Jeff Buckley Hallelujah

'Jeff Buckley was a pure drop in an ocean of noise.' – Bono

It was his take on John Cale's cover version of Leonard Cohen's song 'Hallelujah' that made the number famous and his album – Grace – that caused everyone from Led Zeppelin and U2 to Radiohead and Coldplay to look up to Buckley as an illuminating spirit. But who was the man behind the music?

Buckley’s many personal letters are revealed for the first time. His struggle with writers block is explored, as is his ongoing battles with the concept of stardom, his desire for escape and the attempts to deal with the unavoidable legacy of his equally gifted father, Tim Buckley.

In A Pure Drop, his friends, peers, enemies, lovers and collaborators all speak of the Jeff Buckley they knew, or in some cases, they thought they knew.

Jeff Buckley: Una goccia pura in un oceano di rumore

Jeff Apter

Uno charming man capace di incantare il pubblico, un musicista eclettico, un punk affascinato da voci femminili senza tempo, come quelle di Billie Holiday e Nina Simone, dall’energia dei Led Zeppelin e dalla sfrontatezza dei Dead Kennedys, un artista in costante conflitto con le logiche di mercato imposte dai discografici. Uno sperimentatore curioso, un chitarrista timido e talentuoso che un giorno, per la meraviglia dei presenti, illumina e scalda la sala di un piccolo club dell’East Village newyorkese con la sua voce potente e pura, dai registri ampissimi. Un figlio d’arte, di un padre zingaro dall’anima inquieta che abbandonerà lui e sua madre e che Jeff incontrerà solo un paio di volte, imparando a conoscerlo e amarlo attraverso le sue canzoni. Un padre, Tim Buckley, da cui erediterà una voce fuori dal comune, e di cui condividerà la fine tragica e prematura. Un disco di Culto, GRACE, che da solo basta ad annoverare Jeff Buckley tra i musicisti più stimati e compianti della storia del rock. Una figura a tratti controversa, di cui Jeff Apter riesce a far emergere il lato più solare e sconosciuto, grazie alle testimonianze di amici e collaboratori raccolte in più di due anni di ricerche. In questa biografia Apter affronta, indaga, racconta la storia del cantautore californiano a più di dieci anni dalla sua tragica scomparsa, ma il retaggio di Jeff nel mondo della musica è vivo e attuale: riecheggia nelle canzoni dei Radiohead, Coldplay, Muse, nell’universalità della sua versione di Hallelujah di Leonard Cohen, nella devozione mistica che gli riservano musicisti, affermati e no, in ogni angolo del pianeta.

The Holy or the Broken: Leonard Cohen, Jeff Buckley, and the Unlikely Ascent of "Hallelujah"

Alan Light

“A venerated creator. An adored, tragic interpreter. An uncomplicated, memorable melody. Ambiguous, evocative words. Faith and uncertainty. Pain and pleasure.”

Today, “Hallelujah” is one of the most-performed rock songs in history. It has become a staple of movies and television shows as diverse as Shrek and The West Wing, of tribute videos and telethons. It has been covered by hundreds of artists, including Bob Dylan, U2, Justin Timberlake, and k.d. lang, and it is played every year at countless events—both sacred and secular—around the world.

Yet when music legend Leonard Cohen first wrote and recorded “Hallelujah,” it was for an album rejected by his longtime record label. Ten years later, charismatic newcomer Jeff Buckley reimagined the song for his much-anticipated debut album, Grace. Three years after that, Buckley would be dead, his album largely unknown, and “Hallelujah” still unreleased as a single. After two such commercially disappointing outings, how did one obscure song become an international anthem for human triumph and tragedy, a song each successive generation seems to feel they have discovered and claimed as uniquely their own?

Through in-depth interviews with its interpreters and the key figures who were actually there for its original recordings, acclaimed music journalist Alan Light follows the improbable journey of “Hallelujah” straight to the heart of popular culture. The Holy or the Broken gives insight into how great songs come to be, how they come to be listened to, and how they can be forever reinterpreted.

101 Acoustic Hits For Buskers

Wise Publications

The Buskers series returns with 101 acoustic classics by artists ranging from the Beatles and Joan Baez to KT Tunstall and Jeff Buckley. All songs are arranged with melody line, complete lyrics and guitar chord boxes, guaranteed to make your pub set, busking or party performance a hit with all.

The setlist includes:

- American Pie [Don Mclean]
- Angels [Robbie Williams]
- Angie [The Rolling Stones]
- Blowin' In The Wind [Bob Dylan]
- Brown Eyed Girl [Van Morrison]
- California Dreaming [The Mamas And The Papas]
- Crazy [Patsy Cline]
- Father And Son [Cat Stevens]
- Hallelujah [Jeff Buckley]
- Hey Jude [The Beatles]
- I Walk The Line [Johnny Cash]
- Jolene [Dolly Parton]
- Let There Be Love [Oasis]
- Lover, You Should've Come Over [Jeff Buckley]
- Maggie May [Rod Stewart]
- No Woman, No Cry [Bob Marley]
- That's Entertainment [The Jam]
- The Closest Thing To Crazy [Melua, Katie]
- The Sound Of Silence [Simon And Garfunkel]
- There She Goes [The La's]
- Until It's Time For You To Go [Buffy Sainte-Marie]
- What A Wonderful World [Louis Armstrong]
- Yellow [Coldplay]

And many, many more!

Jeff Buckley: From Hallelujah to the Last Goodbye

Dave Lory

For the first time since Jeff Buckley’s untimely death on May 29, 1997, Dave Lory reveals what it was like to work alongside one of rock’s most celebrated and influential artists. Go on the road and behind the scenes with Buckley, from his electrifying first solo shows in New York to the difficult sessions for the second album he never completed.

Lory opens up about their struggles with the record label and trouble with the band, shares previously untold stories and describes fascinating scenes that only he witnessed, including what went down in the days immediately after getting that fateful call, “Jeff is missing.”