Bruce Cockburn

As I was googling for a good song for this week’s Song Lyric Sunday prompt, I came across a Spotify playlist with over 130 songs to celebrate Arbor Day. How could I not find a good’n? I sampled a good half of the ones not familiar to me and chose this one out of the bunch.

Because the artist is as important as the song in this case, I included a fairly long intro of the artist’s biography. I’ve heard some good music by Bruce but am mostly unfamiliar with him and his discography. I do know that this song is a winner and one that speaks well for my sentiments about the priceless worth of trees. Please protect them. Please plant them when you can. The lives of all Earthlings depend on them.

Bruce Douglas Cockburn OC (b. 4/27/45) is a Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist. His song styles range from folk to folk- and jazz-influenced rock to soundscapes accompanying spoken stories. His lyrics reflect interests in spirituality, human rights, environmental issues, and relationships, and describe his experiences in Central America and Africa.

He has written more than 350 songs on 34 albums over a career spanning five decades, of which 22 have received a Canadian gold or platinum certification as of 2018, and he has sold more than one million albums in Canada alone.

In 2014, Cockburn released his memoirs, Rumours of Glory. (Definitely want to read it!)

He was born in Ottawa, Ontario, and spent some time at his grandfather’s farm outside of Chelsea, Quebec, but he grew up in Westboro, a neighborhood in Ottawa, when he was a teenager. His father, Doug, was a radiologist, eventually becoming head of diagnostic X-ray at the Ottawa Civic Hospital. He found his first guitar in his grandmother’s attic around 1959, adorned it with gold stars, and used it to play along to radio hits. When his first guitar teacher, Hank Sims, declared this instrument unplayable, his parents bought him a Kay archtop with flat wound strings and a DeArmond pickup.

Later he was taught piano and music theory by Peter Hall, the organist at Westboro United Church which Bruce and his family attended. Bruce had been listening to jazz and wanted to learn musical composition. Hall encouraged him and, along with his friend Bob Lamble, a lot of time was spent at Hall’s house listening to and discussing jazz.

He attended Nepean High School, where his 1964 yearbook photo states his desire “to become a musician.” After graduating, he took a boat to Europe and busked in Paris. He attended Berklee School of Music in Boston, where his studies included jazz composition, for three semesters between 1964 and 1966. That year he dropped out and joined an Ottawa band called The Children, which lasted for about a year.

Big Circumstance is his sixteenth full-length album and was released in 1989 by True North Records. Rounder Records issued a remastered CD of the album in 2005 with a new acoustic version of “If a Tree Falls” as a bonus track.

Written by: Bruce Cockburn
Album: Big Circumstance (Deluxe Edition)
Released: 2005

Source:
wikipedia

Jim Adams is the host of Song Lyric Sunday. This week Jim wants us to find a Song that represents Earth Day (April 22), or Arbor Day (April 24.)

FYI, I’ll be on blogging hiatus starting May 1^st, so this will be my last SLS for awhile. I’ll miss everybody. See you on the flip side.