Brian J. Walsh - Kicking at the Darkness: Bruce Cockburn and the Christian Imagination

2011 by Brian J. Walsh

Published by Brazos Press

a division of Baker Publishing Group

P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287

www.brazospress.com

Ebook edition created 2011

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meansfor example, electronic, photocopy, recordingwithout the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

ISBN 978-1-4412-3885-6

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1989, by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations labeled RSV are from the Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1952 [2nd edition, 1971] by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

All lyrics by Bruce Cockburn have been quoted with permission. Golden Mountain Music Corp.

The internet addresses, email addresses, and phone numbers in this book are accurate at the time of publication. They are provided as a resource. Baker Publishing Group does not endorse them or vouch for their content or permanence.

At last, a robust engagement with Bruce Cockburns art that brings Canadas prized poet-musician into sustained and creative dialogue with biblical faith. Brian J. Walsh writes with obvious affection for his subject but also considerable lucidity as he ranges far and wide across the Cockburn canon. Good things happen when erudite theological reflection takes popular culture seriously. This book is a case in point.

Michael Gilmour , Providence University College, Manitoba

YOU need to read this book! Bruce Cockburn is a shrewdly observant prophet and a graciously compassionate psalmist, a troubadour on the way home, Brian Walsh calls him. Walsh, who has studied Cockburns music for forty years, here sings out his theological insights and political perceptions as a cantata that seeks to engender in us an alternative imagination. May Cockburns clear melodies of truth in this carefully nuanced book pique new imaginations for Christians and others throughout the world.

Marva Dawn , theologian, teacher, and author of Unfettered Hope: A Call to Faithful Living in an Affluent Society

Kicking at the Darkness is not just for the Bruce Cockburn fan club, but for anyone who longs to explore the implications of an imaginative Christian vision for the worlda vision that is heartbreakingly honest about brokenness and radically hopeful about the Creators sustaining promises. Walsh artfully and expertly toys with the many lyrical themes in Cockburns body of work, while maintaining an essential posture of humility and respect. Walsh might just be the single best scholar to engage this prolific artists work, bringing the reader over and over again to a sense of having communed with the Divine in the midst of the empires insanity.

Kirstin Vander Giessen-Reitsma , *culture is not optional (Three Rivers, Michigan)

Brian Walsh has invited Bruce Cockburnand us the readersinto a thoughtful and profound theological engagement about the meaning of life and art, through a conversation with the lyrics of Cockburns songs. Along the way Walsh quotes C. S. Lewiss comment that what you see and hear depends a good deal on where you are standing: it also depends on what sort of person you are. This book both illuminates the depth of Cockburns spirituality and gives us a glimpse of where Brian Walsh stands and what sort of person he is. For those who know and love Bruce Cockburns music, this is a rich feast provided by a master teacher; for those who are new to Cockburn, this could be just the invitation to get them hooked.

J. Richard Middleton , Northeastern Seminary at Roberts Wesleyan College

for Jubal, Madeleine, and Lydia

... with pain the world paves us over

Lord, let us not betray

God bless the children with

vision of the Day

The stage of Torontos Massey Hall was full of a whos who of Canadian musicians who had come together to honor the forty-year contribution of one of their most esteemed colleagues. The word iconic was used frequently. And no wonder. Consider the mans rsum: thirty-one albums (twenty of which went gold or platinum), a reputation as one of the finest guitarists in the world, numerous Juno Awards, induction into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, and recipient of the Order of Canada. Now add in all of the honorary doctoral degrees in music or letters from Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. Thomas University, University of Victoria, York University, and McMaster University, and an honorary doctor of divinity from Queens University. Not bad for a music school dropout. And that music schoolthe Berklee College of Music in Bostonalso conferred an honorary degree on this artist in 1997.

We are talking about Bruce Cockburn.

With Cockburn playing with a right hand influenced by the likes of Mississippi John Hurt and the left hand of an accomplished jazz guitarist, it is no surprise that this guitar virtuoso is placed in the company of Andrs Segovia, Bill Frisell, and Django Reinhardt by Acoustic Guitar magazine. Blending modal jazz, classic blues, folk, rockand sometimes even reggae, punk, and rapwith a fine ear for world music influences, Cockburns music is simply unclassifiable.

Cockburn songs have been covered by artists as diverse as Jerry Garcia, the Barenaked Ladies, Jimmy Buffett, Anne Murray, Maria Muldaur, The Rankins, Dan Fogelberg, Steve Bell, Michael Occhipinti, Holly Near, Chet Atkins, Elbow, Judy Collins, the Skydiggers, Third World, Blackie and the Rodeo Kings, and k.d. lang. U2 refer to Cockburn in God Part 2 on the Rattle and Hum album when Bono sings,

I heard a singer on the radio

Late last night

Says hes gonna kick the darkness

Till it bleeds daylight.

The artists that gathered that evening in Massey Hall did so under that evocative Cockburn metaphorkicking at the darkness. And it was clear from both the performances and the testimonies from the stage that these musicians understood this kicking at the darkness to be a deeply spiritual discipline. Repeatedly throughout the show, comments were made about Cockburns spirituality. Perhaps this perspective on Cockburn came to its poignant and humorous height in some onstage banter between host Jian Ghomeshi and Barenaked Ladies lead singer Ed Robertson. Having launched his career with a cover of Cockburns Lovers in a Dangerous Time (in which we meet that metaphor kick at the darkness till it bleeds daylight), Robertson was asked if this was his favorite Cockburn song. No, was the reply. And in the banter that followed it took a while to learn that the early song One Day I Walk was Robertsons favorite. A good choice. But in the midst of the dialogue Robertson said, Actually I like his Jesusy songs the best. The coining of the term Jesusy occasioned laughter from the audience and then some further joking around about whether this might have crossed some kind of line of religious propriety. But in the midst of it all Robertson still made his point clear: Im not really a Jesusy kind of guy. But I love Bruces Jesusy songs.