SONGS:
-- Anything Can Happen --
29 December 1980. Toronto, Canada.

Found on:

Big Circumstance (1988)
Lyrics:

You could have gone off the Bloor Street viaduct
I could have been run down in the street
You could have got botulism anytime
I could have gone overboard into the sea

Anything can happen
To put out the light,
Is it any wonder
I don't want to say goodnight?

I could have been hit by a falling pane of glass
You could have had shark teeth write "finit"
We could have been nailed by some vigilante type
In a case of mistaken identity -- obviously

Anything can happen
To put out the light
Is it any wonder
I don't want to say goodnight?

We could have been lynched and tarred and feathered
Been on a plane that crashed in flames
Could have done the neutron melt together
But here we are just the same!

You could have been daggered in the dead of night
You could have been gassed inside your car
I could have been walking in the open fields
And been drilled through the head by a shooting star

Anything can happen
To put out the light
Is it any wonder
I don't want to say goodnight?


Known comments by Bruce Cockburn about this song, by date:

  • 4 April 1999

    "[laughs] The Bloor Street Viaduct, yeah, that, that actually came - a friend of mine had contemplated jumping off the Bloor Street Viaduct and had decided not to, which is what triggered the song that is Anything Can Happen. And it was like, well, here we are, sitting here, you know, you could've done that thing and you didn't and I could have fallen under a truck or been drilled through the head by a meteorite you know, or, and, and that or didn't happen either, so let's celebrate that fact and, and make the most of it."

    - from "Songwriting (part 2)" workshop, Conference '98 Festival of Faith and Writing, Lab Theatre, Calvin College. 4 April 1998. Anonymous submission.


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    This page is part of The Cockburn Project, a unique website that exists to document the work of Canadian singer-songwriter and musician Bruce Cockburn. The Project archives self-commentary by Cockburn on his songs and music, and supplements this core part of the website with news, tour dates, and other current information.