SAD IS SWEET, AND BEAUTIFUL TOO!

"Said the Gramophone" (http://www.saidthegramophone.com/) is a mp3blog started in 2003 providing a "daily sampler of really good songs...posted out of love" by 3 writers based in Canada. Do not expect the latest hits, the songs posted here are either obscure, unheard of or lost over the years. The sampler mp3's served to create or re-create awareness of the artists and the songs. I have followed it on and off for about 3 years now.

Today I happened to re-visit it through my list of URLs and bumped into another song by Nick Drake (1948~1974) - "Place to be" and I was totally stunned by the bare simplicity of this song.
(http://www.saidthegramophone.com/archives/where_dew_gathers.php)

The first Nick Drake song I came across was "Northern Sky" in the movie "Serendipity" starring Kate Beckinsale and John Cusack in a movie about testing fate and seeing if destiny could bring 2 people back together years after they separated. A very romantic movie that I could watch over and over again.

The (old) short excerpt (I've been a long time that I'm waiting....I've been a long time that I've wandered.....Through the people I have known) (previously) just below my Blog title came from Northern Sky. Nick Drake's lyrics can be very abstract, it could mean different things from different perspectives. That is the beauty of it, you read into it and draw your own interpretation. The music plays its part in the interpretation as well.

Nick Drake died of an overdose of anti-depressants aged 26 on 25 Nov 1974. His music gained prominence many years after his tragic death when many musicians quoted him as one of their musical influence. The Cure took their name from one of his song, "Time Has Told Me" from the first of his 3 albums - "Five Leafs Left"-- "A troubled cure for a troubled mind". The Dream Academy's first hit, "Life in a Northern Town" was about him.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Drake#cite_note-Macaulay-47)

"Place to be" was from his final album, "Pink Moon". It is a hauntingly sad song that is sweet and beautiful all at the same time:

When I was young, 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 thought I’d see when day is done
Now I’m weaker than the palest blue
Oh, so weak in this need for you

How could such a gem not be heard of and lost for such a long time,
But I am glad I bumped into thee in the nick of time,
Taking in the moments for a long long time to come.

Thank you, Nicholas Rodney Drake (http://www.brytermusic.com/)
and "Said the Gramophone"!

The actual truth whether his death was suicide will forever remain a mystery. Within "Place to be" you could sense that he probably knew his time was almost up as he sang about from young to old, from green and hills to dark and deepest seas, almost pleading for a "place to be". The last verse read from strong to weak and a yearning for someone or something dear. There is a sense of loss and regret in there as well.

Saying so much in so little words.............................pure genius!

Nick Drake's 2nd album was titled "Bryter Layter".
Only a true artist would "skew" the words to make them much more relevant and pronouced to the reader/audience. It is such art that I find in abundance in 2 of my favourite friendly bloggers:

Endless Love ┊ミ乖﹏兔☆BLOG

Clear Blue Sky 〢●`晴天

Both have immense innate talent that will take them very very far.

"Starlight, star bright, these stars I see before they rise to be seen."