Cockburn : Burning Man

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While on the subject of music, my brother gave me a copy of Bruce Cockburn's album "In the Falling Dark" when I was about 17, and I've been listening to it ever since, as well as many other disks Bruce has produced over the years since then. But for me the source of my great love of his music are two phenomenal songs on that 1976 album : "Gavin's Woodpile", and the title track, "In the Falling Dark".

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I had the good fortune to be able to see Bruce play twice in two very small venues in Paris in recent years, in October 1999 at the Hotel du Nord, and in September 2003 at l'Espace Jemmapes, both warm, intimate settings in which to see Bruce let it all hang out... and did he ever, promoting respectively the albums "Breakfast In New Orleans" and "You've Never Seen Everything", both excellent ! I took this photo at the 2003 show where he was glowing hot in that floral motif shirt. I'm not sure how well known it is that Jerry Garcia, when touring with the Jerry Garcia Band, often played a cover of the Bruce Cockburn song; "Waiting For A Miracle", which gives an idea of just how respected Cockburn is as a songwriter, and which was a nice nod to the Grateful Dead tune "I Need A Miracle". So, come on back to Paris, Bruce, we are waiting for a miracle, and you are long overdue ! "Need a Miracle, Every Day"!

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From Gavin's Woodpile, an example of Bruce Cockburn's raw poetic power :

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"Distant mountains, blue and liquid

Luminous like a thickening of sky

Flash in my mind like a stairway to life

A train whistle cuts through the scene like a knife

Three hawks wheel in a dazzling sky

A slow motion jet makes them look like a lie

And I'm left to conclude there's no human answer near..."

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