Lord Buckley
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H.R.H. Richard Lord Buckley (b. Richard Myrle Buckley, April 5, 1906 Tuolumne, California; d. November 12, 1960 New York City) was an American recording artist, a monologist, and Hip poet.
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[edit] Life
Recording artist H.R.H. Lord Richard Buckley's father William had emigrated from England to California, but was not a peer of the realm. His mother Annie Laurie Bone was the daughter of Cornwall immigrants and a born storyteller. Buckley worked as a lumberjack as a youth, then as an entertainer in medicine shows, tent shows, and finally speakeasies in Chicago in the 1920s. He ran dance marathons in the 1930s and vaudeville shows in the 1940s, worked jazz clubs and nightclubs and became friends with jazz greats like Gene Krupa. During World War II he toured with Ed Sullivan's USO show and became very close friends with Ed Sullivan. Lord Buckley also appeared on Ed's first TV show Toast of The Town in June 1948. Ed often helped Buckley with legal trouble (he was arrested on more than one occasion for marijuana possession). Finally during the 1950s Buckley was cast as one of America's top hipsters, a "way-out" "swinger," enjoying cult status and respect from those who were exposed to his work.
Buckley adopted his hipsemantic from his peers Louis Armstrong, Redd Foxx, Count Basie and Frank Sinatra, hipsters, beatniks, and British aristocracy. Occasionally performing to music and singing, he frequently punctuated his monologues with non-linguistic vocal sounds. His most significant tracks are his retelling of historical or legendary events, most fictionalized to a certain degree, imbued with his scandalous and high-brow humor. These include the stories "My Own Railroad" and "The Nazz". The Nazz, first recorded in 1952, which describes Jesus' working profession as that of a "carpenter kitty", Gandhi ("The Hip Gahn"), and the Marquis de Sade ("The Bad-Rapping of the Marquis de Sade, the King of Bad Cats"). He also retold several classic documents such as the Gettysburg Address and an (appropriately psychedelic) version of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven." In "Mark Antony's Funeral Oration", he recast Shakespeare's "Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears" as "Hipsters, flipsters and finger-poppin' daddies: knock me your lobes."
Buckley very much enjoyed smoking marijuana. He wrote reports of his first experiences with LSD, under the supervision of Dr. Oscar Janiger, and of his trip in a United States Air Force jet. Ed Sullivan (who reflected "…he was impractical as many of his profession are, but the vivid Buckley will long be remembered by all of us.").
On October 19, 1960, he was scheduled to play club dates and do another Ed Sullivan show in New York, but his New York City Cabaret Card was seized, purportedly because of a 1941 arrest for marijuana possession. Cabaret cards were necessary to appear in nightclubs and were often withheld for political reasons, and as a way to solicit payoffs. Without the card he was unable to perform. He attempted to get the card reinstated and more than three dozen major figures in the entertainment and arts world showed up for a hearing on the matter.
[edit] Death
Richard 'Lord' Buckley died November 12, 1960 at New York City's Columbus Hospital. A hearing held two days after his death turned into a raucous confrontation between Police Commissioner Stephen Kennedy and Buckley's friends and supporters, including Quincy Jones, George Plimpton and Norman Mailer. The scandal of Buckley's death, attributed at least in part to his loss of the card, led to the removal of Kennedy in 1960 and the abolition of the cabaret card system by 1967, some 7 years later. "The Tales of Lord Buckley" © copyright.
Lord Buckley's funeral was on November 16, 1960 at the Frank E. Campbell Chapel on 88th Street in New York City. Lord Buckley was cremated at the Ferndale Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York and eventually, according to Richard Buckley Jr, his ashes were scattered in Red Rock Canyon about 15 miles outside of Las Vegas by his mother Lady Buckley with the sword from a steel statue of Kierkegaard welded by John Muir.
[edit] George Harrison and Lord Buckley
George Harrison was turned on to Lord Buckley by The Moody Blues in the early 1960s when they put a Lord Buckley album on at their home. While learning the sitar he was introduced to Dick Bock, who first recorded Ravi Shankar and also recorded Lord Buckley's album "Way out Humor". George said, "Lord Buckley really made me laugh and Ravi Shankar was the Godfather of world music." In 1974 while on tour in Los Angeles, George met backstage with Richard Buckley Jr. and advised him to probate his father's estate. Bill Graham (the concert promoter) along with Billy Preston, Don Cornelius and Ravi Shankar were there when Buckley Jr. asked the question "What would you do if you were me?" A chance meeting with George Grief, Lord Buckley's onetime manager, led to the writing of the song Crackerbox Palace a home of Buckley's in Echo Park, a suburb of Los Angeles, California. Following the release of Yellow Submarine, the animated cartoon, The Beatles had an interest in animating one of Lord Buckley's monologues, The Swingin' Pied Piper. Jim Dickson the producer of The Byrds also recorded the Pied Piper and was dealing with the Beatles regarding their idea of the cartoon.
[edit] Recording artist
Lord Buckley recorded over 15 long playing albums. The best can be found on iTunes and ebay or in record collector stores. Most were recorded in studio settings and are very hip to say the least even by today's standards. Lord Buckley recordings can be found on bgmrecordings, RCA Records, VAYA, World Pacific, Capitol Records, Elektra Records, Frank Zappa's Straight Records label and United Artists, with titles such as "Blowing His Mind," "Euphoria," "A Most Immaculately Hip Aristocrat," "The Bad Rapping of The Marquis De Sade" and "The Best of Lord Buckley", "Wild Truth", "Professor of Hipology", "Drama King" and "Hip Classics".
[edit] George Grief
George Grief managed Lord Buckley in the 1950s, and later produced Jose Feliciano, Barry White and The Modern Jazz Quartet, as well.
[edit] Trivia
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Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (November 2008) |
- "The Train" and "The Nazz" by Lord Buckley appear on NME's The Supermassive Selection CD, the tracklist is a collection of favourite songs of the English band Muse.
- "The Nazz" inspired the name of the group "Nazz", formed by Todd Rundgren in 1967.
- David Bowie references "The Nazz" in the lyrics to his song "Ziggy Stardust".
- Lord Buckley's "God's Own Drunk" was recorded on Living and Dying in 3/4 Time by Jimmy Buffett in 1974.
- The "Tales of Lord Buckley" are available on itunes Crown Prince Richard's Collection
- Lord Buckley is referenced several times throughout the Callahan Series by Spider Robinson.
- Lord Buckley was mentioned as an influence by Tom Waits in an interview in 1979.
[edit] External links
- LordBuckley.com includes biographical material, discography and an extensive archive of writings by and about Buckley.
[edit] Bibliography
- Trager, Oliver. Dig Infinity: The Life and Art of Lord Buckley, Welcome Rain Publishers LLC, New York City, 2001.
