ALBUMS:
-- Bruce Cockburn (1970) --

Track Listing:
Click song titles to see lyrics, other albums the song appears on, and known comments by Bruce Cockburn on the song. Track lengths are not guaranteed as they occasionally change with format (i.e. CD/vinyl) and release version.

[1] Going to the Country (3:15)
[2] Thoughts on a Rainy Afternoon (3:48)
[3] Together Alone (2:50)
[4] The Bicycle Trip (4:11)
[5] The Thirteenth Mountain (4:48)
[6] Musical Friends (2:58)
[7] Change Your Mind (2:26)
[8] Man of a Thousand Faces (5:42)
[9] Spring Song (5:02)
[10] Keep it Open (1:51)

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Album Info:

Production notes:
Released April 1970. All songs written by Bruce Cockburn
Produced by Eugene Martynec for True North Productions

Bruce Cockburn: 6 and 12 string guitar, piano, bass drum
Michael Ferry: Tongue
Dennis Pendrith: Bass
Production and Electronics: Eugene Martynec
Engineer: Bill Seddon
Cover Design and Illustration: Meek-Cairo-Brown
Photography: Tim Saunders

Special thanks to Toronto Folklore Centre

Recorded at Eastern Sound, Toronto, Canada-December 1969

Editor's Note:This album was re-released in 2020 as part of the 50th Anniversay Box Set, re-mastered by Bruce's long-time producer Colin Linden, and is pressed on coloured vinyl.

2022: This album is being re-leased and issued individually on 180 Gram Black Vinyl.


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

  • Circa 1986

    "A time of reaction- trying to leave behind the years of bad rock bands, trying to clear out psychedelic decadence that was itself a reaction to institutional decadence. Looking for purity in nature. Looking for connections behind things..."
    -- from the World Of Wonders Tour Program, circa 1986. Submitted by Rob Caldwell.


  • 3 April 1992

    True North made a deal with CBS, Inc., to distribute [the album] "Bruce Cockburn". "That was supposed to be for the world, initially," Cockburn said, "but Canada was the only place where it worked." Still, the album came out in the U.S., albeit not until 1971. "Yeah, sort of came out," Cockburn said. "It came out, but the communications were rather bad between us and here, and that album was advertised as 'Bruce Cockburn's debut album, True North' The record company didn't even realize that True North was the name of another record company! It was a complete fiasco. Plus, they put it out on Epic, which at the time was nothing but R&B and me, which was a joke. I don't have any bad feelings about it, it was just one of those weird things that happened, and it meant absolutely nothing in the end because hardly anybody noticed the fact that the record was out. It's now kind of an historical oddity and nothing more."

    -- from "Bruce Cockburn: A Burning Light and All the Rest", by William Ruhlmann, Goldmine, 3 April 1992. Anonymous Submission


  • July-November 1995

    "I think [the influence of Eastern philosophies] were there [in the first three albums]. Actually, I think they are still are. Somebody referred to Buddhists as 'great technicians of the sacred' which I think is true as it goes. I wasn't a Christian yet when I made those records although I was heading (being dragged by the nose might be better) that way. And I have been exposed to various aspects of Buddhist teaching, first through the Beat writers, then Merton, Chogyam Trungpa, the Sutras themselves, etc."

    -- from answers by Bruce Cockburn to questions asked by the Humans discussion list. July-November 1995. Submitted by Bruce Edwards.


  • 6 October 1995

    "The second half of the '60s really was a kind of learning period, in terms of writing, for me. I did a lot of writing for a lot of different kinds of bands that I was in and out of during those five years and... that left me with a little body of songs that I liked better when I played alone, so I ended up going out solo and very soon... made my first album."

    -- from "Singer Follows 'Morality' to Success" by Salvatore Caputo, The Arizona Republic, 6 October 1995. Submitted by Nigel Parry.


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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.