Paperback review: Nick Drake: Dreaming England, By Nathan Wiseman-Trowse
Your support helps us to tell the story
This election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.
The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.
Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.
The singer-songwriter Nick Drake died of an overdose in 1974, at the age of 26. Since his death his reputation has steadily grown, and his music has come to be regarded, with great affection, as the embodiment of a particular kind of Englishness.
Nathan Wiseman-Trowse analyses what that Englishness consists of: the sense of wistfulness and melancholy, the strain of romanticism, and the pastoral landscapes evoked by his melodies and lyrics, as well as the solitary, contemplative images of Drake used for album covers and publicity shots. The book is written in academic-speak, but it’s an astute analysis, and an evocative reminder of the handful (fewer than 40) of beautiful, delicate songs Drake left us.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments