Jeff Buckley gave us one excellent album, Grace. He died tragically in 1997 at the age of 30, the same age I was that year. I was fortunate to see him perform twice in Portland. I had the opportunity to meet him on his tour bus, but I declined due to the Sony rep's pushiness. I had no desire to bother this guy after he had just finished pouring so much energy into his show. Stupid record business with all the schmoozing and crap. I was pretty devastated by his death, as were many of my peers. He was definitely an artist I was looking forward to following for years to come.
Lilac Wine is a straight cover of Nina Simone's recording, actually the only other version I've heard so I don't know how it compares to others. It opens with Jeff's clean electric guitar and angelic voice. At the chorus at 1:08, cymbals shimmer and the guitar strums, accompanied by ethereal slide guitar. It is a song of heartache and woe, but the very end conveys a feeling of drunken bliss, thanks to the intoxicating effect of the wine.
Gone too soon! Grace is one of my all time favorites.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment! Yeah, a terrible loss. He was same age as me. Have you seen that movie about Jeff and Tim? I'm kind of afraid I won't like it so I've avoided it.
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