I love the quote that you can't discard something until you've fully written it, polished it and given it your all. The time is never wasted, and it shows how you can't move forwards without a bit of patience and sometimes a few steps backwards. Thanks for sharing 🙏
This is a wonderful piece; so historically interesting and insightful. I throughly enjoyed it and it made my afternoon. Listening to Jeff Buckley was icing on top. Beautiful.
Wow, I didn't know the history of this song. Yeah, it makes you think. The quiet graveyard of songs and artists who never saw the light of day because they never got that lucky break. The world is a random place. At least this beautiful piece of music got its time in the sun.
I loved Jeff Buckley’s Hallelujah from the first time I heard it at a dinner in college and while I generally knew he covered it from Leonard Cohen I didn’t know all the details. Thank you for the time and energy you put into this piece.
Two days ago on RealClearBooks I read a long essay about John Kennedy Toole and his novel. It has been strongly on my mind ever since. At age 61 I should have heard of him at least 42 years ago in 1981! But better late than never haha. While making it a point to look into this topic more over the weekend, my blessed eyes caught your own long essay. You weaved two extraordinary stories of delayed recognition incredibly well, not to mention filled in many more details I was hoping to discover. I am very grateful to you for sharing your scholarship.
Thank you for such kind words! It means a lot to me. It took me almost two years of (sporadic) research and writing to write this piece and I am so happy that you found some value in it :)
Small typo report:
> partly motivated by an artist’s never-ending thirst and party by...
The second "partly" is missing an L.
I have read this countless times and never caught it. Thank you for pointing this out! Fixed now :)
I felt the same when I first heard about this song and Toole's life. As Joyce Carol Oates said, "So much of life is accidental."
I love the quote that you can't discard something until you've fully written it, polished it and given it your all. The time is never wasted, and it shows how you can't move forwards without a bit of patience and sometimes a few steps backwards. Thanks for sharing 🙏
This is a wonderful piece; so historically interesting and insightful. I throughly enjoyed it and it made my afternoon. Listening to Jeff Buckley was icing on top. Beautiful.
Thank you!
Wow, I didn't know the history of this song. Yeah, it makes you think. The quiet graveyard of songs and artists who never saw the light of day because they never got that lucky break. The world is a random place. At least this beautiful piece of music got its time in the sun.
I loved Jeff Buckley’s Hallelujah from the first time I heard it at a dinner in college and while I generally knew he covered it from Leonard Cohen I didn’t know all the details. Thank you for the time and energy you put into this piece.
Thank you for reading and your kind words :)
I hadn't heard the song until I heard KD Lang's rendition for the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver. Beautiful song.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcOQSk_cMO0
What a wonderful essay on the vagaries of art. All I can say is: thank you - so much - for researching and writing this.
Thank you, Mike! 🙏
I was listening to Leonard Cohen when I came across this post. I really loved it! It’s all happenstance, I suppose.
Have you read any of Walker Percy's own writings?
Yes! The Moviegoer is one of my favorite novels.
Same here.
Also the essays and Lost in the Cosmos.
He wrote some of the most profound songs!
Indeed!
Two days ago on RealClearBooks I read a long essay about John Kennedy Toole and his novel. It has been strongly on my mind ever since. At age 61 I should have heard of him at least 42 years ago in 1981! But better late than never haha. While making it a point to look into this topic more over the weekend, my blessed eyes caught your own long essay. You weaved two extraordinary stories of delayed recognition incredibly well, not to mention filled in many more details I was hoping to discover. I am very grateful to you for sharing your scholarship.
Thank you for such kind words! It means a lot to me. It took me almost two years of (sporadic) research and writing to write this piece and I am so happy that you found some value in it :)