I'm not big on collaborations, but I definitely wish that these two could've gotten together at some point to make a song or two together. Buckley was a very talented - and underappreciated - musician. Every time I hear "Everybody Here Wants You" or "Lover, You Should've Come Over", I can't help but think, damn, these are beautiful songs that give me the same vibe derived from some of the old Prince ballads. I'd like to hear Prince do one of these songs - or something else by Buckley - in a live set.

Both wonderful musicians, but very different live, especially. Prince is very much a showman whereas Buckley was very focussed on the music - hence the so-called "spiritual connection" he'd get with his audience sometimes.

I love both the songs you mentioned. I think Prince would probably sound better on the former. And personally if he did ever play a Buckley tune i'd prefer him to stick to the rockier stuff than the ballads. But each to their own.

Damn, I have thought almost exactly the same thing.

"Everybody Here Wants You" is VERY Prince-sounding.

And I have always thought that "Solo" is very Jeff Buckley sounding!

Shame Jeff didn't get to record more music....and I would have LOVED a collaboration from two of my favourite musicians.

I thought Jeff Buckly was LuAnne's boyfriend on "King of the Hill"?

yeah, "Everybody Here.." is a gorgeous ballad. When I first heard it, i thought "OK, Prince wrote this", because it does sound very Prince-like. Buckley just wrote an incredible song. It's a shame he's dead. There aren't as many real musicians out there his age these days; it's quite a pity.

Octavius said:

right. i used to think of him as very prince-influenced.

another great song in the same vein - "lover, you should have come over."

This is interesting. Particularly Mr Despue's comment about solo - that's a very good point. Never thought about that before.

But i really don't think Buckley was particularly influenced by Prince - at least, i don't hear it in the music (though granted 'Everybody here wants you' is as close as it gets, i think). In general in his work, I hear influences from Indian and Arabic music in his vocal style, and the Smiths, Zeppelin, and tons of others in his lyrics and music.

More than anything he often sounded like he knew what he wanted to play on the guitar and had worked it out and stuck to it, however damn complicated it would be to do.

TheFrog said:

I totally agree. I think "Everybody Here Wants You" may have had a Prince influence though....I'd love to ask a band member or his mother or someone close who might know.



Yeah, Buckley was an incredible guitarist when it came to inversions/voicings of chords particularly and I think his predetermined ideas bare some resemblance to the way Prince plays also.....not in style so much as they are quite different, but there is a predetermined perfectionism that is apparent in both guitarists.

TheFrog said:

yeah, compare the way Prince sang "Solo" to the way Jeff sang something like "You and I" off sketches and the similarities become very apparent. I instantly think of Jeff every time I hear "Solo".

mrdespues said:

perfectionism, and that falsetto.

MightBQueen said:

TheFrog said:

Right on.

I love Jeff Buckley, but I really don't think Prince would have ever gotten together with him. It's just a feeling that I get.

I heard that JB liked Prince, one of his band members mentioned it.

Who is Jeff Buckley. I've heard of Jeff Beck. The only Buckley I've heard of is the Buckley on King of the Hill. He was LuAnne's boyfriend 'till he died.

OK nevermind. I googled it.

Jeff Buckley.... In a word... GENIOUS! I could spend all day writing about him. He was a remarkable talent. Instantly I was drawn to his music as soon as I heard Last Goodbye. He brought back the meaning of music imo. Prince's symbolism and chordal structure does not come close to Jeff's. He was the man... blue eyed soul at it's best and peak! I have "everything" on him that I can possibly get. I even listened to Tim Buckley to see where Jeff got that incredible vocal capability. You see, Jeff could go both to hardcore rock and then smack you with an incredible passionate mellow in the same song. The rise and fall, peak and valley of emotion is incredible. I will love Jeff forever and look forward to seeing him in the resurrection if I am so blessed to make it.

BobGeorge999 said:

Bloody Jeff Beck, everytime I went looking for Buckley stuff I would only find Jeff Beck lol.

Buckley served up a pretty damn good lesson in musicology, himself. What a talent!

Yeah, Jeff Buckley was amazing. Hearing any kind of colaboration between him and Prince would have been amazing. I would definately think that Prince dug his music.

I remember watching some show on VH1 or MTV quite a few years ago. They had a host and four celebrity guests. It was a weekly show, or maybe a daily show, can't remember. The point of the show was to have a topic that each guest would vote on. Then they would give reasons for their vote and try to collectively come to a decision. Topics like best guitar player, best love song, etc.

On the particular show I am talking about, the topic was the best musician to die before his time, or something like that. One intelligent guest voted for Jeff Buckley. The other three guests voted for Tupac, Kurt Cobain, and John Lennon. After a discussion, with each guest giving his reason why their particular musician deserved to be at the top, they decided to put Tupac at the top. I don't remember where Jeff Buckley ended up, but it is utterly ridiculous that any of these artists be placed above him. First of all, Jeff Buckley is enormously more talented than Tupac or Kurt Cobain. Secondly, John Lennon was immensly talented, but I doubt he had a lot of musical greatness left in him. Lennon left behind a great musical legacy. But sadly, Jeff Buckley did not live long enough for us to realize his full musical genius. We can only imagine the musical brilliance that would be here today, if Jeff Buckley was still alive. He should be at the top of anyones list of musicians who died before their time.

some of you guys are after my heart!!! the main reason that buckley caught my attention was because he was the first musician in our genration to measure up to prince in terms of musicianship songwriting etc.

and yes he was a big prince fan(as every serious musician should be). he wrote 'everybody here wants you' for a woman i know- joan wasser. and yes he was trying on some "princley" influences. he had been living in memphis and attending al green's church on sundays while living there so there's a lot of that influence as well. but i think buckley makes it entirely his own.

i 'd have to agree that the two of them wouldn't have gotten along well. jb had little torelenc for what he referred to as " prince's claustrophobic sound" buckly once said that he thought it was a shame that prince had gone off the rails a bit in the 90's but was never less than appreciative and reverent about p's career and musicianship etc.
[This message was edited Tue May 11 13:33:36 2004 by wavesofbliss]