Cockburn, Bruce - Lovers In A Dangerous Time Lyrics

I was lucky to see Bruce at Toronto - Massey Hall back in the day. Excellent concert for certain!

I was driving in Buffalo, NY, and tuned into some Canadian station and heard this. I immediately had to write the lyrics down so I could Google it later (I don't have a smartphone, and refuse to get one) and found this. I swear, of all the Canadian acts to be sent over the border, American record execs chose to show us Bieber, Drake and The Weeknd but didn't give us The Tragically Hip and Bruce Cockburn?!

Yesterday I found an old Quiex Il vinyl copy of Stealing Fire at my local record shop. Of course I bought it. It pays to dig through those mystery bins.

Not a Canadian, but enjoyed this song when it played on a shuffle playlist on Spotify.

Oh my god I’m so dumb I never realized BNL’s version was a cover

Bruce was right about the times ahead.

Loved the Barenaked Ladies version of this. Never realised it was a cover!

God bless all of y'all watchin this

Used to blast this on CD in my new at the time 1994 Jaguar XJS V-12 COUPE on I-90 in Chicago. Great time. Going about 150 mph.

A simply amazing album and his best work. He didn't like it, but was great. The production is amazing.

Yet another artist that hates his work that made his money. But a simply amazing album.

How this did not become a big hit in America is something I'll never be able to either comprehend or come to grips with.

I realise the song is about lovers in a time like war or tyrannical rule, but for me, my lover and my husband found me in a dangerous time. A few weeks before I decided to put my suicide plan into action, he found me in writing forum 20 years ago....that first stanza Bruce sings:



"Don't the hours grow shorter as the days go by (yes, every second seemed shorter than the last until I had everything I needed to leave this mortal coil.)
We never get to stop and open our eyes (I felt blinded years before; I didn't think I could "see" anything)
One minute you're waiting for the sky to fall (Yes, as I would call the sky to fall onto the sodden earth where my remains rested)
The next you're dazzled by the beauty of it all (I was once again filled with wonder and hope and amazement of life when my husband (who was and still is terribly shy) said those beautiful words "Serena, I love you.")


Suicide can be just as dangerous as anything else in your life....I just feel so honoured and Goddess Blessed he called out to me when he did...otherwise, a week later, I wouldn't have been able to hear him.


Mr Cockburn, you are a poet for the ages....thank you for all the beauty you put into this world.

His later acoustic versions blow the socks of this MTV, 80s dated video and music production.

It's a beautiful song when you strip it down. Interesting chorus - it's not often that a catchy chorus that breaks through into the charts is lower in pitch than the verses. Sneaky :-)

I love his version. And I love what BNL did with it, they slowed it down a bit. Both versions are excellent.

Hosers in a dangerous time....

A true artist

why does Bruce look like Rick moranis? lol

80 s decade was incredible..after tht life ended really....

I com0letely agree

Absolutely beautiful song

Dangerous times indeed

Come to Sanderson Center in Brantford Ontario Canada 🍁 plzzzzzz

Although I'm a big Bruce Cockburn fan, I must say I prefer the Barenaked Ladies' version

I still thank Rock 106 in Peoria and WXRT in Chicago for playing this gem a bunch throughout the 80s and 90s.

True Canadiana...
Bruce Cockburn is an icon.

I can't believe Cockburn allowed the Barenaked Ladies to cover this.
They ruined his artistry and the exceptional of this song.
My goodness! Something should not be messed with.
Please, do not allow that to happen again. Thank you.

Just great stuff Bruce ... way to write a relevant song forever

But those parachute pants bud ... lol

This video...oh boy. It looks like it was directed by Johnny LaRue with some serious SCTV production values, but I ain't gonna hold it against Bruce!
😉

Buen tema me gusta 1984 Saludos desde Perú

Timeless song. Bruce Cockburn........you are a poet and.........a great singer/songwriter.

I've listened to this song 4 times in the past hour

Damn. Why didn't this chart in the US? Bryan Adams did.

Everlasting Song 🌼🌼🌼

I do prefer the BNL cover. SP’s consonants make thé song: ...like laaaace. Lay-ce.

Anus peludo

I think this song is from 1983.

I DGAF if BNL's have more LIKES. This is a song by BRUCE COCKBURN, and it is WAAAAAAAAAY better than the BNL's could ever try tor reproduce....never mind the era

Forget the cowbell, more fog machine!

🤣🤣🤣🤣

I have been looking for something good to come out of Canada and after hearing this guy I’m still looking. He sucks like a Hoover.

We all have different tastes I guess.
This song was good enough to make my "Canada Rocks Great Canadian Music" playlist.  Maybe you'll find something there that you'll like better.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLSefRIgF2KC_bwvdJfsxKoGI3A-DA5eYr

c o c k b u r n. Loooooooooool

barenaked ladies cover is honestly better

Not even close

Who's still listening to this classic in 2019?

@Jean-Christophe Mercier thank you

I actually have the album.

Loving it . .....🧠.......classic. 🐙

I listen to since 1985 also Bruce Cockburn song If I had a rocket launcher to because was song used on The Beachcombers Tv show many years to ! Plus my first girlfriend Rebecca loved both songs too!

@Marcus Haupt Home slice lol

When your lovers in a.dangerous time.you never get to stop and open your.eyes good poetry and.words in song

Wait who did this first? Him or BNL?

It's Bruce's song....

Ottawa 613!

there's no love or danger just an indecisive little girl

Lovers in incestuous times

Haha his last name is Cockburn

Back when artists knew how to write music.

His greatest song ever, hands down.

another great song from a great decade

I love this! I only wish I could of been alive when music like was coming out, such amazing and deep lyrics.

Canadian content!!

He's great live...saw him in Albany NY at the Egg.

Beautiful...masterful...

Spirits open to the thrust of grace.... that's been my mantra for going on 3 plus decades.

I had no idea Rick Moranis was a singer!

How I miss interpretive dance with freaky makeup and costumes. When will Kate Bush open a school??????

I love this song and I love Barenaked Ladies cover as well. <3

I just turned sixty...Oh, how I miss the eighties..Great,great music. The girls and women looked like models with their hair and makeup..We all had skinny tires and looked very nice when we hit the clubs and bars...You could smoke inside, do blow in the bathroom, get blown in the parking lot....It's funny how much crazy shit we did and no one ever forced themselves on a woman, pushed them, nothing...We were all jacked up and having fun....Now it's hideous tattoos, and people look like slobs..We had the best of times...60's,70's,80's..the best music and the best times...

These are really dangerous times for lovers... and for humanity. What a great and far-reaching song.

I've read some things but what's this song really about?

A true masterpiece.

A poet.

love this song!!

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THAAAAAANKS, I've been looking for this song for almost 30 years, since i was just a teeneger

Great 80 music. Artists todsy dont compare.

Love this arena rock song!

hummm sounds like Metro Station - Shake It

Love This.

What Number did this hit on the charts?

#25 in Canada and #56 in the US

Hello, loser extraordinaire here. My favourite song is this one by Barenaked Ladies. Had NO CLUE it was a cover.

imho , the rare instrument called the Chapman Stick does much for the music of this album stealing fire . It is also just called the Stick . It is a stringed instrument where both hands finger 8 to 10 strings with no need to pick or pluck them. its like a one man band instrument. Fergus Marsh – bass and stick . click on link for chapman stick : https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=chapman+stick

One of my favorite albums, artists. Cockburn has such a big heart . I especially like the song Nicaragua which gives us the truth about the bloody US "deep state" backed contras .

I don't know why but Canadian pop music from the 1980s was quite likable -. Maybe for a whole generation of kids who watched "Videohits" after school or "Good Rockin' Tonite" on the CBC had something to do with it, but we were exposed to all this music from such a young age and it kind of stays with you for the rest of your life. I hadn't heard this song in eons but the chorus suddenly popped into my head today and here I am :-)

Gowan
Corey Heart
Kim Mitchell
Chilliwack
Lots more

This is a very good example that canadian music is very very underrated out of the country. Can somebody please tell me why??? I am from the Czech republic and If I haven't lived in Canada for some time and looked to this music I had no chance to get to it.

2 words. Timeless classic.

I KNEW BNL COULDN'T WRITE A SONG THAT GOOD!

Hey, it's Rick Moranis on rhythm guitar and vocals.

The real hero in this video is the dude shaking the giant pot full of rice for almost 5 minutes straight.

Takes genius 2 hear genius.

I know it's already been mentioned plenty in the comments but I don't know that i know many better poetic analogies than "You've got to kick at the darkness till it bleeds daylight". This is all life is probably. This is why it's so powerful and why everybody picks up on it, i don't know anyone that cannot relate and doesn't feel the sort of hopeful despair behind that line. It should be a proverb by now. It's a life motto to me. Sometimes you can't even kick anymore you're so tired but you've got to hold together. You've got to wait it out. And kick at it again when you have the strength again.

Please send help. I am stuck in the 80's and cant get out.

Jared D Me too.. Omg!! 😁

Same and I wasn't even born then!

How'd you get there? Next time go with a friend
That's the safest way to go.

It's ok but I'm stuck in the 50's and it's GREAT!! Come on back!!

Actually, I'd love to be stuck there. Great variety of music and not as much hate going around.

This is alot better then the Barenaked Ladies version

Don't the hours grow shorter as the days go by
You never get to stop and open your eyes
One day you're waiting for the sky to fall
The next you're dazzled by the beauty of it all

When you're lovers in a dangerous time
Lovers in a dangerous time

These fragile bodies of touch and taste
This vibrant skin, this hair like lace
Spirits open to the thrust of grace
Never a breath you can afford to waste

When you're lovers in a dangerous time
Lovers in a dangerous time

When you're lovers in a dangerous time
Lovers in a dangerous time

When you're lovers in a dangerous time
Sometimes you're made to feel as if your love's a crime
But nothing worth having comes without some kind of fight
Got to kick at the darkness 'til it bleeds daylight

When you're lovers in a dangerous time
When you're lovers in a dangerous time
When you're lovers in a dangerous time
Lovers in a dangerous time
Lovers in a dangerous time
Lovers in a dangerous time
Lovers in a dangerous time

Songwriters: Bruce Cockburn

I just heard this on the Radio. I live in Blaine Washington near the Canadian Border and the Radio Stations always play a lot Canadian Artists. So I get to hear some great music.

Jack FM?

I love Blaine! It's a beautiful little town.

No way.. he may of wrote it but BNL i gotta say did it better

as 80's a sound you will ever hear. loved it then and still do.

More appropriate than ever ! 2018

This song is mesmerizing. I heard it for the first time today and wondered why it had never been in my life before.

Lovers in a Dangerous Time = The friendlier, cheerful cousin of "Danger Zone" by Kenny Loggins (rock n' roll combat music from "Top Gun")

when cancon was good??

Only few people can write lyrics like this. Timeless

Peaches

It must be a real cockburn to have a lover in a dangerous time.

Listen to the BNL version of this song for years and only found out that their version was a cover of this song a week ago, really love the original version, ie this version, Become a new fan of Bruce Cockburn, like Stealing fire album

Damn rite its original thou but still like ladies2

Should have millions of views.

This man was/ is just The Coolest Cat.