3 December 2001
He introduced 'My Beat' as a new song about his new hometown, Montreal, and how it would appear on his new album of "secret hits" as record companies demand a few new songs as a measure of "future good faith". He spoke of it being written from a bicyclist-around-town point of view.
-- from comments made at the Landmine Benefit Concert in Detroit, Michigan. Submitted to the project by David Komjathy.
3 December 2001
Dave Einstein: Tell us about the new single "My Beat."
Bruce Cockburn: For the most part it’s pretty literal. I moved to Montreal last March and it’s about me riding around Montreal on my bike. On another level it’s about being in the moment, appreciating the here and now.
- from "Ready For "Anything" From Bruce Cockburn", Gavin, 11 December 2001.
2 March 2002 - Commenting on his recent (at the time of publication) move to Montreal from his long-time home in Toronto
"It's six hours closer to Vermont than Toronto is, and Vermont is where my
girlfriend lives. But I also needed a change. I wanted something different."
On biking around Montreal
"It's how I get around it is a little hairier here than it is in Toronto, but I've
ridden my bike in Manhattan and nothing can beat that."
"Everything is different in Montreal because of the French-English cultural division. In ways that are hard to pin down, it affects everything that happens here."
"It affects the way everyone looks. There's no place I've been where everyone looks like they do in Montreal. Also, the fact that the immigrant population, so much of it has come from former French colonies, which is different from anywhere else. In France, it's probably the same, but they don't have the English presence. That's one of the things that makes Montreal unique."
Commenting on conversing in French
"...it's not what I had hoped it would be by now. I can survive in French and I can read it reasonably well. I have a big collection of bandes dessin?es that I practice my French with."
"But I'd hoped by moving here that I'd be using it all the time and be able to go beyond the survival stage and be able to carry on an intelligent conversation. But so far that hasn't happened."
-- from "Cockburn fits right in: songsmith finds himself at home living in Plateau", Montreal Gazette, 2 March 2002, by Brendan Kelly.
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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.
