World of Wonders: The Lyrics and Music of Bruce Cockburn

by James A. Heald

World of Wonders is an appreciation of the lyrics and music of the iconic Canadian Singer-Songwriter-Guitarist Bruce Cockburn. This book is the first comprehensive look at the works of Bruce Cockburn from the 1960's to the Present.
Bruce Cockburn is, first and foremost, a visionary artist; engaging and probing songwriter, spiritual seeker, truth teller, and extraordinary guitarist. He is a songwriter’s songwriter and musician’s musician. If you measure success in album sales, or chart position, or merchandise sales, or mentions in People Magazine or Rolling Stone, then Bruce is not for you. While he has failed to scale the mountain of popular adoration in the United States market, he has nonetheless had an extraordinary career as a Canadian solo artist, and he’s done it pretty much entirely on his terms. Given our America Centric view of the entertainment industry (and pretty much everything else), it is hard for us to realize how big a star Bruce is in Canada. It’s also hard for us to realize that success outside the U.S. actually means something. We should count ourselves lucky that we have found Bruce and other kindred spirits like South Africa’s Johnny Clegg or Australia’s Midnight Oil .
There are very few musicians who have recorded for more than 40 years, putting out consistently good records every couple of years, with few, if any, artistic misfires. He’s sold a lot of albums and won a lot of awards. He has continued to gain in popularity and plays to packed venues across Canada, the United States, and Europe, with occasional forays to Japan and the Far East.
He has traveled to war-torn locations like Central America, Africa, Cambodia, Afghanistan and Iraq as an observer and good will ambassador. The songs that have resulted from these journeys celebrate the resilience of the human spirit, chide the powerful and greedy, and turn a spotlight on corruption and injustice. He would most likely bristle at these thoughts, preferring to consider his successes a matter of luck, or simply the result of dogged persistence or even stubbornness.
"In sharp contrast to the condescending and ill-judged evangelical slant of Brian Walsh's recent book on Canadian singer-songwriter Bruce Cockburn (which I reviewed in Third Way and for The Matthews House Project) James A. Heald takes an informed and intelligent approach to Cockburn's albums and songs, contextualising and appraising the work under a series of headings mostly within a linear timeline..."
from Review by Rupert Loydell of Stride Magazine, UK - full review at

278 pages, Paperback

First published August 30, 2012

About the author

Jim Heald is a poet, songwriter, and guitarist. He grew up in the suburbs of New York City. He attended Colby College and Manchester College, Oxford where he studied English Literature and East Asian Studies. He attended graduate school briefly at the University of Pennsylvania, where he studied Oriental languages and history, and received a Masters in Urban Planning from the University of Illinois in Chicago.

Jim picked up the guitar in the mid 70’s and started turning his poetry into songs. He’s played professionally since the late 70’s around Chicago, Austin, and the Washington DC area. He was a two time finalist in the Kerrville Folk Festival New Folk Competition and has two CDs, Old Jalopy and Wings of Time available from CD Baby. A third CD, Chiaroscuro, was released in 2015. available in late 2013

He has also written a book about the music and lyrics of Canadian Songwriter and Guitarist Bruce Cockburn called World of Wonders, which is available in paperback or Kindle format from Amazon.com – also in Canada and Europe.

He lives with his wife Laura and their two cats in Sarasota FL.

Reviews

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bruce Cockburn is a musician whose music has been filling my days and nights for the past twenty five years or so. As to genre, there is endless debate: is he a folkie? is he a rocker? My answer would be, he's a poet and a prophet and a preacher. Some would say he is the Canadian "Bob Dylan" - don't get me wrong, I am a Dylan fan - but Bruce Cockburn can sing circles around Dylan (who can't?) and the vision of his lyrics is much more consistent and dare I say, profound. He is wide open to Mystery and dead set against injustice. Like Dylan, he is a deeply private guy - unlike Dylan (and perhaps because he is Canadian) he is much nicer about it , elusive but not brusque. Which is why I was excited to receive this book from my friend Dale who first introduced me to Cockburn years ago. I was hoping (as I am sure was Dale) that the book would provide some light on the man's life and times as reflected on his long career (over forty years) and prodigious work (over thirty albums, almost all of them containing his original compositions). If that was my assumption, the opening pages proved us wrong. The author only met Cockburn once, at a concert. His book, he says, is not about Cockburn's life, but about his music and his lyrics. All the biographical information in the book is drawn from articles that have been written about him over the decades. The author's intention is to explicate his songs in order to "get at" his thinking and how it has been shaped over time.

Don't get me wrong. I believe the author does a very good job of going back through Cockburn's music and analyzing the lyrics of various key songs for clues as to what their creator was thinking and how his ideas were changing or becoming more solidly focused as his career went on. And he does a good job of comparing and contrasting Cockburn with other musicians of our times, including, of course, other Canadians like Leonard Cohen and Joni Mitchell, both of whom he has known and with whom he has worked. Heald invites us to read the book while listening to the songs he is citing as we follow along with his discussion. I know all the songs he cites by heart, but I did try to follow his advice. His analysis was solid -- at least as far as I could tell - and very thoughtful though he did bend over backwards to ignore the rather obvious Christian connections in Cockburn's "spirituality" perhaps because his (Heald) wants to push beyond the boundaries of any "organized religion." But perhaps the problem I had with the book is the problem I ultimately had with the English major I pursued as an undergraduate. When explication is the name of the game, much of the magic disappears. And, in this case, it is the magic that makes the music, I think.

BUT I am very happy to have such a nice collection of Cockburn lyrics at my fingertips and it was interesting to read what Heald thought Cockburn was trying to say. Would I recommend the book? To those of my friends who love to "see connections" between, say, music and theology/spirituality, the book is probably well worth the read. But if you are seeking biographic detail (and what lover of history is not?) or have never heard of Bruce Cockburn before, the book will provide little insight. On the other hand, if you have never heard of Bruce Cockburn or listened to any of his music, I hope you will consider this review an invitation to that adventure!

In the end, Cockburn said it best. In one of my favorite songs of his, "Child of the Wind" he writes and sings: There's roads and there's roads/ And they call, can't you hear it?
Roads of the earth/ And roads of the spirit
The best roads of all/Are the ones that aren't certain
One of those is where you'll find me/ Till they drop the big curtain

Overall, I guess I prefer to let the Mystery be!

[Jeff Crosby · Rating 2 out of 5]

If, like me, you're a long-time listener of Canadian musician Bruce Cockburn's catalog of recordings, you'll probably want to engage with "World of Wonders." But don't set your sights too high. The book would have been much better with a strong edit to avoid numerous duplicate references, and better organize song references/examinations with the proper album. The author, James A. Heald, also seems to have a bit of an axe to grind - in places, not in total - with Cockburn's spirituality. And he spends far too much time showing his historical "chops" in the section on Cockburn's "justice and human rights" period of the mid-80s to mid-90s.

[Wes F · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed this quite in-depth look into the lyrics & music of Bruce Cockburn. I've also enjoyed listening through all the Cockburn CDs I have--and have ordered some more, where I have some gaps in my collection. Cockburn is an amazingly talented musician and writes songs with depth & meat like few others. And, he's stood the test of time, having been around musically for over 40 years.

[Paul Gibson · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you're looking for a collection of lyrics, you'll not find it here.
The book was interesting but it made me want to listen to the music and so that's what I spent most of my time doing instead of reading.