Another article from John Roderick who contributes a weekly column to the Seattle Weekly blog. Personally, I had heard of "Pink Moon" prior to the VW commercial but had never actually heard any of Nick Drake's music. Some friends of mine from the Guitartown email list had recommended him to me for years as had some Zeppelin and R.E.M. fans. Once I heard the song in the commercial, I was sold and immediately purchased the Pink Moon record. A few years later I heard a piece on the Soundcheck program on NPR about Nick and Syd Barrett that helped to deepen my understanding of both of them.
The Pink Moon Problem: There's No Shame In Admitting You're Hearing Something For the First Time
John Roderick is the singer and songwriter responsible for Seattle's the Long Winters. His column appears on Reverb every Tuesday.
Back in the spring of 2000, I was one of millions of people suddenly captivated by a Volkswagen TV commercial that was clearly tailored to sentimental college kids, twee music fans, and girls with asymmetrical haircuts. It featured a sexy convertible full of sexy hipsters who arrive at a party of uncool fraternity types and decide that they'd rather keep driving around listening to rad music and being sexy and carefree.
The commercial was like a short film, and it prominently featured the song "Pink Moon" by Nick Drake. It was innovative both because the music did the talking and because the song was both gorgeous and unknown. "Pink Moon" was the very definition of a lost classic. I had never heard of Nick Drake, despite having been a sentimental college kid myself, and despite having spent years playing music and socializing with record collectors and sad-eyed folk-music fans. It's an incredible claim, so I'll repeat it: I had never heard of Nick Drake.
Thought for the day: "Music is not ruined by other people liking it. Discovering things for the first time can still be the source of great pleasure, even when everyone else in the world has already heard it."
What used to be is gone and what ought to be ought not to be so hard
It should be noted that prior to the VW commercial Drake's music was not terribly easy to come by. I had been aware of him since my earliest days of listening to non- Top 40 music by virtue of the fact that Nick Drake had an entry in the very first edition of the Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock-n-Roll. A couple of years later my mother took a trip to the UK. She asked me if there were any CDs that she should pick up for me while over there. I told her I wanted the Fruit Tree box set and any Little Willie John she could find. She came back with three LWJ discs and the UK version of the Waterboys Fisherman's Blues, but no Fruit Tree. Thus I never heard him until the commercial.
I vividly remember the VW commercial. One of the stranger listening experiences of my life. I swear that as soon as I heard the opening chords and "...saw it and written and I saw it say..." I instantly knew it was Nick Drake, even before I heard the words "...Pink Moon is on its way..." I can't explain it, I just knew. Couldn't have been more than a week or so later and the three albums were all I was listening to. I'm still listening today of course.
In reading his biography (title and author escape me at the moment) I was struck by how amazing it was that this guy even got to make an album, let alone three. I seriously doubt that in the time period between then and at least the "alternative rock" era if not right up to the present that he would have gotten a shot. Consider: Unwilling or unable to tour or really even play live at all. Unable or unwilling to submit to the whole self-promotional wringer i.e. press interviews, TV appearances (note that that there is zero live footage on Youtube) and the like. Here was a person with next to no coping skills to deal with everyday life, let alone the rotten soul crushing shit show that the music business was, is and will always be. With that in mind, his albums, Pink Moon especially give one the sense that they are eavesdropping on something they aren't meant to hear. There's really nothing like it. His recordings truly are treasures. I can't say I play them a lot anymore. They are too intense, too demanding to cram into whatever space you can afford them in your day-to-day life. You can't do dishes to them, you can't play catch with your son to them. You have to basically do nothing but listen. If you're doing anything else you probably aren't listening.
Last edited by drtpants on Fri Jan 07, 2011 4:49 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Interesting, drt. Drake's music clearly rewards "active listening" but one of the many odd things about him and his music is that in my experience it seems to work very well as "sunday morning background music" as well. I have literally used it that way (e.g. to accompany sunday brunch) and know that a number of people i've tried to turn on to his music enjoy it only at that level. Go figure.
What used to be is gone and what ought to be ought not to be so hard
beantownbubba wrote:Interesting, drt. Drake's music clearly rewards "active listening" but one of the many odd things about him and his music is that in my experience it seems to work very well as "sunday morning background music" as well. I have literally used it that way (e.g. to accompany sunday brunch) and know that a number of people i've tried to turn on to his music enjoy it only at that level. Go figure.
I'll concede that his music is loaded with ambiance but I still feel like to really appreciate it you've got to lock in on it in a way that you don't to appreciate, say, Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere or London Calling. You can hear those records for the first time drunk off your ass standing around a half barrel in someone's kitchen and you'll still "get it". Not so much with Drake's stuff. Too fragile. Listening to Nick Drake is like running with a baby chick in your fist. You just can't fuck around.
I love him and this is a pretty good book, and I know there's a documentary either already out or coming out, too--the disappointing thing for me is the lack of information/explanation for his life or death, not much info in the book so i'm assuming not much in the doc...and you're right, it has to be active listening, in a desolate place, or with those awesome synhiser (sp?) headphones on laying in bed. I love his music, it's very fragile...so in a way it's fitting we will never know much about him.
For those interested, you can still listen to the Syd Barrett/Nick Drake piece thanks to WNYC's Soundcheck archive here.
Spirits of a Generation Tuesday, January 18, 2005
Album covers from Nick Drake and Pink Floyd (Wolfgang Plank)
Bohemian poet, artist and visionary, musician Syd Barrett joined the band Pink Floyd in 1965. His story is captured in a new documentary that tells of his dramatic rise to fame and his premature departure in a haze of drugs and psychological trouble. Host John Schaefer speaks with the director and producer of the documentary, John Edginton. He'll also speak with Patrick Humphries, biographer of the British songwriter Nick Drake, who died in 1974 at the age of 26 from an "accidental overdose" of anti-depressants. Drake released only three albums during his lifetime, rarely performed live and gave only one official interview, but his work spawned a following on all sides of the Atlantic.
I had heard some things right before that VW commercial, but didn't get serious about him until after. I bought the boxset of his records, and really, really enjoy it. It was OOP for a while, but I think its back in print. Definitely rec it.
