Mojo Pin by Jeff Buckley

Album: Grace (1994)

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Buckley explained the title: "Plainly speaking, it's a euphemism for a dropper full of smack that you shoot in your arm."
When Buckley was a part of Gary Lucas' band Gods & Monsters, he wrote an early version of this song with Lucas, who contributed most of the music. Gods & Monsters fell apart amid tensions between Buckley and Lucas, but Buckley included a new version of "Mojo Pin" on his 1994 debut solo album, the only album released in his lifetime (he died in 1997).

A demo of the Gods & Monsters version recorded in 1991 appears on the collection Songs to No One 1991-1992, which was released in 2002. The song "Grace," which Buckley also wrote with Lucas, also appears on the compilation.
Craig Wedren, whose band Shudder To Think was one of Buckley's favorites, got an early listen to "Mojo Pin" from Andy Wallace, who produced the Grace album. "It was like, 'Oh. This is generational,'" Wedren told Greg Prato. "When you hear beauty at that level, that combination of gifted technical, transcendent... I've known a lot of really great singers and great composers and musicians, and he was the best of all those things."

Comments: 13

Mj from NycThe truth is the song is about a torrent affair he had before moving to NYC with a very beautiful young Black woman who had long black locs. Mojo is an Black American Hoodoo slang for casting a magic spell on someone so they are addicited to the person. It has nothing to do with drugs or a dream. Jeff was a very secretive sad man and lived a very complex compartmentalized life but he wasn't a drug addict. His bestfriend, who is also Black, knows all about his Mojo Pin relationship. Jeff had a LOT of lovers. He was a very complex man.
Scarlet from NjOh my God this song gives me goosebumps every time I hear it. This is pure beauty. Jeff Buckley did this song at a music festival in Glastonbury, not sure what year but you can - no, you MUST watch it on youtube, it is just sublime... his performance is so breathtaking that the audience appears stunned and silenced, just mesmerized by him... he is really someone to be seen visually because of the intensity of his performances. He bares his soul with such passion that it's simply stunning. This is one of the most beautiful songs I have EVER heard. Jeff Buckley left us too soon. What a beautiful person he was.
J from San Diego, CaThe heroin euphemism makes sense in hindsight. I first heard Jeff on the album grace, which i thought was amazing... then i got a hold of Live at Sin'e`. Then i thought grace was a mess of over produced s--t, forced by the record company. check the tempo and sensibilities of the earlier work in his live shows. Seems grace coincided with the same time record execs realized 13 yr girls were the cash cow(pop). Its almost like listening to a cover band covering Jeff. Now that i've acquired his later posthumous live albums, he sounds like a hollow shell of the same soul that gave us "Live at Sin-e". A body going through motions. Not the same soul at all. Don't get me wrong. I think jeff is one of the greatest spirits this world has ever seen. How many other artists that have produced one album in their lifetime has such a devout following. Jeff was able to touch people more deeply than many of the worlds, "spiritual leaders" could ever dream. As is such with lights that burn so brightly, the luminosity is vast but the time is always too short. Thank you Jeff
Marillion from Atlanta, GaJeff Buckley wasn't killed by a speedboat. He was with a friend, swimming in an area of the Wolf River in Memphis, TN, that the locals knew better than to swim in, because it was dangerous. He'd only been living there a few months and didn't know better. He was pulled under in the wake of a passing tugboat. He wasn't despondent at the time - he was happy and excited about the album he was about to make. His band was in an airplane on their way to Memphis to start working on the album when he died. It wasn't suicide.
Phoenix from Sydney, AustraliaErm.. 'mojo pin' is more slang for the needle than for heroin per se.. white horse is a type of heroin. Some think "black beauty" is also a reference to heroin, but I think that it is more about describing the girl, personally.
Jeeps from Voorburg, NetherlandsMojo Pin is slang for a shot of heroine, so is 'white horse'.. heroine as substitute for love?
Ekristheh from Halath, United StatesBuckley played with the idea of death in many lyrics. He seems neither actively to have sought death, nor minding if he died. He did go swimming with his boots on, but did not deliberately swim into the path of the speedboat that killed him. He was in the middle of preparing for an album at the time. Surely if he were actively suicidal, he'd have completed the album first. Also, the people who knew him best believe that it was not suicide. It was Buckley's father who died of an accidental drug overdose. Buckley was very aware of this and likely haunted by it, since he did not know his father well.
Me from St.louis, Moi honestly dont think it was a suicide and it isnt wierd that he thought he would die early since his father died at a young age too, and also why would you drown youself when you were swimming with friends? doesnt sound like suicide to me
T'leah from Monroe, MiLissy, I thought that was strange, too. It seems like it was but Im not for sure. He seemed to know he was going to die. Guess we'll never know
Dylann from Los Angeles, Cato lissy...whose to say it wasnt suicide? i love him too. he talked about death alot though as i recall...in one song he said, "im not afriad to die...but it goes so slow."
Aaron from Seattle, WaThis song came out of a dream Buckley had of a woman with black hair shooting heroine between her toes.
Emu from Paradise City, Otherthis song is fabulous, but my favourites are Grace and Forget Her, especially the bit at the end of Forget her when he gets really into it. Shame how the best musicians have to go.
Lissy from Devon, Otheri love him its strange how he knew he was gonna die soon even though it wasnt a suicide
r.i.p my love this my last good bye

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