ALBUMS:
-- Stealing Fire (1984) & (2003) --

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. * Denotes bonus tracks on the remastered CD version released by Rounder Records in 2003.

(U.K. Spindrift Records issue of Stealing Fire from 1984)
[1] Lovers in a Dangerous Time (4:06)
[2] Maybe the Poet (4:53)
[3] Sahara Gold (4:31)
[4] Making Contact (3:46)
[5] Peggy's Kitchen Wall (3:42)
[6] To Raise the Morning Star (5:52)
[7] Nicaragua (4:47)
[8] If I Had a Rocket Launcher (4:59)
[9] Dust and Diesel (5:24)
[10] Yanqui Go Home *
[11] Call It the Sundance *

You can order the 'Stealing Fire' (1984) album or the new remastered version of 'Stealing Fire' (2003) from Amazon.com now.
Check out other albums in the Project's Online Store

Update: This album was re-released on vinyl, 2 November 2010. True North Records

Album Info: (Source: vinyl album notes)

the musicians are:
bruce cockburn - guitar and voice
jon goldsmith - keyboards
fergus marsh - bass and stick
miche pouliot - drums
chi sharpe - percussion

words and music by bruce cockburn
except on "maybe the poet" words by bruce cockburn,
music by bruce cockburn, kerry crawford, jon goldsmith, and fergus marsh, and "to raise the morning star", words by bruce cockburn, music by bruce cockburn and fergus marsh

published by golden mountain music corp. (BMI)
© 1984 golden mountain music corp.

recorded at manta sound, toronto, march-april 1984
engineer: john naslen
assisted by: ron searles
mastering by: mike reese, mastering lab, los angeles
produced by: jon goldsmith and kerry crawford
   for true north productions
art direction: bart schoales
cover painting: blair drawson
photography: george whiteside
direction:
the finkelstein management company limited.
98 queens street east, suite 201,
toronto, ontario, m5c 1s6, (416) 364-6040


Reviews

  • Review by Wilfred Langmaid.


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

  • Unknown date

    "[For a few albums you became quite political in focus, why has that changed recently?] I think it's a result of not traveling but also out of a desire to not keep repeating myself. I don't think it's necessary to keep on saying the same things even though they still may be true. I can stay involved in certain issues without them coming out in songs. The same process I just described went into writing the political songs as well. If I'm not working with those sort of things for a period of time, or if I'm still working but the novelty's worn off(laughs), then I don't produce those types of songs anymore. It requires a fair amount of emotional justice to get those type of songs going. Let me add to that, the fact, though I didn't think of it at the time, Trouble With Normal, Stealing Fire, and World Of Wonders seemed to be a sort of trilogy. After doing those it seemed like I have said enough about the North-South things. At least until a new experience gives me something to add to it."

    - from "Bruce Cockburn: The Soul of a Man", by Michael Case, Umbrella magazine, date unknown. Submitted by Nigel Parry.


  • 23 May 1985

    "I'd just say I'm older," says the forty-year-old Cockburn. "I don't see this as a big departure. On my last two albums there's the same sense of a world in imminent danger. I just didn't get very specific about it, because it wasn't until I went to Central America that I really felt that political action could be worth the effort."

    - from "Bruce Cockburn Launches a Hit: Fired by Christian pacifism, the Canadian singer targets new, worldwide success", by Steve Pond, Rolling Stone magazine, 23 May 1985. Anonymous Submission.


  • 18 March 1988

    "Some of them got a little nervous when I started talking about politics," he adds, "because you're not supposed to do that if you're a certain type of Christian -- especially if you're a songwriter. I got a lot of letters from people, especially after the album 'Stealing Fire,' and there were a lot of people in the Christian scene who found 'If I had a Rocket Launcher' very difficult. Because they weren't used to thinking about those things. "There were a lot of Christians who did understand it, the more liberal, for want of a better word, turn of mind," he points out. Nonetheless, "A lot of people wrote letters urging me, exhorting me, not to lose the way. At no point was I threatened with excommunication, but there was definitely a kind of standing back and going, 'What is this?' on the part of a lot of people."

    -- from "The Social Commentaries of Bruce Cockburn" by J.D. Considine, Sun Pop Music Critic, Baltimore Sun, 18 March 1988. Submitted by Nigel Parry.


  • 10 April 1989

    "1984, when the 'Stealing Fire' album came out, was the beginning of anything happening in the United States for me. 'If I Had a Rocket Launcher' got a lot of radio play. It was the last song I would have thought would get attention. All of a sudden we could do a tour around the U.S. and not lose money. It has been growing slowly but steadily ever since."

    -- from "Cockburn sings with a conscience", by Mary Campbell, 10 April 1989, Marin Independent Journal (Associated Press credit). Submitted by Bobbi Wisby.


  • Spring 1993

    James Jensen: The album "Stealing Fire" saw acoustic guitar creep back into prominence on several tracks what brought that about?

    BC: Some of those pieces I wrote on acoustic guitar, if I happen to be holding an electric guitar in my hand when I get an idea it'll probably end up on the record. A lot of the songs on my current album (tentatively titled "Dart to the Heart") were written in hotel rooms and dressing rooms on the last tour so they're written on acoustic guitar because that's what I had at the time. When I'm at home and I have my stuff all set-up and plugged in I might write more on the electric. A lot of "Big Circumstance" was written traveling and that's why the acoustic had a bigger role again on that record.
    -- from an Interview by James Jensen at Sunset Sound, Los Angeles, circa Spring 1993.


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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.