What a great song. The bridge has no lyrics, a very catchy hook and a great contrast to verses filled with description. Very clever, and pure joy to listen to.
Cockburn's lyrics stand the test of time. This sound is well mixed, where you can decipher all the musicians including the percussionist. Fergus Marsh base provides a great foundation. The drums switch sticks for dramatic end part. "...don't shoot me man I just a graceful dancer just a dream to you not real at all." Lyrics: Sun went down looking like the eye of God Behind icy mist and stark bare trees Inside the dim empty cinema two guys in leather jackets Glance at each other and shiver "They never built these places with winter in mind" Out the window down the gray road You can see old walled monastery Now become a barracks for the paramilitary police I saw an old lady's face once on a Japanese train Half lit, rich with soft luminosity She was dozing straight upright head bobbing almost imperceptibly Wheels were playing fast in 9/8 time Her husband's friendly face suddenly folded up in a sneeze Across the straight a volcano flew a white smoke flag of surrender In a Roman street on a full moon night I was sick and there was a young cop in a circle of yellow light As we drew near he snapped the safety off his machine pistol And slid a trembling finger to the trigger I wanted to say something calming but couldn't catch his eye He didn't want contact -- he was trained to see movement "Well don't shoot me, man, I'm a graceful slow dancer I'm just a dream to you not real at all" I wonder if I'll end up like Bernie in his dream A displaced person in some foreign border town Waiting for a train part hope part myth While the station changes hands Or just sitting at home growing tenser with the times Or like that guy in "The Seventh Seal" Watching the newly dead dance across the hills Or wearing this leather jacket shivering with a friend While the eye of God blazes at us like the sun...
I bought this album the other day at a charity thrift store in my home town of Scarborough Ontario, and dusted off a turntable to hook it up to hear this song with the vinyl crackle and the majesty of Hugh Marsh's violin part
![Bruce Cockburn • “The Trouble With Normal” • 1985 [Reelin' In The Years Archive]](/img/n.gif)
What a great song. The bridge has no lyrics, a very catchy hook and a great contrast to verses filled with description. Very clever, and pure joy to listen to.
Cockburn's lyrics stand the test of time. This sound is well mixed, where you can decipher all the musicians including the percussionist. Fergus Marsh base provides a great foundation. The drums switch sticks for dramatic end part. "...don't shoot me man I just a graceful dancer just a dream to you not real at all."
Lyrics:
Sun went down looking like the eye of God
Behind icy mist and stark bare trees
Inside the dim empty cinema two guys in leather jackets
Glance at each other and shiver
"They never built these places with winter in mind"
Out the window down the gray road
You can see old walled monastery
Now become a barracks for the paramilitary police
I saw an old lady's face once on a Japanese train
Half lit, rich with soft luminosity
She was dozing straight upright head bobbing almost imperceptibly
Wheels were playing fast in 9/8 time
Her husband's friendly face suddenly folded up in a sneeze
Across the straight a volcano flew a white smoke flag of surrender
In a Roman street on a full moon night
I was sick and there was a young cop in a circle of yellow light
As we drew near he snapped the safety off his machine pistol
And slid a trembling finger to the trigger
I wanted to say something calming but couldn't catch his eye
He didn't want contact -- he was trained to see movement
"Well don't shoot me, man, I'm a graceful slow dancer
I'm just a dream to you not real at all"
I wonder if I'll end up like Bernie in his dream
A displaced person in some foreign border town
Waiting for a train part hope part myth
While the station changes hands
Or just sitting at home growing tenser with the times
Or like that guy in "The Seventh Seal"
Watching the newly dead dance across the hills
Or wearing this leather jacket shivering with a friend
While the eye of God blazes at us like the sun...
I bought this album the other day at a charity thrift store in my home town of Scarborough Ontario, and dusted off a turntable to hook it up to hear this song with the vinyl crackle and the majesty of Hugh Marsh's violin part