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
Words are really beautiful, but they're limited. Words are very male, very structured. But the voice is the netherworld, the darkness, where there's nothing to hang onto. The voice comes from a part of you that just knows and expresses and is.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Words can convey beauty but are restrictive, while the voice expresses deeper, unstructured emotions.
In this quote, Jeff Buckley reflects on the limitations of language, suggesting that while words can be beautiful and structured, they cannot fully capture the depth of human emotion and experience. He contrasts this with the voice, which emanates from a more instinctual and mysterious part of ourselves, conveying feelings that transcend mere words and tap into a universal understanding of existence.
Themes
WordsVoiceExpressionEmotionBeautyArt
In practice
Example use cases
In a speech about the power of art, one could use this quote to highlight the limitations of language in expressing true feelings.
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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But once you've made a song and you put it out there, you don't own it anymore. The public own it. It's their song. It might be their song that they wake up to, or their song they have a shower to, or their song that they drive home to or their song they cry to, scream to, have babies to, have weddings to - like, it isn't your song anymore.
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