Cello Song

Iv'e drifted in and out of Nick Drakes music for years now - never being a huge fan, but certainly appreciating his gift and enjoying his music at times when my hand just hovers near one of his CD's - the mood has to be just right.

Billy Bragg got it so right when he described him as follows: “The great thing about Nick Drake is that you have to meet him halfway. You have to lean in to hear what he is saying.”

I'm glad I don't live in London, but at times wish I could be transported to some of the 'events' that take my fancy - the Strange Face Project exhibition at Idea Generation Gallery is one such event. A series of photographs by Michael Burdett.

Michael was working as a postboy at Island Records in the 1970's when he came across a boxed tape in the skip and was allowed to keep it. On the box was written "Nick Drake Cello Song - With Love X" - what he had found was a version that had not been released or heard before.

Many years passed and recently Michael set off with a CD player and headphones in hand, for nearly two years he travelled the length and breadth of Britain with the aim of offering random individuals an exclusive opportunity to hear the recording. City workers, farmers, scientists, hairdressers, musicians, tattooists – he asked them all. Randomly stopping them in the street, at their places of work and in their homes, whether they knew of Drake’s material or not. He then photographed them listening to the song.

He even photographed a man listening to the song fishing for Grayling on the Itchen in Hampshire - how perfect is that! There is an interview with Michael on the BBC 6Music site.