Tuesday, August 30, 2005

Be your husband if you'll be my wife

Last night Jeff and I laid in the dark. He lay on the couch, his surgeried-knee propped up. I sprawled on the floor, dissolved into full-body contact.

We were listening to a CD Renee burned, a song by Jeff Buckley. Who I'd never heard of. He's dead now -- drowned two years after this song was recorded.

How do you know you have 5 years to live, asks Lyon.

The song was recorded live at some cafe (Sin-e, in New York, late in the night on December 31, 1995, I googled later). They're talking, he's mumbling, no one's listening. He starts tapping his boot. One. Two. Three. Four. With a little snap on the and. One. Two. Three. Four AND. One. Two. Three. Four AND.

That's it -- just him tapping, that odd off-snap, and a clinking cafe full of people talking.

When he started to sing, it was such a weird high moany wail I couldn't understand the words.

No instruments ever. Just this one dude, wailing in his own head, about a woman. He headed off the cliff and fell forever. It got more and more personal, private, until even the snap disappeared and it was just lost words over foot-tapping. Not for effect but because that's as close as he could get to coming or crying while still singing. Then, from far oblivion, the opening lines again, so tiny and thin you could barely hear them. And out.

Fucking incredible.

We listened to a few more, then went back and played that again before crashing. Nothing else came close.

It wasn't the lyrics. It was the truth of the singer.
Be your husband if you'll be my wife
Be your husband if you'll be my wife
Be your husband if you'll be my wife

Stick to the promise that you made me
You've gotta stick to the promise that you made me
Stay away from johnny lee

Oh mama gotta love me good
Oh mama gotta love me good
Oh mama gotta love me good

If you want me to, I'll cook and sew
If you want me to, I'll cook and sew
If you want me to, I'll cook and sew

Don't you treat me so doggone mean
Please don't treat me so doggone mean
Cause you're the meanest woman I've ever seen

Oh mama love me good yeah
Oh mama love me good yeah
Oh mama now love me good
Oh mama now love me good

Be your husband if you'll be my wife
Be your husband if you'll be my wife
Be your husband if you'll be my wife
You can hear it here. It was used as the soundtrack to a video, but the video doesn't really apply. Shut your eyes, lay in the dark, and listen to Jeff sing in that tiny Sine Cafe one hot New York summer night.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Truth of the message, regardless of media, always shines through.

Sylvie said...

just find your link on Jeff's site with your candle... simply moving !
thank you
Syl (Paris, France)
PS : I miss him too...