Timothy Charles Buckley III (February 14, 1947 – June 29, 1975) was an expe… Read Full Bio ↴Timothy Charles Buckley III (February 14, 1947 – June 29, 1975) was an experimental vocalist and performer who incorporated jazz, psychedelia, funk, soul, and avant-garde rock, in a short career spanning the late 1960s and early 1970s, ending with his death at age 28 from an alcohol-heroin overdose.

Buckley often regarded his tenor voice as an instrument, a talent most noticeable on his albums Happy Sad, Lorca, and Starsailor. His first marriage was to Mary Guibert, with whom he had a child, musician Jeff Buckley. They divorced in 1968 and after this Buckley would meet with his son only once more. Buckley married second wife Judy Brejot Sutcliffe in 1970 and adopted her son, Taylor.

Born in Washington DC, Buckley,an Irish-American, lived for 10 years in Amsterdam, New York, before moving to southern California, initially to Bell Gardens and later settling in Anaheim in 1965. His experiences with music were through his family, artists such as Billie Holiday, Frank Sinatra and Judy Garland being particular favorites in the household. During his childhood, Buckley was a fan of Johnny Cash, Hank Williams, Nat King Cole and Miles Davis, although country music was his foremost passion. Reflecting this, at the age of 11 Buckley learned how to play the banjo, an instrument which his mother had bought to occupy him following a bout of mumps. He attended Loara High School in Anaheim, California, and, amongst others, made friends with Don Gordon, Larry Beckett, Jim Fielder (original member of Blood, Sweat & Tears) and future wife, Mary Guibert. He was an accomplished high school athlete, becoming a quarterback for the school team in addition to getting a place on the baseball team. During this period playing as quarterback, Buckley broke the first two fingers on his left hand but they never fully returned to normal and made guitar playing more difficult. At the age of 15, Buckley abandoned the banjo and moved on to the guitar, playing with Princess Ramona & The Cherokee Riders, a country and western band. However, the lead singer saw Buckley was uninterested and instead suggested he apply himself to the emerging 1960's folk scene.

Buckley's career began with his 1966 debut Tim Buckley, its mix of pop and folk rock drawing on popular influences of the time. His popularity peaked with second album Goodbye and Hello, a more mature record with avant-garde influences and political sentiments. In the three years that followed Buckley was at his most prolific and experimental, producing four albums of varying styles. Happy Sad and Blue Afternoon showed Buckley's folk roots while Lorca veered to more avant-garde styles. The final album of this period, Starsailor, is a mix of jazz, funk and avant-garde styles, representing his continual evolution in genre. This period, while garnering some critical success, proved disastrous for his record sales as the disparity of his styles caused his fan-base to all but disappear.

Following this Buckley changed genres again, with 1972 release Greetings from L.A., which incorporated the funk, rhythm and blues and soul sounds of the early 1970s in to his music. However, this release and the following album Sefronia did not match up to the success of his previous work. In 1974, having alienated much of his fan-base and squandered money made at his peak, Buckley released Look at the Fool, which was neither well received by the public nor the majority of critics. By this point Buckley had grown disillusioned with the music industry and his drug abuse of the past seven years had affected him.

In spite of this, in early 1975, desperate for musical recognition and an escape from poverty and obscurity, Buckley dropped his drug dependencies and engaged the musical press regarding a live album comeback. Buckley began performing material drawn from his whole career as a response to the desires of his audience, desires he had always spurned in the past. However, Buckley relapsed and on June 28, 1975, he overdosed on heroin. His wife Judy, having earlier put him in bed, was unable to rouse him and paramedics pronounced him dead on arrival. He was 28 years old and was survived by his wife and adopted son Taylor, and his biological son, Jeff (who also died at a young age).

Monterey
Tim Buckley Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

Under a loop of stars in the vulgar cold
The dead airport lay
By the pebbles of the highway
Through the snail clouds
You soared to your lover
I hurried away my darling
With a howl in my throat.

Hiding inside the weeds
In the orange grove,
The black rooster crowed
Through the hollow of the midnight.

With my shot blood,
With stains on my fingers,

I run with the damned, my darling:
They have taught me to laugh

Overall Meaning

The lyrics to Tim Buckley's song "Monterey" describe a scene of desolation and hopelessness. The setting is at an abandoned airport, where the singer is standing under the stars in the cold. He is with his lover but has to leave her behind, causing him to howl in his throat. The imagery of the "snail clouds" creates a feeling of being trapped and unable to escape. As the singer runs away, he hides among the weeds in an orange grove, where a black rooster is crowing. The midnight is hollow and empty, highlighting the feeling of emptiness and futility. The singer's hands are stained with blood, indicating that he may have been involved in something violent, and he is now running with the damned, laughing at the absurdity of it all.

The song is a reflection of the countercultural movement of the 1960s, where there was a disillusionment with mainstream society and a desire to break free from societal norms. The abandoned airport reflects the decay of modern society, while the black rooster symbolizes the rebellion against the established social order. The singer's laughter in the end represents a refusal to take life too seriously and a willingness to embrace the chaos and unpredictability of existence.

Line by Line Meaning

Under a loop of stars in the vulgar cold
In the frigid air under a sky filled with constellations

The dead airport lay
The abandoned airstrip was lifeless

By the pebbles of the highway
Beside the stones along the road

Through the snail clouds
Navigating through the thick, slow-moving fog

You soared to your lover
You ascended to meet your partner

I hurried away my darling
I left quickly without you, my love

With a howl in my throat.
Emoting with a loud cry as I departed

Hiding inside the weeds
Concealed within the grass

In the orange grove,
Amidst the citrus trees

The black rooster crowed
The dark-feathered rooster called out

Through the hollow of the midnight.
Echoing into the empty darkness of the night