In the May 2nd. edition (1998) of the British music mag “NME” there´s a elaborate
piece on Jeff Buckley, titled : “Goodbye...And Hello, Jeff Buckley
Remembered”. In it our beloved entertainer speaks his mind on Buckey and
his music:


Elvis Costello:

“In 1995 I was the musical director of a festival at the London South Bank,
and I was looking for voices that I liked, doing music that they wouldn´t
usually do. It was clear from Jeff doing Benjamin Britten´s “Corpus
Christi” on his record that he´d be the ideal man to come and surprise
everybody, and work with musicians that he wouldn´t normally work with. We
had a closing concert which was called “Glad To Be Unhappy”, and people
could do whatever song they felt would fit under that title. Jeff came up
with some amazing ideas. I think the thing that´s so fascinating about him
were the choices that he made - apart from what he wrote. He´d suddenly say
he wanted to do something, and I´d say :“Jeff, it´s ten minutes long. And
it´s in German....”. But he´d just learn it. Like he´d do those Nusrat
Fateh Ali Kahn things. I´m pretty certain he didn´t speak the language, but
his ear was so tuned to sound, he could pick it up and create a really
incredible version. He was really ready to do this song by Mahler and I had
to try to dissuade him, not because I didn´t believe he could do it, but
because I was afraid the other musicians would be terrified by the notion”

“I went to the (second) memorial. Jeff´s family invited me and said he
would have like to have me there, but everyone was so inside out and torn
up, and at first I didn´t feel I knew him well enough to justify being
there with his family and band and people who saw him every day. But
Marianne Faithfull and I sang some songs that we thought he would like,
which gave everyone some breathing space, and I think that in doing that we
did our job as friends. “

“I know that the release of “Sketches For My Sweetheart, The Drunk” is very
difficult. It´s still such a raw time for his mother, the band members and
the record company. I know that they went back and forth about whether or
not the material should be released, but it´s all we´ve got. And I love it!!
 I even like the Genesis cover (“Back in New York City” from 1974´s “The
Lamb Lies Down On Broadway”). Can you imagine how much he must have loved
that record in order to learn it? It shows so much about his curiosity.
He´s the only singer who can do that sexy rock and roll without making me
embarrassed to listen to it. When he does “Yard Full Of Blonde Girls” it
makes me want to laugh, whereas if you think of some metal guys doing it
you just want to look away. Some of the songs are very rough, but the
singing is still so amazing. When you listen past all the distortions and
all the conflict that´s going on, there are such beautiful melodies. Even
though he was struggling with what he wanted to do, I´d rather hear the
unfinished pieces than nothing at all. I don´t think there´s anything that
does a disservice to him. We should just accept what ended up on tape, now
he isn´t around to say how he intended things to come out. I feel that the
joy and the beauty that´s in the music is the thing to concentrate on and
remember.”