Nov. 25, 2020
British singer-songwriter Nick Drake died forty-six years ago today, on November 25, 1974, age 26, from an accidental overdose of anti-depressants. I learned about him perhaps three years later, through the recommendation of my friend Jon Kaysing. At the time I was trying to navigate that awkward transition from adolescence into adulthood, and entering into a significant episode of depression. During that troubled time, Nick and Nico provided a suitable soundtrack. Nick covered the beautiful melancholy angle; Nico was just morbid and scary. I continued to listen to them both after the storm had lifted and still appreciate them, though now I rarely listen to either – not because they remind me of a painful time in my life, but because I just don’t feel the need. They’ve both entered into the realm of music I used to listen to; once important to me, but now more a piece of my distant past than relevant to the present.
Nick Drake only recorded three albums while he was alive, released between 1969 and 1972. Each of them has its charms. As full albums go, my favorite probably was and remains his last, the hauntingly bare-bones Pink Moon. But if I have to choose just one song from his entire catalog I’m going with the luscious River Man, the second song on Side One of his first album, Five Leaves Left. (If I were the producer it would have been the first song.) I find that first album to be his most uneven. You can hear a young artist trying to find his own musical identity in the wake of Van Morrison‘s ground-breaking Astral Weeks. But for me, River Man stands out for its lush string arrangement, lilting 5/4 time signature, and perfect meeting of lyric and vocal delivery. It’s the one song of his I am still always in the mood to hear.
