Bruce Cockburn is one of the best songwriters singers ever. He is a beautiful soul and his singing style began as a folkie and evolved over the years. This is one of my fave songs. Bruce is a very modest man we used to live in the same neighbourhood and I'd see him at the Y and at local cafes. He never acted special. A true blue musician. A proud Canadian.
Humanism knows no nationality; he is a son of this Earth as you are its daughter. Never forget that you have as much of place and not more than any other organism.
I bumped into him on the street in San Francisco several years ago and showered him with praise for being so important to me as a young person discovering his music. He was so nice and seemed genuinely touched. Unlike so many "famous" people.
Agreed his mind well ahead of time, now with social media his words can be spread farther, the Oneness and consciousness needs to spread to all four corners like the wind!!
And it’s Sad what happened to Canadian music when the bare naked ladies, snow, alanis, shania and moxy fruvous etc etc showed up and we got hammered with Pop and Commercialized music
In the 1980's, Canadian Bruce Cockburn was once the darling of the Contemporary Christian Music (CCM) scene in the USA, until his songs started showing political slants that the politically Conservative Christians took offence to. His records quickly disappeared from Christian bookstores, and he became "persona non grata" in the CCM scene. He responded with the song "Gospel of Bondage".
Well, when I was in seminary, we bought every song and album he put out. Of course, that was before Jesus became a commodity to be bought and sold for say...30 pieces of silver?
The opening lines of this song are some of the most powerful I have ever heard. But not even 150K views. This is tragic. Such is the fate of songs that don't feed people's egos and their need for personal attention. Bruce was a huge inspiration for me.
Only Bruce Cockburn could write a song about the International Monetary Fund that totally rocks. As always, superb, meaningful lyrics and fantastic guitar work . A unique talent. "Idolatry of ideology", whether it's capitalism or religion, is destroying this country and BC predicted it decades ago. (I hope we don't take Canada down with us.)
@@pontifixmax While the US military was busily slaughtering the poor in Central America... moderate? Why do you think Bruce wrote the song in the first place?
Also, Roberto Bolano's "2666", Arundhati Roy's "Ministry of Utmost Happiness", Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath", Orwell's "Homage to Catalonia", Hemingway's"For Whom the Bell Tolls", Vonnegut's "Slaughterhouse 5", anything by Doctorow, etc. Read these and you'll already have an English BA.
And Canada? What has it learned from Cockburn and this song? Nothing. Canada, where homelessness is endemic, where Indigenous people still lack clean drinking water and where the wealthiest 10% own more than double the combined wealth of the bottom 80% of the entire population. I don't call that democracy.
@@frankstared "Canada" as a whole might as well not know Bruce and this song exists. It's populated by your average stupid humans who think they're somehow better than the less developed parts of the world for living in north american civilization, and most, to a higher degree, because they live in Canada itself, 'renown' for its peoples' politeness and civility, so of course that puts them even further up on the scale of human 'worth'. None of them, including myself, could ever be motivated to make real change unless something terrible were to happen that brings major upheaval. Humans' own nature dooms us to be helpless against the natural course of our baser drives. Hopefully one day the slate is wiped clean and we can start over better. But I have no hope for that. Just enjoy life as best you can now until your time's up. An existence of defeat to be sure... but at this point I can't even be bothered to care. All I know is I can't change what you're clearly upset about, and I really doubt you could either. You could say we might stand a chance of changing things if we stood together, but how could we do that? We're only human. Fickle and unalike despite being so similar. I doubt we could see eye to eye on enough to have a substantial accord, but even if we could, that luck would stop extending past a few dozen of us, guaranteed. And you'd need a whole lot more of us to bring any real change. And then every single one of us would have to have enough hardcore conviction to actually actionably bring about change. The thought is just laughably impossible. Too many people are also in love with their nations and have countless misconceptions about them. Humanity right now is like a tangled, matted pelt on the back of an sickly, weak animal. It's too tangled to be fixed. It needs to just be... cut away. And grown from new. So yeah, we're fucked. Just try to be happy and ignorant of our doom. :)
@@FoolishPoppycock Lol, lot to digest there but I will focus on merely one point: how an accord is impossible. Consensus has happened in the past and I do believe it is programmed into our species through evolution since we had to by necessity collectively collaborate in order to preserve our species. Well, I do believe, however narcissistic and different we may be, that consensus is still possible. For instance, most people likely would agree that pollution and overpopulation are bad, so we build on that simple premise to find a path forward...together. We just need that starting point. And when it collapses we try again...and again, ad nauseum. The cracks are how we let the light in!
What a great song of a great guy... And still as relevant as back then!! I have seen B.C. live only once. It was in the summer of 1989 when I went with a few friends to an open-air concert of Bruce Cockburn in the city "Karl-Marx-Stadt" (GDR). (Today this city is called Chemnitz again...:-) Live concerts with musicians from Western countries were still a minor sensation in the GDR back then. It was a great concert - even though it rained the whole time. After the concert we walked along the barrier fence because one of us had the crazy idea of breaking into the backstage area to see the musicians up close. It's hard to believe, but there was actually a loophole that we crawled through and quickly we were at the large container that Bruce Cockburn was about to go into. The "FDJ" stewards - a kind of security guards back then - had of course noticed us and wanted to intercept us, but too late, Bruce had discovered us (and protected us) and invited us into the container where his musicians were already. We were offered hot tea and Coca Cola, sat down with them and talked for a while, maybe 15 or 20 minutes (for us it was an eternity) - so we talked (with our limited English) about the political situation in the GDR and of course also about music. We were totally over the moon - we were backstage with our star and were able to talk to him, get autographs written on the tickets and posters - it was unbelievable that this was possible!!! When I listen to his music today, I always remember this experience with a smile...
This has always been one of my all time favourite of Bruce Cockburn's Song...This, Tokyo, Coldest Night of the Year, Lovers in the Dangerous Time, If I Had a Rocket launcher and If a Tree Falls!!!
Y'ALL BETTER LISTEN UP IF YOU WANT TO KNOW WHAT'S GOING ON TODAY..STILL!! ALWAYS... LIVE YOUR LIVES LIKE YOU KNOW IS RIGHT AND GOOD. WE ONLY HAVE ONE CHANCE TO GET IT RIGHT AND IN CASE YOU HAVE NOT LOOKED AROUND LATELY, IT'S GETTING LATE.
Bruce Cockburn is one of the brightest lights ever to illuminate an otherwise dreary dull musical landscape these days. Rich in dimensionality, vast in awareness of the human plight and oh so prolific in his many musical offerings, this man has contributed immensely to our advancement and ever-expanding evolution into a true HUMAN FAMILY. Immense gratitude proceeds….!!
this needs way more than 11/2 views in 11 years! Important message: this is what you see when you do not have democracy. Did regular north americans and europeans ask for this? Never mind the actual southern hemisphere victims for the most part. Now politicians like Braverman are stoking hate against immigrants flying intolerable turmoil caused by "our elected leaders."
The video shows some leaders at that point in the song. I can identify some of the but a few I don't know. You know who they all are? Martin Luther King Jr, Che Guevera, Steven Biko, Salvador Allende, 2 of the Nuns killed in El Salvador, and some others.
Love that opening with Bruce and the heartbeat of this Rare Earth in the midst of all that concrete and steel infrastructure that is suffocating our Mother.
I have not seen this video since we edited it in a mobile edit truck at Toronto EFP in the mid 80s. Bruce was there the entire time {just him} super nice guy if my memory serves.
I used to listen to this on the Waiting for a Miracle album in the late 1980s, early 90s. Unfortunately the song never gets old. This is an excellent video accompaniment.
Engagé, mais indispensable. Les enjeux politiques sont devenus si importants, qu'il n'y bientôt plus personne, à part Bruce Cockburn, pour nous éclairer un tant soit peu....
Why doesn't more of this world know the songs and good works of BRUCE COCKBURN- one of my very few true heroes...Be well Bruce, please come to Hamilton soon- Namaste and hugs (every year I take my "gadget" out to the garden and play Foxglove over my garden! Wish I could play it on the guitar)
What a song with the state of the world getting worse being run raped pillaged and plundered by the monsters of greed the 1% making inequality bigger by the day as they get richer by the minute. Now were pushed to the brink of nuclear annihilation by war mongering murderous dictators this song is much more relevant now than when it was released in 1986 the world's got much more dangerous since then as bad as it was. Mindblowing lyrics some of the lines brings me to tears each time l listen to it so many great songs thank you Bruce you Neil Young and Joni Mitchell 3 of the the greats who happen to be Canadian much love from Australia. See the loaded eyes of the children to trying too trying to make the best of it the way kids do one day your goanna rise from your habitual feast and find your self staring down the throat of the beast they call the REVOLUTION??👀🌏🌎🌍🙍♂️🙍♀️🙍🙎♂️🙎♀️👨👩👦👦
@Yeah right! The problem is the FCC won't make an exception about the F word for broadcast TV no matter how non-gratuitous and noble the use of it is. Actually I'd have changed that "...a buck..." lyric to "it's all spend a buck to make more bucks, you just don't give any flying f---s about the people in misery." After all, the bad guys are profiting, as Bruce sang, not breaking even. Why does his cross earring seem to be upside down? Anyway, he is great and I have almost all his albums.
It really loses the impact without having Bruce spit out "fuck" with the righteous anger we all should have. I understand all the reasons for broadcast - but still....
The album this song appeared on was the first-and in fact one of the very, very few- that was ever given a label for "obscene lyrics". The great paradox in this was that they said it was obscene that Bruce used the phrase "you don't give a flying fuck about the people in misery" to attack those in charge of austerity capitalism for their callousness- yet the Tipper Gore types who said that don't think it's obscene that austerity capitalism DOESN'T give a flying fuck about the people in misery.
I cant believe anybody with the disdain for peace and people the likes of him can be elected to such high office. "He'll be good for the economy" So is war. God help us all. Any room in your homeland, Mr. Cockburn? You folks better build a wall!
@@adanacman666 Canada is vastly worse off today than when Cockburn wrote this song and I would wager that you would find it rather quite similar. Our problems are global problems as they ever were. We must find solutions together.
I just stumbled across this song. This is GREAT!! I've finally found the song that speaks our president Donald Trumps message. This song should've been played at the inauguration.
You do realize the IMF has more to do with Europe than the USA, I hope. If Cockburn had written the song about the World Bank, that'd be another story.
I have an idea, let's censor one of the most important uses of the word "fuck" probably ever recorded...2 days ago I heard some bs song on MTV 2 (or one of those useless channels)..this chick said the word "bitch" closes to 45 times in the span of 4 minutes..I believe it was Lenny Bruce that said that it was not just the idea of saying "fuck" that was important, it was why I needed to be said..language is power. Oh..and this is most likely one of the BEST songs I have ever heard..
We know exactly what we need to do/stop supporting to build a better way Gotta let go of that cookie before to can take your hand out of the jar and be free
@99Wayne01 Yes I noticed they edited out the "F" word...I think Muchmusic and Many Radio Stations do the same as well...kind of like edited out Alanis Morisette's 2 songs with both the "F" and the "S" word!!! If I had my way of singing it I'd probably used the word Funk then the other word!!!
@@KennBurch Yep, unlike Cockburn, he's another sell-out. He shows us how they buy out some and keep the rest fighting amongst themselves (Morrissey) for the meaty table scraps.
I have a playlist on my channel called “The Truth” for anyone new to the stuff talked about in this video. It will definitely wake you up to the truth.
