I haven't seen Bruce Murdoch since the sixties; I mainly remember him cursing the audience in coffeehouses if anyone so much as rattled an ashtray while he sang.

One evening I was listening to him at one of those Montreal coffeehouses when an older drunk came in and started muttering loudly as BM sang. He stopped in the middle of a song and said, "Excuse me sir, do you have something to say?"

The drunk replied, "I was sayin', I think that's the most beautiful thing I ever heard..."

Bruce was briefly struck dumb. After a long pause, he said, "Well... ...thank you..." and went back to singing....