| Flying in from Buffalo
|
| Beside the highway, with the way the airport stacks up melting brown snow
|
| Revealing what looks like Anywhere, Ohio
|
| What isn’t the most charming place when covered in snow?
|
| Could be an enchanting town in any story book or movie
|
| When the town is covered in beautiful, white snow
|
| But on this planet, in New Orleans, I’m feeling low
|
| Could’ve been that hotel I stayed in in Buffalo
|
| The Henry, a mental institution turned hotel
|
| Mumford & Sons were in town and the place was full
|
| Of guests who’d come in from Toronto
|
| The artwork on the walls was all mainstream
|
| Kombucha was on tap in the lobby
|
| Check-in wasn’t until 4, what a bore
|
| A few Mumford & Sons fans offered me chocolates
|
| I believe the brand was Fowler’s
|
| They asked me my name, I said, «Fred, Sanford»
|
| They asked me where I was from, I said, «Stanford»
|
| They said, «Oh, cool, Connecticut»
|
| Looking out the windows of that lonely hotel
|
| At the cars in the parking lots in surrounding rehab centers
|
| I was reminded of my rehab days
|
| During a long, young winter
|
| Looking out those windows over Thanksgiving and Christmas
|
| Smoking menthol cigarettes while my roommate bench pressed his bed
|
| I sometimes wonder what happened to those kids
|
| But at the same time, I’d rather not know
|
| There are memories I’d rather leave behind in Ohio
|
| Though they follow me wherever I go
|
| At the layover for New Orleans at LaGuardia
|
| I saw Rikers Island when I was landing
|
| The sight of that prison makes me frightened
|
| Reminds me of a friend whose friend had been there
|
| I was staying with that friend in Brooklyn and his Rikers Island friend was
|
| staying there
|
| He came into the living room where I was sleeping
|
| Looked at me in my underwear
|
| I told my friend, «I can’t stay there»
|
| He said, «Why?»
|
| I said, «Because your friend likes to watch me get dressed and I got no privacy»
|
| My friend said, «What, are you too good for me?»
|
| And I said, «No man, I’m not too good for you
|
| It’s just that your friend just got out of Rikers, and I got a bunch of cash on
|
| me»
|
| That was 1999, we went to the fight at MSG
|
| In an attempt to buy scout tickets I had four grand on me
|
| Got led down an alley, and almost mugged
|
| We ended up watching the fight on a big-screen TV at a nightclub
|
| After the fight we headed back to Brooklyn
|
| When the cab stopped, my friend said, «Why are you getting out? |
| Where are you
|
| going?»
|
| I said, «I booked a hotel, I told you, I’m not staying at your place»
|
| He said, «Fuck you, you think you’re above the rest of us now»
|
| I said, «Hey man, I brought you Cuban cigars from Spain»
|
| And he slammed the door on me, and I went to my hotel and checked into my room
|
| My stomach full of pain
|
| My brain full of pain
|
| I hated it when my friend felt betrayed
|
| And I hated it when I treated him that way
|
| It’s just that I’d upgraded from sleeping on couches to hotels back then,
|
| and I’ve kept it that way
|
| Got into my place in New Orleans
|
| It felt like another, it was 83 degrees
|
| I opened some windows and turned on a fan
|
| And watched the very talked about documentary, Leaving Neverland
|
| A documentary about the kids who were molested by Michael Jackson
|
| I never watched anything before that affected my body language quite like that
|
| When the kids went into the details of what happened to them as early as seven
|
| I thought if heaven or hell were real, Michael surely can’t be in heaven
|
| While I was watched it, my body was turned to the right
|
| As I kept watching, my face was turned to the right
|
| I couldn’t sit squarely at the TV and my stomach was tight
|
| I couldn’t fall asleep, and when I did, I had nightmares
|
| I think more people are believing now that Michael was bad
|
| But when I wrote this song «He's Bad», by the critics back then, it got panned
|
| But now Oprah’s on board, and of course, more people are believing it and
|
| hearing it
|
| But back when I said it they didn’t
|
| But he’s dead now, and my last words on him are, «Good riddance»
|
| The next day, a friend of mine and I walked from Willie Mae’s to St.
|
| Louis cemetery
|
| Everything was closed that day; |
| the graveyards, the churches, the foggy house |
| poster for The Pirate’s Alley
|
| She was new to New Orleans, and I asked if she wanted to walk to the
|
| Mississippi River with me
|
| She said she could see it from her hotel window just fine
|
| I sensed her weariness, and she sensed mine
|
| And we said goodbye
|
| And I walked alone to the Mississippi River
|
| And looked at the rough current that runs through the middle
|
| That looks like a 10-yard wide streak of silver eels for miles and miles
|
| Aggressively commingling just beneath the surface of the brown water
|
| When I look at what looks like millions of silver eels aggressively twisting
|
| all around each other
|
| I think, «That's the current that swept Jeff Buckley off to his young death»
|
| Jeff was a fan of mine, and he expressed it
|
| But of his support, I never reciprocated
|
| And he reached out once, and I never returned his phone call
|
| Because I didn’t know what he wanted
|
| I thought, «Why would Jeff need my validation?
|
| Look at his cheekbones and listen to his Rob Halford range
|
| He’s doing better than me, so what could he possibly want from me?»
|
| Years after his death, I was having dinner with somebody who knew him well
|
| She said, «I don’t think that’s what it was, I think he was looking for your
|
| help»
|
| I said, «Help with what?»
|
| And she said, «Finding his voice
|
| Not his singing voice, but his voice-voice, you know?
|
| Jeff felt that you knew who you were, and I think he was hoping you could help
|
| him find who he was»
|
| I said, «My God, that never occurred to me»
|
| I said this then, and I still believe it
|
| That he would have found his voice by album three
|
| I told myself that I’d call him back when he proves to me he’s got what it
|
| takes to get to Jeff Buckley three
|
| I’m sorry I never called you, Jeff
|
| You were a rockstar with a legendary father
|
| You had celebrity lovers
|
| And from where I was standing, I thought that you thought you had it all
|
| It didn’t occur to me, that like all of us, you also had insecurities
|
| And I think of Jeff’s early death when I look at the Mississippi (Mississippi)
|
| I think of a lot of the things when I look at the Mississippi (Mississippi)
|
| Not just emu rides with my mother
|
| And the story of Huckleberry Finn and Jim
|
| So many memories of visiting the city
|
| Of New Orleans, and walks along the Mississippi
|
| A few whom I’m deeply missing
|
| I’m alone and waiting for you full of loneliness and self-pity
|
| I can’t wait to see you this Friday to share New Orleans with you in the spring
|
| Being with you in New Orleans in the spring makes me happier than anything |