Nick Drake documentaries
Knowing that I’m a fan, David tipped me off to a documentary about Nick Drake on Radio 2 that aired on Saturday night. Everyone must be going Nick Drake-crazy at the moment, because this was immediately followed by another documentary on BBC4. Of the two, I preferred the TV version, if only because it didn’t have Brad Pitt telling us that he was Brad Pitt every five minutes, and mis-pronouncing ‘Stratford-upon-Avon’1.
I didn’t know a lot about Nick’s life, so it was fascinating to hear interviews with his family and the musicians who worked with him. On the radio documentary, they featured Norah Jones singing one of his songs, ‘Day is Done’, and then we heard Nick’s own version. All I can say is that it totally vindicated the musicians’ opinion of him, and demonstrated just what a talented performer he was; Norah’s version sounded utterly bland and forgettable, whereas his was mesmerising and fresh.
I had no idea that his motherâMollyâwas also a singer-songwriter. In the TV documentary, his sister Gabrielle played an old home recording of Molly singing one of her compositions. The family resemblance in musical style was spookyâyou could hear future echoes of her son in her voice and delivery, like noticing the line of a jaw or similar eyes. It goes without saying that it’s a tragedy he didn’t live to see the popularity of his own music. His sister talked rather movingly about the many letters she gets from fans, who say that his music has helped them through extremely difficult periods of their life. She said that these would have meant more to Nick than anything else.
1 stratford upon avon. Ugh.
