Nick Drake, “Pink Moon”
Nick Drake, Pink Moon (1972)
Island Records
Artist: Michael Trevithick
By the time Nick Drake was set to release his third album in 1972, his battle with depression had taken over his life. Island Records were worried about releasing a third album after his first two didn’t sell with Drake’s refusal to promote his album with music, it didn’t seem very promising. He isolated himself in his apartment in London and worked on Pink Moon. The themes in the lyrics would be attributed to Drake’s battle with depression, drugs and alcohol.
When the time came to shoot the album cover photo, his label were hesitant to put him on the cover. Photographer Keith Morris, who photographed Drake for his first two records, Five Leaves Left and Bryter Layter, shot several images of him that would be denied by the label, feeling that Drake’s deteriorating appearance and hunched-over stature would not be good selling points.
This proved to be a difficult situation for Island’s creative director, Annie Sullivan. She was tasked with finding new art, but didn’t have a lot of direction to go on from Drake. His only request was that a pink moon be on the cover, as it was the title of the album.
“I remember going to talk to [Nick], and he just sat there, hunched up, and even though he didn’t speak, I knew the album was called Pink Moon, and I can’t remember how he conveyed it, whether he wrote it down … he wanted a pink moon. He couldn’t tell me what he wanted, but I had ‘pink moon’ to go on.”
