I'm writing this article to promote the music of Nick Drake.
Nick Drake was an English singer-songwriter who wrote three albums in his
lifetime.
The thing about Drake's music is that it can be so beautiful
and his lyrics can leave you thinking for a long time, pondering about life.
His albums were not bestsellers at all. Apparently, Drake was reluctant to
perform live shows and to be interviewed and that contributed to his lack of
success.
He was very influenced by artists like Bob Dylan, Josh White
and Phil Ochs. Drake studied English Literature at the University of Cambridge
but he quit 9 months prior graduation to pursue a career in music. His main
influences also included William Blake, William Butler Yeats and Henry Vaughan.
Drake experimented with open tuning and finger-picking techniques and you would
hardly find any of his songs in standard tuning except for the song 'Day is Done'
His first album was called 'Five Leaves Left' which is a reference
to the old Rizla cigarette papers packet – which used to contain a printed note
near the end saying "Only five leaves left". Some of the arrangements
of the songs in this album were provided by college friend Robert Kirby. Kirby
later stated that “Nick was in some strange way out of time. When you were with
him, you always had a sad feeling of him being born in the wrong century. If he
would have lived in the 17th Century, at the Elizabethan Court, together with
composers like Dowland or William Byrd, he would have been alright. Nick was
elegant, honest, a lost romantic - and at the same time so cool. In brief: the
perfect Elizabethan."
Some of my favorite lyrics from this album are:
"And time has told me
Not to ask for more
Someday our ocean
Will find its shore"
- From the
song 'Time has told me'
"When the day is done
Down to earth then sinks the sun
Along with everything that was lost and won
When the day is done.
When the day is done
Hope so much your race will be all run
Then you find you jumped the gun
Have to go back where you began
When the day is done."
- From
the song 'Day is done'
There has been little or no footage of Nick himself. Only
still photographs of him are available. His first biography was published in
1997, followed in 1998 by the documentary film 'A Stranger Among Us'.
His second album 'Bryter Layter' was released in 1970.
"I never felt magic crazy as this
I never saw moons knew the meaning of the sea
I never held emotion in the palm of my hand
Or felt sweet breezes in the top of a tree
But now you're here
Brighten my northern sky
I've been a long time that I'm waiting
Been a long time that I'm blown
I've been a long time that I've wandered
Through the people I have known
Oh, if you would and you could
Straighten my new mind's eye
Would you love me for my money
Would you love me for my head
Would you love me through the winter
Would you love me ‘til I'm dead
Oh, if you would and you could
Come blow your horn on high
I never felt magic crazy as this
I never saw moons knew the meaning of the sea
I never held emotion in the palm of my hand
Or felt sweet breezes in the top of a tree
But now you're here
Brighten my northern sky".
- From
the song 'Northern Sky', which is one of my favorites. It is featured in the
closing scene of the film 'Serendipity'.
Drake's final album called 'Pink Moon' was released in 1972.
Pink Moon differs from Drake's previous albums in that it was recorded without
a backing band, featuring just Drake on vocals, acoustic guitar and a brief
piano riff overdubbed onto the title track. This album is lovely, lasting only
28 minutes
"A day once dawned and it was beautiful
A day once dawned from the ground
Then the night she fell and the air was beautiful
The night she fell all around
So look, see the days
The endless coloured ways
And go play the game that you learned
From the morning"
A lot of contemporary artists have been influenced by Nick
Drake; some of them include Radiohead, Brad Pitt, Heath Ledger, Norah Jones and
Coldplay.
Drake suffered from depression and died from an overdose of
an anti-depressant when he was 26 years old. Whether it was an accident or
suicide, no one knows.
