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).
Strange Street Affair Under Blue
Tim Buckley Lyrics
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Waiting for the touch of man
Clutching with your blackened gloves
You try to capture all the doves
That flee into
The forest before you
You wish to catch and cage me now
Hard it was to say the names
Of mirror dreams and cheated games
And on the wall
You framed your first lover
Your form intrigues me with the glow
I'll remember you I know
Though I forgot to lock the chain
Around you with a prayer for rain
To bring the call
To drive you back into my bed
Ahhh...
She turns away
Telling me to follow for a while
Ahhh...
She waits
You'd be touched if you would touch
But you only reach and taunt
Will my taste stay grey and blue
If I try to turn from you
In "Strange Street Affair Under Blue," Tim Buckley sings about a woman who is desperately seeking love and affection. He uses beautiful imagery to describe her futile attempts at capturing the object of her affections, "clutching with your blackened gloves, you try to capture all the doves that flee into the forest before you." The woman seems to be obsessed with the singer, trying to capture his attention and keep him close, even if it means caging him like one of her doves. However, the singer is cautious, wondering if he will be trapped like her previous lovers, whose pictures she has framed on her wall.
The singer is entranced by the woman's beauty but also aware of her manipulations. He laments that she only teases him and doesn't actually return his affections, "you'd be touched if you would touch, but you only reach and taunt." The song ends with the woman telling the singer to follow her, hopeful that he will finally give into her advances.
Overall, the lyrics paint a picture of a complicated and tense relationship, where one character is desperately trying to hold onto love while the other is cautious and wary. It's a beautiful and complex exploration of the ways in which people try to hold onto others and connect with them.
Line by Line Meaning
Just for you with your open hands
This song is dedicated to a certain individual with open hands.
Waiting for the touch of man
The person with open hands is waiting for a man's touch.
Clutching with your blackened gloves
The individual tries to capture doves with black gloves.
You try to capture all the doves
The person is trying to catch all the doves in the area.
That flee into The forest before you
The doves escape into the forest just before the person can catch them.
You wish to catch and cage me now
The person wants to capture and cage the singer.
I wonder if you remember how
The singer thinks if the person remembers how hard it was to say the names.
Hard it was to say the names
The names were difficult to say.
Of mirror dreams and cheated games
The difficult names were related to mirror dreams and cheated games.
And on the wall You framed your first lover
The person framed a picture of their first lover on the wall.
Your form intrigues me with the glow
The person's form, or shape, is interesting to the singer and has a glow about it.
I'll remember you I know
The singer will remember the person.
Though I forgot to lock the chain
The singer forgot to lock a chain.
Around you with a prayer for rain
The singer was going to chain the person and pray for rain.
To bring the call
The rain was intended to call the person back to the singer's bed.
To drive you back into my bed
The rain was intended to bring the person back to the singer's bed.
Ah ah ah...
Vocalization of the singer.
She turns away Telling me to follow for a while
The person turns away and tells the singer to follow for a while.
Ah ah ah...
Vocalization of the singer.
She waits
The person waits.
You'd be touched if you would touch
If the person touched the singer back, they would understand their touch too.
But you only reach and taunt
The person only reaches and taunts the singer.
Will my taste stay grey and blue
The singer wonders if they will be left unsatisfied if they try to move on without the person's touch.
If I try to turn from you
If the singer tries to move on from the person.
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Written by: LARRY BECKETT, TIM BUCKLEY
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind