I recently discovered a wonderful artist. Jeff Buckley. He had a short life (1966-1997), but boy, did he make amazing music.
I can go on and on and on and on about how moving, passionate, romantic, sexy, spiritual, consciousness changing his voice and music is, but it is my hope you go to the nearest music downloading site and experience him for yourself.
You will not be disappointed.
My favorite Jeff Buckley songs:
Lover, You Should've Come Over
Morning Theft
Everybody Here Wants You
Lilac Wine
Once Opened
Messing up lyrics will be my sole notoriety. (Remember Disco Bunny? It's my personal favorite non-song to date.) I even mess up gorgeous Jeff Buckley songs.
Here are just a few of the misheard lyrics. On the left and in italics are my bunny lyrics. The real lyrics follow to the right in regular font.
You're soft and yummy : : : You're soft and young to me*
Your new bit's young and handsome : : : Your rube is young and handsome**
(I had no idea to which "bit" he was referring. I wondered if it was code for "penis". I'm so weird.)
Sometimes a man must wait to find a filly to call his own : : : Sometimes a man must awake to find that, really, he has no one
I'm resisting a powerful urge to post Jeff's lyrics. The resistance comes from knowing that the lyrics are only part of the art that is music. It's like showing you a Van Gogh, but only in the color orange. Sure, the color is brilliant, and there'll be interesting texture, but it's not complete.
Apparently even speeches offer the same pickle. Here's an interesting interview (a nod to a new writer at Marginal Utility, Ken Houghton, for pointing us MU readers to this good read) with Clinton's White House speech writer Michael Waldman.
Here is what he said about one speech:
"...his [President Bill Clinton's] best speech was the speech he gave in Memphis in 1993 and that wasn't about passing legislation. That was speaking to people's sense of right and wrong. And he was uniquely able to call on everybody to be responsible. He spoke from the same pulpit where Martin Luther King gave his last sermon. And what's interesting about it is everybody agrees this was his best speech. He thinks so. But when you look at it on the page, you wonder why it's such a great speech. It's his personal energy, the emotion he poured into it, to the audience at hand that made it so memorable. And I think that's probably going to turn out to be true with a lot of his speeches." (Emphasis mine.)
Life and everything in it is art, isn't it? What isn't compromised when only a piece of it is revealed?
I, too, am more (and oftentimes less).
----------------------
*Song: "I Know We Could Be So Happy Baby (If We Wanted To Be)"
**Song: "Nightmares By The Sea"
***Song: "Lover, you should have come over"
9 comments:
I think your lyrics are usually better than the originals... raising the question that bedevils me: whose creativity is it when it's based on mishearing someone else's work?
What's wrong with describing bits of art? Nobody thinks you're supposed to recreate the original. It's just a teaser to get people to check out the original.
Oscar-- Whose creativity is it when it's based on mishearing someone else's work? I'd say it's a mixture of both.
What's wrong with describing bits of art?
Bits? You're too funny.
Michael Waldman explained it better than me. Unlike The Wonderstuff, whose lyrics are witty and playful, Jeff Buckley's lyrics are flat when read. (I guess like Bill's written speech.) They truly come alive when you hear them aloud.
Also, if I wrote the lyrics down, I'd lose my music taste cred. ("These lyrics don't look so great, what's up with janelle renée these days?")
MT-- Yeah, I don't get what all the foofaraw is over Hallelujah, either.
I like So Real, too.
Thanks for the killer comment, filly.
Music, like most art, is meant to be shared. Whether laughing, crying, dancing, or sitting still, it's better in the company of others. Thanks for sharing it with us (me).
I'm not (yet) familiar with the original version of Lover, but I've got the Jamie Cullum version.
And if we're debating the merits of Hallelujah (yes, written by Cohen) I'll cast a vote in favor of the version by Rufus Wainwright. But only in small doses.
I was a fan of Jeff Buckley's music at an early enough time to feel the shock when he died. Swept by the Mississippi? It's just so random.
A good (but depressing) book is Dream Brother, a double biography which draws some parallels between Jeff Buckley and Tim Buckley, the folk singer father who also died young.
His voice is consistently excellent throughout Grace, so I'll give an edge to "Last Goodbye" because it's instrumentally superior.
TinyHands-- Agree with what you said about art and sharing. A lot, too, has to be said about being selfish and keeping it all to yourself first, then sharing it when you're good and ready.
Neel-- I first heard Jeff Buckley in a new trendy bar in Emeryville (of all places). I asked the bartender about the music. I excitedly wrote it down, preparing myself for a new celebrity crush. When she told me when and how he died, I was crushed. (I prefer the other kind of crush!) I'm glad I wasn't aware of him when he was alive. I would've been heartbroken.
BTW-- I just found that book the other day. My pile of half-reads will just have to stay that way for a little while longer.
OM-- I have to say how nice it is to see your mug here again.
Since you're going to NYC, you may want to visit the club where Jeff Buckley got his start: Sin-e. There's an events calendar listed.
MT-- You're right. Silly me. Oh, and it's nice to see your mug in here, too.
Neel-- Thank you for recommendation. Please feel free to send more.
Oh, you misunderstand me. I can't vouch for Sin-e. I've only been to NYC once, driving through it en route to Cambridge, MA. I just remember reading that Jeff Buckley regularly performed there (and there's an EP called Live at Sin-e).
Au contraire mon frere. It is you who misunderstood me! :)
My only assumption was you were kind enough to recommend checking out a place based upon my interest in Jeff Buckley. (Thank you!)
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