In many ways it's a sad story of unfulfilled potential. In other ways it's a celebration of what one lonely man can achieve when - for whatever inexplicable reason - the hand of genius comes along and taps them on the shoulder.
I was lucky in that both my father and I are guitarists, so naturally his record collection included two (somewhat rare) albums from one of the most interesting folk guitarist/singer/songwriters that's ever lived. Skipping school to listen to those albums was at least a fortnightly routine.
Nick Drake's life mirrored this song. He did not become widely known outside of Britain until the 2000s and even the fame he achieved in Britain did not come until a decade after his sad death from suicide in 1974.
The original NEET, Nick lived at home in the shed of his parent's house, surviving on a small stipend from Island Records that he would mostly spend on weed.
What makes Nick's guitar playing so interesting was his use of alternate tunings. In standard tuning (EADGBE) strings have to be fretted to form a chord, whereas in an open tuning like BEBEBE, the strings already form a partial chord without having to use your left hand. This gives the guitarist greater flexibility to be able to play notes together within octaves you don't generally hear together on a guitar.
He would use this BEBEBE tuning on the song Fly, this was the track that shot him to partial worldwide fame when it was used on the soundtrack for the 2001 Wes Anderson movie The Royal Tenenbaums.
The tracks so far have come from his first and second album. However it was his third and final album that many consider his masterpiece.
It was a bitter, naked and short album, recorded at a time when the record company had done with him and considered him a failure. Nick Drake remained angry at the lack of success until his death. But Nick, at least some people are listening now.