A Letter to Bob Dylan
Written by Jeff Buckley
Live Released
Written by Jeff Buckley
Live Released
| Lyrics: Dear Bob, I don't know how to start. Last saturday my man Steve Berkowitz broke it to me that you were told of something I'd said from the stage and that you'd felt insulted. I need you to listen to me: I have no way of knowing how my words were translated to you, if their whole meaning and context were intact, but the truth is, I was off on a tangent, on a stage, my mind going were to goes, trying to by funny, and I fucked up. I really fucked up. And the worst of it is that your boys were at the gig to hear it - It doesn't really bother me. It just kills me to know that whatever they told you is what you think I think of you. Not that I love you. Not that I've always listened to you, and carried the music with me wherever I go. Not that I believe in you. and also that your show was great. It was only the Supper Club crowd that I was cynical about, and that's what I was trying to get at when I said what I said, and I'm sorry that I'll never get another first impression. You were really gracious to me, to even allow me backstage to meet you. I'll never forget you, [and] What you told me - you said 'Make a good record man', and I'm very honored to have meet you at all. I'm only sad that I didn't get to tell you before all this intrigue. The intrigue is not the truth. Lots of eyes will read this letter before it gets to you Bob, which I accept. Some day you'll know exactly what i mean, man to man. Always be well, Jeff Buckley. | Notes: This poem reading was recorded in 1993 at a Poetry Event. It appears on the CD that accompanies the book titled 'The Spoken Word Revolution Redux'. Below is a quote regarding the origin of the letter: 'At almost the exact time as he secured a record deal, Jeff managed the potentially career-threatening feat of being seen to 'diss' labelmate Bob Dylan. 'I was at A Hole In The Wall in New York, and I'd seen Dylan the night before,' he revealed. 'So I did an impression of him singing I Want You. I did an impression of him singing Grace. I talked about how he sailed through some songs and was brilliant on others. People were shouting 'But he's still got it, right?' And I'm going: 'No. This is not Blonde On Blonde. This is him now. You guys are living in the past.' In the audience were Bob Dylan's manager, his assistant manager and his best friend. 'Man the next day I was in Tompkins Square Park, staring at the ground with the snow falling, wishing I was never born. My A&R man was saying, 'Well, Bob feels dissed.' But I really didn't... I just... loved him so much I sent him up.' Buckley wrote a personal apology - and then when Grace came out, critics hailed the 'new Bob Dylan'. ' -- (Interview, Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 1994) |
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93-12-?? ?, New York City, NY, America |