3 Emotional Covers by Jeff Buckley That Aren’t “Hallelujah”

Jeff Buckley based his version of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” on John Cale’s 1991 reading, which Cale recorded for the tribute album I’m Your Fan: The Songs Of Leonard Cohen. Though several gorgeous “Hallelujahs” abound—from k.d. lang to Rufus Wainwright—Buckley’s remains the definitive one. But Cohen’s verses weren’t the only ones forever transformed by Buckley’s voice. Dim the lights and turn the dial to the right for these three emotional covers by Jeff Buckley, an artist gone way too soon.

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“Yard Of Blonde Girls” from ‘Sketches For My Sweetheart The Drunk’ (1998)

Perhaps not technically a cover, though Buckley didn’t write it. “Yard Of Blonde Girls” arrives from sessions produced by Television singer and guitarist Tom Verlaine—written by Buckley’s friends Audrey Clark, Lori Kramer, and Inger Lorre. Though Buckley’s only studio album Grace arrived at the height of grunge, its combination of hymns, jazz, and folk rock stood apart from the era’s prevailing sound. But “Yard Of Blonde Girls” veers closer to the distorted alt-rock of the time. (Lorre included a version on her album Transcendental Medication.)

Between 1996 and 1997, Buckley worked with Verlaine on what would have been his second album, My Sweetheart The Drunk. But he wasn’t happy with the sessions and began recording new demos in Memphis, slowly mining a vision for the album he wanted to make. While waiting for his band to arrive in Memphis, Buckley went swimming in the Wolf River. He drowned after a current pulled him underwater.

“Back In N.Y.C.” from ‘Sketches For My Sweetheart The Drunk’ (1998)

With Sketches, Buckley wasn’t making Grace Pt. 2. Listening to his Genesis cover, “Back In N.Y.C.”, you notice him exploring sharper edges and minimalist loops. But you also hear the emotional heights of “Last Goodbye” and the extraordinary musical range that made Grace so impressive.

“Back In N.Y.C.” appears on Peter Gabriel’s final album with Genesis, The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway. It’s a dreamlike story of Rael, a Puerto Rican ex-gang member and graffiti artist who’s absorbed into a “wall of death” after witnessing a lamb lie down on Broadway. However, Buckley’s take echoes the alienated blips of Radiohead’s OK Computer. And it’s hard not to be stirred by the emotions of him working alone in Memphis so close to an untimely death at age 30.

“Lilac Wine” from Grace (1994)

Written for the 1950 musical Dance Me A Song, “Lilac Wine” has been covered many times, most notably by Nina Simone whom Buckley covered during his time performing at New York City’s Sin-é.

Buckley’s reading turns the smokey jazz standard into a sublime and ethereal experience. It’s a beautiful companion to “Hallelujah” and “Corpus Christi Carol”. One of Buckley’s gifts was transforming anything he sang into a hymn. And those hymns might be drunken, romantic, or melancholy ones. Once Buckley interpreted a song, it was hard to hear it any other way.

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