicians:
BC – Guitar, Chimes
Gary Craig – Percussion
sunlight on blue water
rocky shore grown soft with moss
catches all our laughter
and it sends it back without its edge
to strengthen us anew
that we may walk within these walls
and share our gifts with you
March 15, 1968 – Toronto
Musicians:
BC – Vocal, Baritone Guitar, Guitar
With a career that has spanned four decades producing an acclaimed body of work that has sold over 2 million copies worldwide, Bruce Cockburn continues to be revered by fans and fellow musicians alike as one of the most important songwriters of his generation.
Small Source of Comfort is Cockburn’s first studio album in six years — a rhythmic and highly evocative collection of 14 new tracks inspired by his renowned unusual and diverse muse — recent trips to Afghanistan and ponderings on the re–incarnation of Richard Nixon, to road trips and unreturned phone calls. The album boasts some of the best musicians recording today, including violinist Jenny Scheinman, former Wailin’ Jenny Annabelle Chvostek, and long time collaborators Gary Craig, Jon Dymond and producer Colin Linden.
As both a songwriter and a guitarist, Bruce Cockburn is considered among the world’s best. The New York Times called him a “virtuoso on guitar,” while Acoustic Guitar magazine placed him in the esteemed company of Andrés Segovia, Bill Frisell and Django Reinhardt. ~True North
Album Info:
Liner Notes (front) written by Bruce Cockburn:
“When the last studio album, Life Short Call Now, was released, I felt that it was time for something different. I had a vision of music, electric and noisy, with songs and jackhammers and fiercely distorted guitars. To pursue music like that, you need isolation. In the initial stages at least, there’s likely to be more noise than music. It’s important not to incite your neighbors to violent acts.
“As things turned out, these last few years have been spent hanging out in urban settings mostly; in apartments where sound travels, with only brief periods of solitude, mostly found doing long distance drives. As a result, what’s come out is a collection of folkier, acoustic guitar songs and pieces. Just goes to show, you just never know…”
Final page – written by Bruce Cockburn:
Final page – “Thanks to the following, who helped shape the contents herein, whether they knew it or not… Aldo & Amy, Joe Boyd, Marc Bregman, Arjun Chainpure, Annabelle Chvostek, Guy Clarkson, John Cockburn, the late Lois Cockburn, sundry Corporate Scumbags (the same ones who shape everything else in the world), Louise DesRoches, En Soph, MJ Hannet, Ang Lee, Gavin Lee, Linda Manzer, Gen. Walt Natynczyk, the late Richard Nixon, Ledy Nevas, the NYPD, Lisa Sullivan, the US Dept. of Homeland Security, Julie Wolf”
Song Notes – written by Bruce Cockburn:
The Iris Of The World (Camden East 11/01/09) – “I did a lot of driving between Kingston, Ontario and Brooklyn, NY. Not to mention many other places. Me and peak oil and love.”
Call Me Rose (Montreal 19/01/05) – “Woke up one morning with these words pretty much fully formed in my head. Why? Indeed? Something to do with power and responsibility. What would it take to REALLY rehabilitate, not just the image (as the Bush folks tried to do), but the soul of Richard Nixon?”
Bohemian 3-Step – “Jenny Scheinman and I were approached about putting together a demo with respect to creating a score for a major Hollywood film. In the end, the director didn’t like our ideas, but we had a lot of fun working on it. This piece was composed by me, but was heavily influenced by the stuff Jenny was coming up with.”
Radiance (Camden East 12/07/09) – “I read an interview with Jungian psychologist Marion Woodman in which she made a reference to the Divine Feminine representing the radiance which pervades the cosmos. I liked the image. Then, driving down the road at sunset, I saw the first verse unfold.”
Five Fifty-One (Brooklyn 3/08) – “Brooklyn…”
Driving Away (Montreal, winter 2007)– “One day Annabelle Chvostek called me wondering if I’d be interested in writing a song with her. I haven’t done much co-writing over the years. I thought why not? I knew Annabelle was good and it seemed timely to try it. She had a lot of the lyrics and the music for the verses already. Later on we wrote another one…”
Lois On The Autobahn – “To the afterlife, that is… The music was inspired by a piece of Jenny’s. Lois is my late mother.”
Boundless (Montreal 04/02/09) – “This is the other song Annabelle and I wrote together. This time I had much of the verbiage in bits and pieces. The road…goes from here to eternity…”
Called Me Back (Camden East 27/01/09) – “Everybody’s too damn busy these days…”
The Comets Of Kandahar – “Among many exciting things encountered during a short trip to Afghanistan was the sight of jet fighters taking off after dark. The planes themselves invisible, there was only the roar and the glowing purple cone of tailpipe flame shooting across the sky. People would stop and watch. A Canadian soldier who stood next to me said, ‘the comets of Kandahar.'”
Each One Lost (Camden East 13/09/09) – “On the way into Kandahar Airfield from Ottawa, our little group spend a few hours at Camp Mirage, a Canadian staging base in the Middle East. As we were about to board our next plane, we found ourselves part of a Ramp Ceremony, honouring the remains of two young Canadian Forces members who had been killed that day and were being sent home. One of the saddest and most moving scenes I’ve ever been privileged to witness…this song is dedicated to the memory of Major Yannick Pépin and Corporal Jean-Francois Drouin.”
Parnassus And Fog – “San Francisco magic and mystery”
Ancestors – “Live, I’ve been playing the singing bowl part myself. In the studio, Gary Craig was there to do that. More bowls, more good…”
Gifts (Toronto, 15/03/68) – “Way back when, I used to close my shows with this song. Never seemed right to record it until now.”
Produced by: Colin Linden
Recorded & mixed by: John Whynot
Additional recording by: Colin Linden
Assisted by: Aaron Holmberg, Nyles Spencer, Albertao Gonzales
Recorded at The Bathhouse, Bath, Ontario
and Pinhead Recorders, Nashville,TN
Mixed at the legendary Fantasy Studios, Berkeley, CA
Thanks to Jeffery Wood, Janice Powers, Bernie Breen, Sharon Agnello
Mastered by: Greg Calbi at Sterling Sound
All songs written by Bruce Cockburn and published by Golden Mountain Music Corp. (SOCAN)
except Driving Away and Boundless which are written by Bruce Cockburn and Annabelle Chvostek
and published by Golden Mountain Music Corp. and Annabelle Chvostek (SOCAN)
Photography by : Kevin Kelly Photography
www.kevinkellyphotography.com
Art Direction, design & layout by : A Man Called Wrycraft
www.wrycraft.com
Translation: Marcel Moussette & Jane Macaulay
Direction:
The Finkelstein Management Company
137 Berkeley Street, Toronto, Ontario
Canada M5A 2X1
PH: 416-596-8696 ex 222
FX: 416-596-6861
bernie@finkelsteinmanagement.com
www.finkelsteinmanagement.com
Rumours Of Glory – box set
RELEASE DATE: October 28, 2014
PURCHASE: Amazon | True North
There are 9 cds in this box set which is a companion to Bruce’s memoir Rumours of Glory. There is also a DVD – Bruce Cockburn Live – The Slice O Life Tour filmed during 3 shows.
Songs are linked to original album for song lyrics.
DISC 1:
1. The Charity Of Night
2. If A Tree Falls
3. Man Of A Thousand Faces
4. One Day I Walk
5. Let Us Go Laughing
I could have set the sun in silver
And made for you a ring so fine
If we had grown together, babe
We might have made it to the sea-shore
And left this muddy river far behind
Ah, but I couldn’t find the key
That would unlock these chains of mine
And my songs were not complete enough to sing
I could only feel your music one line at a time
And there’s no chance for a bird without wings
If only I had read
The meaning that your eyes held
As they shone like diamonds burning in the dawn
But the raindrops in my own
Changed the colour of the sky
And I just sat and helplessly looked on
So I’ll go on worshipping my world of faded dreams
Though the church bells are of lead and will not ring
And to those who try to tell themselves I’m more than what I seem
I say, What good is a bird without wings?
7. Thoughts On A Rainy Afternoon
8. Sunwheel Dance
9. Foxglove
10. Going To The Country
11. It’s An Elephant World
12. You Don’t Have To Play The Horses
13. Creation Dream
14. Shining Mountain
15. Hills Of Morning
16. Change Your Mind
17. He Came From The Mountain
18. Musical Friends
DISC 2:
1. Fall
2. Blues Got The World
3. Mama Just Wants To Barrelhouse All Night Long
4. All The Diamonds In the World
5. Rouler Sa Bosse
6. Don’t Have To Tell You Why
7. Red Brother Red Sister
8. Gavin’s Woodpile
9. Stolen Land
10. Lord Of The Starfields
11. Silver Wheels
12. Little Sea Horse
13. Celestial Horses
14. Feast Of Fools
15. Can I Go With You
16. Wondering Where The Lions Are
DISC 3:
1. Incandescent Blue
2. How I Spent My Fall Vacation
3. What About The Bond
4. Fascist Architecture
5. Rumours Of Glory
6. You Pay Your Money And You Take Your Chance
7. All’s Quiet On The Inner City Front
8. Justice
9. Broken Wheel
10. The Trouble With Normal
11. Tropic Moon
12. If I Had A Rocket Launcher
13. Waiting For A Miracle
14. Dust & Diesel
15. Yangui Go Home
16. Nicaragua
DISC 4:
1. Peggy’s Kitchen Wall
2. Santiago Dawn
3. Maybe The Poet
4. Lover’s In A Dangerous Time
5. To Raise The Morning Star
6. People See Through You
7. Planet Of The Clowns
8. Berlin Tonight
9. Where The Death Squad Lives
10. Anything Can Happen
11. Call It Democracy
12. Gospel Of Bondage
13. Shipwrecked At The Stable Door
14. Radium Rain
15. Understanding Nothing
DISC 5:
1. Tibetan Side Of Town
2. Child Of The Wind
3. Great Big Love
4. One Of The Best Ones
5. Soul of A Man
6. Cry Of A Tiny Babe
7. Kit Carson
8. Indian Wars
9. A Dream Like Mine
10. Someone I Used To Love
11. All The Ways I Want You
12. Live On My Mind
13. Bone In My Ear
14. Listen For The Laugh
DISC 6:
1. The Mines Of Mozambique
2. The Coming Rains
3. Pacing The Cage
4. Night Train
5. The Whole Night Sky
6. Strange Waters
7. The Embers Of Eden
8. Get Up Jonah
9. When You Give It Away
10. Mango
11. Last Night Of The World
12. Use Me While You Can
13. Put It In Your Heart
DISC 7:
1. All Our Dark Tomorrows
2. Trickle Down
3. Postcards From Cambodia
4. You’ve Never Seen Everything
5. My Beat
6. Tried And Tested
7. Tell The Universe
8. This Is Baghdad
9. Mystery
10. Beautiful Creatures
11. The Light Goes On Forever
DISC 8:
RARE AND PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED
1. Juan Carlos Theme (1:18)
Written in 2000
Musicians:
Keyboards: Janice Powers
Guitar: Bruce Cockburn
Production:
Produced Bruce Cockburn
Engineered Colin Linden
Recorded at Studio Pinhead Recorders, Toronto in 2000
Soundtrack from the film The Man We Called Juan Carlos.
2. Waterwalker (5:41)
No more careful stepping plans
Everything holds out its hand
Gonna hold you up and love you
Gonna hold you up and love you
Waterwalker
Water under, sky above
Creation as metaphor for love
Shed resistance like a worn out glove
Gonna hold you up and love you
Gonna hold you up and love you
Waterwalker
Got no power, got no fear
Anyone can do it can’t you hear
River crying loud and clear
Gonna hold you up and love you
Gonna hold you up and love you
Waterwalker
circa 1985
Musicians:
Hugh Marsh: Violin, Drum Programming
Bruce Cockburn: Guitar, Drum Programming, Vocal
Production
Produced by Bruce Cockburn and Hugh Marsh
“Waterwalker” is from the soundtrack album of film of the same name. Waterwalker is a film by and about Canadian canoist/artist Bill Mason featuring beautiful cinematography of the Great Lakes region. Bruce composed the title song and about 32 minutes of instrumental music with Hugh Marsh.
3. My Hometown Avalon (4:20)
Got to New York this mornin’, just about half-past nine
Hollerin’ one mornin’ in Avalon, couldn’t hardly keep from cryin’
Avalon, my hometown, always on my mind
Avalon, my hometown, always on my mind
Pretty mama’s in Avalon, want me there all the time
When the train left Avalon, throwin’ kisses and wavin’ at me
When the train left Avalon, throwin’ kisses and wavin’ at me
Says, “Come back, daddy, stay right here with me”
Avalon’s a small town, have no great big range
Avalon’s a small town, have no great big range
Pretty mama’s in Avalon, they sure will spend your change
New York’s a good town but it’s not for mine
New York’s a good town but it’s not for mine
Goin’ back to Avalon, near where I have a pretty mama all the time
Written by Mississippi John Hurt
Note: These lyrics are from an online source not the Rumours of Glory Box Set liner notes
Musicians:
Janice Powers: Keyboard
Bruce Cockburn: 12-String Guitar, Harmonica, Vocal
Production:
Produced by Bruce Cockburn and Colin Linden
Engineered by Colin Linden
Recorded at Studio Pinhead Recorders, Toronto in 2001
Previously unreleased. Alternate version appears on the album Avalon Blues: A Tribute To The Music Of Mississippi John Hurt (Vanguard 79582-2, 2001)
4. Wise Users (7:23)
When I see what you’ve done to the wild
I feel like a man standing over
The corpse of his murdered child
Use it wisely
Use it wisely … go on
Reap your harvest, Wise Users
‘Til everything is gone
Haul the last fish from the ocean
Poison the beds where they spawn
Drag the last tiger to market
So some prick can stand tall in Taiwan
Use it wisely
Use it wisely … go on
Reap your harvest, Wise Users
‘Til everything is gone
And if you lay drunk in your wasteland
I’d take your wallet and spit right in your eye
No point in explaining this action
You’ll never get it ’til the day that you die
Use it wisely
Use it wisely … go on
Reap your harvest, Wise Users
‘Til everything is gone
If I gave you a gun with one bullet
For the honor left so far behind
Would you think what you’ve willed to your offspring
For nothing unto nothing consigned
Use it wisely
Use it wisely … go on
Reap your harvest, Wise Users
‘Til everything is gone
And yes, I believe there is beauty
And yes, I believe in truth
And in the seemingly infinite hunger
Of humans for destroying them both
Use it wisely
Use it wisely … go on
Reap your harvest, Wise Users
‘Til everything is gone
Written 1996 — released 1996 & October 2014
Musicians:
Bruce Cockburn – Guitar, Vocal
Hugh Marsh – Violin
Production:
Produced by Bruce Cockburn
Engineered by Colin Linden
Recorded at Studio Pinhead Recorders, Toronto 1996
From the album Honor: A Benefit For The Honor The Earth Campaign (Daemon 19012-2, 1996)
5. Going Down The Road (3:31)
And his father’s father before
Fishing the banks and digging for coal
From the mines that don’t give no more ore
And I’m goin’ down the road, boys
Seeking what I’m owed, boys
And I know it must get better
If far enough I go
I remember the fishing boats returning so gay
Their nets with the silver cod blessed
But they couldn’t compete with the company fleets
Now it’s welfare, relief, or go west
So I’m goin’ down the road, boys
Seeking what I’m owed, boys
And I know it must get better
If far enough I go
I came to the city with the sun in my eyes
My mouth full of laughter and dreams
But all that I found was concrete and dust
And hard times sold in vending machines
So I’m goin’ down the road, boys
Seeking what I’m owed, boys
And I know it must get better
If far enough I go
‘Cause I’m goin’ down the road, boys
Seeking what I’m owed, boys
And I know it must get better
If far enough I go
recorded 1995
Musicians:
Bruce Cockburn – Guitar, Vocal
Production:
Produced by Bruce Cockburn
Recorded at Studio Comfort Sound, Toronto in 1995
Demo recording by Bruce Cockburn, previously unreleased.
Originally appeared on the soundtrack of the 1970 film Goin’ Down The Road, directed by Donald Shebib.
6. The Whole Night Sky (3:51)
I made it too hard
Every place they touched me
Is a laceration now
Sometimes a wind comes out of nowhere
And knocks you off your feet
And look, see my tears
They fill the whole night sky
The whole night sky
Derailed and desperate
How did I get here?
Hanging from this high wire
By the tatters of my faith
Sometimes a wind comes out of nowhere
And knocks you off your feet
And look, see my tears
They fill the whole night sky
The whole night sky
Sometimes a wind comes out of nowhere
And knocks you sideways
And look, see my tears
They fill the whole night sky
The whole night sky
June 27, 1994 – Cologne
Musicians:
Bruce Cockburn: Guitar, Vocal
Production:
Produced by Bruce Cockburn
Recorded at Studio Comfort Sound, Toronto in1995
Demo recording by Bruce Cockburn, previously unreleased Bruce Cockburn.
Final recorded version appears on the album The Charity Of Night (True North TNSD150, 1996). (Lyrics from this album)
7. Grinning Moon (5:46)
August 1995 – Halton Hills, ON
Musicians:
Bruce Cockburn: Guitar, Vocal
Production:
Produced by Bruce Cockburn
Recorded at Studio Comfort Sound, Toronto in 1995
Demo recording by Bruce Cockburn, previously unreleased.
It glitters red
And the eagle’s spreading wings
They soar above
And the eyes of little dog
Are twinkling blue
And the shining snake is coiled up
Deep as love
And Orion’s song sung from so far away
Encoded in the dew and gleaming frost
Past where the clouds that clothe Andromeda
Float before the mouths of fishes paired
And turning five stars north of Great Bear’s paw
Set in the forehead of the Little Bear
The target of our flight is shining down
signaling the heart of everyone
1993 – 1995
Musicians:
Bruce Cockburn: Guitar, Vocal
Production:
Engineered by John Naslen
Recorded at Studio Manta Sound, Toronto in 1993
Also On:
Previously released exclusively in Japan. From the album Mental Sound Sketches (Sony SRCL 2800, 1993), a tribute to Kenji Miyazawa.
9. Come Down Healing (6:07)
July 1995 – Halton Hills, ON
Musicians:
Bruce Cockburn: Guitar, Vocal
Production:
Produced by Bruce Cockburn
Recorded at Studio Comfort Sound, Toronto in 1995
Demo recording by Bruce Cockburn, previously unreleased.
10. Mystery Walk (1:23)
Musicians:
Bruce Cockburn: Guitar, Vocal
Production:
Produced by Bruce Cockburn
Engineered by Colin Linden
Previously unreleased. From the soundtrack of the 2001 film The Man We Called Juan Carlos, directed and produced by Heather MacAndrew and David Springbett for Asterisk Productions.
I’m happy where I am.
I don’t know where I am,
But the trains don’t go there anymore.
If you want to see me drop a line
I’ll catch it if I can
And give it back to you
And we won’t be lonely anymore,
Now can you see I’m sort of lost here?
With no idea where to go.
You know I’d send for you
But the trains don’t run here anymore.
No the trains don’t run here anymore.
This song was co-written by Bill Hawkins.
Musicians:
Bruce Cockburn: 12-string Guitar, Vocal
Anne Davison: Cello
Production:
Produced by Ian Tamblyn
Recorded at Studio Happy Rock Studio, Chelsea
From the album Dancing Alone: Songs Of William Hawkins (True North TND519, 2008)
12. Ribbon Of Darkness (3:27)
written by Gordon Lightfoot
Musicians:
Bruce Cockburn: Guitar, Vocal
Colin Linden: Mandolin
Production:
Produced by Bruce Cockburn and Colin Linden
Engineered by Bob Lanois
Recorded at Studio The Shack, Ancaster
From the album Beautiful: A Tribute To Gordon Lightfoot (Borealis/Northern Blues BCDNBM500, 2003)
Written by Gordon Lightfoot
13. Turn Turn Turn (4:44)
There is a season (Turn, Turn, Turn)
And a time to every purpose, under Heaven
A time to be born, a time to die
A time to plant, a time to reap
A time to kill, a time to heal
A time to laugh, a time to weep
To Everything (Turn, Turn, Turn)
There is a season (Turn, Turn, Turn)
And a time for every purpose, under Heaven
A time to build up, a time to break down
A time to dance, a time to mourn
A time to cast away stones, a time to gather stones together
To Everything (Turn, Turn, Turn)
There is a season (Turn, Turn, Turn)
And a time to every purpose, under Heaven
A time of love, a time of hate
A time of war, a time of peace
A time you may embrace, a time to refrain from embracing
To Everything (Turn, Turn, Turn)
There is a season (Turn, Turn, Turn)
And a time for every purpose, under Heaven
A time to gain, a time to lose
A time to rend, a time to sew
A time of love, a time of hate
A time for peace, I swear it’s not too late
written by Pete Seeger
Musicians:
Bruce Cockburn: Guitar, Vocal
Steve Lucas: Bass
Ben Riley: Drums
Production:
Produced by Colin Linden
Engineered by Bob Lanois
Recorded at Grant Avenue Studio – Hamilton – 1998
From the album Where Have All The Flowers Gone: The Songs Of Pete Seeger
Appleseed 1024, 1998
Lyrics from an online source.
written by Mississippi Sheiks
Musicians:
Keith Lowe: Bass
Matt Chamberlain: Drums
Wayne Horvitz: Hammond Organ
William Carn: Trombone
Steve Dawson: Weissenborn, Electric Guitar
Bruce Cockburn: Guitar, Vocal
Backing Vocals: Alice Dawson, Steve Dawson, Wayne Horvitz, Daniel Keebler, Keith Lowe and Carrie Robinson
Production:
Produced by Steve Dawson
Engineered by Cameron Nicklaus, Steve Dawson and David Travers-Smith
Recorded at Studio Avast! Recording Co., Seattle; The Henhouse, Vancouver; Found Sound, Toronto
From the album Things About Comin’ My Way: A Tribute To The Music Of The Mississippi Sheiks (Black Hen BHCD0055, 2009)
DISC 9:
DVD Bruce Cockburn Live – The Slice O Life Tour
Directed by Joel Goldberg – Recorded May 15 – 17, 2008
Songs:
- Lovers In A Dangerous Time -x
- How I Spent My Fall Vacation -x
- Last Night of The World -x
- If I Had A Rocket Launcher -x
- Tokyo -+
- Tibetan Side Of Town -+
- The End Of All Rivers -+
- Going To The Country -*
- Pacing The Cage -*
- This Is Baghdad -*
- Stolen Land -*
- King Kong Goes To Tallahassee -x
- Child Of The Wind -x
- If A Tree Falls -x
- Wondering Where The Lions Are -x
- Mystery -x
- Put It In Your Heart -+
- World Of Wonders -+
- Wait No More -+
The shows recorded were:
x – The Iron Horse – Northhampton, MA
+ – Somerville Theatre – Boston,MA
* – Kulp Auditorium – Ithaca, NY
Some of this concert footage was also used in the documentary, Pacing the Cage.
Liner Notes by Nicholas Jennings
In his illuminating memoir, Rumours Of Glory, Bruce Cockburn writes: “My songs are influenced by what I read, where I travel and what I witness.” He adds: They’re not just about spirituality or “war, injustice and exploitation,” but “derive from life itself.”
If life is his inspiration, then Cockburn’s has certainly been rich, judging by the 117 songs in this box set. Written over nearly 50 years, with the earliest recording being 1966’s “Bird Without Wings,” they range from spiritual quests and romantic ballads to prickly protests and engaging travelogues drawn from first-hand experiences on five continents. Together, they form an enlightening audio companion to the memoir.
It’s fitting that the collection should open with “The Charity Of Night,” the title track from Cockburn’s 19th studio album. Although written in 1994, the song is one of his most reflective compositions, looking back over three different incidents in his life beginning with a disturbing encounter in Stockholm some 30 years earlier.
“Haunting hands of memory,” Cockburn sings in the chorus, “pluck silver strands of soul.” Few songwriters have plucked from their pasts so fearlessly, and with such “clarity of light.”
Having set the stage for a look back on Cockburn’s life in music, the collection – which was curated by the memoir and includes a bonus disc of rarities and a concert DVD of his 2008 Slice O Life tour – then presents the songs in the same order as they are mentioned or quoted in the book. Many of the tracks on the first disc reflect that period when Cockburn saw himself as “a spiritual loner who sought truth in nature.” There is plenty of searching in “Shining Mountain” and “Man Of A Thousand Faces,” while both “Creation Dream” and “Hills Of Morning” are expressions of the spirituality he had embraced by the late 1970s.
The turning point for Cockburn, as far as becoming a practicing Christian, is reflected in two key songs on the second disc. The first of them is the hymn-like “All The Diamonds In The World,” which Cockburn composed one night in 1973 after making his commitment to Christ. The other is the stirring “Lord Of The Starfields,” on which he sings “Universe Maker, here’s a song in your praise.” Both compositions rank among Cockburn’s best and the singer-songwriter himself admits that “Diamonds” has “stood the test of time” and may be “as good as I get.”
Cockburn’s songs of praise have always been accessible to non-Christian listeners because they expressed his personal faith, which favored an open spirituality over blind adherence to religion. Never one to pull his punches, Cockburn delivered a stinging indictment to fundamentalist Christians on “Gospel Of Bondage,” targeting their heavy-handed tactics at home and abroad. “God must be on the side of the side that’s right,” he sings, “and not the right that justifies itself in terms of might.”
Many of Cockburn’s strongest compositions have been those written after witnessing the conditions in the world’s most troubled countries. Those angry songs dealing with war, repression and environmental degradation, such as “If I Had A Rocket Launcher,” “Call It Democracy” and “If A Tree Falls,” are all included here. So, too, are hard-hitting but lesser-known numbers like “Radium Rain,” his bluesy response to the Chernobyl disaster, and “Where The Death Squad Lives,” an edgy rocker with the Honduran military in its sights.
“Music is my diary,” Cockburn explains in the memoir. His transcontinental travels led to a documentary style of writing, first employed in his swirling 1976 composition “Silver Wheels.” Like a foreign correspondent reporting from the front lines, Cockburn sent out journal-style entries in song about what he witnessed, either sung or spoken. These are heard in stark numbers such as “The Mines Of Mozambique,” “Postcards From Cambodia” and “This is Baghdad.”
But anger doesn’t fuel all of his travel songs. “Dust And Diesel” and “Waiting For A Miracle,” based on visits Cockburn made to Nicaragua, are gentle expressions of hope for a people struggling to chart a new course. And “Tibetan Side Of Town” offers striking observations about the cultural sights of Kathmandu during a night of drinking Nepalese tungba ale.
Love, along with spirituality and travel, also transformed Cockburn and has often figured in his songwriting. His relationships with women, he has admitted, helped to pry him loose from the “fascist architecture” he’d erected around himself that had made him a loner. Among the collection’s most romantic songs are the joyous “Great Big Love” and the sultry “Don’t Have To Tell You Why,” while “Mango” and “All The Ways I Want You” are both ripe with desire.
When Cockburn was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, he summed up his role as a songwriter with one succinct, eloquent sentence. “My job,” he said, “is to try and trap the spirit of things in the scratches of pen on paper, in the pulling of notes out of metal.” Just how well he has trapped the spirit can be heard in songs like the emotional “Cry Of A Tiny Babe,” his modern re-telling of the Christmas story, and “The Whole Night Sky,” a sweeping ballad in which Cockburn’s voice and Bonnie Raitt’s slide guitar exquisitely plumb the depths of heartbreak. Each has the power to trigger tears.
A starker version of “The Whole Night Sky,” featuring Cockburn alone on guitar and vocals, is one of the highlights of the collection’s rare and previously unreleased recordings. Among the other gems is Cockburn’s own version of “Bird Without Wings,” the song he wrote long before embarking on a solo career that the Canadian folk-rock group 3’s A Crowd recorded. The plaintive lyrics offer a telling confession: “I couldn’t find the key that would unlock these chains of mine/And my songs were not complete enough to sing.” It wouldn’t be long before all that changed.
Some of the songs on the bonus disc sound as relevant today as the day they were written. “Wise Users,” originally recorded for The Charity Of Night and previously only available on a 1996 Earth benefit album, takes to task those who would plunder the planet’s resources without regard for consequences. Cockburn’s rage is palpable as he sings, “Go on, reap your harvest…’til everything is gone.” And “Come Down Healing,” recorded in 1995 but never released, is a call for salvation in the face of such destruction. “Sometimes the road leads to dark places,” Cockburn warns, before adding, “sometimes the darkness is your friend” (that insightful lyric found its eventual home in his highly popular song “Pacing The Cage”).
Throughout his career, Cockburn’s songs have often featured the elements of light and dark to represent the forces of good and evil. “Tried And Tested,” like other material from 2003’s You’ve Never Seen Everything, made good use of that imagery. So, too, does “The Light Goes On Forever,” the 1980 song that closes the seventh disc. “Let me rest in the place of light,” Cockburn sings of his unwavering belief in the spirit. As he concludes in his memoir: “Whether that spirit gets discussed in Islamic, Jewish, Christian, or any other religious terms is not really material. It’s being awake to its presence that counts.” As this collection shows, few artists have been as open to the spirit – or able to convey it so well in song – as Cockburn. – Nicholas Jennings
