Mixed Race Studies

Fearless Music: Garland Jeffreys ’65

Syracuse University Magazine
Volume 28, Number 3 (Fall/Winter 2011)

David Marc

From his ’70s hit “Wild in the Streets” to his latest album, legendary singer-songwriter Garland Jeffreys has taken on life’s big issues with his own eclectic brand of music

From the pages of The New Yorker to deep inside the blogosphere, legendary singer-songwriter Garland Jeffreys has been winning high praise for his new album, The King of In Between, released last summer on his own Luna Park label. Loved by fans and admired by colleagues for his fearless movements through rock, R&B, reggae, and whatever other styles he may need to articulate his borderless vision, Jeffreys puts his mastery of popular musical forms in the service of personal expression, a talent he shares with Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen. Feeling “too black to be white, too white to be black,” he occupies his own space and fills it with a gritty sweetness that is hard for likeminded souls to resist.

Growing up in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, during the 1950s, Jeffreys learned a thing or two about “diversity” long before the term took on its full contemporary meaning. “I’m from a totally mixed-race family—black, white, Puerto Rican, Native American,” he says. “At the time, we were the only people of color in the Catholic church we attended every Sunday. At school, I had my close friends, but I was also often the only ‘colored’ kid in the class, and every time I met a girl I liked, I had to contend with a race issue. My music has always had a great deal to do with these experiences.” Jeffreys felt more at ease in nearby Coney Island, where beach, boardwalk, and carnival karma drew people of every background imaginable. He also enjoyed the privilege of seeing the Dodgers play at Ebbets Field. “I was just 4 years old, but I was there at the game, April 15, 1947, when Jackie Robinson broke the color line in baseball,” he says. “Sports have always been an important part of my life, and even helped bring me to Syracuse. My father wanted me to go to Boston College. But Jim Brown [’57] went to Syracuse, and obviously I had to go to school where he went.”

Shortly after arriving on campus, Jeffreys met Lou Reed ’64, who became a lifelong friend. Although both were moving toward their careers as musicians, Reed was studying poetry and Jeffreys had his sights set on art history. “We hung out at the Orange Bar with Lou’s teacher, the poet Delmore Schwartz, and a bunch of people—I guess you’d call them ‘Beats,’” Jeffreys says. “It was a great place for me to be because race didn’t matter; it was all about hanging out and knowing each other.” Felix Cavaliere ’64, who was about to depart for the top of the pops as lead singer and keyboard man with The Young Rascals, was another friend Jeffreys first bumped into on Marshall Street…

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