Dancing in the Dragon's Jaws is the ninth studio album by Canadian singer-songwriter Bruce Cockburn. The album has eight songs written around the acoustic guitar and "particularly showcased Cockburn's sparkling guitar work". Up to that time Cockburn's records had been influenced by his Christianity; Third Way magazine wrote in 1987 that "in 1979 the simple Christian faith [Cockburn] had been celebrating was transformed with the release of his most popular ever album Dancing in the Dragon's Jaws, where, with the help of Charles Williams, his pre-Christian mysticism resurfaced after the baptism of faith as mature Christian mysticism. The poetry was astonishing, like no Christian musician had then, or would since, come even close to."
The single "Wondering Where the Lions Are" reached No. 21 in the United States, and spent 17 weeks on the Billboard chart. It was important in bringing Cockburn attention outside Canada, and would be his highest-charting single in the U.S.
The album cover is a painting by Canadian aboriginal artist Norval Morrisseau (1932–2007). In 1992 a remastered edition was released by Rounder Records with two extra tracks, "Dawn Music" and "Bye Bye Idi".
"If I Had a Rocket Launcher" as a political song has a special place in my heart. I never bothered to look up other music by Bruce Cockburn. I never knew he is mainly making Christian music, not my favorite genre. This album has a more general spiritual theme. It just has the same issues most Christian music has: it’s all too safe, friendly and lacks conviction and intent. I’m a big fan of church of soulful gospel or religious rasta songs like Bon Marley made. This is just soft, MoR and uninspiring folky stuff and that’s too bad.
I love me some Bruce Cockburn - I listened to 1984’s Stealing Fire kazillions of times over the years. Definitely can see why someone suggested this for the list…
Not half bad this. Didn't know what to expect. The sparkly guitars and finger style picking are fun. Some good bass to give it some depth. Vocals are good enough for me. "After The Rain" is a good one. Strangely my least favourite is the most played, "Wondering Where The Lions Are". Overall I enjoyed it.
This album is chill and reasonably complex, without being overwhelming. Probably not great for a dedicated listen, but works really well in the background with some friends.
Decent singer-songwriter LP, the strong acoustic guitar up in the mix meant I enjoyed this one more than usual for albums of this fare. Strong songwriting and guitar lines made for a solid listen, I would appreciate all the singer-songwriter adds here if they were more like this.
This was a singer songwriter folk type that I have not heard before. Maybe not the best of his kind but his guitar ability is a bit more impressive than others in his genre. This album was pretty good and some of the lyrics were a bit cartoonish but that made the album float along nicely. I’d listen to him again but I’m not sure how often. 6.8/10
Det finns folk som har vaknat ur sin narkos när de hört det här för att sedan somna om igen för att musiken är så förbaskat tråkig. Inte dåligt men skittråkigt.
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