"Magic" (also known as "I Was Made to Love Magic") is the second listed song from

Nick Drake Nicholas Rodney Drake (19 June 1948 – 25 November 1974) was an English singer-songwriter and musician. An accomplished acoustic guitarist, Drake signed to Island Records at the age of twenty while still a student at the University of Cambridg ...

's 2004

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one Performing arts#Performers, performer or by several performers. If the recordings are from ...

'' Made to Love Magic'' and was remastered and released as a single in 2004. The single was released on both CD and

vinyl record A phonograph record (also known as a gramophone record, especially in British English) or a vinyl record (for later varieties only) is an analog signal, analog sound Recording medium, storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, ...

formats, with ''

Bryter Layter ''Bryter Layter'' is the second studio album by English folk singer-songwriter Nick Drake. Recorded in 1970 and released on 5 March 1971 by Island Records, it was his last album to feature backing musicians, as his next and final studio album, ...

'' track "

Northern Sky The northern celestial hemisphere, also called the Northern Sky, is the northern half of the celestial sphere; that is, it lies north of the celestial equator. This arbitrary sphere appears to rotate westward around a polar axis due to Earth' ...

" as a

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph record, vinyl records and Compact cassette, cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a Single (music), single usually ...

. "Magic" was originally recorded for the ''

Five Leaves Left ''Five Leaves Left'' is the debut studio album by English folk musician Nick Drake. Recorded between 1968 and 1969, it was released in 1969 by Island Records. Background and recording ''Five Leaves Left'' was recorded between May 1968 and A ...

'' sessions but did not appear on the final album. A version of the song with a different string arranger features on '' Time of No Reply'', Drake's 1986

outtakes An outtake is a portion of a work (usually a film or music recording) that is removed in the editing process and not included in the work's final, publicly released version. In the digital era, significant outtakes have been appended to CD and DV ...

compilation. For ''Made to Love Magic'' the song was artificially sped up and stripped of its original string section, which was scored by

Richard Hewson Richard Anthony Hewson (born 17 November 1943) is an English producer, arranger, conductor and multi-instrumentalist, who created the studio group RAH Band. Career Hewson began in the late 1960s as an arranger, and worked with musicians such ...

. A separate string arrangement written in 1969 by Robert Kirby, recorded in 2004, was used as a backing to the new faster track. Upon its 2004 issue as a single, it was placed at #32 on the UK Singles Chart, the first time the single had appeared on the chart.

Track listing

All songs are written by Nick Drake. #"Magic" – 2:45 #"

" – 3:46

Personnel

*Nick Drake – vocals, guitar *Robert Kirby –

arrangements In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing Composition (music), composition. Differences from the original composition may include Harmony (music), reharmonization, Musical phrasing, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or M ...

John Cale John Davies Cale (born 9 March 1942) is a Welsh musician, composer, and record producer who was a founding member of the American rock band the Velvet Underground. Over his six-decade career, Cale has worked in various styles across rock, dr ...

– celeste, piano and organ on "Northern Sky" *

Dave Pegg Dave Pegg (born 2 November 1947) is an English multi-instrumentalist and record producer, primarily a bass guitarist. He is the longest-serving member of the British folk rock band Fairport Convention and has been bassist with a number of folk ...

– bass on "Northern Sky" *

Mike Kowalski Mike Kowalski (born July 28, 1944) is an American drummer, percussionist and musicologist. He is best known as a longtime touring and session drummer for the rock band the Beach Boys. Early career Mike Kowalski was born in Hollywood, California ...

– drums on "Northern Sky"

Chart

References

2004 singles 2004 songs Island Records singles Nick Drake songs Song recordings produced by Joe Boyd Songs written by Nick Drake {{2000s-song-stub