{"id":26742,"date":"2024-01-30T05:30:32","date_gmt":"2024-01-30T10:30:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=26742"},"modified":"2024-01-30T08:41:18","modified_gmt":"2024-01-30T13:41:18","slug":"bruce-cockburn-creativity-conscience-and-commercial-considerations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2024\/01\/30\/bruce-cockburn-creativity-conscience-and-commercial-considerations\/","title":{"rendered":"Bruce Cockburn: Creativity, Conscience and Commercial Considerations"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bruce Cockburn released his 27th<\/sup> studio album, O Sun O Moon<\/i> in May. His latest release showcases the Canadian-born singer-songwriter\u2019s skillful blending of genre styles and lyrics that underscore his social conscience.<\/p>\n

A major hallmark of Cockburn\u2019s work is its timeless quality. While he admits that some of his mid-period work does bear the hallmarks of the era in which it was made (\u201cMy \u201880s albums sound like \u201880s albums,\u201d he concedes), for the most part he steers clear of trendy production or arrangement choices that might keep his songs from aging well. But Cockburn says that approach isn\u2019t so much intentional as it is the logical result of placing the guitar at the center of things.<\/p>\n

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photo \u00a9MinisMemories<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cListen to something like \u2018If I Had a Rocket Launcher,\u2019\u201d he suggests, referring to his most well-known song, a U.S. Top 20 single in 1984. Even though the fiery anti-war track features prominent synthesizer work, the arrangement is \u201call based on the guitar part,\u201d Cockburn says. \u201cEverybody who plays on it has to work around that, and other [sounds] added after the fact have to accommodate it as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, Cockburn readily admits that when making Nothing But a Burning Light<\/i>, his 1991 album with producer T-Bone Burnett, both men were focused on making a record that included \u201csongs that we thought might have a chance on radio.\u201d After sardonically observing that these days an artist doesn’t have to worry about such concerns, he explains that tracks like \u201cGreat Big Love\u201d and \u201cA Dream Like Mine\u201d emphasized more radio-friendly qualities. \u201cBut T-Bone is all about respecting the essence of the song,\u201d Cockburn says. \u201cWhich suited me fine, because that\u2019s what I\u2019m<\/i> all about.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even though the multiple award-winning songwriter is known for thoughtful lyrics that explore themes of social justice, environmental concerns and spirituality, Cockburn emphasizes that \u201cI don\u2019t really have an agenda.\u201d He says that he never approaches an album project with a mindset of, \u201cOkay, we\u2019re going to do an album about this<\/i> now.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the songs are there, he says. \u201cWhen the spirit walks in the room, these are songs that really need to be out there.\u201d And his belief in a higher power means that he doesn\u2019t take full credit for what he creates. \u201cI\u2019m grateful for having been given the songs,\u201d Cockburn says. Asked what he\u2019d like listeners to take away from time spent with the songs on O Sun O Moon<\/i>, he pauses for an instant to reflect. \u201cIf people feel like they’re plugging into a set of feelings and observations that encourages tolerance and an embrace of difference,\u201d he says, \u201cthen I think a great thing has been done.\u201d<\/p>\n

Remarkably, there was a time when the prolific songwriter found himself unsure if he\u2019d ever write another song. Cockburn spent an extended period working on his well-received memoir, 2014\u2019s Rumours of Glory<\/i>. \u201cAll the creative energy that I had went into the book,\u201d he says, \u201cand nothing into songs.\u201d By the time he had finished writing the book, he was asking himself, \u201cDo I still know how to put that energy into songs? And is it still something I want \u2013 or should \u2013 do?\u201d<\/p>\n

The answer came when Cockburn was asked to write one song for inclusion in Al Purdy Was Here<\/i>, a documentary about another prolific artist, the Canadian free verse poet. \u201cI said yes to it on the premise that if I actually [came up with] a song, it would mean I\u2019m a songwriter again,\u201d Cockburn says. \u201cAnd if I didn\u2019t, then I\u2019d have to be looking at what else to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Happily for both Cockburn and his legion of fans, a song did come. \u201c3 Al Purdys\u201d would be the lead track on the various-artists companion piece of the film, The Al Purdy Songbook<\/i>. With that issue settled once and for all, Cockburn returned to writing and recording, with four albums of new material since then (there\u2019s also an excellent 2022 set of previously unreleased recordings, Rarities<\/i>).<\/p>\n

But Bruce Cockburn rarely writes to order. While he says that he enjoys occasional planned, collaborative projects like co-writing \u201cTo Keep the World We Know\u201d with Aboriginal Canadian singer Susan Aglukark for O Sun O Moon<\/i>, that type of writing is \u201can unusual way\u201d for him to operate. For Bruce Cockburn, songwriting is more typically a matter of welcoming the inspiration when it strikes. \u201cI just wait,\u201d he says with a smile.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bruce Cockburn released his 27th studio album, O Sun O Moon in May. His latest release showcases the Canadian-born singer-songwriter\u2019s skillful blending of genre styles and lyrics that underscore his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26743,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,41,62],"tags":[5319],"class_list":["post-26742","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-folk","category-interview","category-rawk","tag-bruce-cockburn","cat-30-id","cat-41-id","cat-62-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26742","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26742"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26742\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26885,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26742\/revisions\/26885"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26743"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}