SONGS:
-- Waiting For The Moon --
12 September 1981. Lauzarote.


Found on:

The Trouble With Normal (1983) & (2002)
Lyrics:

Body lines fluid in static heat
Thoughts buzzing like flies around meat
Land here -- land there --
Quick circles in the air
I'm riding smooth but just a little slow
Waiting for the moon to show

Leather-faced old men by the cafe wall
Kids in the surf splashing with a soccer ball
I gaze through curved lens
Trying to identify the sky's end
Little spots on the horizon into gunboats grow
Waiting for the moon to show

Might be a party -- might be a war
When those faceless sailors come ashore
Speculation is a waste of time
You want to go have a glass of wine?
Whatever's coming, there's no place else to go
Waiting for the moon to show



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

  • 24 November 1997 - [He first said the song was written in the Canary Islands], then he mentioned old men with big knives drinking strange brews under palm trees, being mistaken for a German ("the Canaries are to Germans what Miami is to Quebecois") and the fascinating topography. As far as the song goes, it turns out that when he was there (Trouble with Normal era, eh?) Morocco and Spain (the Canaries are Spanish) were involved in a heated fishing dispute. One day he was hanging out in a sleepy port town and these boats appear on the horizon. You know the song. They were real naval vessels and for a while there he figured anything might happen." - from a post to the Humans list, 24 November 1997 by David in Michigan, reporting Bruce's words before performing the song in concert.


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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.