Heaven in a wildflower
Nick Drake was born in Rangoon, Burma, on 19 June 1948, his exotic birthplace being due to the fact that his father, an engineer, was working with a British lumber firm int the teak forest of the area. When Nick was two years old, the family - his father Rodny, his mother Molly (herself a songwriter in the Noel Coward vein) and sister Gabrielle (now an actress) - returned to England and settled in the village of Tanworth-In-Arden, near Birmingham. Of comfortably upper-middleclass English background, Nick was sent first to Eagle House preparatory school in Surrey - where he was Head Boy at the age of thirteen - before going on to Marlboro Public School, the third generation of his family to do so. There he continued to shine, not just academically - he won a scholarship to Fitzwilliam College at Cambridge to study English litterature - but also in sports. His record for the 100 yard dash in under ten seconds still stands there. But it was also at this time that he developed a kenn interest in music, first learning saxophone and clarinet, before moving on to guitar at the age of sixteen.
Also always a very private person, Nick is recalled with great affection by his friends at Cambridge. His slightly stooping 6'3" frame managed to convey both natural elegance and a certain scruffy charm, and contrary to the popular image of a doomed soul, he is remembered for his sence of humour and for his enthusiasm, especially for music, which frequently took precedence over lectures. The works of Randy Newman and Tim Buckley, Van Morrison and Traffic, were among his favorites, as were those of Jim Webb with The Fifth Dimension and of Donovan, whose gentle, murmuring vocal style is not unlike Nick's own.
Influenced by blues and traditional folk guitarists, Nick had already developed an outstanding natural ability as a guitarist into a distinctive, deceptively simple stayle of complex rhythms, and was already writing original material which his friends encouraged him to perform. At one of these performances (supporting Country Joe MacDonald), he was spotted by Ashley Hutchings of Fairport Convention who recommended him to producer Joe Boyd. Fresh from Harvard, Boyd was quickly establishing a reputation for quality and good taste by singing acts like John Martyn (who became a great friend of Nick's) and the Incredible String Band to his Witchseason label. Boyd asked Nick for a tape and, bowled over by the results, gave Nick a contract in return. Nick was thrilled.
The first fruits of their endeavours was the 1968 album "Five Leaves Left" (ILPS 9105) which introduced Nick's beguiling song and gentle, wistful style to the world at large. Singer-songwriters have incurred a reputation for intolerable self indulgence in the field of self pity; Nick's songs however are not morbid introspections but neatlyperceptive observations, offered wihout aggression or insecurity, which reach out instead to touch and whose vulnerability stirs the inner feelings of the listener. The mood of placid and peaceful musings was enhanced by the ornate string arrangements of Robert Kirby - a music student from another Cambridge college - or in case of the marvellous "River Man" by arranger Harry Robinson.
Although the album was well received, sales did not match the critical enthusiasm. Nick did undertake a brief series of live dates - including Fairport Convention's watershed "Liege and Lief" concert at the Royal Festival Hall - but apparently found the experience so traumatic that he never tried it again. Instead he dropped out of Cambridge with only a year to go and moved down to London. There he lived alone in a Hampstead flat in a manner best described as frugal while writing songs for his second album "Bryter Layter" (ILPS 9134), released in September 1970, and the move to the city is clearly reflected in the change from pastoral to urban settings.
Reagarded as NIck's most optimistic album,. it owes this reputation more to the uplifting arrangements - again provided by Kirby - than to the haunting songs which are whimsically melancholic and gently rueful as on "Five Leaves Left". Complemented by the immaculate tasteful contributions of Richard Thompson and Dave Mattacks (from Fairport Convention) and the enigmatic John Cale, it is the jazzier approach of people like Ray Warleigh (saxophone) and Chris McGregor (piano) which provide the elusive element of self-promoting aggressiveness which is missing form the songs - and indeed from Mick's own life.
"Bryter Layter" is a magical achievement - producer Boyd and his sound engineer John Wood (later on Nick's few confidants) regard it as the one perfect album they made for Witchseason. Sadly it too failed to set the world alight. Although Nick cared little for material possessions - he is discribed by Kirby as "one of the few people I've met who were completely pure and honest" - the failure of the album to connect with a wider audience was a great blow to Nick. He began to suffer increasingly from deep depressions. Never the most organised of people, his erratic behaviour also increased and he begun to disappear without notice. He did seek psychiatric help but as soon abandoned it, preferring to try to find his own way through a world with which he felt increasingly out of step. Nor did the departure of Joe Boyd - whom Nick admired greatly - for Los Angeles help, and Nick began withdrawing further and further into himself.
Nick also now began to have difficulty in turning his thoughts and feelings into songs, but a holiday in the Spanish apartement of concerned Island Records owner Chris Blackwell seemed to cure the problem, at least temporarily. Nick returned from Spain and recorded "Pink moon" (ILPS 9148) - his third and final album, released in February 1972 - in just two sessions. By contrast to "Bryter Layter", it was stark and bare, completely devoid of intrumental arrangements save for a solitary piano overdub played by Nick himself on the title track. Disturbing in its deep-seated resignation, it's also his most obscure work lyrically. Curiously, however, the feeling evoked by his desolate landscape is one of stillnes, something which could hardly have been in greater contrast to the increasingly sonfused life of its creator.
After the release of "Pink Moon" - regarded by some his finest work - Nick retreated to his parents' home in Tanworth. Again he tried psychiatric help and even toyed with employment ideas as bizarrely unsuitable as the Army and computers. Nothing seemed to help; he had increasing difficulty coping with life and he was again struggling with his music. And then, in the summer of 1974, the cloud lifted. Nick underwent something of a spiritual rebirth, even going to live with friends on a barge on the Seine in Paris and deciding he loved it there. Returning to London, he recorded four new songs but, ever mindful of musical high standards, decided to scrap them and redo them better.
Sadly he never did. On 25 November 1974, his mother Molly found him dead in bed. He had died at around 6 AM of an overdose of Tryptizol, an extremly potent anti-depressant which Nick had been taking to help him sleep. The assistant coroner recorded a verdict of suicide, a view strongly contested with family and friends who had witnessed Nick's renewed interest in life.
His music, however, remains with us. When Joe Boyd sold Witchseason to Island, one of the conditions of sale was that Nick's albums would always remain available. And so they have done, their exquisite beauty untarnished by the passing of the years, while bigger names have come and gone. The four last songs, incidentely, now appear on "Fruit Tree", a box set of Nick's complete works, due for re-release on Boyd's Hannibal label. And still letters still continue to arrive, well over a decade after the release of his last album, at the Drake family home from a new devotees all over the world. You could do worse than join them.
This text is taken from Collection-LP "Heaven in a WildFlower"