Listen to the only known audio of Nick Drake speaking
It is often the case that some of music’s brightest stars are taken too soon, like Nick Drake, who overdosed on antidepressants when he was just 26. Whether the musician intended to die remains unclear, although he spent the final months of his life suffering nervous breakdowns and becoming increasingly withdrawn from his peers.
Drake’s friend and producer, Joe Boyd, recalled during an interview with The Telegraph being “horrified by the state he was in” a few months before he died. He recalled that Drake “had deteriorated, his hair was dirty, he was sort of shaking almost, and had trouble articulating himself. He was always hesitant and shy, but this was different”.
The musician often explored his long-term struggles with depression through his lyrics, communicating feelings of hopelessness and sadness. A song like ‘Day Is Done’ from Five Leaves Left is a significant example of Drake’s ability to illuminate despair and existentialism, with lyrics like: “Didn’t do the things you meant to do/ Now there’s no time to start anew/ Now the party’s through.”
In his short life, Drake released three albums, his final effort being Pink Moon, which is now considered one of the greatest British folk records of all time. However, none of Drake’s music garnered significant attention during his lifetime, only receiving appreciation years after his death. In his song ‘Fruit Tree’, Drake predicted his music’s fate, singing: “They’ll all know/ That you were here when you’re gone.”
However, Drake never sought fame, and his decision to rarely play live or give recorded interviews reinforced this idea. Naturally shy and anxious, Drake spent his time at Cambridge University smoking weed and playing the guitar instead of participating in group sports and activities. Once he secured his recording contract, he dropped out of education to focus on making music, refusing to reveal much about his work to those around him.
His sister, Gabrielle, once claimed during a feature with The Guardian: “He was very secretive. I knew he was making an album but I didn’t know what stage of completion it was at until he walked into my room and said, ‘There you are.’ He threw it onto the bed and walked out!”
Drake’s attempts at playing live were usually received poorly due to his lack of stage presence, with fellow folk artist Michael Chapman calling his opening performance for Fairport Convention at the Royal Festival Hall “quite painful to watch” as the audience wanted “songs with choruses”. Unfortunately, his inability to please audiences prevented his music from being heard by wider audiences, leading to a lack of commercial success during his lifetime.
Although there are no known video recordings of Drake as an adult, there is one audio clip of the singer talking, giving fans a closer insight into what he was like away from the stage. The clip was recorded at 5am, with Drake guiltily recalling a time when he “must have drank rather a lot” and accidentally drove home on the wrong side of the road, forgetting that he was no longer in France, where he temporarily lived in 1967.
Listen below.
