SONGS:
-- Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life --
(cover version)

Found on:

Bruce Cockburn Live (1990) & (2002)
Lyrics:

Some things in life are bad, they can really make you mad
Other things can make you swear and curse
When you're chewing on life's gristle, don't grumble -- give a whistle
And this'll help things turn out for the best, and...

Always look on the bright side of life
Always look on the bright side of life

If life seems jolly rotten, there's something you've forgotten
And that's to laugh and smile and dance and sing
When you're feeling in the dumps, don't be silly chumps
Just purse your lips and whistle, that's the thing, and...

Always look on the bright side of life
Always look on the bright side of life

Life is quite absurd, and death's the final word
We must always face the curtain with a bow
Forget about your sin, give the audience a grin
Enjoy it -- it's your last chance anyhow, so...

Always look on the bright side of death
Just before you draw your terminal breath

Life's a piece of shit, when you look at it
Life's a laugh and death's a joke it's true
You can see it's all a show, keep 'em laughing as you go
Just remember that the last laugh is on you, and...

Always look on the bright side of life
Always look on the bright side of life...


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

  • Editor's Note: Original song from the Monty Python film "Life of Brian".

  • 1990: "It seemed like a good time to do a silly song. I love that song, and I love the movie it comes from, 'The Life Of Brian', and actually all the Monty Python movies have great songs in them, and I don't know, maybe this is the start of something. I might have to learn some other one for the next tour, I don't know. It was so much fun doing that, being able to pull that song out and people would whistle along with the whistling parts as you can hear on the record actually. It was great. I wish I could write a song like that. I guess if I'd written a song like that I wouldn't have probably got around to doing the Monty Python one but, in the meantime that one was there and it was great fun. I mean every time I sing it I visualize the scene in the movie in which it occours, which is the crucifixion scene at the end of the movie where Brian and all these other revolutionary types are up on crosses and dying in the sun, and one of the other characters comes up, 'Man, you know what they say' and then he goes into the song 'Always Look On The Bright Side Of Life'." - From: Bruce Cockburn Live Plus Radio Interview & Segments CD, 1990. Submitted by: Mark Barnes.

  • Spring 1990: "I've always liked that song and their [the Monty Python team's] stuff in general, and it just seemed like a good thing to do. It was fun and it made sense from the point of view of some people who think that here's this guy that only did this heavy, political stuff, and was only gonna get up and sing about people's pain." - From: "Bruce Cockburn: 20 Years of Dancing in the Dragon's Jaws" by Mark T. Davis in the Spring 1990 issue of Dirty Linen (#28). 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.