At the time Bruce Cockburn released Sunwheel Dance in 1972,
I was playing music, part time with my brothers, Ken and Gord
in a good, folk-ish five man group called The Rainbow Band.
We played covers by Seals and Crofts, Dylan, Eric Andersen,
Mother Tucker's Yellow Duck, Joan Baez and other artists.
I had yet to become a full fledged, card carrying member
of the progressive rock army - even though I was nuts
about King Crimson, The Moody Blues and ELP.
For some reason, I'd yet to have my mind exploded by Yes
or Genesis. In fact, the first time I heard The Yes Album,
I told my friend, Richard Maddox, that I thought the LP
was "over-produced, overplayed and self indulgent...
especially, when compared with Sunwheel Dance".
I still remember saying that :-)
At that formative stage in my life, Bruce Cockburn was
easily the best acoustic guitar player I'd ever heard, and
I desperately wanted to learn how he did what he did.
With my trusty Yamaha 300 on my lap, and with
access to my brother Rod's Seabreeze record
player, I slowly and painstakingly began
the long process of copping Cockburn's
"My Lady and My Lord".
Within a week, I thought I'd aced the tune, which
I then began to play at folk festivals and drop-in
centres throughout the West Kootenays, along
with original tunes, like "Back Outside",
"Lucky To Be a Friend" and "Home".
I even featured "My Lady and My Lord" in my
half hour set in Spokane, during Expo '74!
Nowadays, I never play my old original songs,
but I STILL try to play MLaML, my fave
ever Bruce Cockburn song.
Here's the original, 1972 Cockburn recording of
"My Lady and My Lord", following a photo
of me during my Expo '74 showcase.
Mozz the Elder
www.vapormusic.com
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