The powerful, mysterious, delicate music of English songwriter Nick Drake was underappreciated during his brief lifetime. But since Drake's death at age 26 in 1974, his recordings have gradually reached more and more listeners. Drake is now a strong influence on contemporary songwriters, revered as much for his distinctive vocal and guitar style as for his beautiful, melancholy songs.
It's not hard to hear that Drake's timeless songs were somewhat influenced by the British folk scene of his day, but it hasn't been clear just from where he evolved his distinctive musical style. Now a brand new album gives host/producer David Garland the opportunity to show that the songwriter who had the greatest influence on Nick Drake was his mother, Molly Drake.
While Molly Drake raised her two kids Nick and actress Gabrielle Drake during the 1950s, this sociable, beautiful, happily married woman wrote introspective poetry and delicate, melancholy songs, which she sang, accompanying herself on piano. Though she apparently had no ambition to publish or promote her songs, her husband recorded them on a home tape recorder for the family's enjoyment. Sensitive and articulate, Molly Drake's songs are, as Nick Drake's original producer Joe Boyd recently observed, the "missing link" in understanding Nick's music.
David Garland presents selections from "Molly Drake," the new limited edition album of those old home recordings, alongside songs from Nick Drake's three albums, giving listeners the chance to hear the many connections between mother and son. Both were sensitive, talented, insightful people who wrote subtly devastating songs.
This show first aired April 22, 2012, and is rebroadcast to coordinate with the domestic release of "Molly Drake" on Squirrel Thing Records.
Comments [5]
HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY !!! If there is one person in anyone's life that all of us love and owe so much of our past and future to it us our moms. Communities and nations on the grand scale that treat the female with equality and respect her abilities to contribute in any job, business or profession and to participate on an equal basis with the males in religion, politics and all matters, those communities and nations ARE THE CIVILIZED ONES. Those that deny the female the open doors to life's possibilities are NOT civilized. Those not civilized societies belong in the DARK AGES, not the current century. My mom Celia was a lawyer and at her 90th birthday my brother Dr. Ben Lane, a nutritional optometrist, had arranged with the New York Academy of Optometrists at an annual meeting at a famous catering establishment to set aside a room to celebrate her birthday on that very day for a concert which I sang. BEN JONSON, the famous playwright of VOLPONE wrote the lyrics for DRINK TO ME ONLY WITH THINE EYES and dedicated it to his amour whose name was CELIA. That selection was one popular in our family's menu of choice songs. The concert was an hour long and included Foster's BEAUTIFUL DREAMER, Berlin's ALWAYS, Andrew Lloyd Webber's MEMORY from his Broadway musical CATS and Oley Speaks WHEN I GROW TOO OLD TO DREAM, all of which were favorites of my mom's. She was an accomplished lawyer, skier and mountain climber and accompanied my dad and brother on our vacation trips skiing, skating and climbing and to my four solo concerts in the main hallm of Carnegie Hall. She lived to reach 95 years, an inspiration to many born on May 22, 1903. Wagner's birthdate , May 22nd 1813, could that partially explain my wagnerian heldentenor? (sic !) Grieg's music is SO DYNAMICALLY WARM and APPROACHABLE. LIEDER plays a central role in my own concerts--four solo concerts in the Isaac Stern Auditorium of Carnegie Hall and elsewhere--Mahler's complete Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen which I performed as part of my Ten Language Solo Debut in Carnegie's main hall and Wagner's complete Wesendonck Lieder which i sang in both my ALL-WAGNER concerts on Sunday, JUNE 18th, 1995 and Thursday, MAY 28th, 1998. On my solo debut at the same venue, I also sang songs by Grieg and Sibelius. The afore mentioned selections may be downloaded from my websites. I am a Wagnerian heldentenor, an opera composer, "Shakespeare" and "The Political Shakespeare" and director of the Richard Wagner Music Drama Institute. Here are my websites where one may download, free, my singing of 37 out of the 100 selections that I have sung in four solo concerts at the Isaac Stern Auditorium of Carnegie Hall by going to Recorded Selections: www.WagnerOpera.com, kennethbennettlane.com, kennethlane.org, www.ShakespeareOpera.com and www.RichardWagnerMusicDramaInstitute.com.
Always something beautiful and interesting on SOA. Thank you for putting together another great show!
I love Nick Drake's music but never really dug into his influences. This is a revelation.
enjoyed the show too!
Thanks so much for this wonderful program. I so hear Nick's painful, delicate poetry in his mother Molly's songs. I can't help but think, in particular, of all the women whose voices got buried either by societal indifference, or their own lack of a sense of entitlement. Wonderful to hear her voice at last.
Nick Drake makes music from the pathos. That's good for all of us.
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