thinking about Jeff Buckley

teen girls love you Jeff Buckley!

Today, I am thinking about Jeff Buckley, as I end up doing most days. I recently found myself in a Reddit forum under a question that a fellow Redditor had asked. Something along the lines of them not understanding why teenage/young women liked/connected with Jeff Buckley so much. The responses to this question all sounded to the tone of older men undermining women’s (girls) ability to comprehend music as monumental as Buckley’s Grace album. Some comments also talked about how teen girls probably only like Jeff because of his looks.. (not once has this occurred to me ever while listening to his music.) This genre of men tends to be the music snobs who think no one other than them understands the complexity of whatever music artist they are interested in at that moment. While I may not have been alive when Grace was released or even alive to see its impact as Buckley’s only non-posthumous work, that doesn’t mean I (a teenage girl) am incapable of appreciating some great music!

I discovered this album around my senior year of high school, a time in my life when I really had no direction as to what I wanted in life or career or school-wise, as many do at that age. I was in a relationship that would go on to last almost three years, and while I couldn’t relate to the heartbreak elements of the album at that time, I find them relatable and comforting now, post-breakup, more than ever. Listening to especially Last Goodbye and Lover, You Should've Come Over repeatedly, many times over and over again has made me fall in love with the album just as I did when I first discovered it. I think Last Goodbye is possibly the best song ever, like ever made, produced, engineered, and…… sung. Jeff’s voice and vocals are just so raw and emotional, which really makes the entire song for me. His voice, also paired with how insanely good the lyrics are, is like WOW. I can't even really pinpoint the exact factor that makes this song really special to me because I don’t really know how to talk about music in that way, but I just think it's really awesome, lol. Some of my favorite parts/lyrics:

“Must I dream and always see your face?/Why can’t we overcome this wall?/Baby, maybe it’s just because I didn’t know you at all.”

“Kiss me, please kiss me/Kiss me out of desire baby, not consolation”

But also really just the entire song.

Recently, I also watched the Netflix show One Day, which featured Lilac Wine from the album in the last episode. The portrayal and use of this song in the context of the show were absolutely gut-wrenching and brought out more emotion in me than I thought was capable of a Netflix original series. Let me talk about this song for a second.. because wtf Jeff… While I do know that this is a cover of a song written by some guy and then covered by Nina Simone (which is the cover that Jeff based his cover on), I think Jeff does it best. I did listen to Nina Simone’s version after I had already heard (and fell in love with) Jeff’s version, so I am probably biased. The guitar and the little shakey snare drum kinda thing that comes in at 1:08 is just- I don’t even know how to articulate it. It is shocking to the core. The use of it in the show is also very fitting so that’s probably why it evoked such a response out of me. Here are my favorite lyrics:

“I drink much more than I ought to drink/Because it brings me back you”

LILAAC WWWIIINNEEE

I think the point I am trying to make is that this album (like many others) has continued to resonate with me and sneak up on me in many ways, most unexpected. I also think that teenage girls are actually capable of relating to music that old stinky men think is out of our bandwidth of intelligence… SHOCKER! Not that I am an all-knowing music listener/consumer, but I do think that it is rare to find male musicians who can portray their feelings in music in such a vivid and picturesque way but also with beautiful, meaningful, and yet easy-to-understand lyrics. He kinda just lays it all out on the table in this album and does it in a super intelligent and well-articulated way. I could write about him/this album for eons more and might even make a separate post about Lover, You Should’ve Come Over, but I think I wrote enough for now.

Jeff Buckley, you are loved by many teenage girls in the year 2024. Thank you for naming your album after me (≧▽≦). It really is never over; may you rest.

Your Favorite Fangirl,

Grace.