| Soul Drifter | |
| Cover: | LBuckingham-Soul_Drifter.jpg |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | Lindsey Buckingham |
| Album: | Out of the Cradle |
| B-Side: | Say We’ll Meet Again |
| Released: | 1992 |
| Genre: | Soft rock |
| Length: | 3:27 |
| Label: | Reprise (North America), Mercury (Europe) |
| Producer: | Lindsey Buckingham, Richard Dashut |
| Chronology: | Lindsey Buckingham |
| Prev Title: | Countdown |
| Prev Year: | 1992 |
| Next Title: | Don't Look Down |
| Next Year: | 1993 |
"Soul Drifter" is a song by Lindsey Buckingham, released in 1992 from his third solo album Out of the Cradle. It was released as a single in both Europe and North America, reaching number 53 in Germany and number 31 in Canada. During the Out of the Cradle Tour, "Soul Drifter" was included as the final song of the set.[1] Buckingham later performed the song in support of his self-titled album in 2021.[2]
In a 1997 interview with Paul Zollo, Buckingham said that the lyrics to "Soul Drifter" came to him "in a flash." He finished the lyrics before he committed the song to tape, which contrasted with his usual approach of starting with the instrumentation first.[3] Buckingham wrote the song while Fleetwood Mac was at his house mixing Tango in the Night.[4] He commented that the song was about "taking off and leaving it up to fate as to what will happen."[5]
During the development "Soul Drifter", Buckingham was influenced by the music that his parents listened to growing up, which he captured by emulating the conventions of Tin Pan Alley music. "I do think there's a lot to be looked at in that type of music. I tried to get that traditional, Tin Pan Alley sort of approach when I was writing 'Soul Drifter'. So I think there's a lot of validity, just looking at that stuff and appreciating it. Especially if it's part of your background."[6] According to Buckingham, "Soul Drifter" was his mother's favorite song on the album.[3]
Several of the guitars were treated with a vari-speed oscillator (VSO), particularly during the intro, which features two guitars playing an ascending line in octaves and another guitar playing a figure in triple meter.[7] During the pressing of Out of the Cradle, Lee Herschberg, who had worked with Frank Sinatra, was making some copies of the album when he first heard "Soul Drifter". Upon hearing it, Herschberg reportedly quipped "Oh, a real song!"[3]
BAM highlighted the song's commercial appeal, saying that it "wouldn't sound out of place on any radio format".[6] Timothy White of Billboard said that the “contrasting layers of Lindsey's multitracked vocals are interwoven with various metronomic riff-sounds that constantly supplant each other before their essential sameness can be detected."[8] The New York Times characterized "Soul Drifter" as "a gorgeous folk-cowboy song" that "ends with quotes from The Tokens' "Lion Sleeps Tonight."[9]