Nick Drake - and what Richard Morton Jack learnt from 200 people who knew him
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 29 ก.ค. 2024
- In his new biography “Nick Drake: The Life”, Richard Morton Jack set out to correct the misconceptions spread by magazines and former biographies, some ending up on Wikipedia. This involved talking to as many people as he could track down who’d met and remembered him, from key players like Joe Boyd, Francoise Hardy and Drake’s sister Gabrielle to the girl who played the cello on ‘Cello Song and a childhood friend who wrote a poem about him in the school magazine. The result is, by some margin, the clearest and most comprehensive picture of him to date, far more accelerated and self-promotional in the early days than we’d been lead to believe - “not just sitting in his ivory tower singing to the moon” - though it’s still hard to think of a musician worse equipped for the rigours of the music business and having, as Richard perfectly puts it, “a personality fundamentally ill-suited to display”. This covers a wide landscape from his lack of support (no real manager, no agent, no proper PR), the unusual and often disastrous gigs he played, the luckless timing of his record releases (Five Leaves Left out the day Brian Jones died), the mysteries of his love life, his time with John Cale, playing for Mick Jagger in Marrakesh, an awkward Parisian dinner with Francoise Hardy and his eventual decline and withdrawal from the outside world. It’s also a charming portrait of what real life was like in the late ‘60s when evenings revolved around a record deck, overflowing ashtrays and games of Monopoly.
You can order Richard Morton Jack’s book here …
www.amazon.co.uk/Nick-Drake-R...
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I was the 2nd 'fan' that visited the Drake home in the late 70's. His dad, who was the only one home told me that. I was just a late teen visiting England from Canada thinking I'd meet a musical hero in a brick row house! Suprise!! Very posh house and village. He showed me everything..the piano right of front door and a big book of clippings. The church, the site, the organ with memorial plaque. We returned the church key to the butcher/store keeper?(can't remember). He was a lovely kind man and was very proud to show off his son's accomplishments ..that's my take.
( only weird English thing..he insisted we drove from the house to village center? A stones throw away!😂😂
Did you get to meet Molly as well?
@@Dr170 No, his Dad was the only one home. Remember, I was just a teenager then, he was very kind to me and proud of his son.
Great story, thanks
For sharing ❤
No, there will never be another Nick Drake.
A great book
Probably the best , along with ' remembered for a while ' , by Gabrielle drake.
Nick drake was an exceptional man
He has blessed my life immeasurably.
I would have never known about Nick if it werent for a VW comercial in the states years ago. Thanks VW!
I saw the VW commercial first and then VHI did a segment on Nick. I was immediately hooked when I saw and heard nick sing. Thank you VH1 !!!
The word play of Nick Drake songs were right up there with Cats Steven's to me, He was just drowned out. His music found it's time. If it's great....It always finds it's time. ♥️
I was introduced to Nick Drake in an interview I'd read with Peter Buck from R.E.M.in the 90's. He called "Pink Moon" the loudest quiet album he'd ever heard. This piqued my interest and I sought out his music.
I still remember the first time I heard Nick Drake, I was 17 years old and it was 1995. My friend was driving us back from a gig we had just played. He put Five Leaves Left in the to the tape player and I was completely spellbound, an auditory experience I don’t recall having either before or after. I can still picture the section of road when Three hours came on, I just could not believe what I was hearing.
cool story. have you heard of artists like elliott smith, and talk talk's later albums? i would recommend them.
@@pandalilpigElliott smith is incredible. I love basement on the hill very much
Just discovered ND a few years ago. I was looking at a video about a Guild guitar I was interested in and the guy starts talking about Nick Drake, who’s that??? Looked it up. First song I played was 3 hours… OMG! Totally hooked. Then learned everything I could about him. Love the music! It’s all just a beautiful sadness really.
I approve of Morton's tendency to not overduly lionize his subject, as well as dispel a few myths along the way. Wish more biographers followed his example.
Thank God that Nick finally got an intelligent, competent, sensitive to nuance and well informed biographer. He so deserves it, as does his family. Five Leaves is perfect. Just as an aside (cough) when I was 12 and mad on Led Zeppelin, Leon Russell and the Moodies etc etc, my girlfriend Lynnaire had Jackie. I devoured it, it was great - small town NZ we had no NME or Sounds or whatever, and Jackie was a way in albeit briefly.
I bought the book on the strength of this interview. It's excellent.
When I heard his Mother’s music I heard Nick’s idiosyncratic sound. Five Leaves Left remains one of my favourite albums . Went to Tamworth in Arden about a decade ago and was pleasantly surprised at it’s beauty and unsurprised at it’s isolated feel.
Have been a fan of ND for 30+ years. One day I was working for a trade association and found myself driving into Tamworth-in-Arden. So of course I had to leave the meeting and visit his headstone under that tree. God bless his troubled soul, I hope he is now at peace.
I bought Five Leaves Left soon after it came out after hearing John Peel play Man in a Shed on his radio programme. I was a big Donovan fan at the time (I was 17 in '69) and when this track came on I thought it sounded like a smokier, more sophisticated Donovan. I do wonder whether Nick Drake was influenced by Donovan- there's a gentle poetic soft jazzy vibe in common. I can imagine Nick singing Sunny Goodge Street. I'm curious generally about what shaped Nick's musical style. Obviously we later became aware of his mother's beguiling talent. I can hear a possible strong bossa/Joao Gilberto influence in the soft, gentle vocal style, behind the beat phrasing and sophisticated jazz chords and progressions. And of course Eng lit, the romantic and pastoral poetic tradition.
I certainly responded to the exquisite quality of Nick Drake's lyrics, melodies, guitar playing- the delicate beautiful often melancholy world he evoked. However when Bryter Later came out, the tracks I heard didn't really entice me- the arrangements seemed too soft folk-pop, almost MOR. Of course at this time there were many singer-songwriters of exceptional poetic power at the peak of their powers- Dylan, Joni, Cohen (the three greatest for me, on another level) but also Paul Simon, Randy Newman, Neil Young, Van Morrison, Tim Buckley, Tim Hardin, John Martyn and many more. So Nick Drake was just one of a very gifted generation.
In the book RM Jack chronicles ND's massive interest in Donovan. So you have spotted something there.
It's nice to listen to three people enthusiastically talk about a great artist
indeed
I was 17 in 1970 when the Stones and Hendrix were huge, the Beatles were still massive and San Francisco was on the rise. However my friends and I were into Traffic, Tim Buckley, Tim Hardin, Cat Stevens, Matthews Southern Comfort and………Nick Drake……..why he was not a huge name when he was alive is a total mystery………..
Frankly, I don't think it's that much of a mystery. Nick repeatedly squandered the support of his record label by refusing to tour to support his albums. The way I understand it, he seemed to think that once a musician has a record released and sitting in the record shop record bins, people would automatically buy it. But the music business just doesn't work that way. To get your name out there you have to keep playing live.
You were aware and liked Nick Drake then? Fascinating. Tim Hardin does not get enough credit either.
Nick Drakes music is an ocean that found its shore.
Discovered nick just a couple of years back through my older brother,who had been raving about nick for many a year. A great artist indeed and totally unique. It's not about fame fortune or glammer.He is a star ✨️ and has made it when even 50years later people are still writing,talking and listening to his music 🎶. The Belfast poet Andrew Beattie.
Great book. One does feel tremendous pity for his parents.
Seems Richard has tried to get to the truth about Nick ,his life and relationships, rather than going along with the superficial 'iconic' image.
Great discussion, thanks, great episode.
I discovered Nick Drake with the 'Way To Blue' compilation from '94. Funny to think that that's now longer ago than between his death and its release..! We have the man who is currently in charge of Nick's estate, Cally Callomon, to thank for that compilation too. The new book is excellent too - highly recommended!
I was listening to my 'Way To Blue' CD a lot when my internet went off for a couple of weeks in April. Excellent compilation that one.
reading it now as my birthday present, I was reluctant to get excited about this book at first as there have definitely been too many books on Nick over the decades that are wholly inaccurate, BUT having got Gabrielle's initially hesitant approval im happy to read it , and a few chapters in the extra details mean everything to me as a fan. Still cant quite believe we have ZERO footage of Nick in this world.
What a great orator Richard is and well probed by you both ….I’m glad I watched this rather than my usual listen on the podcast
Fantastic interview, I came to Nick after he died and it was through John Martyn referencing him in Solid Air that I heard of him in rural Queensland. I went and bought Five Leaves Left on an English Island import (I've still got it). I then fell under the spell of Bryter Layter and Pink Moon-still got them too. Thanks for this, I need the book now.
Molly is the real key to Nick's artistry: even the self-deprecating humour, 'Poor Mum', 'Poor Boy.' You can hear Nick's voice and sense the shared fragility and turbulence in Molly's songs such as 'Happiness' and 'How Wild The Wind Blows.' There is a shared reliance on poetic imagery drawn from the natural world too. I have read somewhere, I forget where, that Rodney provided Molly with much-needed security and that he was invariably supportive of both her and Nick. I think the difference is that Nick didn't have any support systems in place; this is what I find baffling: how a talented, good-looking and charismatic man was unable or unwilling to share his life with people who might have helped to provide him with some sort of resilience.
This is a fantastic discussion. Richard is incredibly witty! I can’t wait for the book to be published in the States. I seriously regret selling my copy of ‘Fruit Tree’ now…
discovered Nick around 15 years ago. Such timeless music. Pink Moon one of my favourite songs,
One of my (now sadly deceased) friends saw ND support Fairport Convention at Liverpool Philharmonic in 1970. He said that he was just another singer-songwriter and the "turn" to be got out the way before he saw his favourite band. Years later, he borrowed the Fruit Tree boxed set from me and said he enjoyed it and had no idea that the likes likes of Richard Thompson had played on it.
As a passionate Nick Drake fan who is Autistic, it has always appeared to me that being on the Autism Spectrum, like myself, would so explain his life.
As the father of a 25-year old son who was diagnosed with high-functioning autism at age 4, many aspects of Nick's life (the outsider) ring true of ASC. The give-away is turning up at people's houses and saying nothing.
This thought recently crossed my mind about Nick too, Elizabeth - I'm glad to see I'm not the only one...
Great minds think alike (- my heart bleeds for him)
@@elizabethmarks4433
😊
Mine too... ❤️
Seems like the whole world wants to claim a "syndrome" of one sort or another for themselves and constantly tell the whole world about it nowadays....So tiresome.
Just finished the book , it's superb.
They're wrong about the NME story which appeared in early '75. Nick Kent wrote a quite a moving piece, acknowledging Drake's lack of wider commercial appeal, and then proceeded to analyse the music across his three solo albums. It was Kent's feature article that got me curious about Drake, and marked the beginning of my quest to check him out. I wasn't disappointed. I'm sure there must've been many regular NME readers who did the same. It still took another 10-15 years for the rest of the world to catch up, but give credit where credit's due. Thanks to Kent's article, I'm sure like me, interest Drake began to gather pace
What a fascinating and incredibly intelligent author… while I’m not a big Nick Drake fan, I think I’ll order the book on the strength of Richard alone😊
Loved this. Revealed the real Nick rather than clichéd historical perspective.
Love everything Nick Drake... Pre ordered book. Look forward to it. Thanks.
Richard, Mark and David, I loved your interview! The thing is that I remember sitting on the bus going to school in Bournemouth and reading that Nick had died. I exclaimed "Shit!" (probably fairly quietly) because I had read about him in Zigzag in 1974 (June) and was looking forward to listening to his albums (I was a poor teenager). I remember being shocked and saddened, so I assume that I read about his death in the following Thursday's NME, or possibly December's Zigzag. Anyway, it was a sad day for a 16-year-old. Cheers!
So true about london of the 70s where people just turned up to other people's houses, played records and hung around. It's a bonus if you know the places mentioned, you almost feel yourself there.
It really is a wonderful book; I read it recently during a holiday trip for which I packed a few books but I ended up reading only that one. Nick was lucky not only in terms of having a sympathetic producer and such patient and compassionate parents but ultimately in the biographer department also.
This is so great - the context of Nick's press profile, sales, bad luck etc etc ... my gosh i need to read this book ASAP!!!
Everything Richard says about Nick indicates him to have been a classic introvert. I'm very much looking forward to reading his book. I've only read Patrick Humphries' and the piece by Ian MacDonald in 'The People's Music' - this sounds much more substantial.
Very interesting. Strange no mention was made of the John Peel sessions though.
Back in the early 1970s I encountered real music for the first time , working next to the Diskery in Hurst street really fed my appetite for more , I remember seeing Nicks images of his 3 records on the Island literature , but never got curious enough to listen , some years later by which time the Diskery had moved around the corner to Bromsgrove Street whilst asking Jimmy Shannon the Diskery guru for a Keith Christmas LP he replied have you heard Nick Drake , he is better , that was the open door to discovering his music like many I'd not entered years before .
The honest to god truth is, generally speaking, the music of the 70's simply WAS better than the overwhelming majority of music being produced today. The music was in the process of being invented and in its formative phase, artists were given more time and leeway to develop their style, and the times themselves were simpler and more receptive to uniqueness and creativity. Many of the acts today copy each other. The audience for modern music of today has no sense of the history of development of popular music and does not demand uniqueness, they want everything safe and predictable. Being surprised is the last think they demand from music they listen to.
100% right modern music is absolute dung and that's not fogeyism.or nostalgia
No key change no bridge today and the keys used seem basic
Plus they didn't even have social media to complain on !
Going to have to read the book after listening to this great interview - well done !
The music has been used in films and tv shows for decades and only in the past 25 years there's been a lot of interest in the man, the musician.
Great chat Richard, David, Mark.. noted Mighty baby poster on Richard's wall ..
Excellent video as always. Halfway through the book as I write. Great insight into the tragic genius of Nick Drake. It has made me re-evaluate his music. Although I've had all three albums on vinyl for many years, I had no idea of their gestation and the role of the great musicians on those records.
Richard Morton Jack told in this interview that he wasn't still not sure why Five Leaves Left wasn't the success so many people thought it would be when it came out. One idea came to my mind: Maybe the reason is the way that Nick Drake uses his voice? Joe Boyd compared Nick's record to the first Leonard Cohen record, which sold well, but the big difference is in the voice: Leonard has a strong, very masculine voice. Same thing if you think about John Martyn's voice. And if you compare Nick's singing to the rock and pop singers, Nick is very quiet and almost feminine in his singing style. Maybe it just wasn't ok for a man to sound so fragile in the late 60's?
Umm, no. Ever heard of David Bowie or Neil Young?
Very intersting interview. A useful companion for the book. Thank you so much 🙏 P.S. Beatles stuff in the background. Love them. ❤
We need more real examples of Nick being a real working character in the legend that became his story. He seemed to know he was doing good work, but no one seems to have championed him. The fact he interacted with the Stones and Mick liked his music is a great anecdote. Also, it does seem he must have had the occasional gig where the audience was rapt and listening intently. Surely he had many moments where his fragile humanity was put up for examination. If only we could get a new documentary based on the recollections in this book would help flesh out his mystery. I do plan to read this book asap.
A splendid interview guest & the source of my next album’s title “bedsit misery.” Bless. TonyVisconti references that 60’s London culture of socializing at friends houses in his memoir, not failing to name drop his now long illustrious social circle of intimates. A terrific read. As for Nick, still haven’t “got”
him after all these decades. Then again I once didn’t “get” The La’s and now I’m besotted about them. So who knows.
Hehehe. I'm glad you like The La's, la.
amazing interview, thanks!! The book is incredible
A fascinating discussion, gents - thanks.
☝️😎
Great video. Well done Richard Morton.
excellent interview
Thanks so much for this interview! Can't wait to hear it. FYI I really enjoyed your chat with Hooky a while back. He's something else on and off stage. 🤸
There can be few things worse, than your own child dyeing when you are still alive.
Love that when Mark holds up the book early on, you can clearly see how little of it he's actually read :) Hehe, only teasing. It is a hefty book, in fairness.
I first heard Nick Drake in a record store in Chiswick in the mid-1980s. It was so bloody good I bought the record. I was surprised that I had never heard him before. I went to university in 1975 and I had girlfriends who also liked Leonard Cohen and I often visited folk clubs, but Nick never came up in conversation. It makes you wonder how many more geniuses there are out there that were missed by the music press. Nick Kent was a twit. The audience for David Bowie in the early 1970s was mostly young girls, like my wife, as she was then. She gave away her Bowie records after we left college. She was embarrassed to own them.
I discovered Nick when there was a documentary on the telly about him in the late nineties and I went out and bought Pink Moon and Five Leaves Left. I was in my mid-twenties then and struggling with my own mental health through substance abuse. Nick and Morrissey both communicated their own inner sadness beautifully but differently as lyricists. Nick's voice could be so wistful sounding...beautifully lugubrious. But he could also sound content and hopeful at times. I can't believe I'd never heard of Nick Drake hitherto the TV documentary about him.
@@vaseofflowers4619 Yes, That was when I discovered Nick's music. It was a documentary by Stuart Macconie in the mid nineties.
That’s was great, thanks guys 👍🏻🙏🏻
'that' was....
First class And well said Thank you 💖👍
Thanks to all concerned i bought the book instantly- now i must plough into it- 500+ I wonder if anyone has a complete live timeline of Nick's performances? Can anyone help??
Just finished the book yesterday. Its a fantastic accomplishment. Very thorough and a great read.
Sad to say Ithink I first heard of Nick Drake in a Book of Lists section on dead musicians. Mid to late 70s we would read the NME Book of Rock and pick obscure artists to find and study in second hand record shops. Nick Drake was one of them but it was hard to find his albums. I asked a Deadhead who was into Tim Buckley who this British guy Nick Drake was and she told me not to bother. There WAS this American bias around. Then that Fruit Tree box set turned up in a friend's flat early 80s and that was it.
Wow a book that big about nick drake and a few weeks ago i was talking to a lady who knew the drakes in tanworth in arden.
Rock and roll Garbo's...Drake is the equivalent of a Van Gogh painting...Island records star child...a true artiste.
Managed to track down a 1965 M20 guild guitar the same year as the one nick used in the states and got it for $500 shipped to the uk it played beautifully a magical guitar an like a dick I sold it for 750 quid
Ouch
It's interesting to hear more about Nick's life than I've picked up from another book about him, numerous articles and commentaries, interviews with folks like Joe Boyd, etc. I can't dispute what the author says about the production of "Five Leaves Left," but I know that Boyd has often described how totally prepared and perfect in execution that Nick was in their production. Boyd said he knew he had to have everyone else rehearsed and in top form before Nick joined in, including orchestral players, because when Nick was in place he was flawless in his performance the first time and didn't need repeat takes.
I think with his other two albums, Nick had more songs done and ready to record too, so there would not have been a need to prolong an album's recording. And in the case of "Pink Moon," Nick recorded all the songs with only engineer John Wood and was done in very short order. The record company didn't even know he had been recording a new album, not sure they wanted to chance another release anyway.
So good
I would love to be enthusiastically talked over by Mark Ellen 😀
Most interesting.
I found Scott Matthews before Nick, whom seemed to be compared to, but the biggest revelation was hearing Brad Pitt wax lyrically about him
Many, if not most, creative artists - musicians, writers, filmmakers, painters, etc, are Neurodiverse, on the Autistic spectrum - it is the Autistic's hyper-focus and special interests that enable creative artists to develop their craft and artistry; also, addiction/self-medicating often goes hand-in-hand with artistry/Neurodiversity, and has claimed the lives of many very talented artists, who I believe were undiagnosed Autistics, such as Nick Drake, Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain, Amy Winehouse, etc. What gives these tragic artists their great gifts is often what destroys them. Society is now gradually waking up to just how far-reaching Autism is. R.I.P Nick Drake, another tragic loss. 🙏
Mental illness is complex.
I enjoyed Patrick Humphries' biography of Nick years ago. Gabrielle's book is absolutely beautiful too.
Pink Moon is perfect.
I still don't think that anyone's had a decent stab at the 'why wasn't he successful' question. Cohen was mentioned, but a far less 'co-operative' person who made a not insignificant name for himself was Tim Hardin...Fred Neil? The Incredible String Band were not exactly in your face...and as for the 'backstory that one could follow?!' the ISB might have had one, but could it be followed? And of course there was Bert Jansch - equally as inscrutable and someone that ND admired a lot...and he was certainly in Jansch's league as a guitarist. No, I think Richard Morton Jack came closest to some kind of answer in terms of live performance. Whatever else musicians got up, what trials and tribulations they experienced, people worked ceasely in those days...they built a following. Whatever it took to get Drake in front of people more often should have been attempted and the wisdom in doing so communicated to him ad nauseam. But we'll never know. Unless they get a move on with the construction of a time machine.....when personally, I'll be off to see The Who in late '65 at the Marquee.
Its been consistently reported that there was only so far you could go with Nick Drake- his sister talked about his stubbornness, a friend that there was a line you couldn’t cross. The label said that they tried.
@@sarahdlp524 There's a contradiction at the heart of both positions, 'why aren't I more successful,' and 'I can't tolerate people's inattentiveness' - given that these statements were accurately reported - any musician I've ever known, including myself, has pushed through stage fright. The enormous desire to 'get out there' ultimately trumps all. I just find it hard to accept that that avenue wasn't explored more thoroughly. Again, we'll never know. So all will remain supposition and opinion.
Interesting comparison...Tim Hardin and Fred Neil both succeeded more from covers of their songs than from their own albums or performances. Perhaps if Nick's publisher had promoted his songs to other artists, he might have gained more notice. Elton John supposedly recorded a demo of Nick's songs early on. Who knows what could have been...just another "what if"...
@@GreenManalishiUSA Both Hardin and Neil were on the road a lot throughout their lives. It doesn't automatically produce the kind of success people refer to here - as thousands of musicians will testify - however, one can work regularly, and you've certainly more chance of optimising opportunity that way rather than sitting at home. Where Nick Drake is concerned, this is all academic.
Excellent piece. Great discussion. Doubles all round...
Ps Please please please - can you bring this 'Towers of London' rockumentary to Mark/Dav & Alex? I am certain they'll be glued to it and I'd love to hear their comments th-cam.com/video/WVL3YJP9G6U/w-d-xo.html
He smoked too much pot, ive done it and i can say with confidence it contributes to depression 90% and no one, absolutely no one could get thru to me at that time. I made it, but god it was a close call.
He could have done with a few passionate fans when he was alive,He couldnt sell a record back then ,now every one’s passionate about him.He was as morbid as he’s short life.
"formerly World of Leather University.' that'll be me, thanks.
I am a 57 year old Autistic. I believe that Nick was Autistic. Could Nick also have had Schizophernia? Of course, just like I have Schizo-effective in addition to being Autistic.
Nick Drake's main problem was smoking far too much weed.
A slightly overrated artist, even though he was good...but was definitely gloryfied because of that "suicide tortured artist" department kinda thing.
My first exposure was probably a Mojo piece in the 00's, went out and bought the three CD's. Had never heard of him at all until that point
first heard nick in the early 90s 91/92 at high school.........i sure was high one of my fav finger pickers his guitar style is his own style am glad nick got the req he deserved he was same label as floyd roy harper among others .do you curse ware ya come from..........
That's incorrect. Nick Drake was not on the same label as Pink Floyd and Roy Harper. Floyd and Harper were on EMI's Harvest label in UK and Drake on Island label. None of Harper's albums were released in the US from 1971 onwards until 1975, on the Chrysalis label. Neither Five Leaves Left or Bryter Layter were released in the US until 1976 on the Antilles label. Pink Moon was released in the US in 1972 on the Island label.
i dont think iv ever saw an org album of nick's must be worth a few quid
There are some around but it's finding them in good condition that's the problem.
$700-$900 so I have heard
I had two original pressed LPs, they sat in the back of my closet for years collecting dust but they're still in very good condition. I still have them and shall continue to keep them. Huge fan of ND particularly the acoustic, though I'm not a fan of the instrumental tracks added later