SONGS:
-- Going Down The Road --
(soundtrack) released 1970

Lyrics:

In the isle of Cape Breton my father did stay
And his father's father before
Fishing the banks and digging for coal
From the mines that don't give no more ore

And I'm goin' down the road, boys
Seeking what I'm owed, boys
And I know it must get better
If far enough I go

I remember the fishing boats returning so gay
Their nets with the silver cod blessed
But they couldn't compete with the company fleets
Now it's welfare, relief, or go west

So I'm goin' down the road, boys
Seeking what I'm owed, boys
And I know it must get better
If far enough I go

I came to the city with the sun in my eyes
My mouth full of laughter and dreams
But all that I found was concrete and dust
And hard times sold in vending machines

So I'm goin' down the road, boys
Seeking what I'm owed, boys
And I know it must get better
If far enough I go

'Cause I'm goin' down the road, boys
Seeking what I'm owed, boys
And I know it must get better
If far enough I go


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

  • January, 1971: "A polite voice from out of the slight gloom of the War Memorial Auditorium in Guelph, Ontario, about tenth row centre, asks for a request. "Sing something from your movie," the voice calls, belonging, you can make it out, to a boy in his late teens. "From Goin' Down The Road, if you would." Its been the same request for the last six months, and Cockburn, alone on a stool in the spotlight, looks patient. "I'm sorry," he says into his microphone in a soft and final voice. "I don't sing those songs. When I wrote them, I wrote them to express the point of view of the people in the movie. It isn't my point of view. It isn't me. So, you know, I can't sing them here." - from "From Bruce Cockburn to Youth - A Very Private Message" by Jack Batten, Macleans, January, 1971. Submitted by Rob Caldwell.


  • 15 January 2002 -

    Bruce, I have always enjoyed watching the movie - "Goin' Down the Road". The movie works on so many levels and it still speaks volumes even today. Adding to the greatness of the movie - were your songs. Can you tell me if there ever was a soundtrack to the movie (doubt it) and if not, which album of yours would contain the songs from that movie?

    Bruce Cockburn: It was a subject of some controversy at the time. I'd never done a film score before and I was excited to do one because it was new but really I felt the songs I wrote for that were artificial. There were designed to be part of a film and so I elected not to record those songs whether on an album or on a soundtrack and that got me in all sorts of trouble with the director...there was a lot of bad feeling around it but that was my feeling at the time. I was probably more uptight about it than I needed to be but that's how I was in those days.
    -- from Canoe Online Chat with Bruce Cockburn, 15 January 2002. Submitted by Suzanne D. Myers.


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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.