@ALBUM: 77.circles.in.the.stream
Author: Bruce Cockburn
ALBUM title: Circles In The Stream (1977) GTN-30
Total Duration: 75:09 (16 tracks)


@SONG: The Pipes The Pipes (1:31)
(Instrumental)


@SONG: Starwheel (3:52)
(Originally from the album "Joy Will Find A Way")

Orion's high in the south-west sky --
you're bound to move on and so am i.
on this world we've had time to burn --
how come nobody ever seems to learn?
see how the starwheel turns.

crystal drift on the whistling wind --
constant change is the space we're in.
you may use a slide rule or a golden crown
but nothing's worth it that you can pin down --
see how the starwheel turns.

don't go playing no shell game with God --
only Satan's going to give you odds.
we're given love and love must be returned --
that's all the bearings that you need to learn.
see how the starwheel turns.


@SONG: Never So Free (4:08)
(Originally from the album "Salt, Sun and Time")

wind across the quay-side
grit in my eyes and fish in my nose
white as whalebone, wheeling seagulls cry

outside the bar in the high-street
blind fingers spin an accordeon reel
shoes and sedan wheels grudgingly keeping time

fishing boat stretched out at low tide
dog and a black man work on the deck
bright as a bottle, sunlight skips wave to wave

part of a map of somewhere
teases my foot like a haunting dream
never so free, i'm lost in the seagulls' flight


@SONG: Deer Dancing Round A Broken Mirror (4:54)
(Instrumental)


@SONG: Homme Brulant (6:26)

On attends
quelque chose
peut etre le vent
ou l'ouverture d'une rose
moi je suis en courant
en courant

La cite
bouche-bee
semble de boire
la voie lactee
moi je suis un homme brulant
homme brulant

et dans la lueur
tu m'appele
habillee
des arcs en ciel
et je brule

Chatoyaut
vert de mer
je deviens
une riviere
et toi
tu es l'ocean que je cherche
que je cherche.

(Quebec, 8/3/77)


TRANSLATION: "Burning Man"

they're waiting
for something
maybe the wind
or the opening of a rose
me, i'm flowing,
flowing

the city
open-mouthed
seems to be drinking
the milky way
me, i'm a burning man
burning man

and in the glow
you call me
dressed in
rainbows
and i'm burning

sparkling
sea green
i become
a river
and you,
you are the ocean i'm seeking
i'm seeking.

(Quebec, 8/3/77)


@SONG: Free To Be (2:51)

Got no social graces
never know my place
one thing i am sure of
you can't judge a man by his race
birth don't come easy
freedom doesn't come cheap
rules and worlds get swept away
while you waste your time in sleep

(refrain)  Grow up you
           grow up me
           grown together
           free to be.

There's music in the forest
children laugh in the school yard
on the skid row of the spirit
hear the ranting of the Western Guard
why don't you cool out
can it be so hard
to love yourself without thinking
someone else holds a lower card

(refrain)

Wired to the switchboard
always on the move
things we love to cling to
but there's nothing we can prove
you can only deal with
what's before your face
and the life you're given's no use at all
if you burn it up in hate

(refrain)

(Burritt's Rapids, 30/1/77)


@SONG: Mama Just Wants To Barrelhouse All Night Long (5:30)
(Originally from the album "Night Vision")

i was up the road on easy street
watching everybody stand around and cheat
a man comes up and says "move along
down to the corner where you belong"
but mama just wants to barrelhouse all night long

i hear the city singing like a siren choir
some fool tried to set this town on fire
tv preacher screams "come on along"
i feel like fay wray face to face with king kong
but mama just wants to barrelhouse all night long

sometimes i wonder what i am
i feel like i'm living in a hologram
it doesn't seem to matter what's right or wrong
everybody's grabbing and coming on strong
but mama just wants to barrelhouse all night long


@SONG: Cader Idris
(Instrumental on LP only)


@SONG: Arrows Of Light (4:50)
(Originally from the album "Joy Will Find A Way")

arrows of light
come
pierce my soul
pierce my soul

breath of the bright
wind
make us one
make us one

life is singing
like a great bell ringing


@SONG: One Day I Walk (3:34)
(Originally from the album "High Winds White Sky")

Oh i have been a beggar
and shall be one again
and few the ones with help to lend
within the world of men.
     One day i walk in flowers
     one day i walk on stones
     today i walk in hours
     one day i shall be home

I have sat on the street corner
and watched the bootheels shine
and cried out glad and cried out sad
with every voice but mine.
     One day i walk in flowers
     one day i walk on stones
     today i walk in hours
     one day i shall be home
     one day i shall be home


@SONG: Love Song (4:49)
(Originally from the album "High Winds White Sky")

In the place my wonder comes from
there i find you
your face shines in my sky

In your heart where the world comes from
there you will find me
your eyes dance in my mind

     Come with me
     we will sail on the wind
     we will sway among the yellow grass'
     when you be beside me
     i am real

Though my eyes be closed forever
still i would find you
you shine across my time

     So come with me
     we will sail on the wind
     we will sway among the yellow grass'
     when you be beside me
     i am real

In the place my wonder comes from
there i find you


@SONG: Red Brother Red Sister (4:14)

Went to the museum, red brother
saw your ancient bloom cut, pressed and dried
a sign said wasn't it clever what they used to do
but it never did say how they died.
(refrain)  Hey hey hey,
           hey hey hey

Went to Regina, red sister
heard a cab driver say what he'd seen.
"there's a grand place to eat out on Number One
all WHITE ladies if you know what I mean".

(refrain)

Went to a pow wow, red brother.
felt the people's love/joy flow around.
It left me crying just thinking about it
how they used my saviour's name to keep you down.

(refrain)

(Buritt's Rapids, 26/7/76)


@SONG: Lord Of The Starfields (5:33)
(Originally from the album "In the Falling Dark")

Lord of the starfields
Ancient of Days
Universe Maker
here's a song in your praise.

wings of the storm cloud
beginning and end
you make my heart leap
like a banner in the wind.

     O Love that fires the sun
     keep me burning.

Lord of the starfields
sower of life,
heaven and earth are
full of your light.

Voice of the nova
smile of the dew
all of our yearning
only comes home to you.

     O Love that fires the sun
     keep me burning.


@SONG: All The Diamonds In The World (2:42)
(Originally from the album "Salt, Sun and Time")

all the diamonds in this world
that mean anything to me
are conjured up by wind and sunlight
sparkling on the sea

i ran aground in a harbour town
lost the taste for being free
thank God He sent some gull-chased ship
to carry me to sea

two thousand years and half a world away
dying trees still grow greener when you pray

silver scales flash bright and fade
in reeds along the shore
like a pearl in sea of liquid jade
His ship comes shining
like a crystal swan in a sky of suns
His ship comes shining.


@SONG: Dialogue With The Devil (9:17)
(Originally from the album "Sunwheel Dance")

standing on a rock in a river
staring at the splintered sun
you could drown yourself in jewels
like a thousand other fools
while you stand there looking down at what you've won.

sitting on a mountain of ashes
face to face with past regrets
you could roll down to the canyon
piss away this incarnation
but remember that you pay for what you get.

and he says "but don't you know
how hard it is
to hit the ground and mean it,
and mean it?"

walk the jangling streets of the city
trying to find the buried sun
you could drown yourself in jewels
like a thousand other fools
while you wander, waiting for it to be done.

and he cries "why don't we celebrate?
why don't we celebrate?
love can make you sad
come on, let's drive ourselves mad."

and he's aware
how hard it is
to kiss the sun and mean it,
and mean it.

and he screams "why don't we celebrate?
why don't we celebrate?
life can make you sad
come on, let's drive ourselves mad."

standing on a rock in a river
staring at the rain made one
on the surface flashing diamonds
rolling down the twilight canyon,
and we shall kiss the sun in spite of him

so why don't we celebrate?
why don't we celebrate?
why don't we celebrate? ...


@SONG: Joy Will Find A Way (5:33)
(Originally from the album "Joy Will Find A Way")

make me a bed of fond memories
make me to lie down with a smile
everything that rises afterward falls
but all that dies has first to live.

as longing becomes love
as night turns to day
everything changes
joy will find a way


@SONG: God Bless The Children (5:36)
(Originally from the album "Night Vision")

night comes
the mask of the world
resolves into round bits of silver on the table
round arrow nocked against the bow
round fruit devoured by time
while the moon climbs

sea swells
illusion is queen
in the shallow graves of experience time-centred
grave silence reigns over the stars
graven image hanging in time
while the earth unwinds

with rain the world grows us older
Lord let us not be lost
God bless the children with knowledge of the cost

day comes
the hawk of gold
springs forth in flame from a highway paved with diamonds
lion rampant on a green field
ramparts cracked into the sky
while the Christ stands by

with pain the world paves us over
Lord let us not betray
God bless the children with visions of the Day