Northern Sky — Nick Drake

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y11X5WljnFA

Like the Second Discourse, Nick Drake seems to be disillusioned with civilization; these songs are about nature and wildlife, about the sky and the seasons, about harvests and the days of the week and a simpler time, perhaps idyllic, perhaps idealized. The songs are folk, of course, and they are about magic and holiness in everyday life, focusing on the exceptional moments in a dreary life. They are confessional and strange and sad, but also deeply hopeful, happy and expectant and naive, Rousseau as a bard, linked for me with a week I spent in the suburbs, practically the country for me, reading (trying to read) Tolkien and listening to Nick Drake, reading a Greek language textbook, trying to imagine what it might be like to be just a little bit older.