This is one of the 167 photos in the Strange Face Project, in which someone called Michael Burdett takes a photo of people listening on headphones to a previously unknown version of Nick Drake’s Cello Song. He acquired the tape of the recording back in the 70s when he was working at a record company. He says it’s quite unlike the version of the song that appears on Five Leaves Left.
Guardian journalist Laura Barton, who is the subject of the above photo, says this about the experience:
“This version of Cello Song is a more earthly creature: richer, busier, warmer than the one I am familiar with, and in many ways more engaged with its era. It appears more psychedelic, with shades of the Beatles’ Within You Without You. As I listened to the track, I stared at the ground, oblivious to the traffic, the cold wind, the snap of Burdett’s camera. It is an entrancing work and, like all of Drake’s material, engulfs the listener. Once it is over, I am startled. I stand in the street, suddenly aware of the roar of the day.”
