“Lovers In a Dangerous Time” by Bruce Cockburn

“Lovers In a Dangerous Time” by Bruce Cockburn was released in 1984 on his Album Stealing Fire. The Song was a hit for Cockburn, peaking at #25 on the Canadian charts. (from Wikipedia)

“Lovers In a Dangerous Time” by Bruce Cockburn
from the Album, Stealing Fire (1984)

I feel like it was the Barenaked Ladies’ Cover that I heard first. That said, when I heard their Cover I seemed to know the Lyrics already, which has me suspecting that Cockburn’s 1984 Canadian hit had hit my ears somewhere before.

“Loves In a Dangerous Time” by Barenaked Ladies

I was reminded again of the Song when I watched the Movie of the same name (pictured above, released in 2009). I really related to the story, and the Song became part of the experience to me. I re-discovered the Song and connected so strongly with it that its become part of my Favorite Songs Ever arsenal.

Bruce Cockburn has said that the Song was inspired by seeing teenagers expressing romantic love in a schoolyard. In the Song, he contrasts the hopefulness and joy of new love with the despair of a wider Cold War world where notions of the future often carried a sense of foreboding and doom.

Lovers In a Dangerous Time Trailer

However, especially in light of Cockburn’s next single “If I Had a Rocket Launcher”, the song has also been interpreted by listeners and critics as referring to the same Guatemalan refugee crisis that inspired the later song, or to the then-emerging HIV/AIDS crisis. Cockburn stated in later interviews that he was pleased by both of these alternate interpretations. (from Wikipedia)

“If I Had a Rocket Launcher” by Bruce Cockburn

In the Song “God Part II” by U2, “Lovers In a Dangerous Time” is referenced with the Lyrics “Heard a singer on the radio late last night. He says he’s gonna kick the darkness ’til it bleeds daylight”.

“God, Part II” by U2

This is in reference to the following Lyric:

“Nothing worth having comes without some kind of fight. 
Got to kick at the darkness ’til it bleeds daylight.”