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Bruce Cockburn — States I'm In
Album: Bone On Bone
Avg rating:
6.7

Your rating:
Total ratings: 1383









Released: 2017
Length: 5:32
Plays (last 30 days): 0
seen rose gold haze at the end of the day
ragged-winged hawk swooping down on prey
curtain going up on the night time shadow play.
seen sun going down set the sea on fire
black smoke boiling from burning tires
and bones in the mud -- was the blood sacrifice required?
Oo-ee all the sights I've seen
in the depth of the world and the heart of a dream
Oo-ee all the places I've been
each one reflected in the states I'm in, uh huh
states I'm in

one day fit and one day fat
one day flush and one day flat
reality distorted like a sat-on hat.
one day I feel like I'm in control
the next I'm suspended in a bottomless hole
a drunk trying to shinny up a greased pole
Oo-ee all the sights I've seen
in the depth of the world and the heart of a dream
Oo-ee all the places I've been
each one reflected in the states I'm in, uh huh
states I'm in

I'm slick as a dealer in a green eyeshade
aces up his sleeve and he's not afraid
the mayor and his uniformed monkeys have been well paid.
climbing up the ivy to the balcony above
where pines the heart of my one true love
obsession, delusion -- all that waits is the fateful shove
Oo-ee all the sights I've seen
in the depth of the world and the heart of a dream
Oo-ee all the places I've been
each one reflected in the states I'm in, uh huh
states I'm in

crows in the treetops motors in the road
structures of darkness that the dawn corrodes
into the title montage of a new episode.
whisper wells up from the deeps untrod
overflows its channel and spreads abroad
gathers in power like a lightning rod
Oo-ee all the sights I've seen
in the depth of the world and the heart of a dream
Oo-ee all the places I've been
each one reflected in the states I'm in, uh huh
states I'm in
Comments (42)add comment

I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhäuser Gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain.

Reminds me of Midnight Oil - without the preaching (not a political statement - just a tired Kiwi). 
A lot to like here.
Just to say thanks for playing Bruce.  
all bruce albums are excellent
A Canadian national treasure. Would be great if RP could search out and play some of his better songs instead of the lesser ones I seem to run into.

Consider one of these suggestions: 
* Islands in a Black Sky
* Mama Just Wants to Barrelhouse
* All the Diamonds
* In the Falling Dark
* Silver Wheels
* Outside a Broken Phone booth
* Red Ships Take Off in the Distance
* After the Rain
* Grim Travelers
* You Get Bigger as You Go
* You Pay Your Money As You Take Your Chance
* Broken Wheel
* Loner
* The Trouble with Normal
* Hoop Dancer
* Going Up Against Chaos
* Berlin Tonight
* If a Tree Falls
* Tibetan Side of Town
* Understanding Nothing
* Night Train
* Look How Far
* Put It in Your Heart
* You've Never Seen Everything
* Spring Song



Apologies if you have played any of these...I just seem to hit the others.

 Poopsey wrote:

hahaaaa cockburn hahahaaaaa


Says the man who named himself after excrement.   
 Poopsey wrote:

hahaaaa cockburn hahahaaaaa




Who let the middle school kids on RP?
 On_The_Beach wrote:

Nice post, memoryboxer.
I'll be seeing him in November in the intimate confines of Vancouver's Chan Centre.
 
I saw Bruce live in Burlington, VT, years ago, right after Big Circumstance.  He was sublime.  

hahaaaa cockburn hahahaaaaa
It's bad and getting worse. Our Country has been ravaged by Opioids. The greatest Corporate Crime in history. Our productivity diminished, our life expectancy lowered, a demagogue propelled into the White House. A story still untold and the band played on...
oooo - weee
NO.
 memoryboxer wrote:
Saw him on my 29th birthday during one of the 2 nights they were recording his double live album at Ontario Place, Toronto. Full band including Hugh Marsh ripping it up on electric violin. Saw him 2 years ago here in Guelph (my home), alone on stage and filling the centre as though backed by full orchestra. He really knows how to make his guitar "cry and sing", and his lyricism is sublime. The hard part was watching him shuffle offstage at the end - his shoulder humped and twisted from years wrapped around those big body guitars, and his poor hand permanently wrenched asplay from his unusual picking style (little finger props the hand as thumb does one thing and other 3 fingers something else entirely; craziness but such a trip aurally). He's playing our fantastic Hillside Music Festival this July... and I'll be on Deer Isle, Maine. While that will be a treat unto itself I'm seriously bummed to miss him as I know the opportunities are growing fewer. Any chance you get to see him... GO.
 
Nice post, memoryboxer.
I'll be seeing him in November in the intimate confines of Vancouver's Chan Centre.
terrific. love the bells
 sfoster66 wrote:
More of a grow-er than a show-er....gets better with time....
 
Gosh....I'll have to go 7 to 8 on this one despite the grower vs. shower analogy....Long Live RP!!
Saw him on my 29th birthday during one of the 2 nights they were recording his double live album at Ontario Place, Toronto. Full band including Hugh Marsh ripping it up on electric violin. Saw him 2 years ago here in Guelph (my home), alone on stage and filling the centre as though backed by full orchestra. He really knows how to make his guitar "cry and sing", and his lyricism is sublime. The hard part was watching him shuffle offstage at the end - his shoulder humped and twisted from years wrapped around those big body guitars, and his poor hand permanently wrenched asplay from his unusual picking style (little finger props the hand as thumb does one thing and other 3 fingers something else entirely; craziness but such a trip aurally). He's playing our fantastic Hillside Music Festival this July... and I'll be on Deer Isle, Maine. While that will be a treat unto itself I'm seriously bummed to miss him as I know the opportunities are growing fewer. Any chance you get to see him... GO.
Bruce hits hard
More of a grow-er than a show-er....gets better with time....
This is 5 or 6'ish.  But on the same album, "3 Al Purdys" is a wonderful meld of one of Canad's finest poets and Bruce's music.
{#Bananajam}6.6?? i give him10 Points
 tkelley wrote:
Going to see him live in Bend, Or in 2 hours.  I'll get back to you.
 
Well?  How was it?
Going to see him live in Bend, Or in 2 hours.  I'll get back to you.
Maine, New Hampshire, New York.........
 Nicola17 wrote:
Always loved Bruce since the first time I saw him back in 1980, in a small cabaret in Cotati, California.
Thanks always for playing anything by him.

 
Was that cabaret The Inn of the Beginning, perchance?

(I'm tickled to hear Cotati mentioned here. Thanks, Nicola, for brightening my afternoon)!

{#Bananapiano}

Bruce just keeps getting better and better, eh?
STRONG  (going to be a Great New Year! : )
Please take this out of constant rotation- so repetitive and annoying!
oooo weee
nonetheless, this is a happy little tune, eh!
source: i am a canadian
Have to give this a 5 for now. Normally I'm a fan, but this is a little rough. 
Thanks for keeping some new Bruce in rotation, Bill.
I've got front row seats to see him in January.
sb204 wrote:
pinto wrote:

Sounds like a bad Bruce Springsteen imitation to me.  Or maybe a bad effort at mimicking Mark Knopfler.

 

the_jake wrote:

Sounds like Tom Waits in the song Bill just played "The Heart of Saturday Night" to me.  

  
Well, to me this seems to be some strange exploit of Tom Waits' "Clap Hands".

  
The verses are a pretty standard, minor-key, two-chord, chord progression, the same as that of "Clap Hands".  Springsteen and Knopfler generally use traditional "roots music" chord progressions as well.  So there are reasons why all of their song structures may sometimes sound similar.  His vocals don't sound quite as desperate or convincing as Tom Waits' do though; this sounds more "accessible".
 sb204 wrote:
pinto wrote:

Sounds like a bad Bruce Springsteen imitation to me.  Or maybe a bad effort at mimicking Mark Knopfler.

 

the_jake wrote:

Sounds like Tom Waits in the song Bill just played "The Heart of Saturday Night" to me.  

 
Well, to me this seems to be some strange exploit of Tom Waits' "Clap Hands".

 
It's Bruce Cockburn....Jez...{#Rolleyes}
pinto wrote:

Sounds like a bad Bruce Springsteen imitation to me.  Or maybe a bad effort at mimicking Mark Knopfler.

 

the_jake wrote:

Sounds like Tom Waits in the song Bill just played "The Heart of Saturday Night" to me.  

 
Well, to me this seems to be some strange exploit of Tom Waits' "Clap Hands".
Ooh ee, this is one annoying song.
 pinto wrote:

Sounds like a bad Bruce Springsteen imitation to me.  Or maybe a bad effort at mimicking Mark Knopfler.

 
Sounds like Tom Waits in the song Bill just played "The Heart of Saturday Night" to me.  
He puts the 'over' in 'overwrought'.
 pinto wrote:

Sounds like a bad Bruce Springsteen imitation to me.  Or maybe a bad effort at mimicking Mark Knopfler.

 
BC is a fabulous guitarist, and for that alone, he's worth listening to.

Always good to hear a new album from Bruce.
 oldman wrote:
I guess I haven't heard anything from Mr Cockburn lately.
My first thought was a bad Bruce Cockburn imitation.
It was a little jarring to see that it is indeed he.
Getting old sucks, his voice has sadly, roughened quite a bit.

 
Sounds like a bad Bruce Springsteen imitation to me.  Or maybe a bad effort at mimicking Mark Knopfler.
I guess I haven't heard anything from Mr Cockburn lately.
My first thought was a bad Bruce Cockburn imitation.
It was a little jarring to see that it is indeed he.
Getting old sucks, his voice has sadly, roughened quite a bit.
cool man, good lunch-time music thank you!     : )
His new album, was available for free to listen online for a while, but still had not gotten threw all of the tracks.  Like this one....a little.