Nick Drake: The Life

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The book reveals some truly heartbreaking letters and recollections from Rodney, Molly, and Gabrielle Drake as he descended into depression and mental illness around the time of the much-delayed release of "Bryter Layter". Thankfully we now live in more enlightened times where mental health is more fully understood, but this book serves to highlight the impact not only the plight of someone like Nick who was constantly battling an illness, but also the effect it had on those around him.

What I mean is, Nick was out there making contacts, hoping to find a foothold in the music business rather than just waiting around like the entitled upper-class cliché that some sources have suggested he was, thinking, ‘Well, everyone will just recognise my brilliance…’ That wasn’t how he was. Drake’s lack of interest in the opposite sex has led some to speculate whether he was gay; Morton Jack finds no evidence, and records his proposal of marriage to a friend, Sophia Ryde. This was unfortunately refused in a similar fashion, and it was decided that my fortune should be made elsewhere.He wasn’t on the level of someone like Townes Van Zandt, where you might still feel, ‘This is really quite an obscure guy’. In addition to this, any career involving self-employment demands a high degree of self-discipline and a will to overcome one’s weaknesses, and making the effort required to tackle problems which do not come easily.

But there were problems, John Cale was brought in to do a couple of arrangements in June and the release date started being pushed back.

I think that’s a separate and perfectly valid exercise, but for someone to do from a different perspective. The first half of the book sets out to establish just how normal and, indeed, biddable and cheerful Drake was as a child. Despite his disappointment at not having worked on it, he supported Nick’s prerogative in eschewing arrangements and later stated: “I think it’s his greatest work, by far. It’s notable that – albeit egged on by his friends – Nick had the confidence to perform spontaneously. But, partly because I’ve got Rodney’s diary, partly because of the amount of people I’ve been able to speak to and so on, I feel that Nick is more known now than they are: his personality and the detail, what he liked doing, what he watched on TV.