Tabloids, bellowing raw delight
Hail, the return of the Teutonic Knights
INBRED FOR PURITY AND SPOILING FOR A FIGHT
ANOTHER LITTLE PUPPET OF THE NEW RIGHT

SEE THROUGH DOLLARS AND MYSTERY PLAGUES
Varied detritus of the Aquarian Age
SHUTTERS ON THE STOREFRONTS
AND SHUTTERS IN THE MIND
WE KILL OURSELVES TO KEEP OURSELVES SAFE FROM CRIME
THAT’S THE GOSPEL OF BONDAGE

WE’RE SO AFRAID OF DISORDER WE MAKE IT INTO A GOD.

WE CAN ONLY PLACATE WITH STATE SECURITY LAWS
WHOSE CHURCH CONSISTS OF SECRET COURTS AND WIRETAPS AND SHOCKS
WHOSE PRIESTS HOLD SMOKING GUNS, AND WHOSE SIGN IS THE DOUBLE CROSS
BUT GOD MUST BE ON THE SIDE THAT’S RIGHT
AND NOT THE RIGHT THAT JUSTIFIES ITSELF IN TERMS OF MIGHT–
LEAST OF ALL A BUNCH OF NEO-NAZIS RUNNING HOODED THROUGH THE NIGHT
WHICH MAY BE WHY HE IS SO CONSIPICUOUSLY OUT OF SIGHT

YOU READ YOUR BIBLE IN YOUR SPECIAL WAYS
YOU’RE FOND OF QUOTING CERTAIN THINGS IT SAYS–
MOUTH FULL OF RIGHTEOUSNESS AND WRATH FROM ABOVE
BUT WHEN DO WE HEAR ABOUT FORGIVENESS AND LOVE

SOMETIMES YOU CAN HEAR THE SPIRIT WHISPERING TO YOU
BUT IF GOD STAYS SILENT, WHAT ELSE CAN YOU DO
EXCEPT LISTEN TO THE SILENCE?
IF YOU EVER DID YOU’D SURELY SEE
THAT GOD WON’T BE REDUCED TO AN IDEOLOGY
SUCH AS THE GOSPEL OF BONDAGE

i first heard this song while a grad student in Counseling at Regent Univ. in Va. Beach.–Formely CBN Univ., while driving. I began crying uncontrollably for the body of Christ and had to pull over to the side of the road. I knew he was talking about Pat Robertson and the religious right. Pat was chancellor of my school. But even then i knew the religious right was born in spiritual adultery. My spiritual mentor, Wayne Monbleau, wrote a tract in 1981 entitled “The Christian Right Ain’t.” In my two years at CBN i passed out many of these to my friends. But Bruce sang about things decades ago which are even more relevant for today’s time of chaos, confusion, distraction, lies and people who confess Jesus actively walking in rebellion toward God according to direct teaching of James 4:4.

Strikes across the frontier and strikes for higher wage
Planet lurches to the right as ideologies engage
Suddenly it’s repression, moratorium on rights
What did they think the POLITICS OF PANIC would invite?
Person in the street shrugs “SECURITY COMES FIRST”

But the trouble with normal is it only gets worse

CALLOUS MAN IN BUSINESS COSTUME speaks computerese
Play pinball with the Third world trying to keep it on it’s knees
Their single crop starvation plan puts sugar in your tea
And the local Third world kept on reservations you don’t see
“IT WILL ALL GO BACK TO NORMAL IF WE PUT OUR NATION FIRST”
BUT THE TROUBLE WITH NORMAL IS IT ONLY GETS WORSE
The trouble with normal is it only gets worse

FASHIONABLE FASCISM DOMINATES THE SCENE
WHEN THE ENDS DON’T MEET IT’S EASIER TO JUSTIFY THE MEANS
TENANTS GET THE DREGS AND THE LANDLORDS GET THE CREAM
IN THIS GRINDING DEVOLUTION OF THE DEMORCRATIC DREAM
BRINGS US MEN IN GAS MASKS DANCING WHILE THE SHELLS BURSTS
THE TROUBLE WITH NORMAL IS IT ONLY GETS WORSE.
The trouble with normal is it only gets worse
The trouble with normal is it only gets worse.

The last time i saw Bruce was 11/19 in Brooklyn NY when an audience member requested this song. Bruce, as always, had some very insightful comments to share regarding this song and how it relates to today.

The first time i saw Bruce was in 1978 at Club Passim. (Formerly Club 47,the home of the folk music scene in New England in 1960’s.) He performed many beautiful love songs to God and the beauty of nature in a folk/jazz style alone with only an acoustic guitar)

The next time i saw Bruce was in 1980, the night after he performed on Saturday Night Live, at the Paradise Club in Boston with Dr. Richard Lovelace. He had a 5 piece electric band which was totally in sync and rocked the house with just about everyone dancing. Even me..

Bruce is such a special artist. A better poet than even Bob Dylan whom i also love. An AMAZING Guitarist who can make the guitar sound like a 3 piece band, And a social Prophet

God bless Bruce Cockburn!!

Love this song by Bruce Cockburn as i can relate to all the words in my travels in life emotionally and physically. He has been my favorite artist since 1979 and have seen him numerous times including a very very God ordained 1:1 15 min. talk with him after a concert in NJ. in mid 90’s at Club Bene. His autobiography is a great read. Last saw him in Brooklyn NY a few months ago. He had to put much effort into just walking on stage but sitting down with guitar in hand
his gifting and special brilliance remains He is a true treasure to the body of Christ and the world. I consider him prophetically gifted.

The studio track is amazing. Here’s a solid live acoustic version:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LyDGxJcIC4

Yes. I “discovered” Mark Heard after his death; and the last 3 or 4 recordings are nothing short of fabulous. I’m not fond of the “wall of mandolin” sound (and I mandolin!); but the lyrics—oh, the lyrics. Makes me weep thinking about it.

Not a knife throw from here, you can hear the night train passing
That’s the sound somebody makes when they’re getting away
Leaving next week’s hanging jury far behind them
A prisoner only of the choices they’ve made

Night train
Night train

Ice cube in a dark drink shines like starlight
The moon is floating somewhere out at sea
On an island in the blur of noise and color
Alcatraz, St. Helena, Patmos and the Chateau D’If

Night train
Night train

And everyone’s an island edged with sand
A temporary refuge where somebody else can stand
‘Til the sea that binds us like the forced tide of a blood oath
Will wear it down, dissolve it, recombine it

Anyone can die here, they do it every day
It doesn’t take much effort
Though it goes against the grain
And the ultimate forgetfulness of violence
Sweeps the landscape like the headlight of a train

Night train
Night train

Ice cube in a dark drink shines like starlight
Starlight shines like glass shards in dark hair
And the mind’s eye tumbles out along the steel track
Fixing every shadow with its stare

Night train
Night train

And in the absence of a vision there are nightmares
And in the absence of compassion there is cancer
Whose banner waves over palaces and mean streets
And the rhythm of the night train is a mantra

I discovered Mark while he was still alive after buying the “Victims of the Age” album in the early 80’s. Favorite from that album is “Dancing at the Policeman’s Ball.” It is about the tendency of Christians who are supposed to be “salt and light” to get distracted by the pleasures of this life and lose their saltiness by simple neglect: “Nobody is out on the streets tonight…” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5_h4OUHymA

“Strange Waters”

I’ve seen a high cairn kissed by holy wind
Seen a mirror pool cut by golden fins
Seen alleys where they hide the truth of cities
The mad whose blessing you must accept without pity

I’ve stood in airports guarded glass and chrome
Walked rifled roads and land mined loam
Seen a forest in flames right down to the road
Burned in love till I’ve seen my heart explode

You’ve been leading me
Beside strange waters

Across the concrete fields of man
Sun ray like a camera pans
Some will run and some will stand
Everything is bullshit but the open hand

You’ve been leading me
Beside strange waters
Streams of beautiful lights in the night
But where is my pastureland in these dark valleys?
If I lose my grip, will I take flight?

You’ve been leading me
Beside strange waters
Streams of beautiful lights in the night
But where is my pastureland in these dark valleys?
If I loose my grip, will I take flight?