Tikun Olam-תקון עולם: Make the World a Better Place

Volkswagen has gone a long way to deliver Nick Drake from obscurity with their moody commerical set on a moonlit night with a car driving miles of twisting back country roads with a dreamy Nick Drake song playing on the stereo. But it’s safe to say that Nick Drake is never going to be mainstream and that’s just as well. He wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.

Drake, who died of a drug overdose in the 1970s wrote some of the most beautiful music never-heard. His music is spare and simple. No overdubbing. No big sound. No big arrangements. Just a man strumming on a guitar in a room somewhere singing about the deepest troubles and heartache that a human being can face.

Which Will (hear it here) is one of Drake’s finest songs. First, the title–spare, plain and stripped down. Drake made a habit of being an iconoclast, someone who didn’t pander to the listener and didn’t compromise. So the title seems fitting. The song seems like a prayer spoken to the wind in hopes that his beloved will hear it and choose him to love over a potential rival. A gorgeous piece of writing.

Which will you go for
Which will you love
Which will you choose from
From the stars above

Which will you answer
Which will you call
Which will you take for
Your one and all
And tell me now
Which will you love the best.

Which do you dance for
Which makes you shine
Which will you choose now
If you won’t choose mine

Which will you hope for
Which can it be
Which will you take now
If you won’t take me
And tell me now
Which will you love the best.
—-lyrics, Nick Drake Files

Lucinda Williams has also recorded a version of Which Will (hear it here) which does the original great justice. Her sweet, mellifluous voice enhances the romantic longing of the lyrics.

WARNING: This mp3 blog exists to spread the wonder and genius that is traditional music. It does NOT exist to enhance your private mp3 collection. So by all means come, listen, enjoy, then follow the links to buy the music. If you come, listen, download, then leave—you’re violating the spirit behind this blog and doing nothing to support the artists featured here. And if you link to my mp3 file at your own site, then you’re stealing my bandwidth and being pretty uncool. So please don’t do it.