Tim Buckley: Tingling The Spine And The Brain

Thirty-four years after his death, Tim Buckley probably remains best known as father of the late Jeff Buckley. But when he performed a set at the long-defunct Folklore Center in New York's Greenwich Village in March 1967, Buckley was a 20-year-old California kid with a promising debut album, an extraordinary voice that could tingle both the spine and the brain, and a musical future that seemed limitless.

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Recorded live in 1967, "Troubadour" shows Buckley pushing the limits of so-called folk-rock. courtesy of the artist hide caption

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courtesy of the artist

Recorded live in 1967, "Troubadour" shows Buckley pushing the limits of so-called folk-rock.

courtesy of the artist

Long bootlegged but only now officially released, Buckley's Folklore Center gig captures this pivotal moment in his career. That night, Buckley brought along a clutch of new material he was about to record for his expansive second album, Goodbye and Hello. One of those songs, "Troubadour," never made it to the finished record, but it's indicative of the ways in which Buckley was already pushing the limits of so-called folk-rock.

Its structure and guitar tuning recall both the Middle East and the Middle Ages, and its seemingly chaste mood is undercut by the potent sexual yearning of Buckley's lyric. "Troubadour" recalls a time when rock aimed for poetry — a quaint concept now — and a new generation of singer-songwriters settled for nothing less than unexplored territory.

Listen to yesterday's Song of the Day, and subscribe to the Song of the Day newsletter. For more information on David Browne's biography of Tim and Jeff Buckley, click here.