Jeff Buckley Had Two Different Sides, Gary Lucas Remembers

According to guitarist Gary Lucas, who co-wrote ‘Grace’ and ‘Mojo Pin’ with Jeff Buckley, the late musician had a complex nature, with a joyous and depressed side, as he disclosed in a recent interview with Classic Rock.

Recalling the complicated character of Buckley, Lucas said:

“Jeff had different sides. He had a real fun-loving side, but he did get heavy when he had things on his mind.”

When he learned about the late singer’s bipolar disorder, his occasional mood swings were more clear for the musician:

“In the book that his mother wrote, Jeff told [Television mainman] Tom Verlaine he was bipolar. That was something I didn’t know, but I thought, okay, well, that sorta makes sense. Because that would explain some of his mood swings. But I prefer to remember the fun times. I like to remember the happy Jeff.”

In the same interview, Lucas also shared the following about the writing process of ‘Mojo Pin’ and ‘Grace’:

“If you look at ‘Mojo Pin’ and ‘Grace,’ they’re bittersweet songs, instrumentally and lyrically. I wrote them instinctively. But thinking about it years later, they go from major to minor, with verses of ecstatic joy and then dark passages.”

Elaborating more on the reason why these songs resonate with people, he continued:

“I think that’s why our songs are enduring and touch people. Because no one’s life is happy all the time. Everybody has their moments, and it’s easy to slide into despondency and depression. But hopefully, live to fight another day.”

The relationship of Gary Lucas with the late Jeff Buckley actually went back to 1991, when they met in New York. After their first jam together, Lucas was greatly impressed by Buckley’s touching singing style. So, the duo’s songwriting partnership started, resulting in two classics, ‘Mojo Pin’ and ‘Grace,’ but unfortunately, it cut short with Jeff’s untimely passing.