He had emerged in New York City's avant-garde club scene in the 1990s as one of the most remarkable musical artists of his generation, acclaimed by audiences, critics, and fellow musicians alike. His first commercial recording, the four-song EP Live At Sin-é, was released in December 1993 on Columbia Records. The EP captured Buckley, accompanying himself on electric guitar, in a tiny coffeehouse in New York's East Village, the neighbourhood he'd made his home.
Buckley made his public singing début at a tribute concert for his father called "Greetings from Tim Buckley". The event, produced by show business veteran Hal Willner, was held at St. Ann's Church in Brooklyn on 26 April 1991.
By the time of the EP's release during the fall of 1993, Buckley had already entered the studio with Mick Grondahl (bass), Matt Johnson (drummer), and producer Andy Wallace and recorded seven original songs (including "Grace" and "Last Goodbye") and three covers (among them Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah", Benjamin Britten's "Corpus Christi Carol") that comprised his debut album Grace. Guitarist Michael Tighe became a permanent member of Jeff Buckley's ensemble and went on to co-write and perform on Grace's "So Real" just prior to the release of the album.
In early 1994, not long after Live At Sin-é appeared in stores, Jeff Buckley toured clubs, lounges, and coffeehouses in North America as a solo artist from January 15th to March 5th as well as in Europe from March 11th to 22th. Following extensive rehearsals in April to May of 1994, Buckley's "Peyote Radio Theatre Tour" found him on the road with his band from June 2nd to August 16th. His full-length full-band album, Grace, was released in the United States on August 23rd, 1994, the same day Buckley and band kicked off a European tour in Dublin, Ireland; the 1994 European Tour ran through September 22nd, with Buckley and band performing at the CMJ convention at New York's Supper Club on September 24. The group headed back into America's clublands for a Fall Tour lasting from October 19th until December 18th.
On New Year's Eve 1994-95, Buckley returned to Sin-é to perform a solo set; on New Year's Day, he read an original poem at the annual St. Mark's Church Marathon Poetry Reading. Two weeks later, he and his band were back in Europe for gigs in Dublin, Bristol, and London before launching an extensive tour of Japan, France, Germany, Italy, Holland, Belgium, and the United Kingdom which lasted from January 29th to March 5th. On April 13th 1995, it was announced that Jeff Buckley's Grace had earned him France's prestigious "Gran Prix International Du Disque -- Academie Charles CROS -- 1995"; an award given by a jury of producers, journalists, the president of France Culture, and music industry professionals, it had previously been given to Edith Piaf, Jacques Brel, Yves Montand, Georges Brassens, Bruce Springsteen, Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, and Joni Mitchell, among other musical luminaries. France also awarded Buckley a gold record certification for Grace.
From March 5th through April 20th, Buckley and his band rehearsed for an American spring tour with gigs running from April 22th until June 2nd. From June through August, Jeff and company toured the United Kingdom, France, Denmark, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, and Switzerland. The band took off for Down Under to play six Australian shows between August 28th and September 6th, 1995. In November 1995, Buckley played two unannounced solo shows at Sin-é. He performed songs including the new "Woke Up In A Strange Place" on Vin Scelsa's "Idiot's Delight" show on WXRK-FM on December 17 and celebrated New Year's Eve 1995-96 with performances at New York's Mercury Lounge and Sin-é.
Jeff Buckley and his touring ensemble went back to Australia, where Grace had earned a gold record certification, for the "Hard Luck Tour," which ran from February 9th to March 1st of 1996. Drummer Matt Johnson left the group after the final Australian show. The posthumous album Mystery White Boy brings together some of the high points from Jeff's 1995-1996 live performances. The DVD/home video release Live In Chicago documents, in its entirety, Jeff's concert at The Cabaret Metro in Chicago on May 13th, 1995.
In May of '96, Jeff played four gigs as a bass player with Mind Science of the Mind, a side-project of Buckley's friend, Nathan Larson of Shudder To Think. In September Buckley played another unannounced solo gig at his old favorite haunt Sin-é. December of 1996 found Jeff Buckley embarking on his "phantom solo tour"; designed to experiment with new songs in a live setting (as in his Sin-é days), these unannounced solo gigs throughout the Northeast U.S. were played under a succession of aliases: the Crackrobats, Possessed By Elves, Father Demo, Smackrobiotic, the Halfspeeds, Crit Club, Topless America, Martha & the Nicotines, and A Puppet Show Named Julio.
At midnight on February 9th, 1997, Jeff Buckley debuted his new drummer, Parker Kindred, in a show at Arlene Grocery on New York's Lower East Side. He also played a couple of solo gigs in New York during the first months of 1997: a gig at the Daydream Cafe (featuring band members Mick Grondahl and Michael Tighe as "special guests") and a solo performance February 4th as part of the Knitting Factory's 10-Year Birthday Party.
Buckley and his band had recorded intermittently — with Tom Verlaine as producer — during Summer/Fall 1996 and early winter 1997 in New York and in February 1997 in Memphis. After the conclusion of those sessions, Jeff sent the band back to New York while, during March and April 1997, he remained in Memphis and continued to craft his work-in-progress, making various four-track home recordings of songs to present to his bandmates. Some of these were revisions of the songs recorded with Verlaine, some were brand new compositions, and some were surprising cover versions. The new lineup debuted Buckley's new songs at Barrister's in Memphis on February 12th and 13th. Beginning March 31st, Jeff began a series of regularly scheduled Monday night solo performances at Barrister's. His last show there was on Monday, May 26th, 1997.
Buckley passed away in a drowning accident in the Wolf River, a tributary of the Mississippi River, on May 29th, 1997. The night Buckley died, he was on his way to meet his band to begin three weeks of rehearsals for My Sweetheart, the Drunk; producer Andy Wallace, who'd helmed the boards on Grace, was to join them in Memphis in late June to record his new album.
In addition to his Columbia Records releases, Live At Sin-é and Grace, Jeff Buckley has appeared as a guest artist on several other recordings. He can be heard singing "Jolly Street," a track on the Jazz Passengers 1994 album In Love. He contributed tenor vocals to "Taipan" and "D. Popylepis," two recordings on John Zorn's Cobra Live At The Knitting Factory (1995). On Rebecca Moore's Admiral Charcoal's Song, Buckley plays electric six-string bass on "If You Please Me," "Outdoor Elevator," and "Needle Men" (on which he also plays drums). He both plays guitar and sings backup vocals on Brenda Kahn's "Faith Salons," a key track on her Destination Anywhere album (released 1996). Patti Smith's critically acclaimed Gone Again album features Buckley adding "voice" to the song "Beneath the Southern Cross" and "essrage" (a small fretless Indian stringed instrument) to "Fireflies." On Kerouac: Kicks Joy Darkness, a various artists' spoken word tribute to beat poet Jack Kerouac, Jeff Buckley performed on "Angel Mine"; Jeff plays guitar, sitar, and mouth sax (adding words at the poem's conclusion) on the track. Buckley can be heard reading Edgar Allan Poe's "Ulallume - A Ballad," on Closed on Account of Rabies: Poems and Tales of Edgar Allan Poe (disc 2: The Devil's Brew) (Poems & Tales by Edgar Allan Poe) on Mouth Almighty/Mercury Records. He sang "I Want Someone Badly" (Epic) for Shudder To Think's soundtrack to First Love, Last Rites. Sandy Bell, a friend of Buckley's during his L.A. days, released the resurrected track "Hollywould" in 2000, which she co-wrote and recorded with Buckley.
An ardent enthusiast for a myriad of musical forms, Jeff Buckley was an early champion among young American musicians for the work of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, the world's foremost Qawwali (the music of the Sufis) singer. Buckley conducted an extensive interview with Nusrat in Interview magazine (January 1996) and wrote the liner notes Nusrat's The Supreme Collection album, released on Mercator/Caroline records in August 1997. On May 9th, 2000, Columbia Records released Mystery White Boy, an album of live performances, and Live In Chicago, a full-length concert (available on DVD or VHS) recorded live at The Cabaret Metro in Chicago on May 13, 1995, in the middle of Jeff's "Mystery White Boy" tour.
Following the release of Grace on August 23rd, 1994, Jeff and his group spent much of 1994-1996 performing around the world on the Unknown, Mystery White Boy, and Hard Luck tours. Mystery White Boy brings together, for the first time, some of the high points of those shows. Produced by Michael Tighe (guitarist for Jeff's band throughout their international touring and the recording of Grace) and Mary Guibert (Jeff's mother) and Mystery White Boy provides an evocative cross-section of Jeff's repertoire: previously-unreleased Buckley compositions, electrifying live interpretations of songs from Grace, and obscure and marvelous cover choices. The recordings heard on Mystery White Boy have been hand-picked from scores of concert tapes by Mary Guibert and the members of Jeff's band who played such a large role in helping Jeff realize his musical vision.
According to Mary, the tracks on Mystery White Boy are "the individual performances that represented transcendent moments from each of the concerts we'd identified as being in the 'overall outstanding' category."
"It was obvious which performances were contenders for the record," concurs Michael Tighe, "and in some cases a performance would be so supreme and unpredictable that I knew it had to be brought to the public."
The posthumous album Sketches For My Sweetheart The Drunk was released in 1998 and included songs Buckley was working on while in Memphis for his upcoming release.
Tribute songs:
PJ Harvey - Memphis
Rufus Wainwright- Memphis Skyline
Mark Eitzel - To the Sea
Zita Swoon - Song for a Dead Singer
Amy Correia - Blind River Boy
Duncan Sheik - A Body Goes Down
Chris Cornell - Wave Goodbye
Katatonia - Nightmares by the Sea
Willie Nile - On the Road to Calvary
Rachael Sage - Grace
Aimee Mann - Just Like Anyone
Cocteau Twins - Rilkean Heart
Jim Major - Angels Fall (Song for Jeff Buckley)
A film about Buckley's life, a biopic called "Mystery White Boy", is currently in pre-production. Actors have not yet been cast, according to IMDB.
Morning Theft
Jeff Buckley Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
So I can believe
You had so much to give
You thought I couldn't see
Gifts for boot heels to crush
Promises deceived
I had to send it away
Your eyes and body brighten
Silent waters, deep
Your precious daughter in the
Other room, asleep
A kiss goodnight from every
Stranger that I meet
I had to send it away
To bring us back again
Morning theft
Unpretender left
Ungraceful
True self is what
Brought you here, to me
A place where we can
Accept this love
Friendship battered down by
Useless history
Unexamined failure
But what am I still to you
Some thief who stole from you?
Or, some fool drama queen
Whose chances were few?
That brings us to who we need
A place where we can save
A heart that beats as
Both siphon and reservoir
You're a woman, I'm a calf
You're a window, I'm a knife
We come together
Making chance in the starlight
Meet me tomorrow night
Or any day you want
I have no right to wonder
Just how, or when
You know the meaning fits
There's no relief in this
I miss my beautiful friend
I have to send it away
To bring her back again
Morning Theft is a haunting song that speaks to the complexities of love, friendship, and the aftermath of a relationship gone wrong. The lyrics begin by acknowledging that time has a way of healing wounds and allowing for belief in the good that once was. It is believed that the song's inspiration may have been Buckley's own experiences with women. In the lines “Gifts for boot heels to crush / Promises deceived,” Buckley may be reflecting on how his own behavior caused the end of a relationship. However, he also recognizes that sometimes it is necessary to send something away to bring it back.
The song then moves to the present, where the woman in question has a daughter who is sleeping in another room. Buckley implies that he has been unfaithful, as he receives a kiss from strangers he meets. He also reflects on the history of the relationship and the failures that have occurred. In the lines, “But what am I still to you / Some thief who stole from you? / Or, some fool drama queen / Whose chances were few?” Buckley is grappling with the realization that he may not be seen as the person he wants to be in this particular context.
However, he still believes in the true self that brought them together in the first place. The song ends with Buckley asking the woman to meet him, but acknowledging that he has no right to wonder how or when. Overall, Morning Theft is a poignant, introspective song that explores the beauty and pain of love and the human condition.
Line by Line Meaning
Time takes care of the wound
Time helps us heal after getting hurt emotionally.
So I can believe
After being hurt, we can believe that we will heal.
You had so much to give
The person in question had a lot to offer in a relationship.
You thought I couldn't see
The person in question thought that their contributions to the relationship went unnoticed.
Gifts for boot heels to crush
Some of the things that are given in this world are innocent, but unfortunately, they can be crushed and destroyed by those who are ruthless.
Promises deceived
Sometimes people deceive others with their promises.
I had to send it away
Sometimes, in order to fix a broken relationship, one must take a break from it.
To bring us back again
Taking a break can actually help the relationship get back to where it was.
Your eyes and body brighten
Everything about you seems to light up my world.
Silent waters, deep
You seem calm on the outside, but there is a lot going on inside of you.
Your precious daughter in the other room, asleep
Your child is sleeping in the other room and is very important to you.
A kiss goodnight from every stranger that I meet
I seek comfort in strangers, because I am lonely and missing you.
Morning theft
The time of day when I am most likely to steal moments of clarity to think about my feelings.
Unpretender left
I am no longer pretending to be someone I am not.
Ungraceful
I am not handling the breakup well.
True self is what brought you here, to me
You were attracted to me because I was being my true self.
A place where we can accept this love
We need to find a place where we can both accept and express our love for each other.
Friendship battered down by useless history
Our friendship has been damaged by past events and mistakes that are now irrelevant.
Unexamined failure
We need to examine our past failures in order to move forward and fix our relationship.
But what am I still to you
I am not sure what my role is in your life anymore.
Some thief who stole from you?
Do you still see me as the person who hurt you?
Or, some fool drama queen whose chances were few?
Do you see me as someone who is overreacting and has no chance of getting back together with you?
That brings us to who we need
We need to figure out what is best for both of us.
A place where we can save
We need to find a place where we can work together to save our relationship.
A heart that beats as both siphon and reservoir
Our hearts need to be both a source and a recipient of love in order for our relationship to work.
You're a woman, I'm a calf
We are very different from each other.
You're a window, I'm a knife
Our relationship is very fragile right now and I am scared of hurting you.
We come together, making chance in the starlight
We have a unique and beautiful relationship that defies explanation.
Meet me tomorrow night, or any day you want
I am open to meeting up with you whenever and wherever you want.
I have no right to wonder, just how or when
I can't put any conditions or expectations on our relationship right now.
You know the meaning fits
You understand what I am trying to say.
There's no relief in this
I am struggling with these feelings and there is nothing that will make them go away.
I miss my beautiful friend
I miss being close to you and sharing our lives together.
I have to send it away, to bring her back again
I need to take time to fix myself so that I can have a healthier relationship with you in the future.
Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Written by: JEFF BUCKLEY
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@Raeyeyi
Lyrics:
Time takes care of the wound
So I can believe
You had so much to give
You thought I couldn't see
Gifts for boot heels to crush
Promises deceived
I had to send it away
To bring us back again
Your eyes and body brighten
Silent waters, deep
Your precious daughter in the
Other room, asleep
A kiss goodnight from every
Stranger that I meet
I had to send it away
To bring us back again
Morning theft
Unpretender left
Ungraceful
True self is what
Brought you here, to me
A place where we can
Accept this love
Friendship battered down by
Useless history
Unexamined failure
But what am I still to you
Some thief who stole from you?
Or, some fool drama queen
Whose chances were few?
That brings us to who we need
A place where we can save
A heart that beats as
Both siphon and reservoir
You're a woman, I'm a calf
You're a window, I'm a knife
We come together
Making chance in the starlight
Meet me tomorrow night
Or any day you want
I have no right to wonder
Just how, or when
You know the meaning fits
There's no relief in this
I miss my beautiful friend
I have to send it away
To bring her back again
Lol, helu jaan
@nanjingg
Time takes care of the wound
So I can believe
You had so much to give
You thought I couldn't see
Gifts for boot heels to crush
Promises deceived
I had to send it away
To bring us back again
Your eyes and body brighten
Silent waters, deep
Your precious daughter in the
Other room, asleep
A kiss "Goodnight" from every
Stranger that I meet
I had to send it away
To bring us back again
Morning theft
Unpretender left
Ungrateful
True self is what
Brought you here, to me
A place where we can
Accept this love
Friendship battered down by
Useless history
Unexamined failure
But what am I still to you
Some thief who stole from you?
Or, some fool drama queen
Whose chances were few?
That brings us to who we need
A place where we can save
A heart that beats as
Both siphon and reservoir
You're a woman, I'm a calf
You're a window, I'm a knife
We come together
Making chance in the starlight
Meet me tomorrow night
Or any day you want
I have no right to wonder
Just how, or when
You know the meaning fits
There's no relief in this
I miss my beautiful friend
I have to send it away
To bring her back again
@thewalrus5878
One of the most beautiful songs ever written.
@timedison6687
It's easily in my top three favourite songs of all time.
@congruentarmbar7577
one guitar & one voice - music and lyrics that are truly simpatico
@davidbattaglene6873
Certainly is
@raewhitewolf
The only artist that can still bring a tear to my eye just by the delicacy and beauty of his voice alone. I will never stop missing Jeff Buckley.
@Barcles_G
Up until 1:58, you're thinking- "this is the greatest thing i've ever heard". Then the drums kick in, and that little riff takes things to a whole new level. Possibly his greatest ever song. Perfect lyrics to gorgeous guitar.
@davidharvey8812
DG Barclay 😥
@FulvioVenanzini
Exactly.
@robwalkden1
And this was just a demo. It's simply sublime and heartbreaking.
@mazrio128
Definitely my favorite song ever written. And the thoughts of what could have been are my favorite thoughts ever. This song is a masterpiece. Jeff was a Genius. There will never be anyone who could hope to match this. You pick up the little things, like how his voice soars at certain points and the perfect melodies that sway and then come together into one of the most perfect crescendos these ears have ever heard.