Cockburn's early albums were fairly straight ahead folk music spotlighting his brilliant guitar playing. In fact, there were a good number of instrumental guitar numbers on those early recordings. A Christian element came into his music around the time of the album Salt, Sun and Time, and over time his writing has taken on a stronger and stronger political orientation.
Perhaps the most consistent element of Cockburn's music has been his willingness to change and evolve over time. In this way, he is similar to fellow Canadians Joni Mitchell and Neil Young.
He has had a couple of radio hits in the United States, including (Wondering Where the Lions Are and If I Had a Rocket Launcher).
His albums in the 80s are considered some of his strongest, including Humans, Inner City Front, Stealing Fire, and Big Circumstance. After Big Circumstance he struggled with writer's block, and his output began to slow down; but he recovered with the formidable Nothing But a Burning Light, which led the way back to a sparer, more folk-oriented form of music. His later album The Charity of Night contains one of his most thoughtful songs, Pacing the Cage.
His 2006 album Life Short Call Now was preceded by Speechless, a collection of instrumentals, many of them from earlier albums. The album highlights Cockburn's prodigious abilities as a guitarist.
Cockburn's 31st studio album,Small Source of Comfort was released in March, 2011. BruceCockburn.com called the album "an adventurous collection of songs of romance, protest and spiritual discovery. The album, primarily acoustic yet rhythmically savvy, is rich in Cockburn’s characteristic blend of folk, blues, jazz and rock."
Hoop Dancer
Bruce Cockburn Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Out of my throat appears this chuckle
A true 20th Century sound
A little crazed and having no tonal centre
The echoes of this laugh fade for a long time
Snaking among those jumbled pedestrians
Following that struggling Cedric taxicab
With no warning, mind's eye winks like a lifespan
And opens again on memory flash of prairie Indian
Dancers -- they're on a stage, all jigging motion
And flare of bright feathers, surrounded by white faces
Floating on a sea of mind
Hoop dancer struts in front -- drum and voices blend with endless rain
There's a time line
Something like vertical, like perpendicular
Cutting through figures shuffling on horizontal plane
Cutting through the survival pride of the dancers
Through the guilty, sentimental warmth of the crowd
Through to some essence common to us, to original man
To perhaps descendants numberless ... or few
Where it intersects the space at hand
This shaman with the hoops stands
Aligned like living magnetic needle between deep past and looming future
Butterfly pierced on each drum beat, wing beat, static spark, storm front, energy circle delineated by leaping limbs
1st man last man dancing man man dancing
Hoops in hand trampled grass circle spreading
Voices flame above crazy coyote heartbeat drum
I see sunrise on the plains big river at dusk
Perpetual pillar of dust on prairie rim and always overhead
those wings -- circling, turning
He's the earth he's the egg he's the eagle always circling
Always turning -- always comes back to the centre
Hoops whirling, now transparent feet touch down on anaconda
Streets and on the next leap dissolve slowly into the moving lights
Rainbow steps, jerking universe
Goodbye, man-in-time
And just beyond the clatter and cars the last long notes of wild voices ring
Like Roland's horn
The lyrics of the song Hoop Dancer by Bruce Cockburn explore themes of culture, memory, and time. The first stanza sets the scene in Tokyo, where the singer experiences a moment of laughter that seems out of place in its environment. This laughter seems to trigger a memory of indigenous dancers on a prairie stage, surrounded by white faces. The hoop dancer, in particular, stands out as a magnetic figure connecting the past and the future.
The second stanza gets more abstract, describing a time line that is both vertical and horizontal, cutting through the dancers and the crowd. The shamanic figure of the hoop dancer is aligned with this time line, standing at the intersection of the past and the future. The final stanza brings the hoop dancer back to the present moment in Tokyo, where his rainbow steps dissolve into the moving lights. The last long notes of the wild voices may refer to the fading echoes of the laughter from the first stanza, or to something transcendent beyond time and space.
Overall, the lyrics of Hoop Dancer evoke a sense of the multi-layered nature of human experience, where seemingly unrelated moments and memories can intersect and create meaning. The hoop dancer serves as a powerful symbol of continuity and resilience in the face of cultural erasure and displacement.
Line by Line Meaning
Tokyo jetlag evening walking
Walking on an evening in Tokyo while feeling the effects of jetlag
Out of my throat appears this chuckle
Suddenly laughing
A true 20th Century sound
A laugh that sounds like it belongs in the 20th century
A little crazed and having no tonal centre
The laugh being slightly crazy and without a consistent pitch
The echoes of this laugh fade for a long time
The sound of the laughter lingers for a while
Snaking among those jumbled pedestrians
The sound of the laughter weaving its way through the crowd of people
Following that struggling Cedric taxicab
Watching as a taxi struggles to make its way through the busy streets
Sliding over the seeming infinity of white light and neon
Moving through the bright lights and neon signs that seem to stretch on forever
With no warning, mind's eye winks like a lifespan
Suddenly, his mind flashes to a memory
And opens again on memory flash of prairie Indian
Remembering a scene with Native American dancers on a prairie
Dancers -- they're on a stage, all jigging motion
Watching the Native American dancers as they move in a rhythmic manner
And flare of bright feathers, surrounded by white faces
Noticing the bright feathers of the dancers among a crowd of white people
Floating on a sea of mind
Being lost in thought
Hoop dancer struts in front -- drum and voices blend with endless rain
Watching as the hoop dancer takes center stage, with the sound of drums and voices blending with the sound of rain
There's a time line
There is a timeline
Something like vertical, like perpendicular
Similar to a vertical or perpendicular line
Cutting through figures shuffling on horizontal plane
Intersecting those who are moving on a horizontal plane
Cutting through the survival pride of the dancers
Intersecting the pride and strength of the Native American dancers
Through the guilty, sentimental warmth of the crowd
Moving through the guilty and emotional response of the audience
Through to some essence common to us, to original man
Reaching an essence that is shared by all humanity, and by our original ancestors
To perhaps descendants numberless ... or few
To the countless or potentially small number of descendants from those original ancestors
Where it intersects the space at hand
Where it intersects with the current moment and location
This shaman with the hoops stands
The Native American shaman holding the hoops stands at this point of intersection
Aligned like living magnetic needle between deep past and looming future
Aligned like a compass needle, connecting the deep past and future
Butterfly pierced on each drum beat, wing beat, static spark, storm front, energy circle delineated by leaping limbs
The shaman is like a butterfly, fluttering with each drum beat as a static charge builds, with energy pulsing through the air as limbs leap and move in a circle
1st man last man dancing man man dancing
The first and last man, and all men in between, are dancing
Hoops in hand trampled grass circle spreading
The Native American dancers are holding hoops and dancing in a circle, trampling the grass beneath them
Voices flame above crazy coyote heartbeat drum
Their voices rise above the sound of a frenzied and wild drumming pattern, like the heartbeat of a frantic coyote
I see sunrise on the plains big river at dusk
Visualizing a sunrise on the prairie, and a large river at dusk
Perpetual pillar of dust on prairie rim and always overhead those wings -- circling, turning
Watching as a pillar of dust swirls in the prairie wind, and a bird's wings circle and turn overhead
He's the earth he's the egg he's the eagle always circling
The shaman represents the earth, the egg, and the eagle, constantly circling
Always turning -- always comes back to the centre
Always turning, the shaman always comes back to the center
Hoops whirling, now transparent feet touch down on anaconda streets and on the next leap dissolve slowly into the moving lights
The hoops are whirling, and the feet of the dancers almost appear to be transparent as they dance in the streets. As they leap, they seem to dissolve into the moving lights around them
Rainbow steps, jerking universe
The dancers' steps seem to form a rainbow with their movement, almost like they are jerking the universe around them
Goodbye, man-in-time
Saying farewell to the concept of time
And just beyond the clatter and cars the last long notes of wild voices ring
Amidst the noise of the city, the last echoes of the wild voices of the dancers linger
Like Roland's horn
Similar to the horn of Roland, a symbol of heroism and courage
Contributed by Noah O. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@NudistPoet
"Hoop Dancer" by @BruceCockburn is a sonic masterpiece!
@shaunm5836
Brilliant !!!!
@brannciforte1373
Imagine trading a Porsche for a Chevette 😖
@TimeForTacos
It is so good, I pull out the LP to this day to listen to this one track.