On this day in 1948, the great singer-songwriter Nick Drake was born. He was a very depressed guy. This has special meaning to me, because most people think of me as a depressed person. This is not especially true. What I am is an extremely anxious person. But having been on anti-anxiety medication for the last month, I have found that they have made me depressed. I’m glad to have the anxiety gone, but I’m not sure the swap is worth it. I’ve always had manic-depressive swings in my life, but this constant feeling of depression is extremely unpleasant. I feel like I have for the first time in my life a very good idea of why people kill themselves. This is unrelenting and I don’t think that the anti-anxiety meds are long for my life.

Nick Drake was a brilliant songwriter, who played the guitar beautifully, and had one of the most haunting voices you will ever hear. He released three albums but none of them ever really took off. After his third album flopped, he went back to living with his parents. Some work was done on a fourth album but that was it. One night, he took an overdose of amitriptyline, a really nasty anti-depressant. I doubt very seriously that it was suicide. But the one thing I’ve noticed is that when you are depressed, what you really want is to sleep. And amitriptyline will put you to sleep. Until reading about his death, I didn’t know that it was such a dangerous drug.

Here is the song “River Man” off his first album, Five Leaves Left. It’s kind of mysterious. I think it is about how people and their affection flows past you like a river. It’s a lament. But you don’t have to listen to the lyrics; it’s just beautiful:

This second album Bryter Layter was more upbeat, probably because of the accompaniment by Fairport Convention. Although it is probably his most accessible, I find the niceties of the music get in the way of the songs. It works best on “Northern Sky”:

And then came Pink Moon, which is his most depressing album and undoubtedly why I like him so much. The whole album is only 28 minutes long and the whole thing is on YouTube (at least for now), if you want to listen to it. But here is the title track that defies description; you just have to listen to it:

Happy birthday Nick Drake!

I hate to say it, but Paul McCartney is 72 today. There is something about him as a human being that I just don’t like. He strikes me as arrogant in a way that annoys me. But he has reason to be. He is an excellent pop singer. But above all, he is one of the greatest pop songwriters ever. This really can’t be overstated. If he had just been a songwriter, we would place him with the very best—people like Cole Porter.

Most of my friends are much bigger fans of John Lennon. And I understand this. Lennon was the cool one. Lennon was the searcher. Lennon was the one who struggled with understanding the world. And Lennon wrote a few great songs—most notably “Strawberry Fields Forever,” the verses of “A Day in the Life,” and the bizarre “Happiness Is a Warm Gun.” But he was nowhere near the talent that Paul McCartney was.

Let’s start with “Yesterday,” which is one of the best pop songs of the 20th century:

Of course, lyrically this song is right on the edge of being as awful as McCartney often was in songs like “The Fool on the Hill”—although musically that one (like pretty much everything he ever did) was fine. But it is wrong to say that McCartney wasn’t a good lyric writer. He was simply lazy at times. His lyrics were often excellent as they were in his straight blues tune “Get Back”:

And let’s just finish the Beatles period with what is probably my favorite McCartney tune, “Penny Lane”:

As a solo artist, McCartney continued to produce great work. Yes, some of it is terrible. But as a solo artist, he didn’t put out nearly as much dreck as the other three former Beatles. And some of it holds up as well as anything he did with the Beatles. Finally, I hate to continue year after year pointing this out, but his tribute song to John Lennon was far better than anyone else’s. It also happens to be a great song in its own right. It’s a great example of how a piece of art can be deeply personal and yet universal.

Happy birthday Paul McCartney!

The great singer-songwriter Bruce Cockburn is 69 today. I actually know him because he and my wife were once a thing. I think she was with him during at least part of the Stealing Fire tour, which is interesting because I actually saw him on that tour. That was a hugely influential album to me. I still think “Nicaragua” is one of the great songs. At this point, I have seen Cockburn far more than any sane man should have to. He’s an excellent live performer, but I’m not that fond of live performances. Mostly, it is the crowds. When there was a backstage where we could watch, that was much better.

But by far the worst thing about the concerts were the fans. It is such a group of pasty white upper-middle class liberals who I just want to slap. And after the concerts, it was almost impossible to get away. Because Cockburn backs just about every cause in the world, people see him a lot the way that they see Noam Chomsky. So whereas other musicians had to sign autographs and hear about how great they were, Cockburn had to listen to much wringing of hands about this or that. And it would go on for an hour or more.

For his part Cockburn was great. He has the patience of a saint. And in my experience, he was a very nice guy. Although you can tell, he’s kind of lost in his own head. He is certainly a shy guy. At this point, I’m really curious about his position regarding Christianity. He was always at least nominally a Christian. That’s what his song “Wondering Where the Lions Are” is all about. But unfortunately, talking to him would require that I get back in touch with my wife. And that isn’t going to happen.

Here’s two songs of Stealing Fire:

And here’s “Each One Lost” off his newest album, Small Source of Comfort:

Happy birthday Bruce Cockburn!

On this day in 1833, the great German composer Johannes Brahms was born. As you may know, I’m not a big fan of Romantic music. But that’s mostly because the period brought out the worst in mediocre composers. Pretty much any Classical composer could grind out an acceptable piece of music. But that just isn’t so in the Romantic period. I blame Beethoven who inspired many people who shouldn’t have been inspired. Although in a fundamental sense Beethoven was the greatest composer of the period (although I generally think of him as transitional), I prefer to listen to Brahms.

Brahms was a protege of Robert Schumann, who was probably the biggest influence on the young composer. They became friends when Brahms was only 20 years old. This may be why Brahms was considered a conservative composer, at least compared to the other dominant composers of the time. But this gets to my general problem with Romantic music. The excesses of the period are well on display in Wagner and Liszt. What’s more, I find Brahms constantly innovative, just not in such a flashy way. His Symphony No 1 is a great example of restrained brilliance. Not that he couldn’t be more ostentatious as he is in the Violin Concerto in D.

But of the most interest to modern listeners is probably Brahms’ work with folk tunes. That’s especially true of the Hungarian Dances. And since I know from experience that people will not listen to hour long symphonies or concertos, here is the most famous of those dances, No 5 in F♯ Minor:

Happy birthday Johannes Brahms!

Since we already celebrated Cesar Chavez, this day can only go to one man (even though it is a rather good day for birthdays): Joseph Haydn. He is one of the greatest composers ever. He has been called “Father of the Symphony” and “Father of the String Quartet.” But it would probably be most accurate to call him father of chamber music, since he was the guy who really made it the center of classic music.

In some ways, he is a greater composer than Mozart, because Haydn for so important in defining the Classical style. I listen to more Mozart because he came later and effectively perfected the form. But what is really interesting about all this is that Haydn and Mozart were friends. But because they were separated by a generation (Haydn was 24 years older), there was no rivalry. They seem to have admired each other unreservedly.

I think that the younger composer saw in Haydn a father. Mozart’s own father was not very nice to him. He didn’t approve of Mozart’s career choice and he blamed him for the death of Mozart’s mother — who simply died on a trip with the composer; Mozart certainly wasn’t culpable. So Haydn was the good father that Mozart never had. In fact, Haydn told Mozart’s father, “Before God and as an honest man I tell you that your son is the greatest composer known to me either in person or by name; he has taste, and, furthermore, the most profound knowledge of composition.” In typical form, the compliment was never passed on to Mozart, although I’m sure that Haydn must have said something similar to the greatest composer known to him.

As for Mozart’s feelings toward the older composer, it is clear that he idealized him. Mozart discouraged him him from taking a trip to England out of fear for his health. (It is ironic that Haydn not only survived the trip, but lived almost two decades beyond while Mozart died the next year.) There is also this very telling incident from Franz Xaver Niemetschek:

That’s incredibly sweet, especially coming from Mozart who was not a man inclined to underestimate himself. I think that Mozart was the child that Haydn never had. Or I’m just being sentimental, which would not be the first time. Regardless, they had a great friendship based in mutual admiration.

Since Haydn and Mozart sometimes played string quartets together and the younger composer was very much influenced by Haydn’s work in this area, here is the Houston based Meridian Ensemble String Quartet doing String Quartet Opus 77, Number 2:

Happy birthday Joseph Haydn!

There are a number of good and interesting people born on this day. Last year I talked about Ruth Bader Ginsburg. She’s notable for being the only liberal on the Supreme Court. I know, you probably think there are four liberal members of the Court. But there aren’t. It runs like this: one liberal, three moderates, two conservatives, and three (for lack of a better term) fascists. Just saying. And truly, I had to stop myself from talking about David Cronenberg today. He’s one of my favorite film directors. Videodrome and eXistenZ are two unquestionably great films. That’s two more than almost all film directors have made.

The great musician Sly Stone is 71 today. Back in 2011, there was a whole bunch of news that Stone was homeless and living in a van (Down by the river?) in Los Angeles. That does not appear to be true. But there is no doubt that the business side of the music business has been bad to him. He is such a great talent, and it speaks to what a terrible society we are that he’s gone so neglected all these years. We should treat him like a king.

I still listen to Sly and the Family Stone’s album Stand! all the time. There really isn’t anything better. Here is “Everyday People” performed live on The Ed Sullivan Show:

Happy birthday Sly Stone!