ADRIAN MA, HOST:
What makes you consider fall? The odor of dry leaves, the sound of a crackling hearth, possibly the style of a pumpkin spice latte? – nicely, for me, nothing makes me consider fall greater than this…
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “ONE OF THESE THINGS FIRST”)
NICK DRAKE: (Singing) I may have been a sailor. Might have been a cook dinner.
MA: …The music of Nick Drake. This tune is named “One Of These Issues First.” And let me let you know that I really like this man. Or possibly I ought to say that I really like his music as a result of actually, the person himself is a little bit of a thriller. Nick Drake died 50 years in the past this week, and the British singer/songwriter was solely 26 years outdated on the time. As an expert musician, he by no means noticed a lot success. And I won’t even be speaking to you about him proper now if it weren’t for a automotive industrial.
(SOUNDBITE OF NICK DRAKE SONG, “PINK MOON”)
MA: In 2000, Volkswagen featured Drake’s tune, “Pink Moon,” in considered one of its TV adverts. Since then, his songs have been featured in motion pictures and been cited as influences for lots of up to date musicians. And to grasp extra about Drake – the person and the musician – I am joined now by Richard Morton Jack. He wrote a biography titled merely, “Nick Drake: The Life.” Richard, thanks a lot for being right here.
RICHARD MORTON JACK: Thanks for having me.
MA: Nick Drake launched three albums when he was alive, however he did not see a lot industrial success. He did not promote many data. Why did not he catch on?
JACK: I feel his music requires quite a bit from the listener. It is not instantly arresting and might drift previous the listener at a primary hear. I feel in an period when there was a lot materials popping out, Nick’s music was fairly self-effacing and intimate and required immersion from the listener. And he wasn’t doing promotion. He wasn’t prepared to play that recreation. Not on precept – rather more as a result of his character was so badly suited to the celebrity recreation.
MA: Yeah, I perceive he was simply, like, extremely shy. What do you assume it’s about his music that makes it distinctive and attracts individuals to it?
JACK: I feel crucial single issue about Nick’s music is that it’s merely of very top quality. Nick’s songs are very minutely engineered. Each notice is precisely the place he needed it to be. He was very strict with himself by way of high quality management. And in reality, numerous songs by him have subsequently surfaced, and they’re all of normal. So he knew himself fairly nicely as an artist.
MA: I feel Nick Drake – if you first hear him, he does not have what I might contemplate as, like, a classically nice singing voice, proper? He is like, very understated. What do you assume it was in regards to the music itself that simply hooked some individuals?
JACK: I feel Nick’s an extremely tremendous guitar participant. In a era that threw out a lot of actually outstanding gamers, Nick stands shoulder to shoulder with the greats. There is a tune on his first album known as “Three Hours” wherein he, in a moderately understated style, performs a very outstanding collection of figures on the guitar that recommend Arabic influences, very unique, Japanese-derived sounds. However the fingering is completely immaculate. Each notice is totally, completely in place.
(SOUNDBITE OF NICK DRAKE SONG, “THREE HOURS”)
JACK: I feel the melodies that he got here up with are delicate and authentic. They will not be instantly issues that you just’d whistle after one listening to, as an example, however they’re filled with surprising turns and distinctively his personal. I additionally assume that his three albums every have a really distinct taste. The primary one is extra reflective of him as a younger man. And the string preparations by his good friend at Cambridge College, Robert Kirby, with whom he collaborated on 4 songs, create the autumnal environment that you just described.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “DAY IS DONE”)
DRAKE: (Singing) When the day is finished, hope a lot your race might be all run.
JACK: There are clearly classical and folks and blues and jazz influences. There are additionally influences from bossa nova. There’s an terrible lot happening beneath the moderately placid floor of his work on that first album. When it did not promote, what they determined to do was to get up the sound of the document a bit by together with electrical guitars, drums, electrical bass, to make it, maybe, one may say, extra radio pleasant. So his second album, “Bryter Layter,” has extra of a pop really feel to it.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “HAZEY JANE I”)
DRAKE: (Singing) Hey, gradual, Jane, let me show. Sluggish, gradual, Jane, we’re on the transfer.
JACK: After which for his third document, it is simply guitar and voice. So it is a a lot plainer, less complicated instrumental strategy.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “PLACE TO BE”)
DRAKE: (Singing) Once I was younger, youthful than earlier than, I by no means noticed the reality hanging from the door.
JACK: So, for me, every of his data is sort of a particular, creative musical step from the earlier one.
MA: What do you assume Nick Drake’s musical legacy is? And, like, do you see his affect in different artists?
JACK: For me, I feel the actual legacy of Nick’s life and music is that it communicates to people who find themselves maybe struggling themselves in several areas of their very own lives. Nick as soon as stated to his mom – she shared after his demise – that if he had the sense that his music had obtained by means of to even one particular person and made a distinction, then that might give him a way of validation that he did not have. So I feel the sense that it has reached thousands and thousands of individuals everywhere in the world who draw energy from it and who regard it as very significant in their very own private manner, can be of giant consolation and pleasure to him.
MA: We have been talking with Richard Morton Jack, author and Nick Drake’s biographer. Thanks a lot for becoming a member of us, Richard.
JACK: Thanks a lot for having me on.
(SOUNDBITE OF NICK DRAKE SONG, “PINK MOON”)
Copyright © 2024 NPR. All rights reserved. Go to our web site phrases of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for additional data.
NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This textual content will not be in its last type and could also be up to date or revised sooner or later. Accuracy and availability might range. The authoritative document of NPR’s programming is the audio document.
