Cover - The complete Jeff Buckley & Gary Lucas - Songbook

Project

The Niro
featuring Gary Lucas

The complete Jeff Buckley & Gary Lucas songbook

Project

THE NIRO
featuring Gary Lucas

The complete Jeff Buckley & Gary Lucas songbook

For the first time, all of the songs written by Jeff Buckley and Gary Lucas, including five never before officially released, are featured together on the new project from The Niro with the exceptional collaboration of Gary Lucas.

The album spotlights a surprising chapter of Jeff Buckley’s creativity circa 1991-92 when he co-authored with Gary Lucas an entire project never before realized until now. When listening to these songs, it is only natural to wonder why some of these tracks have remained under-rated and five of them never before released up to now, and this despite the great interest the iconic singer has always generated from the public.

For all those who try to answer this question, it is probably useful to remember some facts:

In 1991, Gary Lucas and Jeff Buckley met during a tribute concert to Jeff’s father Tim Buckley. Immediately, they expressed a great desire to collaborate. Gary was 38 years old. After 5 years with Captain Beefheart, he was totally master of his unique style of guitar playing, and his creative juices were flowing. Jeff was 24 and had not yet come into the complete awareness of his incredible talent. During 10 months, they will write together 12 titles for Gary’s band “Gods and Monsters”. The recipe is simple: Gary composes soaring, anthemic guitar instrumentals and Jeff weaves melodies and texts around Gary’s instrumentals of bewildering efficiency. They will work hard hoping to sign a recording contract, and are then offered a development deal with a boutique label distributed by a major. To communicate their “work in progress” at the behest of the label a decision is taken to organize a concert in St. Ann’s Church in Brooklyn as a public showcase. The event signals both the official birth of the project and also paradoxically the very end of their collaboration, despite a three minute standing ovation at the end of the concert from the packed church audience. The next day, Jeff announces to Gary his intention to leave the project and his decision to continue solo.

 

We know the rest of the story. In 1994 Jeff Buckley released his album “Grace“, one of the most acclaimed albums of the 90s and a masterpiece in the history of rock music. But how many people know that on that album, two of the key tracks, “Grace” and “Mojo Pin”, come directly from the aborted Buckley/Lucas project, a/k/a Gods and Monsters? During the recording sessions for Jeff’s “Grace” album at Bearsville Studios, Jeff asks Gary to come up and record his legendary guitar parts on the two songs which open that album. Jeff duly credits Gary for “magical guitarness” on his album’s list of Special Thanks—and truth be told, it is often Gary you hear playing on these songs, although many people assume it is Jeff’s playing.

Apart from some rare moments shared on stage, the two artists will sadly never collaborate again. Gary relates that the possibility of their working together again was in the cards especially after a joyous reunion in 1997 at the Knitting Factory venue in NYC, but Jeff’s tragic death shortly thereafter will not allow revisiting and composing and publishing more songs by the duo.

From a historical point of view, we can hope that one day the recordings of the St. Ann’s Church concert will be entirely published. When listening to it, it is clear that the quality of the material was enormous, despite the fact that in this primordial production phase, the music was still far from expressing its full potential. But those who have heard the tape can well attest to the power and authenticity of their songs.

For more than 25 years, Gary Lucas has lived with the frustration of not having fully delivered his most incredible artistic collaboration. In 2002, the release of “Songs to No One”, an album of early work by Jeff and Gary, which included a studio demo of “Grace”, live versions of “Mojo Pin”, several hitherto unreleased tracks plus several cover songs, only partially filled this gap.

It is in this context that: The Niro featuring Gary Lucas “The complete Jeff Buckley & Gary Lucas songbook” was born.

The Niro is the name of the ongoing musical project by the Rome-based artist, vocalist and songwriter Davide Combusti, protagonist of the Italian indie-rock scene since 2002. To his credit, he has released 4 acclaimed albums of which 3 are in English. The Niro has opened the concerts of Sondre Lerche, Tom Hingley of Inspiral Carpets, Deep Purple, Badly Drawn Boy and Amy Winehouse. In 2007, Chris Hufford, manager of Radiohead, selected him to sing in the Anti Atlas project, produced with Ned Bigham.

Davide Combusti iis neither a clone nor a disciple of Jeff Buckley. When Gary first discovered him while touring in Italy and made his proposal to record new studio versions of his 12 collaborations with Jeff Buckley, Davide recalled that two years before he gently refused to attend a tribute concert honoring Jeff that was organized by Gary’s Italian tour promoter. However, this time around Davidei was ready to take up this enormous challenge. He recruits the artistic producer Francesco Arpino and proposes the executive production of the project to Pierre Ruiz and his Italian record label, Esordisco.  A month later, Gary Lucas arrives in Rome right before Christmas 2018 and the recordings begin. Making such an album is a tremendous challenge.  Of course, the tunes rebound in Buckley’s singing style but it would be reductive judging this project only by similarities or differences with Jeff’s voice. To appreciate that challenge and its crazy anachronistic bet, it is necessary to understand that the new production had the absolute necessity at times to take some healthy distance from the original versions.

Whereas the arrangements are nearly always put ting Gary Lucas’s guitars at the center of the scene, some of the rhythmic patterns have been slightly modified and the structure of some of their songs partly rebuilt. Sometimes The Niro harmonizes with himself to create choral sections, while producer Francesco Arpino adds some appropriate touches on keyboards. Finally, Phil Spalding (Mick Jagger, Roger Daltrey , Seal, Elton John …) applies his powerful electric bass to invent uncanny counterpoints to Gary’s arpeggios. The final result is a dense, courageous, respectful and above all super-creative album.

It is time now to discover this album and especially, amongst these 12 complete Buckley/ Lucas songs, the five tracks appearing as studio recordings for the first time ever. Proof positive that “No One Must Find You Here”, “Story Without words”, “In the Cantina”, “Distortion” and “Bluebird Blues” have not only a reason to exist and to have survived the sundering of the project back in 1992. They provide ample aural evidence that these formerly unheard songs can rightfully take their place alongside “Grace” and “Mojo Pin” as brilliant jewels in the Buckley/ Lucas canon.

About the album, Gary Lucas writes:

This is a dream come true for me to finally realize modern studio versions of the complete Buckley / Lucas songbook – especially with such a sensitive and talented singer as Davide Combusti and forward- thinking producer like Francesco Arpino. It was a total joy working with them on this album and they constantly surprised me with their fresh interpretation of these songs.

About 3 of the unreleased 3 tracks, Gary said in his book “Touched by Grace”:

No one must find you here: This song was a real epic, cinematic in scope, and with many different movements: I had poured my art and soul into writing it. It expressed all of the emotion I was feeling toward Jeff at the time – All my joy, and hope and fear in the struggle to make this project work.

Story without words: The music I wrote seems to summon forth images of a tragic love affair. Jeff lyrics are appropriately furtive and fraught with anxiety, mirroring my music

In the cantina: It is one of our loviest numbers, with Jeff displaying its extravagant gifts and singing peacock-like, à la Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.

On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the “Grace” album, Esordisco is proud to release  “The Complete Jeff Buckley and Gary Lucas Songbook”.

Commenting on this Gary Lucas said that it was his personal gift to all the Jeff Buckley lovers all around the world.

Pierre Ruiz, Esordisco

Rome 5/2019

Listen

Tracks

  • 01. No One Must Find You Here
  • 02. Story Without Words
  • 03. In The Cantina
  • 04. Bluebird Blues
  • 05. Distortion
  • 06. Mojo Pin
  • 07. She is Free
  • 08. Harem Man
  • 09. Malign Fiesta
  • 10. Song to no One
  • 11. Cruel
  • 12. Grace

Lyrics

Take my shoes and bury them
With pen and paper and broken vows
In memory of the lover I’ll never be
Whose answers kill her into his arms
Every man and woman
Think of me when you’re home

Wishing in a maelstrom of all your dreams and plans
Misty-eyes and shock of tears shaken
Wishing for a end somehow
to cut off these demands
Waiting IT for all your days Taken

Take my eyes and bury them
You won’t need them to see into the dark
I apologize to my woman
For all the hours of caress I gave
For the damage I’ve done
For all the waste I have made
I say

Taken, breaking away
All this love
but Never to see the light of day
This treasure will bring you down
To the bottom of the only sea
I’m the one who Brought the axe down
I refuse to be—- Set free

Bring me down
Oh bring me near
Well there’s no way to stop this now
It’s so close to home
And No One Must Find You Here

I made up cold and lifeless
And gripped the axe Strong like a man
as if Not to be scared
Passing away from channels
it never was born to
Only You can see
The real One in me
Can you

I want you
I want you so badly
Bad enough to know

Wishing in a maelstrom of all my dreams and plans
Misty-eyes and shock of tears shaken
Wishing for a end somehow
to cut off these demands
Waiting it for all your days taken

Bring me down
Oh bring me near
Well there’s no way to stop this now
It’s so close to home
And
No One Must Find You Here.

Becomes so silent
birds look down
music for my woods
spoken like with both our tongues
she stepped from my woods
miles left in the dark

waiting for you just another fool

there’s so much
that you don’t know
life is in your hands
there’s so much
that you cant see
while you’ve made your plans
I found in your room
the smell of other women’s perfume

there’s so much
you’ll never know
my face on your hand
foolish as they join us both
now we’ve taken sides
love was warm at home
the rain upon the guards that slept outside

I come in to your room
smoke responds with smoke
with your empty smile remember on my painted cloak
there’s rain on my skin
let me in you,
please just let me in

Once inside our bedroom dower music fills our ears
promised now from both our tongues you step from my ears

deftly in the dark waiting for her lost another fool

there’s so much
that you don’t know
my face in your hands
there’s so much
you never see
while you make your plans
love was warm at home
and I was born with soul made to roam

It’s so dark in my home
In this world I live alone
Whiskey sour in my sunrise
In my head like a silver eyes

In the cantina
Sun-drenched arena
I’m here sleeping
In my sparkle silver
And now my home is cantina

Alone in love sweet foam
In her womb sea foam washes
All I love is now ashes
Windows show by the shore

All my life
I’ve been fighting crying to sleep at night
All my life
oh Is mother dead
her brother dead
daughters and lovers tied to this world

So their home is a cantina
It’s so dark in my home

I’m a stone cold loner I’m as hard as a man can be
Just can’t help myself
When the love comes down on me

If you’re a cheater ain’t never gonna love me long
I leave you in the morning
my soul and my heart too strong

If you’re a woman is a liar you’re gonna laugh while you steal me blind
you never know your loving
you don’t know your own mind

Your woman told me you’re with another babe
found her in the morning in another black bird ’s cage
woe is me
what you’re gonna do if there’s another blackbird picking at your seed

I have an angel her eyes like the ocean blue
Someday that bluebird
Is gonna fly home back to you

You prayed for a savior never to be crucified
Never have your woman you’re just so cold inside

I went to the ocean I wish I was as smart as you
don’t need no woman for your bed nothing left to do

Ain’t never been nothing but bad luck and trouble ‘till you came along
Ain’t never been nothing but bad luck and trouble messed up my happy home

Bluebird fly
Bluebird fly
fly your way back home to me

Under the Babylon sun she showed to me her smile
It was slipping in soft on her shoulder into my two brown eyes
She had a language of love that twisted in pure meniscus
But she was only a fool to be fooled
Don’t you wish for somebody cool sometime?
Don’t you wish that confidence would take a body over?
You call me your sweet delight a monkey for a king
It’s emotion it don’t mean a thing

Just your distortion, distortion, distortion
got a hold on you

Somewhere inside of my brain there was twisting last night
Mother thought that I held on too many hands all over you
you got too many affairs and another outside of your door
and you could only use to come home
Don’t you want somebody cool sometime

Don’t you wish that confidence would take a body over?
You call me your sweet delight a monkey for a king
It ain’t nothing it don’t mean a thing

Just your distortion, distortion, distortion
got a hold on you

You play outside of my window
I can see what you do
And I take all my love just to know how to
get inside of you
it’s been years and years since I had a sane love of my life
and it will be of use to yours too
Don’t you want somebody cool sometime
Don’t you wish that confidence would take a body over?
You call me your sweet delight a monkey for a king
It’s emotion it don’t mean a thing

Just your distortion, distortion, distortion
got a hold on you

I’m lying in my bed
The blanket is warm
This body will never be safe from harm
Still feel your hair, black ribbons of coal
Touch my skin to keep me whole

If only you’d come back to me
If you laid at my side
Wouldn’t need no mojo pin
To keep me satisfied

Don’t want to weep for you, don’t want to know
I’m blind and tortured, the white horses flow
The memories fire, the rhythms fall slow

Black beauty Love you so

Precious, precious silver and gold
and pearls in oyster’s flesh
Drop down we two to serve and pray to love

Born again from the rhythm,
screaming down from heaven
Ageless, ageless,
I’m there in your arms

Don’t want to weep for you, I don’t want to know
I’m blind and tortured, the white horses flow
The memories fire, the rhythms fall slow

Black beauty I love you so, so, slow

The welts of your scorn, my love, give me more
Send whips of opinion down my back, give me ‘ more
Well it’s you I’ve waited my life to see
It’s you I’ve searched so hard for

Don’t want to weep for you, I don’t want to know
I’m blind and tortured, the white horses flow
The memories fire, the rhythms fall slow

Black beauty I love you so
Black beauty

Cold wind blow this waiting blood
Flow into my ashen arms
Ice stream prick my sleeping skin
She is like the so black time
Race on in and never go away
She’s just like this wind

Black car with your creaking wheel
Take away these thoughts of mine

Once there was a crazy man
Staring from his drunken eyes
Staring stony into her elbow’s way
Stared at me and telling me
‘stead of ‘oh poor lonely me
I claw the bed and I claw my hair

Oh black car with your creaking wheel
Take away these thoughts of mine
Pictures sing in rhythm with ’em
Dig the holes for me to sleep inside

She is free
A shadow crossing the sky
Free from hope and this misery
She’s beautiful, so beautiful away from me
She is free
She is free

Black car with your creaking wheel
Take away these thoughts of mine
Catch us sing in rhythm with ’em
Dig both holes for me to sleep inside

She is free
Shadow crossing the sky
Free from hope and this misery
She’s beautiful, so beautiful away from me
She is free
She is free

I want to be
your Harem Man
Your slave and master one in the same

Been having those dreams
too many hands on you
Gonna show you what you’re Papa going through
‘Cause I love you
and I want you

I’ll be your ship on the ocean
be your cabin boy
want to be your father mother and your bathtub toy
want to peep in your crow’s nest want to look out for land
I want to be punished by your hand

‘Cause I love you
and I want you
Nobody but you
‘Cause I love you
and I want

Nobody but you

You got your twenty-four Swastika tattoo yesterday
You got you messing with your hair when they cut your hippie hair away
You got your twenty-four Gold pierced earring in your nose
24 years and you still don’t know the way the wind blows

You got no

You know when you want
it ‘cause you run away in silence
You’re living in a zone and you want to wish away your parents
You got yourself a girl with the face and the voice of a whore
Three days down the line you can’t remember what you killed yourself for

You got no

You’re no soul rebel
if you rip on your skin
You’re no soul rebel
with your boot in your shin
You’re no soul rebel
it’s your own chance to fight
You’re just the same as those fat old bastards you hate
with no soul

You call yourself a rebel
but you call them
man a nigger
like they do
You call yourself a rebel
but you put your woman down like they do
You call yourself a rebel
but you don’t walk and piss like they do

You got no woman, no soul, no balls no heart So what you got a God to pray to
You got no
You’re no soul rebel if you spit on your sister
You’re no soul rebel with your boot on your shin
You’re no soul rebel it’s your last chance to fight
You’re just the same as those fat old bastards you hate
with no soul

You call yourself a rebel but you call that man a nigger like they do
You call yourself a rebel but you put your woman down like they do
You call yourself a rebel but you rape, scheme and lie like they do
You got no woman no soul no balls

So what you got a God to pray to
you got no you got no no soul

You’re no soul rebel if you spit on your sister
You’re no soul rebel with your boot on your shin
You’re no soul rebel it’s your last chance to fight
You’re just the same as those fat old bastards you hate
with no soul

Back when I was a baby
a baby saying his prayers
Prayers soft and lonely
lonely all these days
Days that meld into nothing
and nothing left for a boy
But to hide his dreams away
hide all his dreams away

Daisies after daisies, a daisy’s for your floor
Ah days that melt into nothing
A promise piled to the door
Door the door was open
There’s nothing left for a boy
but to hide these dreams away
All those dreams decay

Laura know this song for always
Laura show this song to no one

I had to fight for these moments
sweet moments of mine
Each life must blossom and die
but my song comes strong in time
Nothing left for a boy
nothing left for a boy
But to hide those dreams away
all those dreams decay

Laura know this song for always
Laura show this song to no one

Oh I had to fight for these moments
these sweet moments of mine
Each life must blossom
but my song comes strong in time
Although the door was open
there’s nothing left for you now
But to hide your dreams away
’till they come into play

Laura know this song for always
Laura show this song to no one
Laura know this song for always
Laura show this song to no one
Show this song to no one

Oh born a rover just a baby
Always tried to keep in one place for long, oh, long enough to sleep
And sleep my dreams are still here
Dreaming gonna get my rest
well don’t wait up for me

I’m moving on again
Moving on again
I’m moving… moving on again
Well I’m moving… moving on again

Baby… you’re so cruel
You’re cruel to yourself, so you can’t understand
A boy’ll never do you wrong
For you to build the bed frame that you sleep upon
So spilled your milk and your honey, get your kicks off your next man
Think of anything to say to make him move on

Ah you’re moving
moving on again
Oh you’re moving… moving on again
Baby, you’re so cruel

When I tell about the dream you’re so real
And my heart was straining to hear your words of pain
of your shame
Oh baby you’re so cruel

Wonder what your gonna think of yourself when the phone calls fade away
As you hold his shoulders
Did you think it would come to this day?
Yeah ask yourself why your love will never surround you
He was one of many on the day he found you

Oh you’re moving… moving on again

Baby, you’re so cruel

There’s the moon asking to stay
Long enough for the clouds to fly me away
Oh, it’s my time coming, I’m not afraid, afraid to die
My fading voice sings of love
But she cries to the clicking of time, oh

Wait in the fire
Wait in the fire
Wait in the fire
Wait in the fire
Fire

And she weeps on my arm
Walking to the bright lights in sorrow
Oh, drink a bit of wine we both might go tomorrow
Oh, my love
And the rain is falling and I believe
My time has come
It reminds me of the pain I might leave
Leave behind

Wait in the fire
Wait in the fire
Wait in the fire
Wait in the fire
Fire

And I feel that I’m drown my name
So easy to know
And forget with this kiss
I’m not afraid to go but it goes so slow, oh

Wait in the fire
Wait in the fire
Wait in the fire
Wait in the fire
Fire

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