All Flowers In Time Bend Towards The Sun

Album: unreleased (2013)
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Songfacts®:

  • This acoustic song is a duet between two of the most distinctive voices of the '90s: Jeff Buckley and Elizabeth Fraser of the Cocteau Twins. It was intended to be only a demo, but was leaked online by unnamed sources after Buckley's death. Since, it's become an underground favorite of Buckley enthusiasts.
  • The song starts with Fraser laughing lightly in the background and then jumping right in with her characteristic, metallic vocal artistry. As soon as she's done, Buckley comes in with his own trademark warbling croon.

    The song seems conscious of the most conspicuous strengths of its singers, giving both of them room to explore both the softer and most forceful ends of their singing ranges. It was not intended to be released in this version, so the relaxed atmosphere likely contributed to the song's freewheeling feeling.
  • The song seems to be about a romance, which would be fitting because Fraser and Buckley had a relationship together for some time. The lyrics, however, are ambiguous enough that the song may be speaking of something other than a simple romantic relationship. The opening lines go:

    My eyes are baptism
    Oh, I am fuse (or filth)
    And sing her
    Into my thoughts
    Oh, phantom elusive thing


    Interestingly, these lyrics are also sung by Fraser, not Buckley, suggesting that the "her" in the song isn't Fraser. So, it's possible the tune is a love song to the artistic muse. This is an interesting interpretation for a song recorded by two artists many have said they "channeled" their best music. Fans and critics have observed that both of them have been said to become possessed in performance, and "All Flowers In Time Bend Towards The Sun" may be an allegory for calling in the muse, much like Nice Cave's "There She Goes, My Beautiful World." This is all pure guesswork, though, as neither Buckley nor Fraser ever spoke about the song's meaning. It wasn't even intended to be released, after all.
  • Olliffe of Australia wrote the Jeff Buckley website to ask if the song would ever be officially released, and the site's rep responded that they had never intended to do so because they "never had a proper studio recording of it, and the demo recordings we had were too personal and not suited to past projects." Some time around 2013, however, first use rights were granted to Michael Kimmel for his play The Last Goobye, which retells Romeo and Juliet with a soundtrack of Jeff Buckley's music.

Comments: 2

  • Al from MarsShe sings "him" in the first verse.
  • Stacey from Las Vegas, NevadaYou forgot to mention Lead Guitarist and close friend Michael T i g h e on the facts page
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