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[–] COF 1 points (+1|-0)

Hey there, it's me cynicaloldfart. It's been forever since I peeked in over here. Glad to see you are keeping the music playing. I was going to start posting some songs every once in a while but I have no points, so that sucks. I guess I could start adding some background snippets to get some points. You seem to post some of "my" songs so if you don't mind I'll start here.

Dream Academy members Nick Laird-Clowes and Gilbert Gabriel wrote this song, which is dedicated to the singer Nick Drake, who was 26 years old in 1974 when he died of an antidepressant overdose which may have been suicide. His work was very influential to many British musicians and songwriters, and his legend grew after his death.

The song was not specifically about Nick Drake, as some suppose, but merely dedicated to his memory. Laird-Clowes recalled to Mojo magazine in a 2011 interview: "The song was created in a Southgate bedsit where Gilbert Gabriel had a room. We wrote it while sitting on a floor. Just two guitars - one nylon strung with just three strings on it, while the other was the same guitar that was on the cover of Nick Drake's Bryter Layter. We had the idea, even before we sat down, to write a folk song with an African-style chorus. We started it and when we got to the verse melody, there was something about it that reminded me of Nick Drake, who I had been turned on to in 1972 by Roundhouse DJ Jeff Dexter. It was Jeff who first informed me what a brilliant record Bryter Layter was. He claimed, 'I know where that guitar is and one day we'll get hold of it.'

The song's subject matter was inspired by the time Laird-Clowes spent working on a music TV program that was produced in the north east England city of Newcastle. He recalled to Mojo: "The lyric emerged because I was an early presenter on The Tube and Geoff Wonfor, who went on to shoot The Beatles Anthology series, showed me the long lines of people unemployed and the shipyards that were closed down. That's what 'Life in Northern Town' is really all about."

David Gilmour helped produce The Dream Academy album with Nick Laird-Clowes.