Big Circumstance

"Big Circumstance" is the fifteenth full-length studio album by Canadian singer/songwriter Bruce Cockburn. The album was released in 1989 by True North Records. This was Cockburn's first release of new material in three years. The album is a mix of socially conscious, spiritual, and reflective songs. Cockburn had spent time in Nepal in 1987 and what he saw there found its way into some songs, including "Tibetan Side of Town" and "Understanding Nothing." Time spent in Germany soon after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in the Soviet Union inspired "Radium Rain," while deforestation of the globe inspired "If a Tree Falls," A remastered CD version was released by Rounder Records in June 2005, featuring a new acoustic version of "If a Tree Falls"