OK. Second review on N. Drake.
I had the CD in the car for about a month without having the courage to put it on... because, let's face it, like everyone, I know the sad story, and I wasn't in the mood to hear its epilogue. Yet, it was different from what I expected.
"Pink Moon" is the story of a defeat but also represents a victory. There's a piece called "harvest breed" and it goes like this:
Falling fast and falling free you look to find a friend
Falling fast and falling free this could just be the end
Falling fast you stoop to touch and kiss the flowers that bend
And you're ready now
For the harvest breed
The image is one of free fall, into the void, without a parachute. But there's no pain, no suffering, you simply let yourself be carried away. Those who have come out of a coma say that in the end, life passes before your eyes like a movie, and that you can watch it with affection but with detachment.
For this reason, towards the end, the tones of this record become, despite the words, the meaning, light, rhythmic, diaphanous. Even the length of the record is a very strange thing, it's short, but the times seem to stretch out, just like in a free fall.
"Hey slow, jane, let me prove", we had heard in "bryter layter." Now it's not the time to prove anymore, but it feels like everything that needed to be said has been said - Nick has taken his path, and he'll follow it to the end, even if the world hasn't changed. It doesn’t matter who will listen to what you say, it’s still worth finding the things that lie behind the sun. And this is the victory, and also the end of the story...
and yet no...
Tracklist Lyrics and Samples
01 Pink Moon (02:06)
I saw it written and I saw it say
Pink moon is on its way
And none of you stand so tall
Pink moon gonna get you all
It's a pink moon
It's a pink, pink, pink, pink, pink moon...
02 Place to Be (02:43)
When I was young, younger than before
I never saw the truth hanging from the door
And now I'm older see it face to face
And now I'm older gotta get up clean the place
And I was green, greener than the hill
Where flowers grew and the sun shone still
Now I'm darker than the deepest sea
Just hand me down, give me a place to be
And I was strong, strong inside
I thought I'd see when day was done
Now I'm weaker than the palest blue
Oh, so weak in this need for you
03 Road (02:02)
You can say the sun is shining if you really want to
I can see the moon and it seems so clear
You can take the road that takes you to the stars now
I can take a road that'll see me through
I can take a road that'll see me through.
You can take a road that takes you to the stars now
I can take a road that'll see me through
I can take a road that'll see me through
I can take a road that'll see me through.
06 Things Behind the Sun (03:57)
Please beware of them that stare
They'll only smile to see you while
Your time away
And once you've seen what they have been
To win the earth just won't seem worth
Your night or your day
Who'll hear what I say.
Look around you find the ground
Is not so far from where you are
But not too wise
For down below they never grow
They're always tired and charms are hired
From out of their eyes
Never surprise.
Take your time and you'll be fine
And say a prayer for people there
Who live on the floor
And if you see what's meant to be
Don't name the day or try to say
It happened before.
Don't be shy you learn to fly
And see the sun when day is done
If only you see
Just what you are beneath a star
That came to stay one rainy day
In autumn for free
Yes, be what you'll be.
Please beware of them that stare
They'll only smile to see you while
Your time away
And once you've seen what they have been
To win the earth just won't seem worth
Your night or your day
Who'll hear what I say.
Open up the broken cup
Let goodly sin and sunshine in
Yes that's today.
And open wide the hymns you hide
You find reknown while people frown
At things that you say
But say what you'll say
About the farmers and the fun
And the things behind the sun
And the people round your head
Who say everything's been said
And the movement in your brain
Sends you out into the rain.
08 Parasite (03:36)
When lifting the mask from a local clown
feeling down like him.
Seeing the light in a station bar and travelling far in sin.
Sailing downstairs to the Northern line
watching the shine of the shoes.
Hearing the trials of the people there
who's to care if they lose.
Take a look you might see me on the ground,
for I am the parasite of this town.
Dancing a jig in a church with chimes
a sign of the times today.
Hearing no bell from a steeple tall
people all in dismay.
Falling so far on a silver spoon
making the moon for fun.
Changing a robe for a size to small
people all get hung.
Take a look you might see me coming through,
for I am the parasite who travels two by two.
Lifting the mask from a local clown
feeling down again.
Seeing the light in a station bar
and travelling far in sin.
Sailing downstairs to the Northern line
watching the shine of the shoes.
Hearing the trials of the people there
who's to care if they lose.
Take a look you might see me on the ground,
for I am the parasite of this town.
Take a look you might see me in the dirt,
for I am the parasite who hangs from your skirt.
10 Harvest Breed (01:37)
Falling fast and falling free you look to find a friend
Falling fast and falling free this could just be the end
Falling fast you stoop to touch and kiss the flowers that bend
And you're ready now
For the harvest breed
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Other reviews
By zaireeka
Listening is not enough.
I listen to Pink Moon and embark on a journey at the end of my little night.
By joe strummer
Nick’s voice penetrated my heart to touch the deepest strings of my soul, it motivated me immensely.
This album has made my life less trivial, less flat and gray.
By Louis
I recognize that fantastically acoustic guitar, that familiar and unknown voice, beautiful and dangerous, perhaps the right thing at the wrong time?
Tears are the blood of the soul.
By Frank Bermuda
"Pink Moon is just like a sad phone call that goes deep inside you and injects you with a form of profound melancholy."
"Nick Drake is the almost extinguished ember burning in the coal of a fireplace, but that will never fully go out."
By Hell
That night, that damned night, I wanted everything to end. To never look anyone in the face again, neither pain, nor myself.
The face was pink and round like a moon, a scarred, frightened, and distraught moon, the mouth a river of bright red, the eyes two gray puddles forgotten by God.