Song of the Week: Bruce Cockburn's "Rumours of Glory"

Great song. From his 1979 project Humans, listen to Bruce Cockburn's "Rumours of Glory." (Note to those of you reading my posts on Facebook or a Reader, you need to go to the weblog to use the player for this song.) I've been told this line is from Blase Pascal, who said that within all our failures as humans, we can see rumors of our former glory. We are made in the image of God but fallen image-bearers. Here are the song and lyrics:



Above the dark town
After the sun's gone down
Two vapour trails cross the sky
Catching the day's last slow goodbye
Black skyline looks rich as velvet
Something is shining
Like gold but better
Rumours of glory

Smiles mixed with curses
The crowd disperses
About whom no details are known
Each one alone yet not alone
Behind the pain/fear
Etched on the faces
Something is shining
Like gold but better
Rumours of glory

You see the extremes
Of what humans can be?
In that distance some tension's born
Energy surging like a storm
You plunge your hand in
And draw it back scorched
Beneath it's shining like
Gold but better
Rumours of glory