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Rating: Another review of an anthology, and another review of a great artist.
Nick Drake is one of the greatest songwriters in the history of rock. During his short life, and very short career, he did not achieve any success in terms of audience and sales. Rediscovered thanks to a collection published at the end of the '70s, with only three albums he has had an extraordinary influence on artists from the '80s and '90s.
With a typically English accent, whose shyness over the years turned into loneliness and despair, Nick Drake is the songwriter who most of all managed to convey his own melancholy and anguish. But he was also a great composer, an impeccable guitarist, a meticulous arranger, and most importantly, an incomparable poet. The lyrics of his songs possess a simple language, never banal rhymes, genius metaphors. And, above all, they were sung by Drake himself. His performance was always detached, without unnecessary virtuosity. But, at the same time or perhaps because of this, it perfectly evoked the artist's state of mind, as melancholic and dreamy in the first two albums as depressive and desperate in the last.
The anthology is happily titled "Way to Blue: An Introduction to Nick Drake". Like any collection, it cannot have the same charm as the original albums, but it remains an excellent "introduction" to the artist, with almost all of his best compositions. The listening experience is somewhat hindered by the track list mix. Mixing the tracks from different albums loses one of the main characteristics of Drake's work: harmony.
From the first album, "Five Leaves Left", the romantic "'Cello Song", the dramatic "Way to Blue" and "River Man", the poetic "Time Has Told Me" and the melancholic and visionary "Fruit Tree", in which Drake foreshadows his own destiny are included:
"Fame is but a fruit tree
So very unsound.
It can never flourish
Till its stalk is in the ground.
So men of fame
Can never find a way
Till time has flown
Far from their dying day"
The arrangement of the songs is romantic and almost naively naive. Strings are almost always in the foreground, giving the lyrics a profound drama. At the time of publication, Drake was only 21 years old.
From the second album, perhaps his masterpiece in terms of complexity of execution and arrangement, the jazzy "Hazey Jane I" and "Poor Boy", the romantic "One of These Things First" and "Northern Sky" and finally the rhythmic "Hazey Jane II" are included.
These are very different tracks in terms of rhythm and melody, ranging from jazz to pop, but they maintain a strong homogeneity thanks to a superb arrangement, as unusual as it is extraordinarily delicate.
In the track "Northern Sky", Drake reaches the peak of his poetry. It is impossible to quote just a few verses here, I invite you to download the full lyrics.
From the third album, "Pink Moon" of 1972, the enigmatic "Pink Moon", the desolate "Which Will", the very sad "Things Behind The Sun" and finally the naive "From The Morning" are included.
By many considered his masterpiece, the album is a solemn declaration of death, nihilism, and incommunicability. The melancholy and fears magnificently set to music in the previous albums now give way to anguish, deepest depression, and perhaps madness.
Nick Drake died in 1974 due to an overdose of sleeping pills, possibly a suicide. Some songs recorded after "Pink Moon" were released posthumously on the album titled "Time Of No Reply". In this anthology, the dramatic title track and the dark "Black Eyed Dog" are included.
In conclusion, the anthology represents an excellent shortcut to discover the extraordinary talent of Nick Drake. I don't feel like giving it the highest rating due to the absence of some particularly significant tracks: the very delicate and almost carefree "The Thoughts of Mary Jane" from the first album, the almost jazz "At The Chime Of The City Clock" and the sincere confession of "Fly" from the second, the sad "Place to Be", and finally the sweet "Mayfair" from the posthumous "Time of No Reply".
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
02 Hazey Jane I (04:29)
Do you curse where you come from,
Do you swear in the night
Will it mean much to you
If I treat you right.
Do you like what you're doing,
Would you do it some more
Or will you stop once and wonder
What you're doing it for.
Hey slow Jane, make sense
Slow, slow, Jane, cross the fence.
Do you feel like a remnant
Of something that's past
Do you find things are moving
Just a little too fast.
Do you hope to find new ways
Of quenching your thirst,
Do you hope to find new ways
Of doing better than your worst.
Hey slow Jane, let me prove
Slow, slow Jane, we're on the move.
Do it for you,
Sure that you would do the same for me one day.
So try to be true,
Even if it's only in your hazey way.
Can you tell if you're moving
With no mirror to see,
If you're just riding a new man
Looks a little like me.
Is it all so confusing,
Is it hard to believe
When the winter is coming
Can you sign up and leave.
Hey slow Jane, live your lie
Slow, slow jane, fly on by.
03 Way to Blue (03:09)
Don't you have a word to show what may be done
Have you never heard a way to find the sun
Tell me all that you may know
Show me what you have to show
Won't you come and say
If you know the way to blue?
Have you seen the land living by the breeze
Can you understand a light among the trees
Tell me all that you may know
Show me what you have to show
Tell us all today
If you know the way to blue?
Look through time and find your rhyme
Tell us what you find
We will wait at your gate
Hoping like the blind.
Can you now recall all that you have known?
Will you never fall
When the light has flown?
Tell me all that you may know
Show me what you have to show
Won't you come and say
If you know the way to blue?
04 Things Behind the Sun (03:56)
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.
05 River Man (04:19)
Betty came by on her way
Said she had a word to say
About things today
And fallen leaves.
Said she hadn't heard the news
Hadn't had the time to choose
A way to lose
But she believes.
Going to see the river man
Going to tell him all I can
About the plan
For lilac time.
If he tells me all he knows
About the way his river flows
And all night shows
In summertime.
Betty said she prayed today
For the sky to blow away
Or maybe stay
She wasn't sure.
For when she thought of summer rain
Calling for her mind again
She lost the pain
And stayed for more.
Going to see the river man
Going to tell him all I can
About the ban
On feeling free.
If he tells me all he knows
About the way his river flows
I don't suppose
It's meant for me.
Oh, how they come and go
Oh, how they come and go.
06 Poor Boy (06:07)
Nick Drake - Poor boy
Never sing for my supper
I never help my neighbour
Never do what is proper
For my share of labour.
I`m a poor boy
And I`m a rover
Count your coins and
Throw them over my shoulder
I may grow older
Nobody knows
How cold it grows
And nobody sees
How shaky my knees
Nobody cares
How steep my stairs
And nobody smiles
If I cross their stiles.
Oh poor boy
So sorry for himself
Oh poor boy
So worried for his health.
You may say every day
Where will he stay tonight.
Never know what I came for
Seems that I`ve forgotten
Never ask what I came for
Or how I was begotten.
I`m a poor boy
And I`m a ranger
Things I say
May seem stranger than Sunday
Changing to Monday.
Nobody knows
How cold it flows
And nobody feels
The worn down heels
Nobody`s eyes
Make the skies
Nobody spreads
Their aching heads.
Oh poor boy
So worried for his life
Oh poor boy
So keen to take a wife.
He`s a mess but he`ll say yes
If you just dress in white.
Nobody knows
How cold it blows
And nobody sees
How shaky my knees
Nobody cares
How steep my stairs
And nobody smiles
If you cross their stiles.
Oh poor boy
So sorry for himself
Oh poor boy
So worried for his health.
You may say every day
Where will he stay tonight.
Oh poor boy
So worried for his life
Oh poor boy
So keen to take a wife.
Oh poor boy
So sorry for himself
Oh poor boy
So worried for his health
Oh poor boy.
10 Northern Sky (03:46)
I never felt magic crazy as this
I never saw moons knew the meaning of the sea
I never held emotion in the palm of my hand
Or felt sweet breezes in the top of a tree
But now you’re here
Brighten my northern sky
I’ve been a long time that I’m waiting
Been a long time that I’m blown
I’ve been a long time that I’ve wandered
Through the people I have known
Oh, if you would and you could
Straighten my new mind’s eye
Would you love me for my money
Would you love me for my head
Would you love me through the winter
Would you love me ‘til I’m dead
Oh, if you would and you could
Come blow your horn on high
I never felt magic crazy as this
I never saw moons knew the meaning of the sea
I never held emotion in the palm of my hand
Or felt sweet breezes in the top of a tree
But now you’re here
Brighten my northern sky
13 Time Has Told Me (04:25)
Time has told me
You're a rare rare find
A troubled cure
For a troubled mind
And time has told me
Not to ask for more
Someday our ocean
Will find its shore
So I`ll leave the ways that are making me be
What I really don't want to be
Leave the ways that are making me love
What I really don't want to love
Time has told me
You came with the dawn
A soul with no footprint
A rose with no thorn
Your tears they tell me
There's really no way
Of ending your troubles
With things you can say
And time will tell you
To stay by my side
To keep on trying
'til there's no more to hide
So leave the ways that are making you be
What you really don't want to be
Leave the ways that are making you love
What you really don't want to love
Time has told me
You're a rare rare find
A troubled cure
For a troubled mind
And time has told me
Not to ask for more
For some day our ocean
Will find its shore
14 Pink Moon (02:04)
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...
15 Black Eyed Dog (03:26)
Black eyed dog he called at my door
The black eyed dog he called for more
A black eyed dog he knew my name
A black eyed dog he knew my name
A black eyed dog
A black eyed dog
I'm growing old and I wanna go home, I'm growing old and I dont wanna know
I'm growing old and I wanna go home
Black eyed dog he called at my door
The balck eyed dog he called for more
16 Fruit Tree (04:46)
Fame is but a fruit tree
So very unsound
It can never flourish
Till its stalk is in the ground
So men of fame
Can never find a way
Till time has flown
Far from their dying day
Forgotten while you're here
Remembered for a while
A much updated rain
From a much updated style
Life is but a memory
Happened long ago
Theatre full of sadness
For a long forgotten show
Seems so easy
Just to let it go on by
Till you stop and wonder
Why you never wondered why
Safe in a womb of an everlasting night
You find the darkness can give the brightest light
Safe in your place deep in the earth
That's when they'll know
What you are really worth
Forgotten while you're here
Remembered for a while
A much updated rain
From a much updated style
Fame is but a fruit tree
So very unsound
It can never flourish
Till its stalk is in the ground
So men of fame can never find a way
Till time has flown far from their dying day
Fruit tree
Fruit tree
No one knows you but the rain and the air
Don't you worry
They'll stand and stare when you're gone
Fruit tree
Fruit tree
Open your eyes to another year
They will know that you were here
when you are gone
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By alfo
Songs that are minimal emotions told with uncommon nakedness and violence.
Nick Drake was somehow this—a wild British faun, finding in art his message, the thread that stitches and underlies the words whispered by the faint and restless voice.
