Five Leaves Left  

From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEAsZa4Qz2Y, see "River Man"

Five Leaves Left, recorded in 1969, was the first of three albums by British folk musician Nick Drake.

Like Bryter Layter and unlike Pink Moon, this album contains no completely solo songs. Nick was accompanied by members of the British folk-rock group Fairport Convention.

Album information

The title of the album is said to be derived from a contemporary message contained within packets of Swan cigarette papers, which warned people that only five papers were left in the packet. It is sometimes suggested that this was aimed at people rolling marijuana joints, since many joints required five individual papers in order to be assembled. However, even up to the present day many smokers in the UK prefer to roll their own tobacco cigarettes. Rizla is the most popular brand of "skins" for this purpose as well. Today the message near the end of a pack of Rizlas reads "There's only 10 left." instead of "Five leaves left."

There has been some speculation into the name being acquired from O. Henry's short novel The Last Leaf, in which a woman states that she can happily die when all the leaves have fallen from her tree, she states that it will not be long as there are only five leaves left .

Reception and influence

Five Leaves Left was ranked 85th in a 2005 survey held by British television's Channel 4 to determine the 100 greatest albums of all time.

Track listing

All songs written by Nick Drake

1. "Time Has Told Me" – 4:27
2. "River Man" – 4:21
3. "Three Hours" – 6:16
4. "Way to Blue" – 3:11
5. "Day Is Done" – 2:29
6. "'Cello Song" – 4:49
7. "The Thoughts of Mary Jane" – 3:22
8. "Man in a Shed" – 3:55
9. "Fruit Tree" – 4:50
10. "Saturday Sun" – 4:03