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.
Suicide is painless
Nick Drake Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Visions of the things to be
The pains that are withheld for me
I realize and I can see...
That suicide is painless
It brings on many changes
And I can take or leave it if I please.
All our little joys relate
Without that ever-present hate
But now I know that it's too late, and...
The game of life is hard to play
I'm gonna lose it anyway
The losing card I'll someday lay
So this is all I have to say.
The only way to win is cheat
And lay it down before I'm beat
And to another give my seat
For that's the only painless feat.
The sword of time will pierce our skins
It doesn't hurt when it begins
But as it works its way on in
The pain grows stronger...watch it grin, but...
A brave man once requested me
To answer questions that are key
Is it to be or not to be
And I replied 'oh why ask me?'
'Cause suicide is painless
It brings on many changes
And I can take or leave it if I please.
...and you can do the same thing if you please.
Nick Drake's song 'Suicide is painless' is a strikingly beautiful, poignant and evocative piece that was written as the theme song to the popular television series M*A*S*H. It is a haunting and contemplative song with lyrics that delve deeply into the difficult subject of suicide, exploring the motivations and emotions behind this extreme act.
The song begins with the image of the morning fog, which represents the uncertainty and confusion that often surrounds suicide. The singer sees visions of the things to be, but these visions are shrouded in pain and suffering that are withheld for him. He understands that suicide may bring on many changes, but it is ultimately a decision that he can take or leave if he pleases.
As the song progresses, the singer reflects on the hardships of life and how difficult it is to find meaning and joy amidst the ever-present hate. He acknowledges that the game of life is hard to play and that he is going to lose it anyway. The only way to win, he believes, is to cheat by taking his own life. By doing that, he can give his seat to another and avoid the pain that comes from the sword of time, which will inevitably pierce our skins.
The chorus of the song repeats the idea that suicide is painless and brings on many changes. The singer questioningly expresses his unwillingness and uncertainty to answer questions about life and death. He concludes by affirming that suicide is a personal decision, and one that the listener can choose to take or leave.
Line by Line Meaning
Through early morning fog I see
Despite the haze, I can envision my future
Visions of the things to be
I can see what lies ahead for me
The pains that are withheld for me
I know there will be struggles in my life
I realize and I can see...
I understand the path before me
That suicide is painless
Taking my own life could be a solution
It brings on many changes
Ending my life would have a significant impact
And I can take or leave it if I please.
I have the choice to act on these thoughts or not
I try to find a way to make
I attempt to find common ground with those around me
All our little joys relate
To bring us together in harmony
Without that ever-present hate
Without the negative feelings holding us back
But now I know that it's too late, and...
Unfortunately, it seems as though that time has passed
The game of life is hard to play
It's difficult to navigate through life
I'm gonna lose it anyway
I am likely to ultimately fail
The losing card I'll someday lay
I will eventually face defeat
So this is all I have to say.
This is my message to the world
The only way to win is cheat
The only way to succeed is through dishonesty
And lay it down before I'm beat
To give up before being defeated
And to another give my seat
To let someone else take my place
For that's the only painless feat.
Because giving in is the easiest thing to do
The sword of time will pierce our skins
The passage of time will inevitably bring pain
It doesn't hurt when it begins
At first, the pain is hardly noticeable
But as it works its way on in
As time goes on, the pain becomes more intense
The pain grows stronger...watch it grin, but...
The pain seems to take delight in our suffering
A brave man once requested me
Someone once asked me a difficult question
To answer questions that are key
To provide an answer to a question of great importance
Is it to be or not to be
Is it better to live or to die?
And I replied 'oh why ask me?'
I am not qualified to answer that question
'Cause suicide is painless
Because ending one's life could be an option
It brings on many changes
It would be a significant event for all involved
And I can take or leave it if I please.
It ultimately comes down to my own choice
...and you can do the same thing if you please.
Others have the same choice to make
Contributed by Brody A. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
@deadtoolhead22
Nick did cover this but its not on YT
@daurerin
I don't understand why so many believe that this is sung by Nick Drake. So much on google for example. The voice is clearly not him! All the videos should be removed. If it was supposed to be a joke it was a really bad one.
@luisferreiro
Especially considering the fact that it was never conclusively proven that he did indeed intend to take his own life. It may have been a bad reaction to the antidepressants that he was taking at the time
@johanpitstra
tasteless to connect Nick to the MASH theme song
@3CooperBoys
This sounds to me like the (original?) version done by Johnny Mandel.
@dantenishio
nooot nick drake.
@Ailuj234
I am related to Nick. Nick did not commit suicide. He suffered from chronic depression. Sometimes he did not know night from day. He did not monitor his meds as closely as he should. He would pop his antidepressants without realizing how many. If Nick had wanted to die he would have taken the whole bottle plus he loved and respected his parents. He would have chosen to die elsewhere.
@elluised
DO A FAVOR, REPORT IT.
@astridvvv9662
Why did you make this? 🤣
@treeswillturntosoil
the voice reminds me of moondog lol