Interview: Cowboy Junkies Michael Timmins speaks out about new anti-war cd - Page 3

How did you go about picking the songs for the cd?

Once we came up with the concept for the album we all started to pitch song ideas to each other. They all had to fit the loose theme of violence, war, greed, loss. We narrowed that list down to about 16 songs, worked on 13 and then chose 11 for the final CD.

Was choosing the song "One" as the closing song on the cd any attempt to remind listeners of some themes conveyed on "One Soul Now"? And, is there any significance to placing that song last?

One Soul Now was definitely a statement about the need to come together (as is the song "One"), but that theme was dealt with through a series of songs that examined personal dilemma. Early 21st Century Blues is a much more explicit statement even though the statement is made mostly using the words of others. I think our ages and situations in life (we are all in our forties and have children that we are consumed with) has naturally lead us to look at life from a very different and changing perspective over the past several years and therefore over the past few albums. But that is the way that we have always approached our music, it has always been a reflection of where we are as people.

The song is definitely placed last for a reason, because lyrically it is a beautiful punctuation mark (whether it is a period, question mark or exclamation mark is debatable) on the themes that are explored throughout the album.

One of the originals on the cd is December Skies, tell us a little about the inspiration behind that song. That song has a line: "Time to kill our children and sing about it" - that could cause some "stir" - to what are you referring to there?

December Skies was written in November 2002. The build up to the war with Iraq was under way and although the invasion wouldn't happen for another four or five months it was pretty obvious that was where we were headed. At the time I was reading The Wars by Timothy Findley (I highly recommend it) and I came across the following passage:

"I was afraid I was going to scream," she said. She gestured back at the church with its sermon in progress. "I do not understand. I don't. I won't. I can't. Why is this happening to us? What does it mean - to kill your children? Kill them and then...go in there and sing about it! What does that mean?" She wept - but angrily.

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