[Today: Jeff Buckley's heartbreaking last goodbye...]
When does the word ‘goodbye’ turn into a howling banshee that stalks your soul and haunts you day and night? It happens the minute true love leaves your life for good. The greatest cliche says that “time heals all wounds” but in truth some wounds are not meant to heal. Some loves are simply too big to “get over” and will – should – always hold a special chamber in the deepest recesses of the heart. For what is true love if not a complete and sincere surrender of the soul unto another being? And if this is true, can that great truth really be nullified by the simple act of absence?
Jeff Buckley didn’t think so. On Grace, he sings like a fallen angel, drawing notes out to excruciatingly fantastic lengths and ranging between highs and lows in the blink of an eye. Each track cuts to the quick about love lost (including the definitive reading of Leonard Cohen’s ‘Hallelujah’) and the entire album is nothing less than the sound of a human heart falling to pieces, one fragile, intricate piece at a time. “This is our last embrace. Must I dream and always see your face?” he sings, like a man who knows bloody goodbyes.
Buckley drowned in the Mississippi River the day before he was due to begin recording his second album. His untimely death at age 30 left us with only Grace, and ensured that his legacy would forever be tied to this one majestic, breathtaking, and tear-stained album.
Listen: Hallelujah
Tags: debut album, goodbye, Grace, Jeff Buckley, love lost
23 October 2007 at 9:17 am |
A heartbreaking goodbye that turned into Chris Cornell’s heartbreaking hello.
23 October 2007 at 1:33 pm |
much thanks. a timely piece to say the least. hallelujah has always been a favorite and steady entry on the Shuffle. now it is even more potent thanks to your words.
HB (and JD)
25 October 2007 at 6:24 pm |
This post is dedicated to the memory of Hannah P.
29 January 2008 at 2:44 pm |
[...] 3) Tim Buckley * Greetings From L.A. – This 1972 release stands as one of the most sexually-charged rock albums to ever see the light of day. Every single song is about getting it on, as titles like ‘Move With Me’ ‘Get On Top’ and ‘Sweet Surrender’ so seductively suggest. It’s a thoroughly sublime record, and a great place to start dipping into the ouvre of Buckley senior. [...]