Cockburn, Bruce - Hoop Dancer Lyrics






Tokyo jetlag evening walking
Out of my throat appears this chuckle
A true 20th Century sound
A little crazed and having no tonal centre

The echoes of this laugh fade for a long time
Snaking among those jumbled pedestrians
Following that struggling Cedric taxicab
Sliding over the seeming infinity of white light and neon

With no warning, mind's eye winks like a lifespan
And opens again on memory flash of prairie Indian
Dancers, they're on a stage, all jigging motion
And flare of bright feathers, surrounded by white faces
Floating on a sea of mind
Hoop dancer struts in front, drum and voices blend with endless rain

There's a time line
Something like vertical, like perpendicular
Cutting through figures shuffling on horizontal plane
Cutting through the survival pride of the dancers
Through the guilty, sentimental warmth of the crowd
Through to some essence common to us, to original man
To perhaps descendants numberless... or few

Where it intersects the space at hand
This shaman with the hoops stands
Aligned like living magnetic needle between deep past and looming future
Butterfly pierced on each drum beat, wing beat, static spark, storm front, energy circle delineated by leaping limbs

1st man last man dancing man man dancing
Hoops in hand trampled grass circle spreading
Voices flame above crazy coyote heartbeat drum

I see sunrise on the plains big river at dusk
Perpetual pillar of dust on prairie rim and always overhead
Those wings, circling, turning

He's the earth he's the egg he's the eagle always circling
Always turning, always comes back to the centre

Hoops whirling, now transparent feet touch down on anaconda
Streets and on the next leap dissolve slowly into the moving lights

Rainbow steps, jerking universe
Goodbye, man-in-time
And just beyond the clatter and cars the last long notes of wild voices ring
Like Roland's horn





Other Lyrics by Artist

Rand Lyrics

Last Posts

Cockburn, Bruce Hoop Dancer Comments
  1. S.... C....

    Lyrics or masterfully painted lyrical pictures?

  2. R.... V....

    My fave by Bruce

  3. R.... Z....

    this is what I want to do as a native Hoop dancing we have to be taught though

  4. m.... g....

    Ive loved this song for so long now & have now just seen a live version, here on you tube

  5. K.... ....

    amazing at so many levels simultaneously... a musical journey through consciousness.

  6. D.... P....

    Just another fantastic gift from Bruce, ever timeless songwriter, I find this one entirely apropro for Standing Rock, NO DAPL!

  7. R.... D....

    cool piece loved it since teen

  8. R.... J....

    I agree entirely @Elisabeth Thunderberry.

  9. E.... ....

    On THIS one??

  10. H.... A....

    Beautiful and inspiring!

  11. L.... B....

    Great guitar by Cockburn on this one.

  12. M.... T....

    Thanks, never heard it before. Lively images.Yes, sounds like Hugh Marsh. Sometimes when I think about how our civilization is heading for a collision with nature and reality, and we will lose much of our fancy inventions and wealth, I am reminded that we will still have song, dance, and community to sustain us.

  13. M.... T....

    Thanks, never heard it before. Lively images.Yes, sounds like Hugh Marsh.