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April 16, 2007

New Jeff Buckley

OK, it's spoken word (an apology to Bob Dylan!). But still, it's enough for Buckley completists like us. Robert Zimmerman was an early supporter (and hero) of Jeff's, but one night Buckley did a little riffing (if you have Live At Sin-E you know how funny an adlibber and impersonator he was) and poked a bit at Bob. That got back to Dylan, who was allegedly "insulted." And this tore out Jeff's heart. EW.com writes:

The latest from the Buckley audio archives: a never-before-released 1993 clip of Buckley at a poetry event, reading an apology letter he wrote to his idol Bob Dylan.

The reading is included on a CD accompanying the new book The Spoken Word Revolution Redux (out April 17 from Sourcebooks Inc.). In it, Buckley begs Dylan's forgiveness for having imitated him on stage once during a show. Though the imitation was meant to flatter, Buckley worries in his apology letter that he has offended his hero, who had championed his budding career: ''I have no way of knowing how my words were translated to you... It wasn't funny at all. And I f---ed up,'' he says.

Hear the letter at EW.com. A rare studio outtake it ain't, but still it's a satisfying listen. The tenth anniversary of Jeff's passing is on May 29th.

Posted at 12:04 PM
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14 Comments

I don't know what people saw in Jeff Buckley.

I can imagine what he'd be doing today if he was still alive: "Grace Unplugged" or a cover album of his "dad's" (sic) songs. Releasing a bunch of shit over the internet after his record label dropped his ass due to poor sales. Doing county fairs with the Gin Blossoms and Third Eye Blind. That would have been his place in Rock History.

Posted by: Tony G at 04/16/07 2:07 PM | Reply
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(jaw drops)

Posted by: scott at 04/16/07 2:15 PM | Reply
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(jaws drop across the globe, more like)

Posted by: Frank at 04/16/07 2:23 PM | Reply
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Pity for you, Tony G..

Posted by: Richie at 04/16/07 2:32 PM | Reply
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Jeff Buckley was so insanely talented on all fronts of music: singing, guitar playing, songwriting... That might be what people saw in him.

Posted by: nick at 04/16/07 2:55 PM | Reply
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Oh no. That is so sad.

Posted by: kate at 04/16/07 3:21 PM | Reply
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I can see not liking his music (I can see it; I don't understand it), but that's an amazingly incorrect summation of who the guy was as an artist, Tony G. He wasn't bound for county fairs - if anything, his music probably would have gotten less commercial. What we've heard of the follow-up to Grace suggests that he wasn't going to milk a single style like those others you mentioned.

Posted by: d at 04/16/07 4:08 PM | Reply
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hey! don't knock tha blossoms!

Posted by: stephen at 04/16/07 4:26 PM | Reply
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shit. grande-venti haterade for a "Tony G?"

Posted by: Colin at 04/16/07 4:52 PM | Reply
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> if anything, his music probably would
> have gotten less commercial.

True dat. I don't think a cover of "Back In NYC" would be climbing up any charts in our lifetime.

Posted by: scott at 04/16/07 5:28 PM | Reply
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to u "tony g", U f**kin asshole, the guy was an amazing artist ,GRACE is one of the greatest albums ever recorded.thro away ur spice girls collection

Posted by: james at 05/01/07 3:32 AM | Reply
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This 'Tony G' is only jealous that we are still holding on and revelling in every drop of jeff's voice recordings released.

Maybe this Tony G is a real Kurt Cobain fan and was hurt by Jeff's jokes on the very commercial and suicidal grammy winner.

Stop hating Tony.


Posted by: terry at 05/12/07 6:03 PM | Reply
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tony g....before you sum it all up to that, you should understand where his music was going (as in sketches for my sweetheart). As it is well known, he was not in favor of any push toward mainstream popularity by his record label.
The funny part about your post is that Jeff Buckley fans don't care about this kind of attitude. More for us to enjoy!
Hope you enjoy your nickleback.

Posted by: christine at 09/22/07 7:28 PM | Reply
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We all jeff's fan know how good and precious he was. Thats where is the magic about all thing. We are few but we know the true. We like our little circle, we only share his music with people who deserve it, becouse it a big gift. It was for us, it keep being and we want to share that bless with peple we love.

Posted by: any at 12/19/07 9:59 PM | Reply
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