Born in November 1948, Nick Drake came from a wealthy middle class family. He grew up in Tanworth-in-Arden and attended public school, before moving to Cambridge to study English at University. It was here that he started playing his songs to his friends.
A Brief Musical Career
His lyrics are unique and intellectual. Dying at a young age, he only had the chance to create three albums, and because of this great importance is placed on the lyrics to try and understand his emotions before his death.
Patrick Humphries writes in Nick Drake: The Biography that “Nick Drake never had time to develop and grow as a writer, or as a person.” His albums were released in a three year period. His songs show the disaffection he feels with life and his problems with communicating with others.
If Drake had lived he might have developed further as a writer and created even more influential music. Humphries goes on to say that “We can only imagine how he would have developed as a songwriter, and perhaps that is the greatest loss of all.”
Influences
Drake would have been influenced by the Beats, MacDonald writes in The People's Music that this is perhaps because of “their link with French existentialism, but more likely by their creed of self-realisation and advocacy of natural psychedelics”. As he was an English graduate he would have also been influenced by his study of the Romantics.
On first listening to Drake’s music, Joe Boyd writes in White Bicycles that “the clarity and strength of the talent were striking... there was something uniquely arresting in Nick’s composure”. Drake’s three albums follow typical themes of a young man who feels himself to be an outsider.
Overly sensitive, his lyrics convey the emotions of someone detached from reality and relating only to the natural world. He had a sensitivity to the seasons because of the way that they represent human life; the ups and downs, the good and the bad. It is representative of ‘samsara’, the cycle of existence.
Death and Posthumous Success
Drake died in November 1974 from an overdose of anti-depressants. It has never been confirmed whether the overdose was accidental or not – Drake was suffering from depression and insomnia and so took his tablets to help him sleep.
Although relatively unknown during his short musical career, mainly due to his reluctance to tour as he had trouble overcoming his shyness, Drake has reached huge levels of success posthumously. His songs have been used on advertisements, for example Volkswagen used Pink Moon on one of their adverts and this prompted increased record sales. His songs have also been used in film soundtracks, such as The Royal Tenenbaums and Garden State.
Discography:
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