Lover, You Should've Come Over
"Lover, You Should've Come Over" is a song by American singer-songwriter Jeff Buckley. It is the seventh track on his only studio album Grace, which was released on August 23, 1994, by Columbia Records.
| "Lover, You Should've Come Over" | |
|---|---|
| Song by Jeff Buckley | |
| from the album Grace | |
| Released | August 23, 1994 |
| Studio | Bearsville Recording, Woodstock, New York |
| Genre | Folk-pop[1] |
| Length | 6:43 |
| Label | Columbia |
| Songwriter(s) | Jeff Buckley |
| Producer(s) | Andy Wallace |
Music and lyrics
Musically, "Lover, You Should've Come Over" is a folk-pop[1] and soul ballad.[2] The song has a length of 6:43,[3] and is composed in 6
8 time and the key of D major. It moves at a tempo of 120 beats per minute, and Buckley's vocal range spans more than two octaves, from B3 to D6.[4] The song begins with an "ethereal, droning" organ passage performed by Loris Holland.[5][6]
Inspired by the ending of the relationship between Buckley and Rebecca Moore,[7] the lyrics concern the despondency of a young man growing older, finding that his actions represent a perspective he feels that he should have outgrown. Biographer and critic David Browne describes the lyrics as "confused and confusing" and the music as "a languid beauty".[7]
Cover versions
The song was covered by the English jazz pianist songwriter Jamie Cullum on his 2003 album Twentysomething. It has also been covered live by Australian singer-songwriter Matt Corby, English rock band Nothing But Thieves, and American singer-songwriter John Mayer, who named it the best song of all time in a 2003 interview with Rolling Stone's Austin Scaggs.[8] The song was also featured in the third episode of the ABC series FlashForward titled "137 Sekunden". The song was covered by Natalie Maines on her 2013 solo album Mother. American singer Nikka Costa included a version of the song on her 2017 album Underneath and in Between. In 2021, Joey Landreth (of The Bros. Landreth) released his cover version.
Reception
Legacy
In 2019, Paste's Steven Edelstone ranked "Lover, You Should've Come Over" as number 1 on his list of "The 10 Best Jeff Buckley Songs". Edelstone deemed the song "lyrical perfection" and its bridge an "all-timer": "It's never over, my kingdom for a kiss upon her shoulder / It's never over, all my riches for her smiles when I slept so soft against her / It's never over, all my blood for the sweetness of her laughter / It's never over, she's the tear that hangs inside my soul forever."[9] Arun Starkey of Far Out magazine descibed the song's organ intro as "one of the most moving musical moves ever put to wax."[5] Jacob Nierenberg of Consequence of Sound wrote that the song served as a "[reminder] that Buckley was making some of the most unique and unabashedly beautiful music of the 90s."[10]
References
- Reed, Ryan (August 23, 2014). "The Timeless Influence of Jeff Buckley's Masterpiece". Esquire. Retrieved January 27, 2021.
- Beviglia, Jim (September 4, 2020). "Behind The Song: Jeff Buckley, "Lover, You Should've Come Over"". American Songwriter. Retrieved May 12, 2023.
- Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Jeff Buckley - Grace Album Reviews, Songs & More". AllMusic. Retrieved May 12, 2023.
- "Jeff Buckley "Lover, You Should've Come Over" Sheet Music in D Major". Musicnotes.com. Archived from the original on March 4, 2023. Retrieved May 12, 2023.
- Starkey, Arun (August 23, 2021). "Revisiting 'Grace' Jeff Buckley's only studio album". Far Out. Retrieved May 12, 2023.
- Grace (Media notes). Jeff Buckley. 1994.
{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link) - Browne (2001), p. 237
- Scaggs, Austin (April 3, 2003). "John Mayer Talks Sting, Gwen Stefani, and the Best Lyric of All Time". Rolling Stone. Retrieved May 12, 2023.
- Edelstone, Steven (August 27, 2019). "The 10 Best Jeff Buckley Songs". Paste. Retrieved May 12, 2023.
- Nierenberg, Jacob (August 13, 2019). "Classic Album Review: Jeff Buckley's Amazing Grace Built His Indelible Legacy". Consequence of Sound. Retrieved May 12, 2023.