Nick Drake

I read a biography of Nick Drake a while ago. These are some of the notes I made.

1. A briefly flickering talent. He was like one of those cardiographic blips that threatens to straighten out into a single tone, and eventually did.

2. He didn't leave anything behind - no diary; no letters; no written music; just a few scribbled song lyrics..'A soul with no footprint'

3. Lyrics - somewhat sparce or sparely written and yet he wrote in a direct and personal style, and they can speak to you at a profound level.

4. Not embarrassing compared with a lot of other hogwash of the day. I'vetaken some drugs and now I'm going to sing you a fairy tale.

5. There's been something morbid about all the disciples and cranks who dwell on him,obsessively; like he's dead and gone now - let it be!

6. He would probably not enjoy such success and acclaim now if he was stillalive - dying was something of a good career move for Nick Drake. They who died young didnt always make it happen in life, and yet they persist and are influential aferwards.

7. These are delicate, understated and unassuming songs from a shy retiring young man, who was undoubtedly something of a genius. But the music of the day needed grander gestures, or more promotion than a Drake cd give it.

8 There are comparisons with Emily Dickinson & Van Gogh - an unrecognised genius with mental problems leading sad lives that end in tragedy.

9. It's often curious music - he's playing the blues but in a folksy sort of way.

10 A point was reached where his melancholy became a crippling disease, and he couldn't carry on in any meaningful creative way.