Northern Sky
nick drake
['kurt cobain', 'shontelle', 'meredith willson', 'luc plamondon', 'john entwistle', 'tim rice', 'calvin harris', 'robert plant', 'ian tyson', 'hikaru utada', 'haven gillespie', 'adrian ross', 'stephen sondheim', 'hugh martin', 'brian hooker', 'tito puente', 'john petrucci', 'rodgers', 'hugo peretti', 'meghan trainor', 'sergey mikhalkov', 'allen ginsberg', 'serj tankian', 'joe melson', 'martin gore', 'bart howard', 'jazmine sullivan', 'christina aguilera', 'manu chao', 'lee hall', 'kai hansen', 'ashley tisdale', 'shakira', 'trent reznor', 'axl rose', 'jack white', 'phil spector', 'pusha t', 'jonathan coulton', 'roy orbison', 'psy', 'alicia keys', 'robert smith', 'jermaine dupri', 'ringo starr', 'paul green', 'tinashe', 'dead kennedys', 'george harrison', 'ludacris', 'james lord pierpont', 'nakata', 'taio cruz', 'richard wagner', 'tim mcilrath', 'mark ronson', 'isaac hayes', 'hy zaret', 'louis jordan', '50 cent', 'fats domino', 'katy perry', 'alice cooper', 'howard dietz', 'pete wentz', 'ceelo green', 'glenn slater', 'rabindranath tagore', 'rob thomas', 'timothy gray', 'jerry herman', 'bob dylan', 'francis scott key', 'lou reed', 'swizz beatz', 'flo rida', 'ozzy osbourne', 'abel meeropol', 'rick nielsen', 'woody guthrie', 'oscar hammerstein ii', 'jeremih', 'bertolt brecht', 'lars ulrich', 'syd barrett', 'mick jagger', 'gabriella cilmi', 'michael hutchence', 'kanye west', 'diane warren', 'lil wayne', 'curtis mayfield', 'david bowie', 'ray davies', 'robyn', 'lorenz hart', 'michael jackson', 'kevin kadish', 'ruslana']
Northern Sky
"Northern Sky" is a song from Nick Drake's 1970 album Bryter Layter. Leading up to and during the recording sessions for the album, the chronically shy and notably withdrawn songwriter formed a friendship and eventually a mentorship of sorts with producer Joe Boyd. Boyd was an early catalyst for the singer, and saw commercial potential in the acoustic and unaccompanied demo version of the song, and recruited former Velvet Underground member John Cale to assist in the production. Cale added piano, organ and celesta arrangements, initially against Drake's wishes. The song marked a strong redirection in Drake's sound and he was in the end very pleased with Cale's additions and enthused by indications that it would make the single that would break him commercially. However, Island Records did not release it as a single and the accompanying album, like its predecessor, received no marketing support and failed to sell. In response, having tried his hand at lush arrangements, he responded with the sparse and bleak, voice and guitar only final album Pink Moon, which received limited release before his death in 1974. In the 1980s the track was pivotal in resurrecting interest in Drake's music which was, by then, largely forgotten. Biographer Patrick Humphries describes the song as "the finest ... to which Nick Drake ever lent his name. Again sounding alone and vulnerable .. he pleads for the brightness to come." The song also features in the closing scene of Serendipity.