Wednesday 9/30/20
Short one. You probably don't know this song. It's Nick Drake's "Black Eyed Dog," which is discussed in my Sam Cooke book. What does this have to do with Sam Cooke? You'll have to buy the book and read it to find out. But take a few minutes. Put down the phone. Shut off the TV. Just listen. In the moment. Purely listen to this. It is one of the very last recordings that Nick Drake will make in his life, before he dies--possibly by suicide--aged twenty-six in 1974. He was in so much pain at this last stage--he physically shook--that he could not sing and play guitar at the same time. The guitar track and the vocal track had to be recorded separately. I hear this and all I want to do is create. I want to create six new stories tonight. All I ever want to do is create, but I experience art of this power and I am again acutely conscious of how much I wish to and must create. That sometimes there have been people in this world who can create art like this is what I think matters more than anything ever has or ever will.