Rumours Of Glory: A Memoir - Softcover

Cockburn, Bruce

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1443420735 ISBN 13: 9781443420730

Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers, 2015

Synopsis

Award-winning songwriter and pioneering guitarist Bruce Cockburn has been shaped by politics, protest, romance and spiritual discovery. He has toured the globe, visiting far-flung places such as Guatemala, Mali, Mozambique, Afghanistan and Nepal, performing and speaking out on important issues, from native rights and land mines to the environment and Third World debt. His journeys have been reflected in his music and evolving styles: folk, jazz, blues, rock and world beat. Drawing from his experiences, he continues to create memorable songs about his ever-expanding universe of wonders.

As an artist with thirty-one albums, Cockburn has won numerous awards and the devotion of legions of fans across Canada and around the world. Yet the man himself has remained a mystery. In this memoir, Cockburn invites us into his private world and takes us on a lively cultural and musical tour through the late twentieth century, sharing his Christian convictions, his personal relationships and the social and political activism that has defined him and has both invigorated and incited his fans.

About this title

About the Author

Bruce Cockburn was born in 1945 in Ottawa, Ontario. He began his solo career with his self-titled album in 1970, and his extensive repertoire of musical styles and skillfully crafted lyrics have been covered by such diverse artists as Jerry Garcia, Chet Atkins, Judy Collins, Elbow, Barenaked Ladies, Jimmy Buffett, and k.d. lang. Cockburn has been inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame and the Order of Canada, and he has been awarded thirteen Juno Awards as well as the Allan Slaight Humanitarian Spirit Award. A devoted and deeply respected activist, he has worked with organizations such as Oxfam, Amnesty International, Doctors Without Borders, Friends of the Earth, and USC Canada. He lives in San Francisco.

Greg King is a writer living in Northern California. His writing has earned four commendations, including two Lincoln Steffens Investigative Journalism Awards. He is also an accomplished photographer, with images appearing in Newsweek, Smithsonian, Rolling Stone and several other publications.

Review

“This is the story of the development of one of the most astute and compelling songwriters in the English language. Rumours of Glory is a highly personal account, by one whose quest for expression engages the most important social questions of our time.” (Jackson Browne)

Cockburn gives us a finely-grained account of the ground from which he harvested some of the finest songs of his generation. (Lewis Hyde, author of The Gift)

“Cockburn’s life story is the passage of a sonic rebel whose weapon is music. In this beautifully written account we see and hear what it means to open yourself to beauty and pain in every direction. This is a fitting soundtrack to an engaged life lived with purpose.” (Bill Ayers, activist, educator, and author of Fugitive Days and Public Enemy: Confessions of an American Dissident)

“This unusually absorbing book will enthrall Cockburn fans and anyone interested in the life of a serious artist committed to his music and progressive causes.” (Kirkus Reviews (starred review))

“Articulate, thoughtful, sweeping.... The virtues of Cockburn’s memoir are many. A great artist explains, more fully than he has in the 40-year chronicle of his lyrics, the tides and swirls of his fascinating life.” (Christian Century)

“While it has its share of rock ‘n’ roll stories (some of which are pretty cool), the book is much more about the author’s music, his faith, his political activism....he writes movingly about his religious faith, and the way it changed over the years.” (Booklist)

“If the history of mankind were a song, Bruce Cockburn might have written it....He is no longer holding back: ‘Rumours’ exposes the folds in his relationships with women, the divine, various causes, music -- and marvelously unpacks his songs like origami laid flat.” (San Jose Mercury News)

“Bruce Cockburn’s new memoir is beautifully and thoughtfully written; no surprise, considering that the Canadian musician is one of best lyricists on the planet...Cockburn’s songs stand the test of time. So will this memoir.” (Lincoln Journal Star)

“Cockburn’s Rumours of Glory is not your standard rock and roll memoir.... candid, unbreezy, opinionated...These are the accumulations of an intricate and self-aware man.” (Globe and Mail, Canada's National newspaper (Toronto))

“Beyond belief systems (or lack thereof), the Rumours of Glory book and box set offer a call to life, embracing the mysteries of existence and the search for love and beauty, wherever one finds it.” (Rolling Stone)

About this edition

• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Publication date: 2015
• ISBN 10: 1443420735
• ISBN 13: 9781443420730
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 544