I'd always loved poetry and I'd always loved writing music and composing music, but I hadn't thought of putting the two together until around that time.

Many of his albums from the 1970s refer to his Christian belief which in turn informs the concerns for human rights and environmentalism expressed on his 1980s albums. That summer Cockburn broke up the band with the intention of going solo but he ended up in the band 3's a Crowd with David Wiffen Colleen Peterson and Richard Patterson who had played with him in The Children. Cockburn left this band in the spring of 1969 to pursue a solo career.

Bruce Douglas Cockburn OC (pron. He has written songs in styles ranging from folk to jazz-influenced rock to rock and roll.