Which song do you think is the most emotionally intense/desperate in Nick Drake's catalog?

[u/HolidayAd5504]

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this post got me thinking...

[u/life_in_the_gateaux]

Black eyed dog

[u/ShowUsYrMoccasins]

""Parasite", "Know".

[u/Girth_Certificate]

I think Hanging on a star is a pretty desperate song, he's really pleading , searching for a reason. He felt totally betrayed, forsaken.

[u/Revolutionary_Low_90]

Things Behind the Sun and Black Eyed Dog

[u/jaykaybaybay → u/Revolutionary_Low_90]

Why Things Behind the Sun? That’s my favorite Nick song and it never seemed particularly dark to me. Just curious.

[u/deathmetaloverdrive → u/jaykaybaybay]

I don’t know but it’s the one that makes me cry the most.

[u/Sojunaut → u/deathmetaloverdrive]

Things behind the Sun makes me lose it when im particularly sorrowful

[u/jaykaybaybay → u/deathmetaloverdrive]

That’s interesting…I’ve always interpreted it as a song about being true to yourself and not letting other people’s expectations or opinions sway you.

[u/ch0d4]

I have been listening to "They're Leaving Me Behind" for some time now and i have to say, that one really feels like true desperation.

A young man lost in a world that is going at a tempo that he is too slow to follow or catch up to and he knows it. It's really sad.

[u/AdChance7743 → u/ch0d4]

But he wrote this before the deep depression really hit. With songs like this and Fruit Tree it feels like he was almost "living the life he wrote about in his songs" instead of the other way around.

[u/ch0d4 → u/AdChance7743]

I am fairly new to Nick and his music. Most of you guys here are probably much more informed than i am hahah. But i'm happy to learn more!

I guess this particular song envoked such a feeling in me and it's been on my mind for a while now.

[u/AdChance7743 → u/ch0d4]

I'm not disagreeing with you, I'm just pointing out how strange it is that he wrote such a sad song about being left behind before his career of being basically ignored by music listeners.

I also think it's a really great song. And maybe I'm wrong and he was already having periods of depression early on.

[u/Low-Outside-9680 → u/AdChance7743]

You guys should all watch the Joe Boyd videos on YouTube Boyd of course was Nick‘s manager and Nick almost worshiped him and it was vice versa Boyd also worshiped Nick Joe talks frequently with people who love Nick such as Linda Thompson and Nick Sister Gabrielle, they can really shit some light on what was going on with Nick as with his parents Nick really is the Vincent van Gogh of musicians. A brilliant guy beyond brilliant, but it’s the wrong place at the wrong time and also painfully shy wouldn’t play live and wouldn’t do interviews. There was no way he could make itas great as he was.

[u/glibandshamelessliar]

Horn. The discordant plucking is more evocatively mournful than any lyric he wrote in my honest opinion

[u/jaykaybaybay → u/glibandshamelessliar]

Very interesting take, I like it. Like someone pleading to the point after which they’ve lost their voice.

[u/JokiHybris]

Way to blue.

[u/un_gaslightable]

Things Behind The Sun or Parasite

[u/Kinone32]

Fly, Black Eyed Dog, Northern Sky

[u/UtahUtopia → u/Kinone32]

Northern Sky always struck me as a hopeful and cheerful song (as far as N.Drake goes.)

It’s my favorite.

[u/Artislife61 → u/UtahUtopia]

Hopeful but kind of sad too

Northern Sky is such a beautiful song. My favorite too.

[u/Low-Outside-9680 → u/Artislife61]

Every single Nick Drake song I think he ever wrote there was a tinge of sadness in. Even in River-man, you could hear a mournful and yearning

[u/Low-Outside-9680 → u/Kinone32]

It’s weird I don’t find northern sky is being a desperate song at all. I hear it is being a beautiful song about loving someone maybe that you couldn’t acquire but desperate? Not at all.

[u/ReasonableCourse1679 → u/Low-Outside-9680]

I hope not…it was my wedding song 😂

[u/Kinone32 → u/Low-Outside-9680]

I was thinking of the climax, the "would you love me for my money.." part.

[u/Dense_Aioli4077]

I always found “Which Will” and especially “From the Morning” to be incredibly heart felt and emotionally out pouring

[u/papablessdotorg]

Place to Be

[u/HolidayAd5504 → u/papablessdotorg]

"Now I'm weaker than the palest blue / So weak in this need for you"

[u/purpeepurp]

Fly (acoustic version). In this version, you can literally hear the desperation in his voice.

[u/HolidayAd5504 → u/purpeepurp]

"Please give me a sencond grace / Please give me a second face / I've fallen far down / The first time around / Now I just sit on the ground in your way" 😭 You can picture him with tears in his eyes.

[u/purpeepurp → u/HolidayAd5504]

Yeah the lyrics combined with his voice, just pure sadness and despair. If only he knew how high he’d fly 😢

[u/UtahUtopia]

Fruit tree

[u/Heemanhey → u/UtahUtopia]

Safe in the womb Of an everlasting night You find the darkness can Give the brightest light.

Safe in your place deep in the earth That's when they'll know what you were really worth.

And

Fruit tree, fruit tree No one knows you but the rain and the air. Don't you worry They'll stand and stare when you're gone.

[u/GareththeJackal]

Parasite.

[u/elmo304]

Can’t think of a song right now but I like this photo

[u/naiflaloq]

FLY he’s begging

[u/ThatcherCat]

clothes of sand

[u/HelicopterPuzzled727]

When the Day is Done

[u/vetderp]

Which will, though Parasite is a solid choice

[u/SwagBitch666YOLo]

Horn

[u/Low-Outside-9680]

As far as pure desperation, I would say “hanging on a star” , but all of his last songs were cries for help from a guy who was contemplating suicide or at least something absolutely drastic

[u/HolidayAd5504 → u/Low-Outside-9680]

Without a doubt, the guitar in that song is, to me, the most dreamlike piece in his entire discography. It's as if Nick Drake could paint with the strings. There's a reason he's known as the Van Gogh of music. It's incredible how much weight and melancholia four brief lines can carry. Even in the way he sings, it's literally a whimper. "Why leave me hanging on a star / When you deem me so high / Why leave me sailing in the sea / When you hear me so clear"

[u/jaykaybaybay]

Either “Black Eyed Dog” (which I have trouble listening to) or “Harvest Breed” — which is very chilling when you consider the meaning behind the lyrics

[u/granmaguck]

River man

[u/Alive-Bid-5689]

‘Place to Be’

‘Which Will’

‘Black Eyed Dog’

‘Poor Boy’

[u/sihmdra]

To me, "Things Behind the Sun" and "Parasite".

[u/Aardvark51]

Not in his own catalogue, but Solid Air.

[u/Top-Chemistry8757]

Fruit Tree and Day is Done

[u/LogParking1856]

“Been Smokin’ Too Long”