You can't kill the past by denying the past. You can kill it only by making it obsolete. And even in that, you have to find honor in the past. You can't hack off pieces of yourself, and expect them to grow again.
Jeff BuckleyRead
But music seems to me to be the most closely identified with my soul. I mean, I feel that it’s the best for me. It just gets into the bloodstream so quickly, for no reason at all. You can close your heart, and you can sleep even with your eyes closed, but you can never close your ears.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Music profoundly resonates with the soul, transcending barriers and reaching deep emotional areas.
In this quote, Jeff Buckley expresses how music is an integral part of his identity, suggesting that it connects with our innermost being more than any other form of expression. He emphasizes that, unlike other senses, one cannot easily shut themselves off from music, highlighting its pervasive and essential nature in our lives.
Themes
MusicSoulEmotionIdentityExpression
In practice
Example use cases
Using this quote in a discussion about the impact of music on mental health.
More from Jeff Buckley
All quotes →I became a human jukebox, learning all these songs I'd always known, discovering the basics of what I do. The cathartic part was in the essential act of singing. When is it that the voice becomes an elixir? It's during flirting, courtship, sex. Music's all that.
Jeff BuckleyRead
Critics... They're like traffic cops. They say what they have to say, then leave, and another guy moves in ,and he has his say - and it's often just the opposite. The result is either critical acclaim or critical murder, and neither has any bearing on my music or direction.
Jeff BuckleyRead
Grace is what matters. In anything. Especially life, especially growth, tragedy, pain, love, death. About people, that's what matters. That's a quality I admire very greatly. It keeps you from reaching for the gun too quickly; it keeps you from destroying things too foolishly; it sort of keeps you alive and keeps you open for more understanding.
Jeff BuckleyRead
I've always felt that the quality of the voice is where the real content of a song lies. Words only suggest an experience, but the voice is that experience.
Jeff BuckleyRead
I don't see people. I don't see men and women at all. When I see them, I see... their mothers and fathers. I see how old they are inside. Like when I look at the president, or anybody in a record company, or a store owner, I may see a little boy behind the counter with the face of an old man. And that's who I talk to.
Jeff BuckleyRead
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