History Music / NickDrake

He never achieved popular success in his lifetime, and died tragically young at 26 from an overdose of antidepressants in an apparent suicide, but [[VindicatedByHistory recognition for both him and his work grew considerably]] [[DeadArtistsAreBetter after his death]], even with [[ShortLivedBigImpact the small handful of works]] he was able to release before his death (some of which didn't sell more than 5000 copies upon release). Some of his best-known songs include "Things Behind the Sun", "Northern Sky" and "Pink Moon" (which exploded in popularity after [[RevivalByCommercialization being used for a Volkswagen Cabriolet commercial in 1999]]).

* DeadArtistsAreBetter: Nick Drake became much better known after his death.
* DespairEventHorizon: No one knows exactly what it was, but some weeks prior to his death, Nick became selectively mute around his parents, was heard talking to himself about the violation of his human rights, would go out at random times of day. On the night of his death, he came home from one of these visits and immediately went to bed unusually early and no one knows exactly why. After his parents had gone to bed, he got up again and took the fatal overdose, which killed him at around 6am.

* TheMuse: Drake is cited as an influence by a truly staggering number of musicians, when you consider how small his fanbase was when he was alive. Robert Smith of Music/TheCure, Damon Gough (AKA Badly Drawn Boy), Music/BethOrton, and Peter Buck of Music/{{REM}} are probably the most famous. Creator/BradPitt is a fan, and narrated the documentary ''Lost Boy: In Search of Nick Drake'' for Creator/{{BBC}} Radio 2. "Solid Air" by John Martyn and "Life in a Northern Town" by The Dream Academy were written as tributes to him.

Nicholas Rodney "Nick" Drake (19 June 1948 – 25 November 1974) was an independent British musician now known as of the more influential [[FolkMusic folk]] singer/songwriters in recent memory.

He died tragically young, from an overdose of antidepressants, in an apparent suicide. Never achieving popular success, [[VindicatedByHistory his reputation grew]] [[DeadArtistsAreBetter after his death]]. Some of his best-known songs include "Things Behind the Sun", "Northern Sky" and "Pink Moon" (which was [[RevivalByCommercialization used for a car commercial]]). His songwriting was of such high quality that ''everything'' in his small body of work is worth hearing. All his albums can be found on Spotify.

Discography:

One of the more influential [[FolkMusic folk singer]] song writers in recent memory. Nicholas Rodney "Nick" Drake (19 June 1948 – 25 November 1974) was an independent British musician who died tragically young, from an overdose of antidepressants, in an apparent suicide. Never achieving popular success, [[VindicatedByHistory his reputation grew]] [[DeadArtistsAreBetter after his death]]. Some of his best-known songs include "Things Behind the Sun", "Northern Sky" and "Pink Moon" (which was [[RevivalByCommercialization used for a car commercial]]). His songwriting was of such high quality that ''everything'' in his small body of work is worth hearing. All his albums can be found on Spotify.

* ThreeChordsAndTheTruth: Drake's music is generally quite intricate, with Baroque guitar playing techniques and often similarly competent accompaniment, so he does not really fit this trope for the most part. However, ''Pink Moon'' is a lot more stripped back compared to the previous two albums (cf. NewSoundAlbum above). The recording of "Place to Be" on Pink Moon might be a good example of this trope. On earlier versions, he fingerpicks it intricately, but on the album, he mostly just strums it. This is sometimes said to be a sign of his lack of enthusiasm, but it is more likely just because he found it easier to play.

* RearrangeTheSong: Five Leaves Left outtakes "I Was Made To Love Magic" and "Time Of No Reply" had appeared with relatively simple orchestration on the "Time Of No Reply" compilation in the 80s. However, when putting together its official replacement "Made To Love Magic" in the early 2000s, Robert Kirby rediscovered his original lusher orchestration that would have been added to the tracks had they been mixed for Five Leaves Left, and newly recorded it. As a result there are distinctly different versions of these tracks, with the version of "Magic" having a sparseness close to "Way To Blue".

--> ''Seeing the lights in a station bar''
--> ''And traveling far in sin''

[[caption-width-right:221: Nick Drake, circa 1969.]]

* SingleStanzaSong: "Harvest Breed".

* RevivalByCommercialization: That Volkswagen commercial made Drake's US sales increase from 6,000 in 1999 to 54,000 in 2000.

* SillyLoveSongs: ''Northern Sky''

* TheMuse: Drake is cited as an influence by a truly staggering number of musicians, when you consider how small his fanbase was when he was alive. Robert Smith of Music/TheCure, Damon Gough (AKA Badly Drawn Boy), Music/BethOrton, and Peter Buck of Music/{{REM}} are probably the most famous. Creator/BradPitt is a fan, and narrated the documentary ''Lost Boy: In Search of Nick Drake'' for Creator/{{BBC}} Radio 2. "Solid Air" by John Martyn and "Life in a Northern Town" by The Dream Academy were written as tributes to him.

* TheSomethingSong: "Cello Song".
* UncommonTime: "River Man" is in 5/4

* CutSong: A short instrumental "Plaisir D'Amour" appears at the start of the Pink Moon Side B master tape with explicit notes not to release. It eventually appeared as a hidden track on "A Treasury".
** Five Leaves Left has "I Was Made To Love Magic" (cut because it was too similar to "Way To Blue") "Time Of No Reply" (cut because it was too similar to "The Thoughts Of Mary Jane"), as well as "Joey", "Clothes Of Sand" and "Mayfair" from the sessions.
** Bryter Layter's outtakes included "Things Behind The Sun", "Parasite", "Place To Be" and "Voices / Voice From A Mountain". The first three were later recorded for "Pink Moon", and "Voice From A Mountain" was recorded for the unreleased fourth album. Particularly, "Things Behind The Sun" was frequently played live on the Five Leaves Left tour, leading to a lot of confusion when he didn't include it on "Bryter Layter".

* UncommonTime: "River Man" is in 5/4.
* [[https://spotify-webplayer.com Spotify web player]]: The app to create, edit, and share songs.

* [[https://spotify-webplayer.com Spotify web player ]: The app to create, edit, and share songs.

** ''Bryter Layter'' added some jazz textures to the arrangements.

One of the more influential [[FolkMusic folk singer]] song writers in recent memory. Nick was an independent British musician who died tragically young, from an overdose of antidepressants, in an apparent suicide. Never achieving popular success, [[VindicatedByHistory his reputation grew]] [[DeadArtistsAreBetter after his death]]. Some of his best-known songs include "Things Behind the Sun", "Northern Sky" and "Pink Moon" (which was [[RevivalByCommercialization used for a car commercial]]). His songwriting was of such high quality that ''everything'' in his small body of work is worth hearing. All his albums can be found on Spotify.