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1. What was the relationship between Jeff and his biological father Tim Buckley?
-
Songwriters Musepaper/LASS
- AV
- What about your father? What sort of relationship did you have with him?
- JB
- Musically? Not any. I did, but I don't own any of his records have a very, very, very intimate understanding of everything...I had
to. There was a time when I was probably 19 or 20 when I felt like I didn't need to know, and then things started coming after me in my
head. And then I just had to try to understand. But I'm not ready to communicate that right now. But the thing is, I came into music
completely when I was born and fell in love with it and it became my mother and my father and my playmate when I was really young, when I
had nothing. No, it wasn't him. I met him one time, and a couple months later he died. But between that he never wrote and never called
and I didn't even get invited to the funeral. There's just no connection, really. I'm sure people will fill in the blanks and make up the
kind of myth that they want to. I wish I did get to talk to him a lot. We went out a couple of times. Robert Plant and Jimmy Page have
much more influence on me than he ever did.
Rolling Stone
The son also rises: Fighting the hype and the weight of his father's legend, Jeff Buckley finds his own voice on Grace
BEING THE SON OF A ROCK legend, even a cult figure, is a mixed blessing. Jeff Buckley knows that better than most. He's an
idiosyncratic, highly acclaimed 27-year-old singer/songwriter; in the '60's and '70s his late father, Tim Buckley, wove folk, jazz and
blues into his own distinct hybrid. At best, Jeff is ambivalent about the father he barely knew. Jeff becomes increasingly emotional when
he describes the event that placed him at the center of the New York music scene. In 1991 producer Hal Willner organized an all-star Tim
Buckley tribute concert at St. Ann's Church, in Brooklyn, N.Y. "See, I sacrificed something for my father's memory," Jeff says heatedly.
"Technically, the tribute will be seen as my debut in New York, which it really wasn't."
"It wasn't my work, it wasn't my life," Jeff recalls. "But it bothered me that I hadn't been to his funeral, that I've never been able
to tell him anything. I used that show to pay my last respects. There was also one song, 'Once I Was,' that I remember because my mother
played it for me when I was 5, when my stepfather was out of the house. So I sang this song, and a string broke at the very end, and I
had to finish it a cappella." Jeff pauses, adding softly, almost in a whisper, "I didn't sing it very well."
Much to Jeff's dismay, his father's fans insisted on comparing him, positively and negatively, to their idol. The cult around the
elder Buckley, who died in 1975, is particularly protective, and not without reason. Over nine albums during an eight-year career, Tim
Buckley ranged from psychedelic-folk experimentation to his own off-kilter brand ofblue-eyed soul.Entrancing audiences with emotionally
charged, bluesy performances,Tim's best material ran parallel to the evocative ramblings of JoniMitchell and Van Morrison, yet he added
his own distinctivewhimsy.
Tim Buckley fans may have overreacted, but there are deep musicalsimilarities between father and son: their eccentric and
commandinglyversatile vocal styles, just for starters. Both artists have also pursuedan affinity for odd instrumentation and fearless
experimentation; theresults are diaphanous, extended pieces that hover between genres.
TODAY, JEFF BUCKLEY IS QUICK TO ASSERT himself as an individual at timesmocking his father's oddball notoriety. "Sometimes he sounds
like the fucking Kingfish from Amos and Andy." Jeff suddenly bursting into a line from his father's soul-influenced late period: "I woke
up this morning...What the fuck is that? Every, every single day I've been loving you...What kind of bullshit is that? I never sound like
that....Gonna look between your toes...Fuck that shit. It's like you don't know if you're Tom Jones or Al Green, and the two mixed
together don't really sound that great...."
At the End of the Article, Jeff Says:
"I go to Tower Records and see all these lives in the bins," Buckley says hesitantly. "It's insane, a really emotional place. That's
why I spend so much time in record shops. All my life I tried to work in one, but they never accepted me, and now I'm in them! I got my
own ass staring at me, and it's like 'Oh, Jesus, why didn't you take me when I had the chance!'" As he looks out at the lush river
country hurtling by, Buckley drifts back to thinking about his father, the artist with whom he's destined to share shelf space.
"Separated all our lives, and now I'm right there in the bin next to him," he says. "His thing should stand on its own; so should mine.
Otherwise, how else could I bring honor to it?"
End of Quotes
Jeff seems to be becoming more and more defensive when asked The Tim Question by mulitudinous rock critics and journalists who
seem very much to blame for much of this, since they all can not seem to write two sentences about him, without referring to his lineage.
Many of them do not even take the time to say anything positive or negative about Tim, but just feel that they must make the
obligatory mention of it somehow; in these cases, they are exhuming poor Tim for no good reason. It is almost bizarre, in fact!
Maybe this Jeff/Tim issue will become less prominent as Jeff becomes increasingly established as a truly unique musician.
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2. Who is Jeff's Mother?
-
Jeff's mother is Mary Guibert, who is a classically trained pianist and cellist.
Mojo Magazine
"I'm actually the son of Mary Guibert," he says, pronouncing the French sounding surname softly. "My mother was born in the Panama
Canal zone, and came to America when she was five, with her family, my grandmother and grandfather; and that was the family I knew. My
uncle's name is George Guibert, and he sang - he was actually the first person I ever knew who was in a band. Everybody sang; everybody
loved music. It was just all around. My stepfather is a car mechanic, but he was always an inveterate record buyer, and to this day I
still have the bug, and my place is filled with records."
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3. How did Jeff come to work with the band members?
Is Jeff Buckley a solo performer or a group?
-
The other band members are :
- MICK GRONDAHL : Bass
- MATT JOHNSON : Drums
- MICHAEL TIGHE : Guitar
I like to call them The 3M's
Rolling Stone
Exhilarated by the evening's performances, Buckley later explains that the real impetus behind his solo performances was "to attract
the perfect band." Buckley's ideal musician, however, has little to do with virtuosic ability. The players Buckley has hired are relative
novices. Drummer Matt Johnson and bassist Mick Grondal had played New York clubs with a variety of little-known bands. Second guitarist
Michael Tighe, who co-wrote Grace's So Real, had never been in a group when Buckley snapped him up for a tour. "Jeff hates
the staleness of a session band," says Johnson. "He's seen a lot of that shit, those pretty singer/songwriters who go and hire the people
recommended by the producer or record people."
KASR Interview: Interviewer : Gayle Kelemen (G) from KASR (college radio station)
- G
- I was wondering what involvement they have with Jeff Buckley and if you guys are a solid group, with you doing, of
course, the singing, and alot of the lyric writing, how that makes you feel to be known as Jeff Buckley rather than a band
name.
- JB
- Yeah, that's very true. It's a good thing to address because it's a dilemma, because this is not the way I intended things to
be. When I was playing alone, finding a band, trying to find a band, or actually, I was just sitting still and letting them come to me. I
don't know how to prove to you that I thought that would work, but it did. I was, like, sending out a pheromone, and male moths come to
the female, and try to hump the female [laughter]. We're still humping.
- G
- Band member go to Jeff...
- JB[Going into his funny cartoon-character voice that he does so well]
- "I was magnetically drawn. I don't know. Who are you? Who
am I. Help me! Take me on tour." [more laughter] Well, I
got signed before I got my band. Rather than have anybody,
anybody besides me pick my band for me, I decided to stall
until I found the right people. So I stalled and I lied and I
said [going into yet another comedic voice] "Yeah things
together. I got people happening. I'm getting a little thing..."
Nothing was really happening, because I hadn't found anybody. So
finally Mickey walked up to me and he said he was interested in
playing, and we played for... We went back to my place about 2:00
in the morning and bang, he was the one, boom. Then Matty. The
first time we got together, we got the music for "Dream Brother."
He didn't even know who the hell I was. And boom, there it was.
So we had the trio and we recorded Grace. I'd always known
Michael throughout that whole time, daydreaming of having Michael
in the band. Michael is primarily an actor before, because he was
on the downtown theater scene, avant-garde, ever since he was
twelve, just acting in people's plays and shows and stuff. Then
around the time he was sixteen, he just picked up the guitar for
a play. He actually just picked up the guitar to do in a play,
and he just found that he liked it alot. Soon as you pick up a
guitar, you just tap into this whole back rock culture of guitar
players like from Son House to Muddy Waters to... Anyway, you
name it. I could just go on, but that's all I'll do. Those
are the people he totally fell in love, Mississippi John Hurt,
Howlin' Wolf and Robert Johnson. When we met, we immediately
bonded on those things. But he had never been in a band before,
and hadn't even been in a garage band, or anything. He'd
just gotten together with directors in plays. So he had a very,
very very different idea about music, very different. Usually
people come into a band and they're very musically ambitious in a way
that they'll be visibly seen doing their musical thing, or that
they'll... "We're just gonna get there and rock" or "We're gonna get up
there and blah blah blah,"which ain't bad, it's just there's so much
more to it. Also it's very hard to find a guitar player that's
rhythmically solid. His ideas that he comes up with just on his own are
beautiful. The first time he picked up my guitar, he
played the music to "So Real." It was disjointed and it wasn't
together, and it wasn't anything. Those are his tendencies, right
there. Those are his... Everything about his style is right there. I
made it into a song. If I didn't come along, it would have just been a
blob. So one day, during the auditions for the fourth member, I always
had him in the back of my mind. So I auditioned about nine guitar
players, and he was the ninth. Oh, no, he was, I forget, a lot of guitar players, and he was one of them. He was very scared and
he
didn't even have a proper cord; he had a cord about a foot long, which is not very long, and strap didn't work, so he had to sit down and
the jack was jiggling hanging out like a torn out eye socket. The rest of the guys that we auditioned had a alot of effects and they held
their chops together and were proficient players, but he had a rhythmic sense that sent us into a whole new thing. That's how I knew he
was
the fourth guy. So I'm especially proud of "So Real", for Michael, at least. So that's my band. So yeah, we come up with all kinds of
names. So I don't know. I'm not afraid of losing a "Jeff Buckley" fan. In the Beatles, everybody knew who John was. Everybody knows who
Nick Cave was in the Birthday Party. Everybody knows who Siouxsie is. Everybody knows who Angelo is, who King Buzzo is in the Melvins.
So, I
don't know. I'd love to get... If the right band name came up, it'd be cool. But make no mistake, even if you have a solo performer, if
the band sucks, they suck hard... and long... and deeply. I've seen Van Morrison's sucky, crappy, disgustingbands, and I've heard
recordings of him with good bands, and he's great. You can't have anything without a good band, anything. So, I guess together we all
comprise "Jeff Buckley." I'll give it up like women give up their last names for their husbands; I'll give it up my[cut in recording?] I
don't know, I still am. I'll have to make a decision. Something will come.
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4. What was Jeff's past working history with Gary Lucas
What was Lucas' involvement on Grace?
- Jeff met Gary Lucas at St. Ann's (NYC) Tim Buckley tribute concert in 1991.
New York Magazine
Hal Willer, the avant-garde producer who organized the tribute, didn't know what to expect when Jeff appeared for rehearsals. "But he
just absolutely had it," Willner says. "It's definitely a voice from Heaven."
Buckley stood out for other reasons. "There's a certain kind of downtown attitude, you're not supposed to show too much enthusiasm,"
says guitarist Gary Lucas, who accompanied Buckley on two songs. "In the middle of all these cool people acting very cool was Jeff, who
looked like an overexcited puppy."
Afterward, Lucas asked Buckley to join his band, Gods & Monsters. Lucas says the group was on the verge of a record deal, until
Buckley replaced the rhythm section just before an important date. The tension got worse when Buckley complained about Lucas's standing
near the front of the stage. "Jeff says, 'Even in the Rolling Stones, Keith stays behind Mick, ' Well, excuse me," Lucas says, "it's been
my band since 1989. I don't stand in the back." (Lucas and Buckley are on better terms now; two songs they co-wrote appear on
Grace.)...
Rolling Stone
Buckley's real entree into New York's music world, in fact, came shortly after the Tim Buckley tribute concert in early 1992.
Guitarist Gary Lucas (an ex-Captain Beef-Heart sideman) asked Jeff to join his avant-jam band Gods and Monsters, which included bassist
Tony Maimone (Pere Ubu) and drummer Anton Fier (the Golden Palominos). Lucas had encountered Jeff at the Tim Buckley show. "He was this
longhaired kid just bursting out of his skin," Lucas says, "making faces like he was going to explode, and I was immediately attracted to
that energy. I really felt he had a charisma."
That version of Gods and Monsters generated some record-company interest, and the band broke up promptly after two gigs. "There was an
issue as to whether I could play guitar," reports Buckley. "So I disbanded it to go on my own." Lucas was crushed for a long time; he'd
lost an ideal collaborator. Buckley continued their relationship: Lucas co-wrote "Mojo Pin" and the title track from Grace. "I've always
believed in him," Lucas says. "If they make him Elvis Presley, fine, he can handle it."
Hits Magazine
- Hits
- "What was working with Jeff Buckley like?"
- Gary Lucas
- "It was really an amazing collaboration. Jeff is one of the most talented people I've ever worked with. I met him working at a
tribute to his father's music at St. Ann's Church in the summer of 1991. [Producer] Hal Willner assembled a cast of so-called downtown
musicians. Richard Hell, Syd Straw and Robert Quine were there. Hal had mentioned that Tim Buckley had a son Jeff, and he invited him to
participate. He then asked me if I would be interested in hooking up and collaborating with him on his father's numbers. We were
introduced and I remember being really taken by his energy and enthusiasm. We got along so well; it was a dream. He had one of the most
amazing voices I'd ever heard. We did a couple of songs in the show, and they were really great. I did demos of the two songs that
appeared on his record that summer."
-
5. Is Live at Sin-e still officially available at record stores?
Is it still being printed?
-
It is hard to find for some reason, but is still in print. Search it out, because it is wonderful and essential solo electric
Jeff Buckley. His version of Van Morrison's "The Way Young Lovers Do" is just extraordinary!
About the hypothetical "Mojo Pin" CD
Leah (Leah923@aol.com) says :
It IS the Live at Sin-e single, (which has "mojo pin" as the first song). Which only contains four songs, yet is called a CD-5... The
selection number is 44K 77296
Kathie P. (snood@netcom.com) says :
I think this is just "Live at Sine". At the record store I work at we had it listed in our database as "Mojo Pin" too. Maybe when Sony
solicited the stores for it that was the original title or because it's sort of a single that's the title people used. At any rate the
number is the same as the Sine CD...
-
6. What is Peyote Radio Theatre?
What is on it?
- It is a 3-song radio promo that was released before Grace. It contains the Grace version of Mojo
Pin," an eerie, spacey version of "Dream Brother" called the "Nag Champa Mix," and the infamous "KangaRoo."
-
7. What is "KangaRoo"?
Why is it so different from Jeff's other songs?
-
"KangaRoo" is a Big Star song which Jeff and the guys have been performing as an extended live jam at almost every concert.
Songwriters Musepaper/LASS
- AV
- I hear a heavy Big Star influence. You do "Kangaroo" live. Was Alex Chilton a hero of yours?
- JB
- Why, wasn't he everybody's hero? You know how Alex was at the time? Complete mental breakdown in the studio. Absolutely. I cry every
time I hear it. It's so simple. It blows away everything I'll ever do.
Phoner Tape Transcription of Nov. 4, 1994 Interview For Rockin' On (a Japanese magazine):
Interviewer: Steve Harris
(Interpreter/Interviewer sharris@well.com)
- JB
- ...Some of them have been twelve minutes. It's hit and miss. Well, that's the whole point. It could happen, it could not. We don't
know what's going to go on. That's the thing with that song is we don't know what's going to happen ahead of time. I don't plan
that shit out. It's pure interaction. I'm leading it, and there might be some text I make up, or text that I've amassed over a few days,
or sometimes I don't sing at all. It's mostly, it's supposed to be Matty propelling the rhythm with the drums.
-
8. What is "Tongue"?
- "Tongue," which was released on the Japanese import single for "Last Goodbye," is a very long, spacey, ambient Brian Eno-esque piece
circa perhaps Music for Airports only rougher. It is similar in feel to spacey jams such as the "Nag Champa Mix" of "Dream
Brother" on PRT.
New York Magazine
"In John Sullivan's work-in-progress Sleepover (it's close to the final edit), teenagers do the two things they're best at: look for
love and find trouble. Music courtesy of folkie heartthrob Jeff Buckley. An Independents Night presentation at Lincoln Center on March
23, 1995."
We think that "Tongue" is on the soundtrack.
-
9. Why does Jeff cover so many songs?
-
New York Magazine
Buckley went solo and began his apprenticeship at Sin-e, becoming "cyberminstrel guy." In shows stretching to three hours, he assayed
Edith Piaf, Alex Chilton, Mahalia Jackson, Ride, Mose Allison. "I wanted to slip into the skin of really great songs," he says. "I wanted
to put myself through a new childhood, discover the basics of what I do."
Rolling Stone
The philosophical bent of Grace is balanced by more cover versions, of course. Both Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" and Nina Simone's
"Lilac Wine" pay homage to the originals and tap into Buckley's idiosyncratic sensibility, but he turns up his nose at the interpreter's
role. "I don't want to do any more covers," he says. "It's good to learn to make things your own, but the education's over. Grace is
putting a lot of things to rest."
-
10. Which version of "Hallelujah" does Jeff sing : Leonard Cohen's or John Cale's?
Who wrote the last two verses?
-
Jeff's version was inspired by John Cale's version of Leonard Cohen's song.
Last 2 verses of Hallelujah :
Verse #4 :
There was a time when you let me know
What's really going on below
But now you never show that to me do ya
But remember when
I moved in you
And the holy dove was moving too
And every breath we drew was Hallelujah
Verse #5 :
Well, maybe there's a God above
But all I've ever learned from love
Was how to shoot somebody who outdrew ya
It's not a cry
that you hear at night
It's not somebody who's seen the light
It's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah
Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah...
MUSICIAN Magazine JULY 1988:
[LC is discussing the nervous breakdown he had while writing I'm Your Man]
- Leonard Cohen
- "This mad period started with Various Positions I remember writing this song "Hallelujah"; I filled two notebooks with
the song, and I remember being on the floor of the Royalton Hotel, on the carpet in my underwear, banging my head on the floor and saying
"I can't finish this song." After I wrote the one version [from Various Postions], I wrote another version which I'm doing
now, which goes like this,
'Maybe I've been here before
I know this room I've walked this floor
I used to live alone
before I knew you.
I see a flag on the marble arch
But love is not a victory march
It's a cold and it's a broken
hallelujah.
There was a time you let me know
What's really going on below
But now you never show it to me do you?
I remember when I
moved in you
And the holy dove was moving too
And every breath we drew was hallelujah.
Maybe there's a God above
But all I ever learned from love
Was how to shoot at someone who outdrew you.
It's not a cry you
hear tonight
It's not a mystic who's seen the light
It's a cold and it's a broken hallelujah.'
That was the prototype of the defeat."
-
11. Whose version of "Lilac Wine" does Jeff sing?
-
Phoner Tape Transcription of Nov. 4, 1994 Interview For Rockin' On (a Japanese magazine):
Interviewer: Steve Harris
(Interpreter/Interviewer sharris@well.com)
- S
- Whose version of "Lilac Wine" did you first hear?
- JB
- I've only heard Nina Simone's.
- S
- Nina Simone's.
- JB
- And that's the only one that matters. There's one by Ertha Kitt. There's one by Elkie Brooks, which I've never, ever heard. There's
another one. But they've done it, but Nina does it best. That's the end all of it. That's the be all end all version. She's the
king.
- S
- Just wanted to get that straightened out.
- JB
- Yeah, I'm glad. I'm glad you asked, because everybody thinks it's their country's version.
- S [chuckles]
- I had heard it was Elkie Brooks' version.
- JB
- Eccch. No. All I know about her is that she used to be in a band called Vinegar Joe.
- S
- With Robert Palmer.
- JB
- With Robert Palmer? Now anybody who's in a fucking hippie band with Vinegar Joe can not hold a candle to Nina Simone.
- [S. laughs]
- JB
- I don't care who you are.
- S
- Good point.
- JB
- Mmm Mmm.
-
12. What is "Dream Brother" about?
-
Some people think "The one who left behind his name" is Tim Buckley. Jeff says he wrote it for a friend who was going wayward.
Dutch magazine OOR
- BK
- "The lyrics on "Dream brother" intrigue me," I continue imperturbably, "It could be a song about him (Tim)."
- JB
- "It's a song about a friend of mine, who led a rather excessive life, due to which he has lost the "callosity on his soul" (couldn't
find a proper translation here). He is in trouble. This song is for him. I know what self-destruction can lead to and I try to warn him.
But even I am one big hypocrite because when I called him up and told him about the song I'd written, that same night I took an overdose
of "hash" and woke up the next day feeling terrible. It is very hard not to give in to one's negative feelings. Life's a total
chaos."
-
13. Why are the songs on Grace all so sad about romantic relationships?
-
Phoner Tape Transcription of Nov. 4, 1994 Interview For Rockin' On (a Japanese magazine)
Interviewer: Steve Harris
(Interpreter/Interviewer sharris@well.com)
- S
- How about your lyrics? Are they your take on reality, or is it more a fantasy thing? What are we to make of your lyrics?
- JB
- That's my life. My life is fuel for my poetry, or my lyrics, poetry.
- S
- So that's your life in there?
- JB
- Of course, or else I wouldn't be able to fill them with any blood, any life. I wouldn't. Even things that are... I don't think I've
ever made anything. Oh. It's a weird balance between... It's not autobiographical? I make it so it can live in different parts of
my life, so it's open, but it's not specific to a gender or identity. It's just specific to an experience of life. That's what it
is.
- S
- I guess people can translate it as they please.
- JB
- They can. Yeah. They can...
- S
- Interpret it as they please, I should say.
- JB
- Yeah. As they need.
Dutch magazine OOR
- BK
- How important are the lyrics anyway?"
- JB
- "You can listen to my songs solely for the sound or you can go deeper into them. Both are okay. To me it's important what I'm saying.
If a lyric doesn't mean a thing to me, I can't sing it. Music, lyrics, voice and rhythm are equally as important."
- BK
- There are remarkably many lovesongs on the album.
- JB
- I'm a rather romantic type.
- BK
- Especially with the longlasting "Lover you should come over" he reaches great heights as a troubadour of love. It is also a song
about ageing, I fancy to derive. Jeff agrees with me on this:
- JB
- "It's not about ageing as a chronological fact, but more in the sense of gaining experience. You can sometimes gain experience in a
very short time and age fast in that way as well. Sometimes I feel very old. I already felt like that at high-school. I sometimes felt
like an outsider, too old for my age. Leaving things behind and accepting you're somewhere else, thats what growing up means, according
to me. The advantages are enormous because you can let go of things that are of no use to you. Someone's age forms a shield towards his
youth. In that way someone can get older and yet still stay young. Picasso always tried to keep in touch with his inner child. If you
don't do that, you'll eventually lose hold on yourself and slowly pine away. Or you can get completely deranged and kill yourself. It's
very important to understand this." (deep sigh)
-
14. Why do all the Grace song titles seem to deal with Christianity?
-
Dutch magazine OOR
- BK
- "Grace" contains 10 songs, from which 3 are remarkable "covers", Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah", Nina Simone's "Lilac Wine" and "Corpus
Christi Carol", written by the classical com[poser Benjamin Britten. Although 2 of these songs suggest some religious association, Jeff
denies there is a "reli-hang-up".
- JB
- "Whoever listens carefully to "Hallelujah" will discover that it is a song about sex, about love, about life on earth. The hallelujah
is not a homage to a worshipped person, idol or god, but the hallelujah of the orgasm. It's an ode to life and love. The "Carol" is a
fairytale about a falcon who takes the beloved of the singer to an orchard. The singer goes looking for her and arrives at a chamber
where his beloved lies next to a bleeding knight and a tomb with Christ's body in it. My friend Roy introduced me to the song when I was
still in high-school and now I'm singing it for him."
-
15. Why is there so much emphasis on Jeff's good looks and how does that affect the fact that he is a very serious
musician?
- Well, granted, he is good-looking. But many of us were drawn to him due to his seriously amazing vocals, beautiful music, and
wonderful live performances! That is what matters.
-
16. Why is Jeff Buckley more popular in Europe than in the U.S.?
- Possibly because it is easier to "Break" in Europe because the countriesare smaller compared to the United States, and each country
usually has afew stations and music magazines that are very influential. So if thesecountries are exposed to an artist, the artist will
spread more quicklythan in the U.S.
-
17. Why doesn't Jeff include the lyrics in his cds?
- We wanna know. But they are included in English in the Japanese pressingof Grace.
-
18. Why did Jeff wish his lyrics not to be translated into foreign languages?
-
Phoner Tape Transcription of Nov. 4, 1994 Interview For Rockin' On (a Japanese magazine)
Interviewer : Steve Harris
(Interpreter/Interviewer sharris@well.com)
- S
- I've never seen this before. On your Japanese pressing, it has the English lyrics, and it doesn't have...
- JB
- Oh, yeah
- S
- It doesn't have the Japanese translation. It says by your wishes, you didn't want it in there.
- JB
- Yeah, because it wouldn't be accurate.
- S
- Oh. In other words, you don't want a literal rendering.
- JB
- Yeah. It was just a last minute... It just took five minutes to
decide. I went "Eh, no, I hate 'em." Like I hate it when... I
mean it took fucking... It took many translators to get Rilke down to a real, cool, honest, accurate, poetic translation from
German to English. Stephen Mitchell apparently has the latest "Letters To a Young Poet" and "Duino Elegies", they're all Stephen
Mitchell. Somehow, he happened upon, in his heart, he's been able to translate. But I would have to work with a special, Japanese
friend, who knows me. I just wouldn't want to... It would just be unfair to the Japanese people, because the songs are important to me. I
couldn't just knock off a Japanese rendering, and have it be accurate. I'd have to know Japanese. It might take two pages to fill just
the one English thing, because Japanese language, I was told is... Well you know. You're in Japan.
- S [laughs]
- Yeah.
- JB
- But, no.. I get all those fucking... That Sufi, the Qawalli Sufi poetry that's brought into... English translation is so dry
and disgusting. Eccch. I hate English translations of things like Mexican, Spanish, and Urdu from Pakistan, and French, which is
so... just the identity itself... just the logic of the language is so filled with innuendo, and puns, and stuff like that. You
just can't catch it. You have to experience that language. So I thought it wouldn't be wise. It wasn't a precious thing. I just thought
it wouldn't do any good.
- S
- So you think that just the Japanese listener, left to his own devices will get more from the...
- JB
- Yeah.
- S
- The music as a result?
- JB
- Yeah. And find out about it over years, to find out what it means to them.
- S
- Oh, that's interesting. I thought that's the first time I had encountered that.
- JB
- I just thought I was just doing the right thing.
