Way to Blue
Don't you have a word to show what may be done
Have you never heard a way to find the sun
Tell me all that you may know
Show me what you have to show
Won't you come and say
If you know the way to blue?
Have you seen the land living by the breeze
Can you understand a light among the trees
Tell me all that you may know
Show me what you have to show
Tell us all today
If you know the way to blue?
Look through time and find your rhyme
Tell us what you find
We will wait at your gate
Hoping like the blind.
Can you now recall all that you have known?
Will you never fall
When the light has flown?
Tell me all that you may know
Show me what you have to show
Won't you come and say
If you know the way to blue?
~~~
Have you never heard a way to find the sun
Tell me all that you may know
Show me what you have to show
Won't you come and say
If you know the way to blue?
Have you seen the land living by the breeze
Can you understand a light among the trees
Tell me all that you may know
Show me what you have to show
Tell us all today
If you know the way to blue?
Look through time and find your rhyme
Tell us what you find
We will wait at your gate
Hoping like the blind.
Can you now recall all that you have known?
Will you never fall
When the light has flown?
Tell me all that you may know
Show me what you have to show
Won't you come and say
If you know the way to blue?
~~~
Εσωστρεφής, ντροπαλός και ευαίσθητος, γνώρισε νωρίς τα έργα του Καμύ, του Μπωντλέρ και του Ρεμπώ, που επηρέασαν τους στίχους του. Γεννήθηκε στις 19.6.1948 στην Μπούρμα (της υπό αγγλική κατοχή Ινδίας). Στις 25.11. 1974, μόλις 26 ετών, βρέθηκε νεκρός στο κρεβάτι του, από ισχυρή δόση αντικαταθλιπτικών. Στο πικάπ ένα κονσέρτο του Μπαχ και δίπλα του ο "Μύθος του Σίσυφου". Α, και τα tryptizol.
Όλα όσα είχε να πει και όλα όσα υπήρξε βρίσκονται στους τρεις δίσκους του:
Five Leaves Left (1969)
Bryter Layter (1970)
Pink Moon (1972)
Ο πρώτος δίσκος κυκλοφόρησε τον Σεπτέμβριο του 1969 σε ενορχήστρωση Robert Kirby. Ο τίτλος αναφέρεται στην ένδειξη "Five leaves left" των αγγλικών Rizzla και οι κριτικές ήταν καλές, αλλά όχι αρκετές για να γίνει γνωστό το όνομα του Drake.
Day is Done
When the day is done
Down to earth then sinks the sun
Along with everything that was lost and won
When the day is done.
When the day is done
Hope so much your race will be all run
Then you find you jumped the gun
Have to go back where you began
When the day is done.
When the night is cold
Some get by but some get old
Just to show life's not made of gold
When the night is cold.
When the bird has flown
Got no-one to call your own
Got no place to call your home
When the bird has flown.
When the game's been fought
You speed the ball across the court
Lost much sooner than you would have thought
Now the game's been fought.
When the party's through
Seems so very sad for you
Didn't do the things you meant to do
Now there's no time to start anew
Now the party's through.
When the day is done
Down to earth then sinks the sun
Along with everything that was lost and won
When the day is done.
~~~
When the day is done
Down to earth then sinks the sun
Along with everything that was lost and won
When the day is done.
When the day is done
Hope so much your race will be all run
Then you find you jumped the gun
Have to go back where you began
When the day is done.
When the night is cold
Some get by but some get old
Just to show life's not made of gold
When the night is cold.
When the bird has flown
Got no-one to call your own
Got no place to call your home
When the bird has flown.
When the game's been fought
You speed the ball across the court
Lost much sooner than you would have thought
Now the game's been fought.
When the party's through
Seems so very sad for you
Didn't do the things you meant to do
Now there's no time to start anew
Now the party's through.
When the day is done
Down to earth then sinks the sun
Along with everything that was lost and won
When the day is done.
~~~
Λίγο αργότερα, κλείνεται σ' ένα παλιό σπίτι στο Hampstead του Λονδίνου και γράφει τα τραγούδια του δεύτερου δίσκου του. Σ' αυτό το διάστημα θα φανούν πιο ανησυχητικά τα σημάδια της κατάθλιψης, καθώς θα παραγκωνίσει όλους τους φίλους του, θα επισκεφθεί ψυχίατρο και θα παραμείνει μακριά από κάθε κοινωνική δραστηριότητα μέχρι να ξαναμπεί στο στούντιο με τον Joe Boyd. Οι ηχογραφήσεις κράτησαν εννιά μήνες. Ο Robert Kirby έκανε πάλι τις ενορχηστρώσεις και συμμετείχαν οι Richard Thompson, Dave Pegg και Dave Mattacks, όλοι μέλη των Fairport Convention, καθώς και ο John Cale στη βιόλα και σελέστα. Αποτέλεσμα: ένα αψεγάδιαστο άλμπουμ, με αξιοζήλευτες μελωδίες, έγχορδα που αποπλανούν εύκολα τον ακροατή και τους καταθληπτικούς σχεδόν αυτοβιογραφικούς στίχους του Drake να μεταμορφώνουν κάθε κομμάτι σε ποίημα. Ο Boyd το αποκαλεί αριστούργημα και είναι σίγουρος ότι αυτός ο δίσκος θα έχει την αναγνώριση που του αξίζει. Κυκλοφόρησε τον Νοέμβριο του 1970, πουλώντας λιγότερα από 15.000 δίσκους.
Hazey Jane I
Do you curse where you come from,
Do you swear in the night
Will it mean much to you
If I treat you right.
Do you like what you're doing,
Would you do it some more
Or will you stop once and wonder
What you're doing it for.
Hey slow jane, make sense
Slow, slow, jane, cross the fence.
Do you feel like a remnant
Of something that's past
Do you find things are moving
Just a little too fast.
Do you hope to find new ways
Of quenching your thirst,
Do you hope to find new ways
Of doing better than your worst.
Hey slow jane, let me prove
Slow, slow jane, we're on the move.
Do it for you,
Sure that you would do the same for me one day.
So try to be true,
Even if it's only in your hazey way.
Can you tell if you're moving
With no mirror to see,
If you're just riding a new man
Looks a little like me.
Is it all so confusing,
Is it hard to believe
When the winter is coming
Can you sign up and leave.
Hey slow jane, live your lie
Slow, slow jane, fly on by.
~~~
Do you curse where you come from,
Do you swear in the night
Will it mean much to you
If I treat you right.
Do you like what you're doing,
Would you do it some more
Or will you stop once and wonder
What you're doing it for.
Hey slow jane, make sense
Slow, slow, jane, cross the fence.
Do you feel like a remnant
Of something that's past
Do you find things are moving
Just a little too fast.
Do you hope to find new ways
Of quenching your thirst,
Do you hope to find new ways
Of doing better than your worst.
Hey slow jane, let me prove
Slow, slow jane, we're on the move.
Do it for you,
Sure that you would do the same for me one day.
So try to be true,
Even if it's only in your hazey way.
Can you tell if you're moving
With no mirror to see,
If you're just riding a new man
Looks a little like me.
Is it all so confusing,
Is it hard to believe
When the winter is coming
Can you sign up and leave.
Hey slow jane, live your lie
Slow, slow jane, fly on by.
~~~
Ο Drake, εντελώς απογοητευμένος, επιστρέφει στο πατρικό του και κλείνεται στον εαυτό του, για την τελευταία του προσπάθεια ... ή μάλλον επιθυμία. Γράφει έντεκα τραγούδια μόνο με κιθάρα, τα οποία ηχογραφούν (με τον John Wood - τεχνικό ήχου από το προηγούμενο άλμπουμ) μέσα σε δύο μέρες.
Pink Moon
I saw it written and I saw it say
Pink moon is on it's way
And none of you stand so tall
Pink moon gonna get you all
It's a pink moon
It's a pink, pink, pink, pink, pink moon.
~~~
Pink moon is on it's way
And none of you stand so tall
Pink moon gonna get you all
It's a pink moon
It's a pink, pink, pink, pink, pink moon.
~~~
Χωρίς παραγωγό, χωρίς ενορχηστρωτή, το Pink Moon κυκλοφόρησε τον Φεβρουάριο του 1972 και είναι το πιο απογυμνωμένο και εκτεθειμένο στην απελπισία άλμπουμ του. Στο κομμάτι Place to be το μήνυμα είναι ξεκάθαρο:
I'm darker than the deepest sea, just hand me down, give me a place to be
Place to Be
When I was younger, younger than before
I never saw the truth hanging from the door
And now I'm older see it face to face
And now I'm older gotta get up clean the place.
And I was green, greener than the hill
Where the flowers grew and the sun shone still
Now I'm darker than the deepest sea
Just hand me down, give me a place to be.
And I was strong, strong in the sun.
~~~
I never saw the truth hanging from the door
And now I'm older see it face to face
And now I'm older gotta get up clean the place.
And I was green, greener than the hill
Where the flowers grew and the sun shone still
Now I'm darker than the deepest sea
Just hand me down, give me a place to be.
And I was strong, strong in the sun.
~~~
