Although he recorded only three albums, critics and fellow musicians hold his work in very high esteem. Drake failed to find a wide audience during his lifetime and had a strong aversion to performing. Since his death, however, Drake's music has gained a significant cult following.
Drake's father worked as an engineer. Although he was born in Rangoon, Burma, Nick's family moved back to England soon afterward, and Drake was brought up in Tanworth-in-Arden, a small village in the English county of Warwickshire. He went to public school at Marlborough College, where he learned to play the clarinet and piano. As a young adult, Drake enrolled in Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, to study English. His older sister, Gabrielle Drake, is an actress.
Drake was a fan of British and the emerging American folk music scene, including artists Bob Dylan and Phil Ochs. While a university student, Drake began performing in local clubs and coffee houses. He was discovered by Ashley Hutchings, the bass player of the folk rock group Fairport Convention. Hutchings introduced Drake to the other members of Fairport Convention, folk singer John Martyn and producer Joe Boyd.
He delayed attendance to spend six months at the University of Aix-Marseille, France, beginning in February 1967. While in Aix, he began to practice guitar in earnest and to earn money would often busk with friends in the town centre. Drake began to smoke cannabis, and that spring he traveled with friends to Morocco, because, according to traveling companion Richard Charkin, "that was where you got the best pot". Drake's associates convinced Island Records to sign the young singer-songwriter to a three-album contract. Drake began recording his debut album Five Leaves Left later in 1968, with Boyd assuming the role of producer. The sessions took place in Sound Techniques studio, London, with Drake skipping lectures to travel by train to the capital. At the age of twenty, he released his first album Five Leaves Left (1969), which featured a chamber music quartet on several songs and had a light, breezy sound. Drake's second album Bryter Layter (1970) introduced a more upbeat, jazzier sound, with keyboards, horns and several brass instruments. Both albums were produced by Boyd and featured several members of Fairport Convention.
Many accounts of Drake focus on his mythology, but a large part of his enduring popularity is due to his meticulous songwriting, prosody, odd guitar tunings and lyricism.
Drake was pathologically shy and resented touring. The few concerts he did play were usually in support of other British folk acts of the time, such as Fairport Convention or John Martyn and were often brief and awkward. Partially because of this, his work received little attention and sold poorly. Whilst in the recording studio, he was so shy that he'd always play into the wall so as to avoid people's gazes.
Severely depressed and doubting his abilities as a musician, Drake recorded his final album Pink Moon (1972) in two two-hour sessions, both starting at midnight. The songs of Pink Moon were short (the album consists of eleven of them and lasts only 28 minutes) and emotionally bleak. Drake recorded them unaccompanied, in the presence of only a sound engineer (a piano was later overdubbed on the title track). Naked and sincere, it is widely thought to be his best work.
At this point, he considered other careers including the army and computer programming, but more suitably as a songwriter for other artists. However, none of Drake's plans materialized. In the next few months, Drake grew severely depressed and maintained relationships only with close friends such as John Martyn, who wrote the title song of his 1973 album Solid Air for and about Drake and with Sophia Ryde. He was hospitalized several times and lived with Hardy for a few months. Friends from that time have described how much his appearance changed: his nails grown, his hair and frame gaunt and thin.
In 1974, Drake felt well enough to write and record a few new songs. However, on November 25, he died of an overdose of antidepressants. The coroner concluded that the cause of Drake's death was suicide, although this was disputed by friends and relatives. Antidepressants of that time were quite lethal if ingested in any higher dosage than the one prescribed. His mother recounts that he must have had difficulty sleeping and had got up in the night to have a bowl of cornflakes. It's unclear whether he took more pills to help him sleep or to take his own life.
His simple gravestone in the Tanworth churchyard bears the line "And now we rise/And we are everywhere", taken from From the Morning - the last song on the last album Nick lived to complete.
Posthumous popularity
Since Drake’s death, his music has grown steadily in popularity. Several modern musicians, such as Lucinda Williams, Badly Drawn Boy, Matthew Good, Sebadoh's Lou Barlow, R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck, Blur’s Graham Coxon, and Belle and Sebastian, consider Drake an important influence. In early 1999, BBC2 aired a 40-minute Nick Drake documentary, "A Stranger Among Us — In Search of Nick Drake", as part of its Picture This strand. The following year saw the release of a documentary by Dutch director Jeroen Berkvens, titled A Skin Too Few: The Days of Nick Drake and featuring interviews with Joe Boyd, Gabrielle Drake, audio engineer John Wood, and arranger Robert Kirby. Brad Pitt is a fan of Drake and, in 2004, he narrated a BBC radio documentary about the singer.
Island has responded to Drake’s popularity with several new releases including Time of No Reply (1986), an album of unreleased material including four new songs recorded in 1974, Way to Blue: An Introduction to Nick Drake (1994), a "best of" album, remastered HDCD releases of his three studio albums in 2000, and Made to Love Magic (2004), featuring one new track and some newly recorded orchestration for a previously released track. A replacement for Way to Blue called A Treasury was also released in 2004 on Hybrid-SACD.
In 2000, Volkswagen licensed the track Pink Moon, the title track from Nick's third release, for a particularly serene car commercial in the US. The advertisement caused a significant bounce in Drake’s popularity, bolstered by uses of Drake's music on a number of film soundtracks, including 1998's Hideous Kinky and Practical Magic (featuring "Road" from Pink Moon and "Black Eyed Dog" from Time of No Reply, respectively). In 2001, two Bryter Layter tracks appeared in mainstream films: "Northern Sky" in Serendipity, and "Fly" in The Royal Tenenbaums. In the same year, "Cello Song" from Five Leaves Left was featured in Me Without You. In 2004, "One of These Things First" appeared in Garden State and "Northern Sky" was featured again, this time in Fever Pitch.
Drake's "River Man" has become quite popular among Jazz musicians. A piano improvisation based on the melody was released by Brad Mehldau on the album "Progression: Art Of The Trio, Volume 5", and a Jazz vocal version by Claire Martin appears on the album Take My Heart.
Drake's posthumous popularity has made many fans consider the lyrics to "Fruit Tree" a song from Five Leaves Left prophetic: “Fame is but a fruit tree / So very unsound. / It can never flourish / Till its stock is in the ground. / So men of fame / Can never find a way / Till time has flown / Far from their dying day.” In 2004 two of his singles reached low positions in the UK charts - "Magic" and "River Man".
Most recently, Nick Drake has emerged as a key influence in the resurgence of 1960's and 1970's folk traditions, apparent in the works of artists including Devendra Banhart, Joanna Newsom, and Six Organs of Admittance.
In 2005, performer Beck updated his website during Christmas time with covers of three songs from Pink Moon: "Pink Moon", "Which Will" and "Parasite."
Family Tree, the next Bryter Music/Island record was released in July 2007.
Milk & Honey
Nick Drake Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Soft and tender are her skies
Yes and no are the answers
Written in my true love's eyes
Autumn's leaving and winter's coming
I think that I'll be moving along
I've got to leave her and find another
Round and round the burning circle
All the seasons: one, two, and three
Autumn leaves and then there winter
Spring is born and wanders free
Gold and silver burns my autumns
All too soon they'd fade and die
And then I'd know, there'd be no others
Milk and honey were their lies
The opening lines of Nick Drake's Milk and Honey evoke the arrival of autumn with its gold and silver hues and soft, gentle skies. The contrasting answers of yes and no are symbolically reflected in the eyes of the singer's true love. The end of autumn and the onset of winter prompt a feeling of restlessness in the singer, who must leave in search of new opportunities to sing the song of his heart. The circle of life that encompasses all seasons is depicted by the turning wheel, and the leaves that die in autumn only to give birth to new beginnings in the spring.
The song's mood is pensive and introspective, with a keen awareness of the passing of time, the inevitability of change, and the fleeting nature of life's pleasures. The lyrics seem to suggest a wistful longing for something that is just out of reach, a desire for something more substantial than "milk and honey," which is ultimately revealed to be nothing but "lies." Through the use of seasonal imagery and poetic language, Drake expresses a universal human experience of longing, loss, and the search for meaning.
Line by Line Meaning
Gold and silver is the autumn
The autumn season is associated with richness and beauty, just like the colors of gold and silver.
Soft and tender are her skies
The autumn skies are gentle and calming, providing a sense of tranquility.
Yes and no are the answers
There are only two answers to life's questions: yes and no.
Written in my true love's eyes
My true love's eyes hold the answers to my questions, guiding me through life's ups and downs.
Autumn's leaving and winter's coming
The autumn season is ending, and the winter season is approaching.
I think that I'll be moving along
It's time for me to leave, to move on from this chapter of my life.
I've got to leave her and find another
I need to find a new direction in life, even if it means leaving behind those I love.
I've got to sing my heart's true song
I need to pursue my passions, and stay true to the values that drive me.
Round and round the burning circle
Life is full of cycles, repeating patterns that we must navigate through.
All the seasons: one, two, and three
There are three distinct seasons, and we must adapt to each one as they come and go.
Autumn leaves and then there winter
The autumn leaves fall, and the winter season begins.
Spring is born and wanders free
After the cold and darkness of winter, spring brings new life and growth, a time of renewal.
Gold and silver burns my autumns
The richness of autumn is fleeting, just like the colors of gold and silver.
All too soon they'd fade and die
Life is short, and we must make the most of the time we have.
And then I'd know, there'd be no others
Once something is gone, it cannot be replaced. I must cherish what I have while it lasts.
Milk and honey were their lies
The promises of wealth and prosperity are often empty and false, masking the harsh realities of life.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: GOAPELE K. MOHLABANE, JOSEPH EPPERSON
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@adeliahogarth4622
"Gold and silver is the autumn
Soft and tender are her skies
Yes and no are the answers
Written in my true love's eyes
Autumn's leaving and winter's coming
I think that I'll be moving along
I've got to leave her and find another
I've got to sing my heart's true song
Round and round the burning circle
All the seasons: one, two, and three
Autumn leaves and then there winter
Spring is born and wanders free
Gold and silver burns my autumns
All too soon they'd fade and die
And then I'd know, there'd be no others
Milk and honey were their lies" - Music and Lyrics by Jackson C Frank -
@jortreitsma2982
Fantastic cover of Jackson C Frank... A man who deserves a lot more credit and fame for his work. An absolute genius. Any Nick Drake fan should check out his work.
@Harry-qm1hf
Thankyou very much for this information. You never know until someone tells you.
@adonaiyah2196
Apparently frank was so traumatised and mentally exhausted by all of life's trauma someone is quoted as saying 'he belonged in a psychiatrists chair'
@chuck7916
Brothers from a different mother!
@Luis674t
Fantastic cover of Sandy Denny then. The more impressive version
@Yawnyaman
@@Luis674tDid you know that Jackson C and Sandy Denny were for a while an item?
@futuropasado
Nick is one of my favorite artists. I discovered that Jackson C Frank was one of his biggest influences, and in this song is very clear, the melancholic tone, the drag, the pace, mystery... What a forgotten genius Jackson was, every folk lover should check him out.
@adonaiyah2196
The main riff and the first few words have circled around my gead despite me having only listened to it a couple times in 2017
@theOUCHcollective
No matter how bad I feel, no matter how dark it gets... I just love Nick's stuff. He brings me great joy.
@debracarriere9051
Jackson C. Frank's original work.