Bruce Cockburn sighting #2: Once upon a time in the late 80's, after seeing Bruce a couple of times at the greatly missed Ontario Place Forum. I heard he was living in an unassuming condo building on Bloor St in downtown Toronto between Avenue Rd and Bay St, and I lived a mere 4 blocks away above Noah's Natural Foods at Bloor & Spadina. One beautiful summer Saturday morning I was pedalling my bike at walking speed with the crowd on the sidewalk right where his building was, not expecting to see him at all. Then suddenly when the crowd got really thick and I was balancing my bike at a crawl with the pedestrians, I glanced over to my left, and inches from me, was a guy who looked just like him, with sunglasses and a wide brimmed white hat pulled down over his eyes. He glanced back towards me for a second as we ambled along with the masses, and I said, "Is that Mr. C?" He secretively pulled down the brim of his hat and with a slight smirk, gave me a nod. So cooool!!

Great song I've liked hugely since this album came out over 20 years ago, nice surprise to hear it on RP today!

 MrsTom wrote:


If it's a metaphor for sex, and you enjoy sex, then there's nothing "ew" about it.

Scaramanga in the garden? Watch out 007!

 garyalex wrote:
Yeah, that would be more in keeping with Bruce's personality.  Though temptations in the garden interpretations are a lot more fun.

This was just mixed after Nick Drake's Three Hours and the transition was so smooth it caught me off guard. Well done Bill, this is brilliant.

I like Bruce Cockburn, but I think these lyrics are just terrible!

 fossbo wrote:
Sounds more like a mangle, to help Bruce with his washing?

Posted 1 year ago by radioparadise9: jademon wrote:

The word 'mango' sounds very much like the slang word in Japanese for a particular part of the female anatomy. I wonder if that was Bruce's intention?

 radioparadise9 wrote:

The original poster is correct. The word Jademon was referring to is manko....

Absolute brilliance. Heard this live several times. Seen him at least 5x. The arrangement is dense ergo requires a proper rig to parse the genius.  If it seems meh it's your craptastic bose not the ditty.

Wait, what?

This song needs more mango,,,,

Man go there

I'm gonna go out on a (mango tree) limb here, but I don't think he's singing about fruit...
c.

 hencini wrote:

I'm guessing it's a mango?

Original lyric was "She's got a rutabaga in her garden" but it just didn't sound quite right. Then Bruce said "Wait a minute, what about . . .".

Margo Timmins! for some reason knowing she does background vocals elevates this song. Does the addition of a strong female vocal makes this song about more than just the male perspective? Maybe?

Gonna be at Boulder Theater this Thursday.  Gonna try go.

 fossbo wrote:

For a moment there, I thought she had mayo in her garden... Hmmm...

He's in Looooove!

She's got a mango in her valley...

Sublime segue once again - this one following Nick Drake's Three Hours

 jademon wrote:
FALSE
My Japanese wife tells me the slang word is "awabi" - it's Japanese for abalone. The resemblance to a live abalone is uncanny.

brilliant combo. Cockburn after Drake. RP never ceases to impress me

 hencini wrote:




She's got a XXX in the garden - full of mystery

 westslope wrote:

I was about to agree when "some son of a bitch would die" popped into my head.  I believe I've seen him play three times, all excellent.  Miss him kicking the wind chimes.

Love instrumental break. Fantastic album

 bruceandjenna wrote:
I am reminded of Rachel Heyhoe Flint being asked if women cricketers wore boxes. "Oh yes, we call them 'manhole covers...'

 memoryboxer wrote:
 

Tiger Woods?  4...play.

proof that you goota take the rough with the smooth.   we used to call these album fillers.

Normally Bruce gives me cockburn, but this time it's mango's.
7 from the lowlands.

"I'm not in this lousy jungle... I'm somewhere with Raquel Welch. I'm gonna make some mango cream pudding and kinda rub it all over us. Gotta be a mango tree 'round here somewhere..." *enter TIGER*

 pugifat wrote:
 
Research, research, research.

 ozburns55 wrote:
 
Up there with Lenored Cohen 

Bruce is a legend.

 hencini wrote:
 

Bruce Cockburn sighting: I sat next to him and his daughter on the San Francisco Muni train last week. We had a nice conversation -- I didn't want to be too intrusive, but what an absolute treat after listening to him for sooooo many years. He stands out in a crowd too -- I instantly knew it was him, but had to ask him for confirmation. That was a rare, good public transportation experience. 

How many times have you asked, "When is a mango not a mango?"

Answered.

Any other questions?

 hencini wrote:
 
A papaya; duh!

why.

Deep....NOT

 hencini wrote:
 

Sometimes a mango is just a mango.

Odd lyrics aside (although it is poetry after all, so anything goes), I really like the arrangements in this song. 

We need a radio like this in Brazil!

Cool album cover art. Miserable song.

Wonderful!

 MrsTom wrote:
 

It is a mangofore...

Thanks to Radio Paradise, I can't even hear the word mango without this dumb song going through my head!!

BRUUUUUCE!!!!

 Proclivities wrote: 
I think he was in a hurry when he was deciding whether to just repeat the same (fairly vacuous) lyric over and over again in this one...

Of the Bruce Cockburn songs that could have played, this one rates way down there. It's not a bad song, just not nearly even close to his best. For those of you who think the lyrics puerile and simplistic, I invite you to explore him a little more closely.

To wit, from "After the Rain:"
After the rain in the streets light flows like blood
I can just taste salt on the humid wind
Here comes that gasoline
Spreading hungry rainbow over shiny black tar
I'm blown like smoke and blind as wind
Except for when your love breaks in
Maybe to those who love is given sight
To pierce the wall of seeming night
And know it pure beyond all imagining

Or from "Tibetan Side of Town:"
Pretty young mother by the temple gate
Covers her baby's face against diesel fumes
That look of concern - you can see it still -
Not yet masked by the hard lines of a woman's
Struggle to survive
Hard bargains going down
When you're living on the Tibetan side of town

Or from "You've Never Seen Everything:"
Nobody's making me say this
I'm talking to you
Been traveling 17 hours
Irradiated by signals, by images
Of viruses, of virtues
Like everyone
Like exiled angels we swing out of the clouds
Above night city-
Fields of light broken by the curve of dark waterways
On the other side of the world
An unhappy teenage girl sets fire
To herself, her house, her neighborhood and some that dwell therein
Sorry simulacrum of sad dawn
You've never seen everything

 yofitofu wrote: 
...apparently it's sweet, full of mystery, and does a few other things, then some tears poured and ricocheted.

7

i really, really, really wish he'd go away. his stuff is the worst.

 midget wrote: 
No I think , he's got the banana ,,,,

I think he's trying to say she has a mango in her garden, but I'm not sure.

Not his best.

 jademon wrote: 
Really?

The song title is: .... Dinner in Timbuktu , NOT Dinner in Tokyo.  

Did you know that Bruce was once upon a time a 'reborn Christian'?    His fervour has softened in recent years.  But I do not believe I have ever heard him use profanity in conversation, in an interview, talking to audiences or in his lyrics.  

Great artist. Not his greatest song, however.

 jademon wrote: 
It would have sounded silly, if it had been a cumquat tree.

The word 'mango' sounds very much like the slang word in Japanese for a particular part of the female anatomy.  I wonder if that was Bruce's intention?

haretic wrote:  

 On_The_Beach wrote: 
Thirded 
9 for me, inclined to give it 10 

 haretic wrote: 
Seconded.

 gerritv wrote: 
Yah, how shallow of Cockburn to express his gratefulness to his woman for bringing him into her garden, and sharing the mysteries of Eden's innocent sexuality with him! And all of that beautiful music is just a distraction, eh? ~8~

Thank you, Bill and Rebecca, for bringing such extraordinary music into my life!

I bet Cockburn was laughing the whole time he wrote those lyrics.

Lotta fun comments so far...

All I can say is: go man-go! 

 MrsTom wrote: 

Gonna go find my wife and get some "mango" this afternoon.

Is he singing "She's all mangled in her garden and it smells like pee"?

Yes, the lyrics are kinda silly, but a beautiful song nonetheless.

I got it....there is a mango in the garden. Move on.

I've been listening to Radio Paradise for years but have been too lazy to give any song a rating either good or bad.  This song however, is the most ridiculous song I've heard all year and sucks so badly that I was finally inspired to rate it.  "She's got a mango in the garden...blah blah blah"  Thank goodness for the PSD function.  I will definitely use it should RP ever decide to play this song again!

Boring

from the "Sledgehammer" school of metaphor. (i.e. a reference to Peter Gabriel, not to the subtly of the metaphor. Though...) 

-> 7

I find myself humming this song to myself every once in a while, even when I haven't listened to RP in a while.

The comments about this song are hilarious, was definitly a good read.

The instrumental is worthy, the lyrics are cringeworthy.

I will have that insipid chorus in my head for the balance of the evening. 

 hencini wrote: 
Here! Me! ME! I know it. It's a banana, right?

I really like mangoes

Hmmm... The one thing I can't figure out after listening to that song in its entirety is what, exactly, she has in her garden.  Anyone?  

 jmk999 wrote: 
Makes me look at my watch. Some people can make even sexual innuendo numbingly boring. Bruce usually does better. 

Cant divine t'wat he's referring?  Ask the one-eyed milkman. He's lookin' for a mouth that cannot bite.

Mangoes and peaches -- nature's tufted treasures!

How do you want them?
Jellyroll or a donut?
A pie for the oven in the house under the hill.  Lip-smackin' good.

Playing the two-finger tango brings a vertical smile to old mossy face.
Bruce even sings and whistles in the dark when he eats out.

Mango in Her garden She Has

Master (Mango) Yoda

she's got a what in her garden? A Mugro? ;)

Just the right amount of semi-trippy for finishing up the cube's day's work.

A Mystery Mango in her garden?  Obviously no Platonic Papaya, that fruit.  Isn't there a Kama Sutra practice known as "Peeling the mango"?

 Cynaera wrote: 

 

I,ve folowed BC for many years and he never dissapoints. This isnt one of his best but he constantly re-invents himself

Time for a Mango Smoothie...

Very tasty cover art.

very cool
i'm digging the mideast rhythms and the original tree

Wow, the instrumentation in this is outstanding! Especially that Asian-sounding guitar doing its own little dance throughout the song....and the nuance of the backing vocalist is wonderful.

I guess it takes all kinds to make a world, but sometimes, I understand why some species of females eat their young. 

 dillydoo wrote: 
Hey dilly, you must be like 4 years old and have the entire Beavus and Butthead DVD collection.

Yes!

kerr wrote: B U M P W O R T H Y

 SkyTyper wrote: 
The mango isn't in "the" garden, it's in "her" garden.  

I prescribe 3 years of pop culture and/or lit theory classes.

This song is about a woman's *ahem* genitalia, and how very much Bruce admires her.  It's very romantic, and not meaningless at all.  

 Verpeiler wrote: 

Stop it!  Get out!  You can't hav'a da mango!

Out of all the excellent Bruce songs, this one? 

Fire bad, tree pretty. I just love the song. I know the sexual connotations, and they're duly noted in the back of my brain, but the song would be sensual if he'd just hummed the words, or done it as an instrumental. The mood, the music, the beat.... Yum....

I love songs like this.  Mango? In the garden?  That's it?  So astonishingly meaningless that it elevates all other music. If there was not bad music there could not be good music.

Beautiful segue from the Cello Song... Bravo!    

dillydoo wrote:
For the mango...in her garden

MANGO!

 lawman wrote: 
Very funny.

I like Bruce Cockburn, but this is definitely not a song I would have chosen to play from him.  This is one of those songs that, if I hadn't already known of him for some time, I would not bother looking up any further info.

I could hear Zero 7 covering this with Jose singing...

Just silly.

I think — I'm guessing here — I think she's got a mangle in her garden.  (Or is it a mango? He doesn't say it often enough for me to tell.)

Although repetitive I kind of like it. Now I want me some Mango, dammit.

AWH . . . MAH . . . GAWD!  She's still got that freakin' MANGO!      AWH . . . MAH . . . GAWD!  And it's still in her GARDEN!     AWH . . . MAH . . . GAWD!  and it's still on the ORIGINAL TREE!  This song reminds me of the "Young Lovers" (with Rachel Dratch and Will Ferrell) on SNL!  LMAO!!!!

 pugifat wrote:   not too familiar with the female anatomy huh?  keep digging in the garden, you'll find the mango soon enough!

 smackiepipe wrote: 

...wait, what does she have in her gar...OH sry, he just answered it 2,367 times kthx.

I could guess WHERE her garden is, but WHAT is her mango?