A Bouquet of Melancholy: Behind Jeff Buckley’s Forgotten Masterpiece
17 years ago, Jeff Buckley drowned in the Mississippi River.
The virtuoso died young, leaving behind one album titled Grace and a potential second album called My Sweetheart the Drunk. The latter was eventually released with the added title “Sketches for…” — because it was indeed just a draft.
The album Grace was re-released as a “Legacy Edition” in 2004. It featured additional tracks like “Mama You Been on My Mind” (Bob Dylan) and MC5’s “Kick Out the Jams.”
However, one notable addition is one unreleased song: “Forget Her.”
This song was an old piece by Jeff. It was initially included as part of the album Grace. In fact, the Columbia executives (Jeff’s label) had pegged it as the leading single. At the last minute, however, Jeff Buckley felt the song was “too personal” and replaced it with “So Real.”
There’s no denying, though, that this song is poppish yet captivating at the same time. The bluesy minor tune paired with his angelic voice is one thing, but the beautiful lyrics are another. Jeff didn’t just write songs; he crafted pieces of heartbreak and bouquets of melancholy for the entire world.
To this day, I still get choked up every time I listen to it. I mean, what kind of sorrow leads someone to write a chorus like “She was heartache from the moment that you met her”?
As if that wasn’t enough, he continues his heartache in the second verse:
“Her love is a rose, pale and dying
Dropping her petals in land unknown
All full of wine, the world before her
Was sober with no place to go.”
While hundreds of love songs use roses as a metaphor for beauty, Jeff Buckley saw them as symbols of impermanence. Love that once bloomed now withers towards its demise. Its petals are lost, flying towards nowhere, pursued by a world that’s lost its way.
Damn! If this isn’t the best broken-heart song ever, I don’t know what is.
-KMPL-