Jeff Buckley’s five best covers
Even though Jeff Buckley lived a tragically short life and only released one album of his own music while he was alive, the demos and archival tracks released posthumously have done a beautiful job of still allowing the world to get to know the musician. Through his covers especially, fans can get to know Buckley’s musical tastes, peering into his life as a music fan and appreciating her incredible talent as a musical artist.
Everyone is expecting ‘Hallelujah’ to be on this list. The fact is that Buckley remains most famous and best known for his cover of the Leonard Cohen track. It’s a cover so stunning that it has undeniably usurped the original, with even Cohen reportedly loving the take on his song. But that’s precisely why it’s not here.
‘Hallelujah’ is definitely one of his best covers, but there are so many more amazing recordings of Buckley sharing his love for artists he admired and adored. His estate has done an incredible job with his posthumous releases, giving the world a wealth of beautiful studio outtakes, live tracks and demos, and plenty of covers. Whether captured during his live sets or taped while he was messing around in the studio, attempting to figure out the sound of an album by contemplating his inspirations, Buckley’s covers allow the world more of his talent and get to know him better.
Certain artists cropped up time and time again as he routinely sang songs by Bob Dylan and Nina Simone. But others speak to his lesser-known tastes and the wealth of music he loved and drew influence from, including everything from punk to classic French tracks. But one thing is for certain: whatever song he lent his voice to, it always came out beautifully.
Five of Jeff Buckley’s best covers:
‘I Know It’s Over’
One act that Buckley was a huge fan of was The Smiths. In the early to mid-1990s especially, the Manchester band seemed to be on his mind a lot during the recording sessions for what would have been his second album, Sketches for My Sweetheart the Drunk. While in Manhattan working with the likes of Tom Verlaine and Patti Smith, he was clearly enjoying a punk moment as he covered two Smiths songs during the sessions, ‘The Boy With The Thorn In His Side’ and this one, ‘I Know It’s Over’.
“Jeff was a huge Smiths fan,” Buckley’s mother, Mary Guibert, said, “He thought Morrissey was a living legend, so this song was a very meaningful choice.” There’s obviously something haunting about his take on the gloomy track now with its lyrics about death. But overwhelmingly, it’s beautiful. The original version is already a stunning ballad, but Buckley’s rich and luxurious voice is so different to Morrissey’s yet elevates the emotions in the song to new and stunning places.
‘Calling You’
Buckley must have seen the 1987 film Bagdad Cafe because in 1993, during a studio session, he was messing around with a cover of ‘Calling You’, a track originally recorded by Jevetta Steele for the film and written by Bob Telson. It was also a favourite song of Celine Dion, who covered it a lot during her live sets.
But Buckley’s version is arguably the best. Despite the original being an R&B track, his take feels so natural and so easy that anyone would expect it to be his own song. With nothing more than his signature electric guitar and the voice that made him a star, he seems to sing this song of longing with such anguish and emotion that it feels like he wrote the words himself.
‘If You Knew’
Who knows how or why, but there seems to be some kind of spiritual connection between Nina Simone, the high priestess of soul, and this white boy from Anaheim, California. He once even described himself as “the warped lovechild of Nina Simone”. Throughout his career, Buckley regularly dedicated space to Miss Simone’s work, both in his live sets and on his album Grace, with his cover of a track famously covered by her, ‘Lilac Wine’.
But nowhere is that connection more beautiful or more obvious than on his incredible cover of ‘If You Knew’. There is a studio recording of it on You and I, but the live cover, captured at the Sin-é coffeehouse in New York City’s East Village, is undoubtedly the most beautiful. With nothing but him and his telecaster, somehow his voice is no longer that of a rock star, but of a soul singer, able to perform the track with as much emotion as it deserves and an incredible range to carry it. Not only is this one of his best covers, it’s one of the best recordings of Buckley ever.
‘Je N’en Connais Pas La Fin’
From that same incredible, stripped-back live recording, Buckley turns his voice to this bilingual take on a track made famous by Edith Piaf. The song in its mother tongue is about reminiscing about childhood and the joys and innocence of youth. Buckley beautifully captures that as his telecaster plays out a finger-picked instrumental reminiscent of a carousel spinning or some fairground music.
Once again, his voice sounds incredible. He fully leaned into the velvet plushness of his vocals here, delivering a performance that could be from a Broadway star as his voice has so much clarity and power. But yet still, and even while singing in a language he wasn’t fluent in, joking about his French abilities at the end of the track, he sings it with such feeling.
‘Mama, You’ve Been On My Mind’
Another artist that Buckley had a clear connection with was Bob Dylan. Across his life, he covered several tracks from the folk legend, including ‘Just Like A Woman’, ‘If You See Her, Say Hello’, ‘Farewell Angelina’, ‘Dink’s Song’ and a stunning take on ‘I Shall Be Released’.
But it’s his version of ‘Mama, You’ve Been On My Mind’ that’s truly something special, as his electric guitar and his vocals seem to reveal the story of the song in a way that Dylan’s original doesn’t. Despite being on of the artist’s most straightforward songs about love, loss and regret, Buckley’s take on the track seems able to give it the emotional delivery it deserves.
Dylan and Buckley had a tricky patch, however, when Buckley impersonated the artist on stage. He heard through the grapevine that he’d insulted Dylan, and he was so distraught that he released a public apology in the hopes of getting it to the man who was one of his idols. “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 carry the music with me everywhere I go,” he wrote with clear admiration and deep regret.
