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COMMENTS/FURTHER INFORMATION

Anonymous contribution:

Bruce Cockburn performed November 1, 2006 in Kelowna, BC with Gary Craig and Julie Wolf. At the conclusion of the instrumental Jerusalem Poker, someone from the audience asked what the song was. Bruce gave the title and
said it was named after a book.

Bruce: "I went there [Jerusalem] for a short time last spring, in Easter actually. It is truly the centre of the world and truly the nuttiest place on earth." [a little audience laughter]

"...You know if you wanna wallow in the dire predictions that are out there which are many and all sorts of things, and you're inclined to think 'Aw, that's not gonna happen!' just go to Jerusalem. [louder laughter] That will
convince you that everything dire that's ever been predicted is gonna happen. Soon! [laughter]

"[inaudible] ...and of course there are vestiges of much older things, vastly older things, but the city is divided, the Old City is divided into quarters. There's more than four. [louder laughter] There's the Christian quarter and the Armenian quarter, the Jewish quarter, and the Arab quarter, and the Muslim quarter... they don't call it the Arab quarter anymore. I think probably... [inaudible]. Standing in the Jewish quarter which is populated mostly by pretty Orthodox folks. Very beautiful place, very beautifully located and interesting... [inaudible] But there's this, next to
this Jewish quarter is this Temple Mount where Solomon's temple once stood. What's there now is the Dome of the Rock--the Al-Aqsa Mosque--and there's alot of agitation around that. The Wailing Wall is actually the foundation
within that structure, so all the Jews go up to the Wailing Wall, and over and above them is the mosque.

"And when we were walkin' down the street in the Jewish quarter, at one point there's a store window which featured scale models of Herod's temple which used to stand there--which is the temple the Romans destroyed in 70 A.D.--and they're these beautiful wooden models of the temple, and of course there's a strong strain of sentiment in certain parts of the Jewish community to rebuild that temple and they're just waiting for [inaudible]
...Christians--fundamentalists--the Falwells of the world--are itching for them to do that, and there's a biblical prophecy that says as soon as they do, it's the end of the world. [a little laughter from audience]. We're all
lookin' forward to that, right? [laughter]...So here we are looking in this store window you know, that says, you know, 'Get these now while they're still cheap.' [laughter] And then you go a little further down the street and there's a model of the temple they're going to build when the Al-Aqsa Mosque is not there anymore, you think, you know, these are people who are seriously entertaining the notion of destroying that mosque. That will be the Third World War right there. That's...if we don't have another provocation, that'll be the Archduke Ferdinand getting shot--Sarajevo--that, or whatever, but everybody's sort of cheerful about the idea [mild laughter] that it's gonna bring on God. I thought God was here all the time anyway but, I'm kinda rambling here as you [inaudible]... Jerusalem Poker, anyway, it's all a gamble, Jerusalem, and consequently [inaudible]...anywhere else too, because Jerusalem in some strange way is the center of the world."