Stealing Fire, released in '84, was one of those rare albums that managed to be as awesome as it was perplexing. Despite my mixed reactions to some of his stuff, there was a slice of time during the '80s when I kept up with him in real time. I know there's a shitload of love for his 1979 hit "Wondering Where the Lions Are," and despite his appearance playing the song on SNL, I never really liked it all that much. Oh, it got under my skin in the same way that Gordon Lightfoot's "Sundown" irritated me as a kid. In a scene worthy of Python, where they're accusing someone of being a witch, I had been a musical newt ... I got better. Although I still revert from time to time.
Regardless, I think the point I was trying to make before I distracted myself by thinking of Monty Python was that, for a little while, I considered myself a fan. Still do - just a tad more casual and less invested than some. I started my journey with The Trouble with Normal, an album that had a couple of amazing songs, and I essentially forced myself to digest the rest. A year later, in '84, when Stealing Fire came out with the lead single "Lovers in a Dangerous Time," I was there to drop my cash for the album. Heck, when World of Wonders came out in '86, I wasn't as enamoured with "Call It Democracy," but dang it, I dropped my cash.
To me, this is his holy trinity of releases. I did get his double best-of CD Waiting for a Miracle (1987), which was a really solid retrospective. I almost bought Big Circumstance (1989) because I really liked "If a Tree Falls," but as my roommate had the disc, I didn't feel compelled to drop the cash.
Which sort of circles me back around to Stealing Fire. I find myself sort of stuck balancing two points of view on the album. My 21-year-old recollections are pretty simple. I loved "Lovers in a Dangerous Time" and was a little less enamoured with "If I Had a Rocket Launcher," a song that became a hit despite, or perhaps because of, the subject matter. The rest of the songs were decent, and I was thankful he didn't have a spoken-word song. Whereas my experience now is deeper and more nuanced. This is really a good album.
Moving forward over four decades, I've been listening to this one off and on for a couple of weeks. I get drawn a little deeper into the grooves with each listen. Bruce is an artist with something to say, and is more than willing to share his firsthand observations. Much has been written about Bruce's adherence to his faith, and for some, it can be a little jarring.
There are times I may not necessarily agree, or more often, as is the case, understand the more complex issues being addressed. I will take the time to listen. While some of the subject matter is dated now, the underlying issues are still at play.
I was struck by the lyrics to "Maybe the Poet," where Bruce doesn't mince words about our inability to see past our own point of view and the underlying assertion that we are all a part of the system, whether we acknowledge it or not. The song is still relevant, and Bruce was oddly prescient for the time, dropping a series of couplets that are still lightning rods for differing opinions four decades later (I love me a wee bit of hyperbole).
Maybe the poet is gay
But he'll be heard anyway
Maybe the poet is drugged
But he won't stay under the rug
Maybe the voice of the spirit
In which case you'd better hear it
Maybe he's a woman
Who can touch you where you're human
This is about as weighty as I tend to get, as generally I like my music to be entertaining. The equivalent of getting cotton candy at the fair. However, it doesn't mean I don't like, or appreciate, being challenged now and again as opposed to being challenged (No, that isn't ableist ... is it?).
Stealing Fire manages to be an album of songs that are compelling and at times deceptively captivating. Bruce and his musical compatriots, Jon Goldsmith (keyboards, production), Fergus Marsh (bass and stick), Miche Pouliot (drums) and Che Sharpe (percussion) are so good. The arrangements and production seemed to avoid going for a current sound and represented the instruments as organically as possible. The drums are punchy and thick, and the bass, man, the bass and stick work anchors the whole album. Bruce Cockburn is a master musician, and it can be easy to sleep on him, but he is jaw-dropping.
With the decades of history here, I find I'm still as enamoured with "Lovers in a Dangerous Time" as I was, and while I really like the BNL version, it really doesn't compare. Besides, any writer who can come up with a line like, "Got to kick at the darkness till it bleeds daylight" gets a gold star, and by default, his version is the standard. Other songs like "Making Contact," "Peggy's Kitchen Wall," and the haunting "Nicaragua" are so good. Yes, even the rocket launcher song holds up better than I expected.
When you heard a Bruce Cockburn song, you knew it was a Bruce Cockburn song. He may have been stealing fire, but he wasn't stealing anyone else's thunder. He was Bruce Cockburn. I find it strange that I like this way more now than when I was a kid. Man, youth really is wasted on the young.
Better late than never, and I'm never late.
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