OVERVIEW
This section on Tim Buckley features material that for the most part was not used in Blue Melody. I say "for the most part," because some of the quotes in "America" appeared therein, as did some of the facts from other sections. I also utilize quotes from articles by other writers, all of whom are given proper credit. Other than that, most of the material here is new.
Tim dreamed of writing a book about America, entitled Fear and Loathing In Tulsa. He never wrote the book, but the quotes I have assembled in "America" give a broad view of Tim's perceptions of this great country.
In Blue Melody, I discussed the Cleveland radio show in which the subject of race relations arose. In the late '60s, America was in the throes of upheaval, not only regarding Vietnam, women's liberation, and homosexual rights, but regarding the conflicts between white oppressors and black emergents. Carter Collins, Tim's black conga player, of course supported the black cause, even if violence occurred. I too supported the black cause, but took issue with him regarding the means of liberation, championing the virtues of peaceful resistance. Although I talked about this radio show conversation in the book, I chose to delete a discussion about the details of my own views at that time. Those views are presented in "Black/white."
In the "Original Morning Glory Liners," I present the full, unedited version of the liner notes I wrote for Rhino Records' two-CD Tim Buckley Anthology. James Austin, Director of Rhino's A & R Special Products division, hired me to write these notes, but except for a few extrapolated paragraphs at the end of the booklet, he used none of them.
I wrote "Were We Crazy?" during the mid-'80s. It examines some of the questions that I later dealt with in Blue Melody in different ways. Here, recalling certain questions Tim's girlfriend, Jainie Goldstein, asked me one day in 1969, I indicate my reactions to those unsettling questions, and explore a few of the ways in which I suddenly saw how underlying feelings of inferiority and self-loathing contribute to intoxication, fears of success, and self-destruction. "Were We Crazy?" offers considerable insight into the reasons why Tim and I and many of our friends were losing ourselves in drugs and alcohol.
In "Farewell, Starsailor," I recount a touching story Judy Buckley told me, about Taylor's taking Tim's ashes out to sea, and the way Taylor eventually came to terms with Tim's death.
Tim always thought he would die before he turned 30. I thought the same thing about myself. He was right. I was wrong. "Birthday Boy" is not exclusively about Tim. It is about me coping with life after 30.
