Today, I drove through Tim's hometown, the old Mohawk River Valley city of Amsterdam, NY. He lived there until he finished 4th grade (in 1956), so it had been important in his formative years. On my way toward Amsterdam, and while driving through the old town, I had Tim's Blue Afternoon playing in the car. I remember buying that album during Thanksgiving week in 1969. For the very first time, I realized that Tim's song "The River" may very well have been inspired, at least in part, by his days in Amsterdam. I live by the river And I hide my house away Then just like the river I can change my ways Amsterdam has always been very much a river town. The entire city rests in a fairly narrow valley along the Mohawk River, and you can easily walk to the river from any point in the city. People who live near rivers are often inspired by the thoughts and meanings of rivers. The Mohawk never rages like a torrent, but in deep winter going into spring, large ice jams form from broken ice and create dams and major flooding. It changes its ways every year.
And today is Tim's birthday February 14, 1947. Timmy would only be 74 today. His loss cannot have been more tragic.
Isn't that along the Southern Tier, I-86/HWY 17? Love that whole drive East to West...beautiful scenery! take it over the horrible NY tollway every time we're traveling cross country! So that is the Mohawk River that the Expressway travels along?!
Blue Afternoon is one of my favourites, Not sure if I missed if you mentioned were were you living when you bought this in 1969?
Rotating ice disk in Maine's rivers...one appears every winter, somewhere...they occur inbmany rivers throughout Northern USA. Assignment: Maine | Presumpscot River Rotating Ice Disk in Westbrook
Ahhhh, that is why it is familiar000highway signs...we pass thru Albany on the way from the Mass Pike over to the Southern Tier Expressway.
The NYS Thruway is one of the most beautiful major highways in America for its first 240 miles from NYC (all the way to Utica), nearly all of that through mountains and river valleys. But after that, for the next 200 plus miles, it is mostly flat farm country from Utica to Buffalo. But, it doesn't go through many urban areas even in that stretch, and passes through a major wildlife (bird) sanctuary. If you know what you are seeing, you will note the drumlins in the middle of the farm country
Agree about that stretch for sure!...when we took it last year it was night so we missed it. I remember seeing all those high cliffs and bluffs right along the thruway and wishing I could see them in daylight.Was thinking about that stretch from Buffalo for awhile that I find a bit boring in winter. I love most any kind of scenery and flat stretches too, so forgive my diss of NY scenery---I think after our 3000+ miles drive from Washington state to Maine I was ready to be home! I love the Hudson River Valley especially when hitting Albany and beyond, traveling north and westward along the truway. I also remember taking the backroads thru the stunning NY wine country. Those "drumlins" are strikingly beautiful...glacial formations I assume? Quite unusual and seem like man-made hills rather than nature-made out there on the"flatlands".
The last time I drove to western Mass I got on route 20 just east of Syracuse. It's a pretty, rustic country drive with no traffic. But when I get close to Schenectady I get back on the Thruway to avoid the city traffic in Albany. I didn't know Buckley was from upstate NY.
Troubadour Definitely running out of adjectives and superlatives to describe the songs on this live album. Another unrecorded song. I wonder if Troubadour could have made it onto Goodbye & Hello instead of Knight Errant. It would have fit nicely onto that album and there is an embryonic version recorded live at the Folklore Center on March 6th 1967. It lacks the 2 verses about the troubadours though, so maybe wasn't considered finished at the time of recording G&H. The first fully realised version we have is the John Peel BBC session from April 1st 1968 which is also lovely.
Yes, Rt 20 is nice...I took the back roads hwy all across Maine thru Fryeberg into NH and Vermont to Albany once...lovely.
Hallucinations Awesome treatment once again! Wow, this album just gets better, and is definitely one to put on, sit down, partake in your favourite “relaxant” and get swept up in some of the best music ever created. 10/10 for this album! Again, can’t thank you enough LK for bringing this into my reality
track 14) Dream Letter/Happy Time (Buckley) Two of my favorites from Happy/Sad & Blue Afternoon Such a wonderful pairing. The dreamy vibes intro is so fine, and then Tim's stunningly beautiful and delicate vocals during the Dream Letter portion. Lee's dreamy guitar work make for an amazing musical experience....a happy time! I could listen to Dream Letter over and over and over...Tim's twelve string is the icing as always. Then Happy Time with Tim's upbeat vocals...Tim at his happiest with this sometimes hopeful sometimes melancholy but wonderful song.
Dream Letter/Happy Time Thanks LK, you have summed up this beautiful combination perfectly. Dream Letter is indeed a rare gem- this is the only version we have other than the one appearing on WIP/Happy Sad. Tim certainly loved performing Happy Time in 1968- we have 6 versions from that year if you include the 2 TV performances. Note how the final lyric in this live version is "Sleep late my lady friend", which he no doubt took from the Harry Nilsson song of the same title. In the version he recorded for Blue Afternoon in 1969 he changed the line to "Sleep late now mama".
track 13) Wayfaring Stranger (Trad)/You Got me Running (Buckley) Another prefect pairing of two fantastic songs. Tim's 12 string and vocal workout --stunning stuff! Wayfaring Stranger I am a poor wayfaring stranger Lord, traveling through this world of woes And I find sickness toil and danger Everywhere, everywhere I go I'm going there to see my brother I'm going there no more to roam I'm going there, it's just over Jordan I'm going there to my new home One of these mornings and it won't be long Men will rest and stand side by side And hand in hand they're bound for glory Their foes will fall on freedom's sand I'm going there to see my brother I'm going there no more to roam I'm going there, it's just over Jordan I'm going there no more to roam You got me runnin' If you have been passing through the Swinging Gates Chances are you have looked behind you And wondered where you are And wondered where you are To know another man's heart And know him through his pain To know him through his happiness Then you can truly smile Then you can truly smile It's not just what you say It's mostly how you are feeling It‘s not how much you spend But mostly where you lend it I look around me every morning So many lost, so many still on top of that fence I just have to wonder truly wonder You care much about life to fall off and start again It keeps me running It keeps me hiding It keeps me peeping And Lord don't you know Sometimes you find it It keeps me slipping and asliding It keeps me running and hiding Peeping and ahiding I don't have that much love to give But I found a way to try If that gate is swinging low I got the key in my heart to try If you have been passing through the Swinging Gates Chances are you have looked behind you Wondered where the hell you have been going And wondered where you are Why you carry on Your mind wants to die But your heart keeps yelling back But it keeps going The voices from the sea keep calling out ‘Don't let us down' The winds gonna howl it Babies gonna cry it Keep running and hiding Peeping and ahiding Slipping and asliding Running and hiding Keep on trying Now the room keeps buzzing Like a beehive in the forest When the bears are gone Lord it hates to be caught Hates to be brought down I ain't gonna suck the life from you I got my huge black comb Just here on borrowed time And I thought I'd stop by and say Hello old friend It don't feel the same way I do Thank God for that You see I'm just a rusty hinge Keep on running people Listen to your heart Listen to your heart Don't take the sparkle out of those little children's eyes Let them run and play Let them run and play Soon enough they'll be just like you Wayfaring Stranger I am a poor wayfaring stranger Traveling through this world of woes Lord and I find sickness sickness, toil and trouble Everywhere everywhere everywhere I see Lord I'm going there to find to find my brother They told me that he'll be waiting there I'm going there Lord it's just over Jordan Oh I'm going there to my new home My new home ............. Tim Buckley Tim Buckley Music ASCAP
Wayfaring Stranger/You Got Me Running I am fond of this traditional song so I'm glad Tim was tackling it in 1968. He seemed to view it as a good springboard for lyrical, vocal and musical improvisation; setting his guitar churning and almost entering a trance like state, where in a long middle section he would pick out lyrics at will. These may be his own lyrics he was experimenting with at the time, or "found" lyrics from all the songs he had listened to. He often pulled lyrics from Fred Neil songs, and here on Wayfaring Stranger he takes from Little Richard. Listening to his live performances, particularly from 1968, it is often hard to tell which are Buckley original lyrics and which he has borrowed. This solo epic clocks in at 12 minutes, but there is a near 17-minute version he performed in Chicago 5 months earlier- that one has very different, very lengthy, lyrics which seem much more haphazardly generated. Perhaps after performing it live for many months he was able to settle on this more lyrically cohesive version. With so few concerts available to us it is impossible to determine how semi-improvised songs like Wayfaring Stranger developed over time. Anyway, it's a particular favourite of mine.
track 14) Once I Was (Buckley) Have always fund this a moving song...this doesn't disappoint... wonderful closer to a wonderful live set! Such a delicately beautiful reading by Tim and the players. I await @mameyama 's much appreciated dissecting of the lyrics... is this fully developed..it sounds so. Finally... this song is long enough...I've always wanted it to go on forever.
Once I Was Tim must have been exhausted after nearly 2 hours of performing, but he chose the perfect song to finish on- a much better closer than Morning Glory I think. I imagine the audience left elated but also a little melancholic. I don't think a concert performance from a 21-year old can get any better, or more moving, than this. There was no need to mess with the lyrics on this one- it's a song that definitely seems to have arrived fully formed. Though sometimes I have wondered at the inclusion of the word "rubbish" in such a beautiful song. A million thanks to those who recorded and put out this concert. So great to have the complete concert in running order.
I have been in this concert venue- the Queen Elizabeth Hall opened in 1967. It's comfortable, all-seated, and with good acoustics. Holds around 900, and judging from the applause sounds well-attended- I wonder if it was a sell out. I'm pretty sure Tim gave it everything here- as he did every night according to Lee Underwood.
So the live releases I am featuring here are by the dates they were released, not when they were recorded...if you are wondering. Essential: Peel Sessions is a live album by Tim Buckley. It was recorded in studio 1 at 201 Piccadilly London, UK on April 1, 1968, as a session recording for BBC radio DJ John Peel. The session was subsequently broadcast six days later on April 7, 1968. The session consists of folk-oriented songs from Buckley's Goodbye and Hello - Blue Afternoon period recorded in a sparse manner with only Tim's vocals, two guitars and percussion. Peel would later comment on this session as one that "defines essential music".[citation needed] The five tracks from Peel Sessions would later appear on compilations Morning Glory and Once I Was, both supplemented with extra tracks. -wiki All songs by Tim Buckley except: (* by Larry Beckett/Tim Buckley) 1-"Morning Glory"* - 3:17 2-"Coming Home To You (Happy Time)" - 2:56 3-"Sing a Song for You" - 2:28 4-"Hallucinations/Troubadour"* - 10:35 5-"Once I Was" - 3:57 I also have John Peel sharing Tim doing Song To The Siren on the show (he played it on the show 25 March 1999). I wonder why it wasn't included in the Peel Sessions release? Too lo-fi? Or is this from somewhere else that John Peel dug up in 1999. Song To The Siren...John Peel with Billy Bragg Personnel Tim Buckley – Guitar, Vocals Lee Underwood – Guitar Carter Collins – bongos Tony Carr - Drums
