Line #10 Music/NickDrake


1	[[quoteright:221:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Nick_Drake_3789.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:221: ''And now we rise, and we are everywhere.'']]
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4	Nicholas Rodney "Nick" Drake (19 June 1948 – 25 November 1974) was an independent British musician now known as of the more influential {{folk\|Music}} singer/songwriters in recent memory.
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6	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]] [[PosthumousPopularityPotential 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 5,000 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]]).
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8	Nick was known for being highly {{reclusive\|Artist}}, refraining from live performances and interviews (which has been said to have contributed to his lack of commercial success), to the extent that there is no known video footage of him as an adult -- only still photos and footage from his youth. He also dealt with severe mental health problems, largely in the line of major depression (though at one point theorized by a therapist of his to be schizophrenia).
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10	His big sister, Gabrielle Drake, is an actress, probably best known for TV's ''Series/UFO1970''. (Indeed, when Nick was alive, what little attention he did get from the press often referred to him as Gabrielle's brother.) In recent years, as Nick's reputation has grown, she has devoted a considerable amount of time to managing his music and seeing to the release of recordings that never made it onto his albums. She can be heard singing on his posthumous ''Family Tree'', as can their mother, Molly. Molly Drake was a singer and songwriter as well; though she apparently never intended to release any of the recordings she made in the 1950s, in 2013 an album of her music, ''Molly Drake'', was released. Joe Boyd, Nick's producer, called Molly's music "the missing link in the Nick Drake story."
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12	!!Discography:
13	* ''Five Leaves Left'' (1969)
14	* ''Bryter Layter'' (1970)
15	* ''Pink Moon'' (1972)
16	----
17	!! Tropes present in the work and life of Nick Drake:
18	* BaroquePop: His first two albums.
19	* DarkerAndEdgier: Nick's then ongoing battle with depression led to ''Pink Moon'' having much heavier lyrical content and a bleak, sorrowful tone. [[https://www.udiscovermusic.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Nick-Drake-Pink-Moon-Album-Cover-web-optimised-820.jpg It also has the darkest album art from his discography.]]
20	* DrivenToSuicide: It's often theorized that "Harvest Breed" is about suicide.
21	* DrowningMySorrows: "Things Behind the Sun" has a not so subtle reference to drinking to cope with depression.
22	--> ''Open up a broken cup''
23	--> ''Let goodly sin and sunshine in''
24	** "Parasite" has a more direct one.
25	---> ''Seeing the lights in a station bar''
26	---> ''And traveling far in sin''
27	* {{Instrumental}}: "Introduction", "Bryter Layter" and "Sunday" in ''Bryter Layter'' and "Horn" in ''Pink Moon''.
28	* LighterAndSofter: ''Bryter Layter'' is the most upbeat sounding of his three studio albums despite Nick's usual interpersonal and anxiety-ridden lyrics.
29	* LimitedLyricsSong: The title track of ''Pink Moon.''
30	--> ''I saw it written and I saw it say''
31	--> ''Pink moon is on its way''
32	--> ''And none of you stand so tall''
33	--> ''Pink moon gonna get you all''
34	--> ''It's a pink moon''
35	--> ''It's a pink moon''
36	--> ''Pink, pink, pink, pink''
37	--> ''Pink moon''
38	--> ''The pink, pink, pink, pink''
39	--> ''Pink moon''
40	* MinisculeRocking: Most songs on ''Pink Moon'' are below the three minute mark.
41	* 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/{{The Cure\|Band}}, 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 Music/JohnMartyn and "Life in a Northern Town" by The Dream Academy were written as tributes to him. Music/{{Beck\|Musician}}'s albums ''Sea Change'' and ''Morning Phase'' are in large part modeled on Drake's work.
42	* NewSoundAlbum:
43	** ''Bryter Layter'' added some jazz textures to the arrangements.
44	** ''Pink Moon'' featured none of the orchestration on his first two albums, being performed completely on acoustic guitar with the exception of an overdubbed piano on the title track.
45	** The never completed fourth album (of which "Rider on the Wheel", "Hanging on a Star" "Voices/Voice from the Mountain", "Black Eyed Dog" and "Tow the Line" were to have formed the first side), shows Nick taking influence from the tunings of North African music, most evident in "Black Eyed Dog".
46	* PerishingAltRockVoice: The TropeCodifier, if not a {{Trope Maker\|s}}.
47	* 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".
48	* RepurposedPopSong: "Pink Moon" was used in a Volkswagen ad, and AT&T used "From the Morning" in a 2010 commercial.
49	* ShoutOut: Nick's best friend Jeremy Mason gets a shoutout in "Three Hours". Whilst Nick has used other names in songs, this is the only one that definitely refers to a specific person.
50	* SillyLoveSongs: "Northern Sky", the most unabashedly joyful song in the Nick Drake catalog.
51	* SingleStanzaSong: "Harvest Breed", which contains only the single stanza. "Know", too, which contains only a single verse and some hums.
52	* SurprisinglyGentleSong: After a completely depressing back half, ''Pink Moon'' concludes on the uplifting "From the Morning".
53	* 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.
54	* TheSomethingSong: "'Cello Song".
55	* UncommonTime: "River Man" is in 5/4.
56	** The version of "Hanging on a Star" on "Made to Love Magic" has the guitar playing and vocals in two different time signatures. It would be very hard to play both at the same time, so it's possible he overdubbed it.
57	* WorkingTitle: "Three Hours" was known as "Sundown" until the last minute, leading to the first pressing of Five Leaves Left incorrectly referring to it by that title (As well as including an unused verse).

Context Music / NickDrake