All Over the Map

Bruce Cockburn has heard all the talk. Some say he just sings for Jesus, or for the political left. Others complain he’s too serious-minded.

But the veteran Toronto-based singer-songwriter-guitarist just plunges ahead. He’s respected by his peers, and his prolific recording career includes 23 albums over 27 years. In Canada, 13 of those have gone gold and three platinum, and he’s received 10 Juno Awards--Canada’s Grammys. Those aren’t the signs of a one-dimensional musician.

“People do tend to think that I’m about a certain political stance more than anything else,” Cockburn, 53, said from a tour stop in Prince George, British Columbia. “Or another group thinks that I’m a Christian songwriter and nothing else, depending on which album or song of mine they’ve heard. But I don’t feel too misunderstood by the people that have actually been paying attention.”

What that last group understands about Cockburn’s work is that such topical songs as “If I Had a Rocket Launcher”--his 1984 hit that took aim at the war in Guatemala--are but one weapon in his musical arsenal.

He might just as likely compose songs of friendship, love and longing. There were several such songs on his 1997 album, “The Charity of Night.”

Though “The Mines of Mozambique”--Cockburn’s indictment of land mines--has received the most attention, the musically rich album includes several less polemic selections.

“Live on My Mind” is a poetic love song; “Pacing the Cage” is an intense, psychological examination of the walls people build.

The album also includes what could be a gossip-generating song--”Birmingham Shadows,” inspired by and featuring singer-songwriter Ani DiFranco--that includes these lyrics: “Birmingham shadows fall / You show a little--I let something show too / It’s now or not at all.”

Yet Cockburn--who begins a three-date Southland swing Friday night at the Coach House in San Juan Capistrano--insists that any suggestions that the two are romantically involved are misguided.

“We’re on good terms, but we’re not close at all,” said Cockburn, who is divorced. “But she is the person in the song, which was written about us taking a walk in Birmingham [England]. I really wanted her to sing on the record . . . it would close that circle for me in an important way.”

Getting DiFranco to do it proved no easy task.

“I had been chasing her for some time, but due to scheduling conflicts, she just wasn’t available. I had pretty much resigned myself to the fact that it wasn’t going to happen by the time we went down to New Orleans to mix the album.

“Then during a break, we were in this espresso joint in the French Quarter, and Ani walks in. So we looked at each other and started laughing . . . and she tells me, ‘Well, I guess I’m supposed to be on this album.’ ”

DiFranco was only one high-profile guest on that album. Along with a core band of Cockburn on lead guitar and vocals, bassist Rob Wasserman and drummer Gary Craig, he enlisted Bonnie Raitt, Bob Weir, Jonatha Brooke, Patty Larkin, Maria Muldaur and ace vibraphonist Gary Burton.

When writing songs, Cockburn said, he approaches each one--whether personal or political--in the same way.

“The important thing to remember is that you’re supposed to be making art. . . . That’s the prime concern and challenge,” he said. In trying to elevate a pop song to the level of art, “You run the risk of sounding preachy, or just plain boring. . . .

“If it’s a good song, it doesn’t matter what it’s about,” he said. “It could be a good love song, a political diatribe or an observation of the spiritual condition of yourself or someone close to you.”

No matter the form or content, the silver-haired, bespectacled musician draws from personal experience.

“I’m not just singing a bunch of stories I made up,” he said.

That includes witnessing civil unrest in Nicaragua, and in 1988 and 1995, visits to Mozambique to investigate the human toll land mines have taken in that African country. In the title song, Cockburn sings: “There’s a wealth of amputation / Waiting in the ground.”

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Asked about the progress of that cause, Cockburn said, “Huge strides have been made. It’s one of the rare occasions when I’ve been involved in something where I’ve actually been able to see a tangible result.” He noted that an international treaty banning the manufacture and sale of land mines was signed last year by most of the countries in the world, although the U.S. was not among them.

“What I found very encouraging about the treaty itself was that the majority of the negotiating countries refused to capitulate to the U.S. demands to water it down and make exceptions. It’s like, ‘More than 60 countries have land-mine problems . . . we’re either banning those things or we’re not.’ ”

Cockburn’s latest journey took him back to Africa, but this time to study the effects of desertification in Mali. As part of a forthcoming Canadian documentary, “River of Sand,” Cockburn spent last February living in the village of Ibissa to see how the Dogon people deal with the problem.

“ ‘Desertification’ is defined by the U.N. as the degradation of arid land into actual desert,” he said. “All the countries that border the Sahara have been suffering from this. It’s basically something that is created by humans through poor land-use practices.”

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Cockburn’s political concern isn’t limited to Third World countries. He’s also distressed by the ongoing crisis in Washington.

“At some point long ago, I learned not to have very many expectations of politicians, other than to expect weakness of some sort,” said Cockburn, who played for President Clinton’s first inaugural ball.

“I kind of got behind Clinton because my American friends were so enthusiastic and hopeful. It seemed inappropriate to step back and play the cynic. But I’m not surprised it hasn’t borne the fruit they had hoped for.

“That being said, the gory details in the Starr report are so seedy and shameless . . . it’s really disgusting. It’s very unfortunate for the country, unless it makes everyone so shocked and embarrassed that they look at each other and say, ‘Hey, we’ve got to fix this.’

“That is a possibility,” he continued. “Some friends and I were talking about this the other night. . . . Maybe the U.S. as a nation is hitting puberty. There’s certainly room to grow from here.”

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* Bruce Cockburn plays Friday at the Coach House, 33157 Camino Capistrano, San Juan Capistrano. 8 p.m. $22.50--$24.50. (949) 496-8930. Also Saturday at the Ventura Theatre, 26 S. Chestnut St., Ventura. 8 p.m. $25. (805) 653-0721. On Sunday, Cockburn performs on the Newport Folk Festival 1998 tour at the Greek Theatre, 2700 Vermont Canyon Road, Los Angeles. 3 p.m. $27.75-$57.75. (714) 740-2000 (Ticketmaster).