Bruce Cockburn - Use Me While You Can Lyrics






There's a black and white crow
On the back of a two-toned sheep
In a field of broken yellow stalks
Below looming cliffs

High above the plains
Little grey houses blend
With giant jagged boulders
And pale weathered stumps

Life in the ghost of the bush

Wind whips the acacias and strange forked palms
That cluster around the water hole

Suddenly, out of the blowing sand
A milk-white camel appears

Turbaned rider, blue robe billowing
Bounces with the shambling trot
Wears a sword and a rifle on his back
And hanging from his neck, a transistor radio...

You blink and like ghosts, they're gone

Under the wan disc of sand-masked sun
A woman grins, spits expertly
Into the path of a struggling black beetle
Six feet away
Hoists her water bucket onto her head
And strides off up the trail...

Sun a steel ball glowing
Behind endless blowing sand
Sun a steel ball glowing
Dust of fallen empires slowly flowing through my hands
Use me while you can

Pearl held in black fingers
Is the moon behind dry trees
Pearl held in black fingers
Bird inside the rib cage is beating to be free
Use me while you can

I've had breakfast in New Orleans
Dinner in Timbuktu
I've lived as a stranger in my own house, too
Dark hand waves in lamplight
Cowrie shell patterns change
And nothing will be the same again

Bullet in a sandstorm
Looking for a place to land
Bullet in a sandstorm
Full heart beats an empty one
In the deck they dealt to man
Use me while you can





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Bruce Cockburn Use Me While You Can Comments
  1. T.... S....

    Bullet in a sand storm, looking for a place to land - so freakin' heavy...

  2. E.... G....

    Bruce Cockburn: musical poet, genius, humanitarian, human

  3. M.... T....

    This is the only song I've ever heard that helps me imagine the way a rider might feel on a swaying camel, in blowing sand...

  4. m.... b....

    J'aime depuis 40 ans Bruce et ses merveilleuses chansons dont je ne me lasse jamais...Mais ce morceau!!! Dans mon top 5 de ce Monsieur sans lequel ma vie ne serait pas si épanouie. Merci d'exister et de me transcender. I'm a burning man...

  5. B.... C....

    Use me! But don't take my ass for granted!!!!Because I will become a memory!!!! That's just what I do!

  6. J.... N....

    "...the dust of fallen empires falling slowly through my hands...use me while you can"... the words of no man have ever carried the weight of the poetry flows from Bruce Cockburn. Every song he writes is sublime...

  7. c.... t....

    good shit, seriously

  8. m.... ....

    Here comes another round of tears....

  9. b.... c....

    amazing guitar work and such deep words.i am so pleased that i have most of his music.he just sends me off to another place

  10. C.... T....

    how I miss imagery in today's "music"....

    C.... T....

    A friend and i well speaking of this lately. Yes, seems zero on story any more. Follow the money.

  11. M.... ....

    Those words... oh those words... every one a message in itself. I'm in awe of this amazing talent.

  12. m.... ....

    This is near the top of the list of the fifty or so songs that are  my 10 favorite Cockburn songs.

  13. M.... K....

    Breakfast In New Orleans Dinner In Timbuktu
    in great company.

  14. M.... B....

    I'm a new fan. Hope to catch him live manana in SF.

    M.... B....

    Ypu will not regret it hes so good live

  15. m.... ....

    'bird inside the ribcage... is beating to be free...use me while you can."  awesome

  16. E.... B....

    love him and the music which comes out through him ! may he be blessed !!!

  17. T.... R....

    I've been a stranger in my own house too.

  18. M.... T....

    when I listen to this I can imagine the swaying movement of a camel...have no idea whether the basic rhythm of this piece actually resembles that of a camel, but it seems like it.

  19. D.... R....

    Awesome!

  20. S.... S....

    What a great sound

  21. w.... ....

    great song

  22. a.... ....

    You should get on the BC-Live yahoo group. Thats how I got this and bunches of other Bruce live recordings, both video and audio.

  23. S.... T....

    they don't. :(

    i found it on the pirate bay. (which made me happy; i've been kicking myself for not recording it when it first aired. this special is what really got me into bruce's music.)

  24. A.... ....

    God, this is amazing--one of the best BC videos posted on this site. I have been following his career since the late 70s and I never get tired of him. Wish I knew more of the background of this video: when and where filmed, etc.

  25. a.... ....

    this was a CBC broadcast called Moment of Truth, I think they sell the DVD or VHS on their website.

  26. M.... S....

    I love this tune, the lyrics are really haunting, like you were there.

  27. s.... ....

    Wow, that is brilliant! Where does the performance come from? I may be prepared to sell one of my younger children to lay my hands on a copy...