My Kingdom For A Kiss

The Angelic Voice And Broken Promise
Of Jeff Buckley
(November 17, 1966 - May 29, 1997)
Friday, May 27, 2011

I distinctly recall my very first encounter with Jeff Buckley. On a lazy, early autumn day I had fallen asleep to a radio playing softly in the background when I was gently, but mysteriously awoken by an heavenly sound. In my languid haze, I couldn't tell if I was lost in a dream, or the voice I was hearing was actually that of an Earthbound angel. The music drifting from the radio speakers was Buckley's ethereal, 'Lover, You Should've Come Over.' Rubbing the drowsiness from my eyes, the room hummed with a low, unworldly rumble over which a warm, honey-toned harmonium played a church-like cadence. Struggling to raise my eyelids, a gauzy haze appeared to be hanging in the air. The warm, golden sunlight of late afternoon was filtering through the open window and in that seraphic atmosphere, the slow strumming of a crisp, clean acoustic guitar followed, lazily floating through the ether and adding to the dreamy quality that already possessed the room. Then the sweetest of voices entered and began to gently sing:

"Looking out the door, I see the rain falling down upon the funeral mourners/Parading in a wake of sad relations as their shoes fill up with water/And maybe I'm too young to keep love from going wrong, but tonight you're on my mind, so you never know."

Transfixed, I lay there spellbound, allowing the simple beauty of the song to bathe me in the richness of its sound and tender sentiment expressed in its words. The voice that was singing continued whispering:

"Broken down and hungry for your love with no way to feed it/Where are you tonight, Child? You know how much I need it/I'm too young to hold on and too old to just break free and run.../So I'll wait for you and I'll burn/Will I ever see your sweet return?/Oh, will I ever learn?/Lover, you should've come over, 'cause it's not too late."

As the song within the dream slowly progressed, the music began to swell with a passion that equaled the singer's cry. Ripe with emotion, his celestial voice was now climbing scales to unbelievable heights, pleading vehemently:

"I'm too deaf, dumb, and blind to see the damage I've done/Oh lover, you should've come over, I'm waiting for you."

When it was over, I could hardly breathe. I was completely mesmerized. The beauty and splendor of the world had reached out and tapped me directly on my shoulder in the form of one man's song. In that magical moment, I could maybe have died a happy, fulfilled, and completely satisfied man. Only once before had I ever been so moved by an unexpected musical performance. That experience was under similar circumstances when through the haze of slumber I heard Thelonious Monk's tender reading of 'Ruby, My Dear' and was nearly brought to tears. The second and last time was that afternoon with the angelic voice of Jeff Buckley.

As the song concluded, I immediately turned off the radio in an effort to save the moment, locking it into my memory bank as a singular event to be forever cherished. Then I just lay there and pondered the source of such poetry, passion and beauty, the soft, warm breeze gently toying with the gingham curtains. I love those moments because they're so very few and far between, and that's probably why I like sleep so much --- the serendipitous chance of one day opening your eyes and awakening to new world in which for once, absolutely everything just feels right. Cocooned in the warmth and security of soft blankets, the air filled with the sweet smell of slumber, the real world outside held at a distance just ever so briefly. It's a fleeting moment, but one which can fill you with a renewed hope that maybe, just maybe behind all this world's madness there really is someplace like Heaven, and it might even be right here on Earth.

Jeff Buckley was a slice of that heaven, a gifted artist with a poet's soul and a flair for intensely beautiful songs that burned with fervor and desire. An adventurous young man whose wisdom and grace belied his tender age. His early and accidental death in late May of 1997 was a tragic loss, and one that we should never forget. On that Memphis afternoon, Buckley took with him a wellspring of talent that he'll never get to share with the world he left behind, and that's our misfortune as well. Much like Phoebe Snow whose promising career was also interrupted midstream, who can really say just how grand the scope of Buckley's contributions might have been if only he hadn't been lost to the undertow of the Wolf River on that fateful afternoon some 14 years ago. My guess is that it would've been quite extensive and because of that, the space he left behind needs to be remembered and cherished. What we've had available to us was merely the diamond in the rough. Given more time, Buckley would have undoubtedly emerged as one of the supreme talents of his generation. But time, space, and circumstance are funny things. Just as his music reached out and tapped me on the shoulder that day, opening my eyes to a new kind of beauty while the world outside was momentarily held at bay, that very same world reached out and tapped him as well. What it economically gave to me, it indiscriminately took from him, and subsequently from us all. But what we can do to keep that beauty alive, is to surround ourselves with Buckley's heavenly music and thank our lucky stars for his having given us a just a small taste of what it might be to experience Heaven right here on Earth.

About The Mix

Very simply, 'My Kingdom For A Kiss, Pt.1' is designed to examine the few facets of Buckley's talent that we were given to explore during his short professional life. '...Pt.2' meanwhile primarily showcases the tender, aching beauty of his heavenly voice. Both are majestic in their own way. Find your own balance.

My Kingdom For A Kiss, Pt.1

1) The Sky Is A Landfill
2) Grace
3) Ulalume
4) Forget Her
5) Last Goodbye (Live Acoustic)
6) Nightmares By The Sea (No.#2)
7) Witches' Rave
8) So Real
9) Night Flight
10) Eternal Life
11) Yard Of Blonde Girls
12) We All Fall In Love Sometimes
13) Vancouver
14) New Year's Prayer (No.#2)
15) Alligator Wine
16) I Want Someone Badly
17) The Other Woman


My Kingdom For A Kiss, Pt.2

1) Last Goodbye (Studio Version)
2) Everybody Here Wants You
3) Corpus Christi Carol
4) Mama, You've Been On My Mind
5) Lover, You Should've Come Over (Studio Version)
6) If You See Her, Say Hello
7) Dream Brother
8) Song To No One
9) Lost Highway
10) Morning Theft
11) Je N'en Connais Pas La Fin
12) Just Like A Woman
13) Opened Once
14) Hallelujah
15) Lilac Wine
16) Lover, You Should've Come Over (Live Acoustic)


Source material for 'My Kingdom For A Kiss, Pts. 1&2' come from the following:
Live At Sin-é (1993)/Grace (1994)
Born Again From The Rhythm: The Grace Outtakes (1994)
Closed On Account Of Rabies (The Poems & Tales Of Edgar Allen Poe) (Various Artists) (1997)
Sketches For (My Sweetheart the Drunk) (1998)
Songs To No One 1991-1992 (w/Gary Lucas) (2002)
and
a live radio performance from KFOG, San Francisco in promotion of his debut recording