Stereogum Home
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
Tags:  |




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
Score = -2 Vote up Vote down

(jaw drops)

Posted by: scott at 04/16/07 2:15 PM | Reply
Score = 0 Vote up Vote down

(jaws drop across the globe, more like)

Posted by: Frank at 04/16/07 2:23 PM | Reply
Score = 0 Vote up Vote down

Pity for you, Tony G..

Posted by: Richie at 04/16/07 2:32 PM | Reply
Score = 0 Vote up Vote down

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
Score = 0 Vote up Vote down

Oh no. That is so sad.

Posted by: kate at 04/16/07 3:21 PM | Reply
Score = 0 Vote up Vote down

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
Score = 0 Vote up Vote down

hey! don't knock tha blossoms!

Posted by: stephen at 04/16/07 4:26 PM | Reply
Score = 0 Vote up Vote down

shit. grande-venti haterade for a "Tony G?"

Posted by: Colin at 04/16/07 4:52 PM | Reply
Score = 0 Vote up Vote down

> 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
Score = 0 Vote up Vote down

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
Score = 0 Vote up Vote down

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
Score = 0 Vote up Vote down

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
Score = 0 Vote up Vote down

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
Score = 0 Vote up Vote down

Leave a comment


 

The 'Gum Drop

Get our newsletter. MP3s and giveaways weekly.

Search




Sort by:date relevance

Information

  • Contact:
  • About
  • Press
  • Advertising
  • Stereogum RSS Stereogum RSS XML Icon
  • MP3-Only RSS Stereogum RSS XML Icon

Staff

Founder/Editor-In-Chief
Scott Lapatine
Executive Editor
Amrit Singh
Senior Writer
Brandon Stosuy
Columnist
Jon McMillan
Technology & Operations
Jim Jazwiecki
Angela Williams

The Cool Kids

All Stereogum Posts

Get Flash to see our mp3 player. Here are our mp3s: Little Joy - No One's Better Sake (»)
Blitzen Trapper - Furr (»)
Peter Bjorn And John - Nothing To Worry About (»)
Bodies Of Water - Under The Pines (»)
Torche - Healer (»)
The Apples In Stereo - Energy (»)
My Morning Jacket - Celebration (Live) (»)
My Morning Jacket - Get Down On It (Live) (»)
Gang Gang Dance - House Jam (»)
Black Lips - Starting Over (»)
Malajube - Ursuline (»)
Department Of Eagles - No One Does It Like You (Album Version) (»)
Au - I'll Be Home For Christmas (»)
Sufjan Stevens - Good King Wenceslas (»)
Bon Iver - Your Love (Live) (»)
Brendan Canning - Hit The Wall (»)
Franz Ferdinand - What She Came For (Live) (»)
Cursive - Bad Sects (»)
Cursive - The Recluse (»)

Progress Report logo

Progress Report: Röyksopp

NAME: Röyksopp PROGRESS REPORT: Wrapping up their third studio LP, Junior, recorded "all over the world." As reported here a couple weeks back, Norwegian duo Röyksopp just celebrated 10 years together. And like good friends (or an old married couple)...

MORE »

Commercial Appeal logo

Apples In Stereo Energize Pepsi Rebranding

As we've mentioned in the past (2007), Robert Schneider's not afraid of the graceful sellout. So, no, we're not surprised that he and his E6 cohorts just scored a Pepsi commercial. (Heck, we already knew how much E6-related bands loved...

MORE »

Premature Evaluation logo

Premature Evaluation: Morrissey - Years Of Refusal

Morrissey's ninth solo album is one of those collections that leaked in fits and starts via live performances and singles and the like that by the time we took it in from "Something Is Squeezing My Skull" through "I'm OK...

MORE »

Band to Watch logo

Band To Watch: Cold Cave

Cold Cave is the brainchild of Philadelphia's Wesley Eisold, ex-Some Girls, Give Up The Ghost, XO Skeletons, and currently Ye Olde Maids, etc. We're calling his newest project a Band To Watch, but Eisold received some high-profile press when Fall...

MORE »

Quit Your Day Job logo

Quit Your Day Job: The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart

In February, New York BTW the Pains Of Being Pure At Heart are releasing their self-titled full-length collection of jangly, noisy indie pop on the most fitting of labels, Slumberland. We recently posted the video for album track "Everything For...

MORE »

The 'Gum Drop logo

DM Stith - "Ecstatic Only Static Peace (Peace to Me)"

Brooklyn-via-Buffalo songwriter DM Stith entered the Asthmatic Kitty stable via the design work on Shara Worden, aka My Brightest Diamond, albums and the vocals and piano he contributed to her Bring Me The Workhorse. He released the Curtain Speech EP...

MORE »