The journals and notebooks of Jeff Buckley, the late singer best-known for the definitive version of "Hallelujah" and his classic album Grace, including dozens of evocative photos of his personal effects and ephemera. In 1994, an artist named Jeff Buckley released Grace, his debut album. Hailed immediately by the likes of Bono, Jimmy Page, and Robert Plant, Buckley was a singer, guitarist, and writer of uncommon range, sensitivity, and power. The executives who signed him to Columbia Records saw Buckley as part of the label's legacy of enduring talents like Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, and Miles Davis--an artist for the ages. Three short years later, at the age of 30, Buckley tragically drowned in Memphis, but his legend and stature have only grown in the years since.
For much of his life, Buckley diligently kept journals chronicling his goals, inspirations, aspirations, and creative struggles. These diaries amount to one of the most insightful life chronicles any musical artist has left behind. Jeff Buckley: His Own Voice will mark the first-ever publication of Buckley's handwritten account of his journey. Combined with reproductions of other memorabilia--including letters, notes, and unpublished lyrics--the book will take readers and fans deep into Buckley's mind and life.
“how can people sit on a train and not notice each other? how can people resist the urge to connect somehow?…can people feel my eyes on them as I do theirs on me? do we all know that we’re here in this social prison system? why aren’t we more prepared to have more fun being human beings? will women ever outgrow the scars inflicted upon them by a world ruled by men? must my fantasies be stuck working overtime?…my hair looks like shit and i’m feeling embarrassed and ugly all-around.” oh jeff i love you
Truth be told, I have no idea how to rate this. It's a beautiful book and you can tell much care went into assembling it, but I did not enjoy it. At all. Turns out, it makes me super uncomfortable reading someone's notes to themselves when they're not here to sign off on them being made public, so I ended up just flipping through and skimming most of it. Photos of his books, music collection and equipment are beautifully shot and the obvious highlights for me, but overall it was impossible to shake how I would feel if I knew little pep talks and random thoughts I wrote to myself, let alone unfinished work I was still in the process of unraveling, wound up anywhere else besides the piece of paper I put them on. It's a well done collection that I'm sure many fans would absolutely love, but it just wasn't made for this secretive introvert.
I haven’t put a star rating on this because it’s not the type of book you can really slap a rating on like that.
I was conflicted for a long time as to whether or not I would buy and read His Own Voice, as this book is an absolute gift to fans but it’s obviously quite a controversial thing to do, to publish someone’s notebooks and diaries posthumously. From the incredibly candid tone, which includes stream-of-consciousness and internal debate, you can tell this is not writing Jeff ever thought would be made public. It’s the kind of diary you begin writing by taking a deep breath and thinking, “It’s fine, no one else is ever gonna read this except me.” However I think Browne and Guibert have handled the material sensitively; in my opinion, what they have chosen to share - while still very candid and revealing and putting Jeff in a very vulnerable position - is not too private to be intrusive. Sure, if I’d written what’s been published, I’d probably be embarrassed to have people read my pep talks and thought processes as I tried to figure out my purpose in life and re-centre myself around my artistic goals. But it never once took a turn for the “my armpits stink today” kind of personal (sorry for the random example lol).
Having finished it, I am glad to have read it and it’s certainly a book I’m going to hang onto and keep coming back to for quite a long time I think. One thing that really hit home while I was reading it was just how young he was. He may have died at 30, but his whole career, the first ideas for Grace, through Sin-é and recording the albums and the stress of Sony etc etc etc all happened when he was 23, 24, 25 and on - hardly much older than I am, and the same age as lots of my close family members. Jeff was just a kid. For some reason I didn’t realise that until reading this, and it makes him feel simultaneously all the closer and all the farther away for it. I didn’t know that I could be even more cut up about the fact he died so young and I will never get to see him perform, and yet somehow this book took me there.
I don’t need to go into why Jeff means so much to me - the only people likely to be reading reviews for this book on goodreads are other Jeff fanatics and everyone has their own backstory they can bring to the table, you don’t need to hear mine. But if you are, then you will most likely get something from reading this, so if you’re considering it, do it. I wouldn’t off the cuff recommend this to everyone for obvious reasons, but I do think a good job has been done of opening up a bit more of Jeff’s world for us while maintaining his (and his family and friends’) privacy.
The rest of my feelings about this book are between me and Jeff. 😎
Hunkered down in a café or on a bus or plane, a young man pulls a spiral-bound notebook from his bag and begins scribbling whatever thoughts come to mind. Out pour lists of chores, ideas for poems or love letters, silly doodles, or keen observations of his surroundings. When it's time to move on, he stuffs the pad back into his bag, where it will be retrieved another day for further jottings. Befitting someone who unfortunately didn't live to see the twenty-first century, Jeff Buckley was one of those diarists.
I grew up with Jeff Buckley’s voice filling my very own quiet corners, the early bus rides I used to take to school, and the late nights when I first learned what longing sounded like.
There’s something disarming about the way this book is assembled: fragments of notebooks, diary entries, stray thoughts that feel like they were meant to stay tucked in the dark for just a little longer. It’s overwhelming – in that way Jeff always was – because it’s him, unedited, unarmoured, and achingly human. You can almost hear the scratch of the pen, the breath between sentences, the hesitations he never actually showed onstage.
Still, reading it sometimes felt like watching a documentary instead of standing inside a story. The structure is factual, almost clinical in places – necessary, maybe, but not quite the way I like to be carried through someone’s history. I found myself craving more narrative stitching between the pieces, some warmth in the connective tissue (is it valid that I needed a little more song in the storytelling?).
But then you reach the notebook pages, the diary scraps, the little bursts of poetry that flare up unnoticed – and suddenly the whole thing becomes gold. They’re the closest we’ll ever get to sitting beside him while he works something out on paper, trying to catch a feeling before it evaporates.
(…) he fell into the light with his voice, his love of music-and his writings.
This was my reminder that that behind every haunting note of his was a restless and searching mind that didn’t always know where it was headed.
Normalt er jeg ikke så meget for at skrive reviews, men følte lige jeg var nødt til det her.
Dette er en fantastisk bog for alle med et forhold til Jeff Buckley’s musik. Den intimitet og personlige udfoldelse, som siver gennem hele bogen, skaber en viderunderlig indsigt i Jeff’s liv, og man føler sig virkelig beriget ift. hvem Jeff var, og hvad hans liv indebar. Hans artistiske vision og proces, som hver dag påvirkede hans væremåde, synes jeg især kommer tydeligt til udtryk.
Hans liv fremstår ekstremt gennemsyret af dyb melankoli, men bestemt også af en stor kærlighed for andre, men tydeligst for musikken. Man kan efter at have læst kunstnerens tanker omkring sin musik, ikke være i tvivl om, hvor vigtigt og altafgørende et aspekt det har været i hans liv. Forholdet mellem den anderkendte musiker, men fraværende far, Tim Buckley og sin søn, spiller også tydeligt en afgørende rolle for Jeff, og gennem kunstnerens journalindslag, mærker man det store savn, som Tim Buckley efterlod hos sin søn.
Journalindslagene, giver derudover også bogen en reel værdi for læsere uden stor kendskab til Jeff Buckley’s musik. Bogen mister helt klart følelse, men gennem Jeff’s poesi og tanker, får bogen også værdi uden for musikkendskabens afgrænsning. Musikerens søgen efter at finde sig selv, samt sin musik, er spændene og tankevækkende, om man så er fan eller ej.
Hvis man derimod kender musikken, er bogen et must-read for alle Buckley-entusiaster. Jeg tror derudover, at kendskab til musikteori beriger læseoplevelsen yderligere, eller måske er det kun grundet min egen mangel for forståelse for denne teori, at jeg tror det gør oplevelsen bedre. Måske mister musikken noget af sin mystik og magi, hvis man som læser kan afkode det hele.
Uanset hvad, synes jeg, at bogen er en helt igennem fantastisk måde, hvorved man som læser kan prøve at forstå en kunstner, der så tidligt, og på så dramatisk vis døde, og efterlod os uden klarhed og forståelse. Bogen her hjælper på at opnå den klarhed, og jeg tror konkret det er den største ros jeg kan give den. Læser helt klart den her igen en senere gang :) ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
it feels so eerie to rate someone’s life and personal diaries. i was pleased to realize that it was released by his mother whom he loved, and this feels less violating? either way jeff buckley was so real i wish he was real
Jeff. Jeff, jeff, jeff. Oh, Jeff. Dying to read your notes on everything and between. Thank you for showing us a glimpse inside his mind. Will cherish my copy.
i mean what can you feel after reading about a real person’s most vulnerable moments, thoughts and feelings? heart wrenchingly beautiful in the most realistic way. (still it was not comfortable at all— reading someone’s journal feels wrong in every way)
so difficult not to admire his spirit. his passion for music, for life overall is really contagious. i love high-spirited people. i love passionate musicians who pour everything in their music and refuse to get corrupted by the industry. i guess death takes people like him so early to protect them from the horrid world we live in.
Considering that I streamed 15.3 hours of “Lover, You Should’ve Come Over” over the course of 6 months, it was only necessary that I read the memoir of the man who redifined alternative music in the 90s through blending rock, alternative, and blues.
At first, I felt uncomfortable diving into the intimate thoughts and writings of Buckley. The book contains quite literally every step in his music journey — how his songs came to fruition, his inner doubts, and how he struggled creating a brand for himself knowing that the public placed him and his absent father Tim Buckley on the same pedestal. “I wanted to be his son, not his follower”, as Jeff explained.
As the book continued, the uncomfortableness wore off and I felt honored to have access to the unequivocally raw journals and stories of one of my favourite artists.
I enjoyed how the memoir had a good ratio of writings and pictures from his collections, it made the book more interactive and visual. I feel significantly more connected to his music after reading this, it was touching yet heartbreaking to read all his future plans and the standards he held himself to in order to accomplish his goals as a musician.
My only criticism is that I wish the book included details about his romance with Elizabeth Fraser, lead singer of the Cocteau Twins and the unreleased song they recorded together: “All Flowers In Time Bend Towards the Sun”. Otherwise, I loved reading this book and have a whole new appreciation for his music. Rest in peace :(
No clue how to rate this as it was mostly just reading personal journals and unfinished song lyrics. Delving into Jeff’s deep and personal thoughts was insightful of how intuitive and intimate he was though. He saw the world so beautifully, and wrote about it beautifully too. His words were like silk and gold and he managed to turn every day thoughts into poetry. It’s a tragedy that such talent has been taken away from the world. What a complex individual. This made me want to take down more of my personal thoughts, even if they aren’t perfectly coherent or organized.
It is with great privilege I can say I’ve interacted with such intimate and personal parts of Jeff’s life. At its core, this book is a guided walk through the innermost crevices of his mind. It needs no review, nor a rating for that matter, for this is the most legitimate literature accessible to us. The forbidden, tucked away pieces of ourselves intended only for ourselves. Read with caution, and with grace. Accept its honesty.
Did I read this entire book front to back in the middle of a Barnes and Noble? Yes. Am I still fascinated and enthralled with the wonderful artist that is Jeff Buckley? Yes. Did I scream along to Grace on the way home after this adventure? The answer is also Yes. This is how reading this book should be done.
I miss a man I have never met, and yet somehow this book makes me feel like I knew him. I like to think that he would enjoy the fact that I walked into a corporate store, read this entire book, and walked out without buying a thing.
What a privilege to read his wonderful ideas, pep talks to himself, plans for the future and eerie intuition, to witness his devotion to music, to see a mere fraction of his beautiful mind, his illuminated spirit. With grace.
It was very interesting to see his journals and song writing process, but I'm still left with so many questions. I think it would have been more effective to weave these journals into a biography with supplemental text from the people close to Mr. Buckley.
I could never attribute a rating to this book, simply because it would be like a Black Mirror episode come to life. I was quite frankly afraid to buy this book since it is a deep dive into Jeff’s mental state, pep talks, and inner turmoil - It felt intrusive and unfair for someone who never even was alive at the same time as him to read his most private thoughts. Nevertheless, upon reading the introduction from his mother and the care that David took when putting together this book, I couldn’t turn this opportunity down.
I first became aware of Jeff’s existence around a year ago (in Feb 2021) and I immediately fell in love with Grace; I soon delved deeper and deeper into projects he’d participated in and collaborations he’d done. I loved the rawness of the sound, the openness in the lyrics, and the powerful guitar-playing. It was truly, and utterly, mesmerising as an experience.
You get that exact same feeling when you read this book. You see his thought process as he develops his verses and choruses, as well as the little bits and bobs of happenings in his life that led to the ideas for his songs. His verse is… impeccable. There’s really no way of explaining it in any other way. He did attend poetry classes (and the little poems he made with his teacher’s comments were adorable to see) but it felt so personal to his own perspective and not at all fabricated from the expectations of what a poet should write about. Somehow, he finds a way to convey the troubles of life and the hopes for the future in such a palatable way that it is impossible to not resonate with.
It broke my heart at times, reading his pain in such detail that I could feel it myself, and some pages were just downright unreadable. Not in the sense that it was worded badly or filled with grammatical errors, it just felt too private I guess. I think that, in knowing how his story ends, I want to be as respectful as possible when dealing with his personal and private matters, and some things felt a little too out-there for my taste, but that doesn’t necessarily mean others shouldn’t read it, just be wary of the contents. An example of this I think would be his letter to Bob Dylan… too private man.
Other things were wonderful: little humorous poems and his book collection. As well as this, the photography of little trinkets from his life was really well-posed and photographed (well done :)).
I will hold this really dear to my heart for a long time. I don’t think I’ll ever let this go. Being able to listen to Jeff Buckley has been one of the best experiences of my life, and I hope others can experience this same sense of adoration for him (and if not, then any other musicians/bands) as much as I do.