Last Goodbye

Album: Grace (1994)
Charted: 54
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Songfacts®:

  • This is about losing a loved one and having to say goodbye to the one you love. Some people say this song was an omen - Buckley died a few years later. >>
    Suggestion credit:
    Daniel - Perth, Australia

Comments: 14

  • Brooke from Omaha, NeGoing off of Marillon’s comment, this sounds like it’s about the end of Elizabeth Fraser’s time with Jeff Buckley. It was released around the same time as Rilkean Dreams / Twinlights by Cocteau twins, which were homages to her relationship with Buckley. I find it entertaining…Her ex husband & baby daddy was playing guitar for these songs about her love with another man. Obviously no shade I think it’s just cool
  • Nickd from Buffalo NyIt's not about losing a loved one, nor was it about Rebecca. Jeff had a relationship with an older German actress that was working on Broadway as he was gaining notoriety in NYC playing bars and venues IIRC. She was ending her tenure there and realized that the older women dynamic doesn't often end well long term, so she ended the relationship thinking it better they break it off rather than try to keep a long-distance relationship going. The line "I'll only hurt you in time" means that as they age she'll be quite a bit older than he is and he might pursue younger women and it won't hold together. In addition, no doubt Jeff was increasingly faced with groupies throwing themselves at him as his career progressed...
  • Tim from Linkoping, SwedenMatt: or in Grace where he sings "And I feel them drown my name
    So easy to know and forget with this kiss
    I'm not afraid to go but it goes so slow"
  • Hannah from Hampshire, England, United KingdomI think this song is about finally letting somebody go after perhaps quite a long disintergration of a relationship. It seem to be about being about to tell somebody that you were glad that they were in your life and that they did make an impact on you that you will always remember, but it's time to move on.
    'Just hear this and then I'll go; you gave more more to live for, more than you'll ever know'.
  • Marillion from Atlanta, GaLast Goodbye was originally titled "Unforgiven" and was written before he met Rebecca Moore. Rebecca is the girl who 'weeps on my arm' in Grace and the inspiration for Lover, You Should Have Come Over.
  • Frank from Princeton, NjHas anyone read the book "Dream Brother" about Jeff and his father? There is evidence to suggest that a specific girl was the motivation behind this tune - Rebecca Moore.
  • Matt from Brisbane, AustraliaSpeaking of omens, try "Grace" where he says "Is my time coming, I'm not afraid to die.." and even "So Real" where he says "I couldn't awake from the nightmare, it sucked me in and pulled me under", just like the river where he died.
  • Zane from King's Lynn, EnglandI have to agree, this did not strike me as an omen either, certainly not of Buckley's untimely death. I think the song speaks of wanting what you can't have (loving but knowing you will only hurt your loved one in the end).
  • Aaron from Seattle, WaThis song is not an omen, or if it is, it's a weak omen. Listen to Nightmare by the Sea. That song is a friggin' omen.

    This is a song that is about understanding the end of a relationship but still wanting that person anyway. It's intensely personal, like all of Buckley's songs.
  • Rhedyn Williams from Bristol, England"Kiss me, please kiss me, but kiss me out of desire babe, not consolation"...he wants their last kiss to embrace and celebrate the passion they once had, not to be a sad goodbye.
  • Rhedyn Williams from Bristol, EnglandIt is about losing a loved one, but not in the conventional way. It's about one of those break-ups where nothing particularly goes wrong, the love just fades, and how in those situations it's almost harder to say goodbye, because you are so frustrated by how something so good can suddenly disintegrate.
  • Karen from Melbourne, AustraliaSounds to me like someone contemplating suicide after the breakup of their relationship.
  • Ash from Charleston, WvThis song is an unbelievable work of art.
  • Erin from Pittsburgh, PaThis song appears on the soundtrack to the Tom Cruise movie Vanilla Sky.
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