Bruce Cockburn is 69 years old today. Cockburn is a Canadian folk/rock guitarist and singer-songwriter. He has written songs in styles ranging from folk to jazz-influenced rock to rock and roll. Born in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, he spent some of his early years on a farm outside Pembroke, Ontario. His first guitar was one he found around 1959 in his grandmothers attic, which he adorned with golden stars and used to play along to radio hits. Cockburn was a student (but did not study music) at Nepean High School, where his 1964 yearbook photo states his desire to become a musician. He attended Berklee School of Music in Boston for three semesters in the mid-1960s. In 1966, he joined an Ottawa band called The Children, which lasted for about a year. In the spring of 1967, he joined the final lineup of The Esquires. He moved to Toronto that summer to form The Flying Circus with former Bobby Kris & The Imperials members Marty Fisher and Gordon MacBain and ex-Tripp member Neil Lillie. Cockburns first solo appearance was at the Mariposa Folk Festival in 1967, and in 1969 he was the headliner. In 1970, he released his first, self-titled, solo album. Cockburns guitar work and songwriting skills won him an enthusiastic following. His early work featured rural and nautical imagery, Biblical metaphors and the conviction that heaven is close despite hardship. Raised as an agnostic, early in his career he became a devout Christian. Many of his albums from the 1970s refer to his Christian belief, which in turn informs the concerns for human rights and environmentalism expressed on his 1980s albums. His references to Christianity in his music include the Grail imagery of 20th-century Christian poet Charles Williams and the ideas of theologian Harvey Cox. While Cockburn had been popular in Canada for years, he did not have a big impact in the United States until 1979, with the release of the album Dancing in the Dragons Jaws. Wondering Where the Lions Are, the first single from that album, reached No. 21 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US in June 1980, and earned Cockburn an appearance on NBCs hit TV show Saturday Night Live. Through the 1980s Cockburns songwriting became first more urban, more global and then more political; he became heavily involved with progressive causes. His growing political concerns were first hinted at in three discs: Humans, Inner City Front, and The Trouble with Normal. These concerns became more evident in 1984, with Cockburns second U.S. radio hit, If I Had a Rocket Launcher (No. 88 in the U.S.) from the Stealing Fire album. He had written the song a year earlier, following a visit to Guatemalan refugee camps in Mexico that were attacked before and after his visit by Guatemalan military helicopters. His political activism continues to the present. Cockburn has travelled to many countries (such as Mozambique and Iraq), played many benefit concerts and written many songs on a variety of political subjects ranging from the International Monetary Fund to land mines. His internationalist bent is reflected in the many world music influences in his music, including reggae and Latin music. Here, Cockburn performs “The Last Night of the World.”
Posted on: Tue, 27 May 2014 05:44:34 +0000
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