Secret 7 2018: Jeff Buckley Research

To further my engagement with OUGD503 I’ve decided to enter Secret 7 as I enjoyed engaging with this brief earlier in the module, using a musician from a previous year as I was unsure it would be running this year. Upon reviewing the artist chosen for this years competition (see figure 1) I randomly selected Jeff Buckley’s Lover You Should’ve Come Over. As I had no real knowledge about the song or artists I decided to research (see figure 2) both in order to gain an understanding about the singer himself and what influenced his music rather than just the song chosen. 

In order to start research I first listened to the song to form my own interpretation as to what it was based on and to familiarise myself with the lyrics, which I later looked up. As I decided this brief could be completed fairly quickly I’ve given myself two days to complete this brief as this was the time spent on my previous response. Initially I started by identifying the meaning behind the song both through my own interpretation and research, which lead to the identification that the song was based on growing up and realising mistakes made in past relationships that you can no longer change. Furthermore research also revealed that Buckley often wrote intensely personal music, based on his own experience, with Lover You Should’ve Come Over being about his relationship with Rebecca Moore. From this I decided to research Moore further however there was limited information available about her as she wasn’t as well known as Buckley, which isn’t surprising as Buckley was notoriously private about his personal life. From this I decided to look at how Buckley performed, however I could only find footage from a gig he did in Chicago in 1994 in which he was very chilled and relaxed almost getting lost in the music. This corresponds with an article I read on The Guardian by Ted Kessler (see figure 3) in which Buckley’s performance was describe in a similar way, as the journalist described him as ‘either the luckiest man alive or curse’ based on how lost in the music he was. In addition I also observed that although he has a supporting band the main focus of Buckey’s performances where him and his guitar. Furthermore within another article featured on Rolling Stone there was a quote from Buckley’s former stage/manger in which he stated Buckley was very relaxed and unpredictable, constantly reassuring those around him by saying ‘go with it’ (see figure 4).

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4

Initial ideas:

Upon reflection of my research I’ve brainstormed some initial idea within the brainstormed research above (see figure 2) the most interesting of those being:

• ‘Go with it’:

• Speaks not only to the songs theme of growing up which you can’t escape but also encompasses Buckely as a person, showcasing his personality as well as the song. 

• Chords

• looking at the chords used within the song, inspired by the way Buckely performs and the focus on his voice and his guitar 
• either cursed or luckiest man alive: also based on his performance 

• Shoes filled with water:

• Lyric with the song which I feel encapsulate the meaning behind the song and the overwhelming feeling of growing up and realising your mistakes. However I’m unsure if visualising this is appropriate as Buckley drowned whilst swimming in the River - in Mississippi. 

• Rebecca Moore 
• she is the main inspiration for the song itself 

• 'Either cursed or luckiest man alive'
• inspired by Buckley's performance style
• showcased his chilled personality which is shown through his performances on stage