Bruce Cockburn
Bruce Cockburn
Bruce Douglas Cockburn OC is a Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist. His song styles range from folk to jazz-influenced rock and his lyrics cover a broad range of topics that reveal a passion for human rights, environmental issues, politics, and spirituality...
NationalityCanadian
ProfessionGuitarist
Date of Birth27 May 1945
CityOttawa, Canada
CountryCanada
fighting situation pacifist
I'm not a pacifist. I feel that there are situations where fighting is inescapable, but we don't go looking for those things.
struggle fighting darkness
But nothing worth having comes without some kind of fight / Got to kick at the darkness 'til it bleeds daylight.
call confronted creatures great people seen spade species
We're confronted with great darkness as a species right now as spiritual creatures on this planet. I don't think it's hopeless, and I don't want 'You've Never Seen Everything' to make people feel hopeless. But I think we've got to call a spade a spade.
canadian-musician music
There was a lot more music than the size of the place would indicate.
learning
If you don't keep learning and growing, you're going to stagnate.
shows
'Gifts' was just a short little one-verse song that I used to close shows in the '60s.
experience home powerful short wrote
'Each One Lost' I wrote the day after I got home. My week in Afghanistan was a very short trip, but it was a powerful experience.
canadian-musician
All I ever thought was, 'I'm going to do this as long as I can, and if I can't get paid at it, I'll be a bum doing it.' And so, here I am.
canadian-musician trouble
The trouble with normal is it always gets worse.
phobia
It's a phobia I have. I never assume I'm going to be able to write another album after I finish one.
good looking sane situations war
A sane person doesn't think war is a good idea. I'm not a pacifist. I feel that there are situations where fighting is inescapable, but we don't go looking for those things.
writing half kind
The second half of the '60s really was a kind of learning period, in terms of writing, for me.
girl song morning
I woke up one morning with this song in my head, and the opening line of the song is, 'My name was Richard Nixon, only now I'm a girl.
ideas remember remember-when
I remember when the idea of living to be 40 seemed absurd.