Bruce Cockburn: Lyrical Genius and Activist 📜
Bruce Cockburn’s lyrics have walked the line between poetic & political.
Since the '70s, the #Canadian singer-songwriter has woven environmentalism, spirituality, & human rights into intricate arrangements. With tracks like If I Had a Rocket Launcher & Lovers in a Dangerous Time, he shaped folk-rock into a vehicle for both introspection and action. 🇨🇦 #Canada #BruceCockburn #CanadianMusic #FolkRock
2025 in Music
According to Soundcloud I spent most of my time listening to various shows on Afropop Worldwide, Rinse FM and Sleep’s Dopesmoker. All of which made on appearance on previous years lists. The new addition for 2025 was Jay Electronica’s “A Written Testimony” EP trilogy (?). Compared to last year, my Soundcloud list is about the same, while a quick review of my history/timeline for a few other platforms indicates I’ve still been repping lots of Bad Bunny, KEXP, LaRussell, Tiny Desk and Western AF. What is perhaps most interesting about that is that 90% of my Soundcloud time is logged from my work-station and given how/when I listen, each platform has a distinct vibe/represents a particular set of activities and their corresponding soundtrack. So John Carroll Kirby was still a top artist (Tuscany serving as a regular soundtrack for family dinners) and I listened to about the same amount of Alice Coltrane (mostly while keeping up my yoga practice) and Keith Hudson (while hanging outside/working in the yard).
Some new favorites were Eladio Carrion, Hugh Mundell, LA LOM and as already mentioned I played this track repeatedly. One new trend was a return to alt and 90s rock (Beastie Boys, Fugazi, Nirvana et al.), mostly as a result of trying to find music all three of us (my son, wife and I) can agree on. Especially, when in the car together.
In terms of concerts, Bitchin Baja’s and Prairiewolf at glob were a blast and included a bonus hang-night with a buddy visiting from West Cost. While the first night of Denver Metal & Beer Fest with my BIL was fun and the surprise for me was OKC based Chat Pile. Plus, he and I caught a couple of great sets at the 2025 Bluegrass on the Arkansas (in Salida, CO), including night one’s closer, Magoo.
While I listen primarily to digital-streaming, I did make an effort to dig into my vinyl collection more. Especially, in the second half of the year. There were a handful of records added to the collection this year, with the best being World Psychedelic Classics 4: Nobody Can Live Forever – The Existential Soul of Tim Maia and 400% Dynamite Ska, Soul, Rocksteady, Funk and Dub in Jamaica, both gifted by friends. The former has been on heavy rotation for at least last few years so I was pumped to unexpectedly get my own copy and while I wasn’t aware of the later, it is chock full of classics! In terms of my own finds, I thrifted a copy of Stealing Fire by Bruce Cockburn along with 1 or 2 LPs from Kris Kristofferson and Willie Nelson.
Otherwise, I still use an old dedicated MP3 music player for running and it’s library hasn’t been updated in some years. It a weird mix of early/mid aughts London bass and grime mixes, DatPiff downloads and stuff like Pink by Boris. I probably listen to this from Elijah & Skilliam (ft JME and Skepta) the most. For me it’s perfect running energy/vibes!
Finally, this Butthole Surfers mix has become a regular evening (usually to kickoff or end the weekend) listen and I unwind from many a weekday, with NTS Radio. In particular the Raja Vibrations show.
I really dug that Night Slugs with Scotti Dee & Spidey G setBad Bunny tracks made 3 of my top 5 on AmazonFor a total of 152 hours but that’s just the one platform#Boris #BruceCockburn #Dopesmoker #JayElectronica #JME #JohnCarrollKirby #Music #RagaVibrations #RinseFM #Skepta
Bruce Cockburn, The Trouble With Normal, 1983 on True North
Cockburn’s 13th (I think) studio album, as he transitioned from old school folkie into new wave / alternative with more electric guitar and synthesizers but carrying forward the same politics and attitude. (“The trouble with normal is that it always gets worse”).
True North was an independent Canadian label founded by Bernie Finkelstein (who gets management credit but not producer credit on this LP) but was distributed by CBS/Columbia.
My copy, via Beatnick Records in Montréal Québec, is a CBS Records Canada pressing on True North labels via Don Mills ON, and came with a dual-language lyrics sheet in English and French.
#1980s #1983 #BeatnickRecords #BernieFinkelstein #BruceCockburn #Canada #CBSRecordsCanada #Columbia #DonMills #MontrealQC #TrueNorth #vinyl #vinylcollection #vinylfinds
Ted Tocks Covers
Stolen Land
Originally posted on September 29, 2022
On this day of #TruthandReconciliation
“If you’re like me you’d like to think we’ve learned from our mistakes
Enough to know we can’t play god with others’ lives at stake
So now we’ve all discovered the world wasn’t only made for whites
What step are you gonna take to try and set things right in this stolen land?”
When it comes to politically astute protest songs that bring issues to the forefront, few Canadian artists rival Bruce Cockburn. Speaking to this point, Cockburn’s song ‘Stolen Land’ from his 1987 …
Bruce Cockburn: Lyrical Genius and Activist 📜
Bruce Cockburn’s lyrics have walked the line between poetic & political.
Since the '70s, the #Canadian singer-songwriter has woven environmentalism, spirituality, & human rights into intricate arrangements. With tracks like If I Had a Rocket Launcher & Lovers in a Dangerous Time, he shaped folk-rock into a vehicle for both introspection and action. 🇨🇦 #Canada #BruceCockburn #CanadianMusic #FolkRock
Ted Tocks Covers - Year 8 - Day 71
Turn, Turn, Turn
Going back decades and centuries with The Byrds, Pete Seeger and Ecclesiastes
“To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven”
#PeteSeeger #thebyrds #Ecclesiastes #TheLimeliters #judycollins #ninasimone #verngosdin #brucecockburn #DollyParton #wilsonphillips #brucespringsteen #chrisdeburgh #walkofftheearth
If I told you that technically today’s feature exists as the #1 song with the oldest lyrics, there is no doubt you would be intrigued. How old? Well, it goes back to anywhere between the 10th centu…
The Colorado Sound Playlist
Sharing bits of Canada 'eh🇨🇦
Thoughts on Everything under the Sun or I am a guilty Secularist
John Eckman
Aaron V. Humphrey
bgm
Ted Tocks Covers