Grace was Jeff Buckely’s only released album while he was alive. Perhaps there is no other artist who released just one album that has created such a timeless and profound impact. Buckley drowned during a spontaneous swim while fully clothed in a Memphis river. The story goes that he was singing Led Zeppelin's Whole Lotta Love while wading into the water. The sorrow in Grace is reflected in the tributes to Buckely’s departure. They continue to this day, ranging from Elizabeth’s Fraser’s Teardrop, Chris Cornell’s Wave Goodbye, Rufus Wainwright’s Want Two, and on. Although a cover song, Buckley’s devastating Hallelujah still made Rolling Stone’s list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time."
For this submission, the writer chooses Lover, You Should've Come Over. The song channels the heart’s ache and anguish for another, to get closer, know details exquisiteness, of another’s way, their movement, narrative, the push and pull of creative growth, while knowing that noone or thing can be completely known or kept. To love is to also grieve. A quote from Buckley:
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“Words are really beautiful, but they’re limited. Words are very male, very structured. But the voice is the netherworld, the darkness, where there’s nothing to hang onto. The voice comes from a part of you that just knows and expresses and is. I need to inhabit every bit of lyric, or else I can’t bring the song to you – or else it’s just words.”
To ache for a masculine or feminine counterpart is also within, explicated by Carl Jung’s Anima and Animus. Buckley describes this interplay beautifully in vocal expression. To recognize our counterpart within us is to move towards wholeness. In Lover, Buckley is caught between being too young to hold on but too old to break free and run, and realizing he has no one. In so doing, he is presented with a rite of passage, and revealed is just how deep his agony has seeped into his soul.
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"It's never over, my kingdom for a kiss upon her shoulder
It's never over, all my riches for her smiles when I slept so soft against her
It's never over, all my blood for the sweetness of her laughter
It's never over, she's the tear that hangs inside my soul forever."