Place To Be

I was sitting in my warm house today, working on some photographs, when an advertisement came on the TV and I suddenly found myself riveted to the music. It turned out to be an ad for Michigan State University, but I managed to grasp a couple of lines from the song and entered them into a google search.

What I came up with really surprised me.

The music, which is accoustic, is soft, melodious, and has a faint sadness to it. And I knew I'd heard this artist before.

Nick Drake died in 1974, at the age of 26. He suffered from both depression and imsomnia. Fortunately for us, his manager had a clause put into his own contract stating that Nick Drake's recordings would never go out of print. And it wasn't until the year 2000, when Volkswagen featured a selection from his Pink Moon album that Nick ended up selling more records in one month's time, than he had in the nearly thirty years since his death.

Nicholas Rodney Drake (6-19-48 ~ 11-25-74) was an English singer-songwriterr and musiciann best known for his acoustic, autumnal songs. His primary instrument was the guitar, though he was also proficient at pianoo, clarinett, and saxophone. Although he failed to find a wide audience during his lifetime, Drake's work has grown steadily in stature, to the extent that he now ranks among the most influential English singer-songwriters of the last 50 years.

Drake signed to Island Records when he was twenty years old, and released his debut album "Five Leaves Left" in 1969. By 1972, he had recorded a further two albums, although none sold more than 5,000 copies in their initial releases, while his reluctance to perform live or be interviewed further contributed to his lack of commercial success. Despite this, he was able to gather a loyal group of people who would champion his music. One such person was his manager, Joe Boyd, who had a clause put into his own contract with Island Records that ensured Nick's records would never go out of print. Drake suffered from depression and insomnia throughout his life, and the topics were often reflected in his lyrics.

Upon completion of his third album, 1972's "Pink Moon", he withdrew from both live performance and recording, retreating to his parents' home in rural Warwickshire. On 25 November 1974, Drake died from an overdose of amitriptyline, a prescribed antidepressant; he was 26 years old.

~ Wikepedia

When I was younger, younger than before

I never saw the truth hanging from the door

And now I'm older see it face to face

And now I'm older gotta get up clean the place.

And I was green, greener than the hill

Where the flowers grew and the sun shone still

Now I'm darker than the deepest sea

Just hand me down, give me a place to be.

~Nick Drake, Place To Be

He once told his mother, "If only my music could do something to help one single person."

Well, I'd like to thank Nick. Because it's aure making me feel better right now.

Until tomorrow, my friends . . .