Bruce Cockburn has spent more than five decades writing some of the most enduring songs in Canadian music, and on his new album, The Blood of Others, coming Oct. 16, he turns his attention to the songs that shaped him long before he wrote a single lyric of his own.
The album gathers material written by others, tracing a musical lineage that stretches from the gospel and blues records he heard as a child in Ottawa to the folk clubs and coffeehouses where he first found his voice.
"What began back in the 80s as a vague notion grew over time into a strong desire to put together a collection of material, written by others, that I found sticking to the edges of my musical landscape," Bruce explained.
Few songs on the record carry the personal resonance of "I'll Be Seeing You."
Bruce described hearing a version on the radio in the '90s, in the aftermath of what he called "a brief but heart-opening relationship," and mishearing a lyric that reshaped how he understood the song.
"I thought that version ended with the line, I'll be looking at someone, but I'll be seeing you," he said. "That's not in the original lyrics. They only refer to the moon, but it hit me in a powerful way."
That memory led him to give the song a rhythmic treatment inspired by "I Only Have Eyes for You."
"The accumulation of these songs started in the 60s, before I'd even begun to try to create my own."
He sings That's All Right, not Elvis' version but Arthur Crudup's. Yellow Dog Blues was the first song he ever sang on stage as himself. He tells us he was terrified"
To honour Bruce and his legacy, we play covers of various Cockburn songs by
Frazey Ford
BN Ladies,
k.d.lang
Wonderful storytelling here, which is why I recommend the Mulligan Stew Podcast: The complete version of Bruce's Story
