Although he recorded only three albums, critics and fellow musicians hold his work in very high esteem. Drake failed to find a wide audience during his lifetime and had a strong aversion to performing. Since his death, however, Drake's music has gained a significant cult following.
Drake's father worked as an engineer. Although he was born in Rangoon, Burma, Nick's family moved back to England soon afterward, and Drake was brought up in Tanworth-in-Arden, a small village in the English county of Warwickshire. He went to public school at Marlborough College, where he learned to play the clarinet and piano. As a young adult, Drake enrolled in Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, to study English. His older sister, Gabrielle Drake, is an actress.
Drake was a fan of British and the emerging American folk music scene, including artists Bob Dylan and Phil Ochs. While a university student, Drake began performing in local clubs and coffee houses. He was discovered by Ashley Hutchings, the bass player of the folk rock group Fairport Convention. Hutchings introduced Drake to the other members of Fairport Convention, folk singer John Martyn and producer Joe Boyd.
He delayed attendance to spend six months at the University of Aix-Marseille, France, beginning in February 1967. While in Aix, he began to practice guitar in earnest and to earn money would often busk with friends in the town centre. Drake began to smoke cannabis, and that spring he traveled with friends to Morocco, because, according to traveling companion Richard Charkin, "that was where you got the best pot". Drake's associates convinced Island Records to sign the young singer-songwriter to a three-album contract. Drake began recording his debut album Five Leaves Left later in 1968, with Boyd assuming the role of producer. The sessions took place in Sound Techniques studio, London, with Drake skipping lectures to travel by train to the capital. At the age of twenty, he released his first album Five Leaves Left (1969), which featured a chamber music quartet on several songs and had a light, breezy sound. Drake's second album Bryter Layter (1970) introduced a more upbeat, jazzier sound, with keyboards, horns and several brass instruments. Both albums were produced by Boyd and featured several members of Fairport Convention.
Many accounts of Drake focus on his mythology, but a large part of his enduring popularity is due to his meticulous songwriting, prosody, odd guitar tunings and lyricism.
Drake was pathologically shy and resented touring. The few concerts he did play were usually in support of other British folk acts of the time, such as Fairport Convention or John Martyn and were often brief and awkward. Partially because of this, his work received little attention and sold poorly. Whilst in the recording studio, he was so shy that he'd always play into the wall so as to avoid people's gazes.
Severely depressed and doubting his abilities as a musician, Drake recorded his final album Pink Moon (1972) in two two-hour sessions, both starting at midnight. The songs of Pink Moon were short (the album consists of eleven of them and lasts only 28 minutes) and emotionally bleak. Drake recorded them unaccompanied, in the presence of only a sound engineer (a piano was later overdubbed on the title track). Naked and sincere, it is widely thought to be his best work.
At this point, he considered other careers including the army and computer programming, but more suitably as a songwriter for other artists. However, none of Drake's plans materialized. In the next few months, Drake grew severely depressed and maintained relationships only with close friends such as John Martyn, who wrote the title song of his 1973 album Solid Air for and about Drake and with Sophia Ryde. He was hospitalized several times and lived with Hardy for a few months. Friends from that time have described how much his appearance changed: his nails grown, his hair and frame gaunt and thin.
In 1974, Drake felt well enough to write and record a few new songs. However, on November 25, he died of an overdose of antidepressants. The coroner concluded that the cause of Drake's death was suicide, although this was disputed by friends and relatives. Antidepressants of that time were quite lethal if ingested in any higher dosage than the one prescribed. His mother recounts that he must have had difficulty sleeping and had got up in the night to have a bowl of cornflakes. It's unclear whether he took more pills to help him sleep or to take his own life.
His simple gravestone in the Tanworth churchyard bears the line "And now we rise/And we are everywhere", taken from From the Morning - the last song on the last album Nick lived to complete.
Posthumous popularity
Since Drake’s death, his music has grown steadily in popularity. Several modern musicians, such as Lucinda Williams, Badly Drawn Boy, Matthew Good, Sebadoh's Lou Barlow, R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck, Blur’s Graham Coxon, and Belle and Sebastian, consider Drake an important influence. In early 1999, BBC2 aired a 40-minute Nick Drake documentary, "A Stranger Among Us — In Search of Nick Drake", as part of its Picture This strand. The following year saw the release of a documentary by Dutch director Jeroen Berkvens, titled A Skin Too Few: The Days of Nick Drake and featuring interviews with Joe Boyd, Gabrielle Drake, audio engineer John Wood, and arranger Robert Kirby. Brad Pitt is a fan of Drake and, in 2004, he narrated a BBC radio documentary about the singer.
Island has responded to Drake’s popularity with several new releases including Time of No Reply (1986), an album of unreleased material including four new songs recorded in 1974, Way to Blue: An Introduction to Nick Drake (1994), a "best of" album, remastered HDCD releases of his three studio albums in 2000, and Made to Love Magic (2004), featuring one new track and some newly recorded orchestration for a previously released track. A replacement for Way to Blue called A Treasury was also released in 2004 on Hybrid-SACD.
In 2000, Volkswagen licensed the track Pink Moon, the title track from Nick's third release, for a particularly serene car commercial in the US. The advertisement caused a significant bounce in Drake’s popularity, bolstered by uses of Drake's music on a number of film soundtracks, including 1998's Hideous Kinky and Practical Magic (featuring "Road" from Pink Moon and "Black Eyed Dog" from Time of No Reply, respectively). In 2001, two Bryter Layter tracks appeared in mainstream films: "Northern Sky" in Serendipity, and "Fly" in The Royal Tenenbaums. In the same year, "Cello Song" from Five Leaves Left was featured in Me Without You. In 2004, "One of These Things First" appeared in Garden State and "Northern Sky" was featured again, this time in Fever Pitch.
Drake's "River Man" has become quite popular among Jazz musicians. A piano improvisation based on the melody was released by Brad Mehldau on the album "Progression: Art Of The Trio, Volume 5", and a Jazz vocal version by Claire Martin appears on the album Take My Heart.
Drake's posthumous popularity has made many fans consider the lyrics to "Fruit Tree" a song from Five Leaves Left prophetic: “Fame is but a fruit tree / So very unsound. / It can never flourish / Till its stock is in the ground. / So men of fame / Can never find a way / Till time has flown / Far from their dying day.” In 2004 two of his singles reached low positions in the UK charts - "Magic" and "River Man".
Most recently, Nick Drake has emerged as a key influence in the resurgence of 1960's and 1970's folk traditions, apparent in the works of artists including Devendra Banhart, Joanna Newsom, and Six Organs of Admittance.
In 2005, performer Beck updated his website during Christmas time with covers of three songs from Pink Moon: "Pink Moon", "Which Will" and "Parasite."
Family Tree, the next Bryter Music/Island record was released in July 2007.
Day Is Done
Nick Drake Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Down to earth then sinks the sun
Along with everything that was lost and won
When the day is done
When the day is done
Hope so much your race will be all run
Then you find you jumped the gun
When the day is done, when the night is cold
Some get by but some get old
Just to show life's not made of gold
When the night is cold
When the bird has flown
Got no-one to call your own
No place to call your home
Now the bird has flown
When the game's been fought
Newspaper blown across the court
Lost much sooner than you would have thought
Now the game's been fought
When the party's through
Seems so very sad for you
Didn't do the things you meant to do
Now there's no time to start anew
Now the party's through
When the day is done
Down to earth then sinks the sun
Along with everything that was lost and won
When the day is done
In Nick Drake's song "Day Is Done", we are faced with the inevitability of life and its fleeting moments. It is a melancholic reflection on the human experience, highlighting the disappointments, missed opportunities, and the fragility of life. The song is underlined by the recurring theme of time, as Drake laments how it ticks away, leaving us with nothing but memories and regrets.
The opening lines of the song speak of the end of the day, as the sun sinks down to earth, taking with it everything that was once gained or lost. This is a metaphor for how all our efforts and struggles can easily be forgotten by time. The second verse continues with this sentiment, adding that we don't always have the chance to complete what we've started or finish our race, reminding us how we must subsequently return to the start. The following verses, in turn, describe challenges such as loneliness, lost opportunities, and the sudden end of happiness, all of which become more poignant when juxtaposed with Drake’s whimsical guitar riff.
Ultimately, the song is a reminder to cherish every moment, to make the most of what we have, and to live our lives to the fullest, even if we fall short of our ambitions. It urges us to appreciate the beauty of life, even when it is plagued by setbacks and difficulties.
Line by Line Meaning
When the day is done
At the end of the day
Down to earth then sinks the sun
The sun sets below the horizon
Along with everything that was lost and won
Marking the end of successes and failures
Hope so much your race will be all run
Hoping to complete one's goals
Then you find you jumped the gun
Discovering you acted prematurely
Have to go back where you begun
Starting over due to past mistakes
When the night is cold
During a difficult period
Some get by but some get old
Some cope better than others, but everyone ages
Just to show life's not made of gold
A reminder that life comes with challenges
When the bird has flown
When opportunities have passed
Got no-one to call your own
Feeling alone and isolated
No place to call your home
Feeling like you don't belong anywhere
Now the bird has flown
Opportunities have passed
When the game's been fought
After a competition or struggle
Newspaper blown across the court
A metaphor for an undesired outcome
Lost much sooner than you would have thought
A surprising loss
Now the game's been fought
The competition has ended
When the party's through
After a social event has ended
Seems so very sad for you
Feeling disappointed about the outcome
Didn't do the things you meant to do
Failing to meet personal expectations or goals
Now there's no time to start anew
A sense of finality and missed opportunities
When the day is done
At the end of the day
Down to earth then sinks the sun
The sun sets below the horizon
Along with everything that was lost and won
Marking the end of successes and failures
Lyrics © Kanjian Music, RESERVOIR MEDIA MANAGEMENT INC
Written by: Nick Drake
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@lali1968spain
So beautiful lyrics, Day Is Done
When the day is done
Down to earth then sinks the sun
Along with everything that was lost and won
When the day is done
When the day is done
Hope so much your race will be all run
Then you find you jumped the gun
Have to go back where you begun
When the day is done
When the night is cold
Some get by but some get old
Just to show life’s not made of gold
When the night is cold
When the bird has flown
Got no-one to call your own
Got no place to call your home
When the bird has flown
When the game’s been fought
Newspaper blown accross the court
Lost much sooner than you would have thought
Now the game’s been fought
When the party’s through
Seems so very sad for you
Didn’t do the things you meant to do
Now there’s no time to start anew
Now the party’s through
When the day is done
Down to earth then sinks the sun
Along with everything that was lost and won
When the day is done
@UlkuNarsurubu
When the day is done
Down to earth then sinks the sun
Along with everything
That was lost and won
When the day is done
When the day is done
Hope so much your race will be all run
Then you find you jumped the gun
Have to go back where you begun
When the day is done
When the night is cold
Some get by but some get old
Just to show life's not made of gold
When the night is cold
When the bird has flown
Got no one to call your own
Got no place to call your home
When the bird has flown
When the game's been fought
Newspaper blowing across the court
Lost much sooner
Than you would have thought
Now the game's been fought
When the party's through
Seems so very sad for you
Didn't do the things you meant to do
Now there's no timing to start anew
Now the party's through
When the day is done
Down to earth then sinks the sun
Along with everything
That was lost and won
When the day is done
NICHOLAS RODNEY DRAKE
@condor0187
Nick Drake - Day is done
Il giorno giunge al termine
Quando il giorno giunge al termine
Sprofonda il sole sottoterra
Portando con sé vittorie e sconfitte
Quando il giorno giunge al termine
Quando il giorno giunge al termine
Si spera tanto di aver corso tutta la gara
Per scoprire poi che la partenza è stata falsa
E tocca tornare al punto d'inizio
Quando il giorno giunge al termine
Quando la notte cala il freddo
Qualcuno a malapena se la cava, altri invecchiano
Si scopre che la vita non è tutta rose
Quando la note cala il freddo
Quando l'uccello spicca il volo
Manca qualcuno che ci ami
Manca un luogo che si possa chiamar casa
Quando l'uccello spicca il volo
Quando la partita è ormai giocata
Si scaglia il pallone all'altra estremità del campo
Si è perduto prima di quanto non si pensasse
Quando la partita è ormai giocata
Quando finisce la festa
Ci si sente così tristi
Senza aver fatto quello che si sarebbe voluto
E manca il tempo per ricominciare
Quando finisce la festa
Quando il giorno giunge al termine
Sprofonda il sole sottoterra
Portando con sé vittorie e sconfitte
Quando il giorno giunge al termine
@LotRBlackie
Dear Nick,
I stumbled across your music by pure chance, a couple of years ago. When I was on a quest to find the thing that was missing in my heart, the thing that made me, me and learn to love it. Thanks to you, I was able to find it.
After a stranger advised me to listen to your music and I heard the first song of you, it was Pink Moon if I recall correctly, I couldn't stop listening to your music. I got all of your albums, learned about your life and I can safely say, that your music defined me, defined who I am today. So much so, that all my close friends and siblings correlate your music to me and think of me whenever they listen to your songs. Or that's what they tell me...
What I want to do here, is to utter a thank you and I mean it from the bottom of my heart, when I say that I love you.
I'm sure you remember the time when almost nobody has heard of you. Even I remember such a time and it wasn't all that long ago. It almost brings tears to my eyes to see how many other people consider your music important to them.
Do you feel it, Nick? The joy all of us are having, the peace we are expressing, the sorrow we are sharing, while listening to you? All the people thinking about you... Can you feel them, Nick?
In the end it is like you said...
"Fame is but a fruit tree
So very unsound.
It can never flourish
Until its stock is in the ground.
So men of fame
Can never find a way
Until time has flown
Far from their dying day"
It seems like 40 years is finally far enough. But nothing has really changed down here.
"When the night is cold
Some get by and some get old
Just to show that life's not made of gold
When the night is cold
...
When the party's through
Seems so very sad for you
Didn't do the things you meant to do
Now there's no time to start anew
When the party's through"
All in all I love my fellow humans though, I really do. Even if we are not the most considering beings, most of us try our best every day.
I know that you are up there, watching us, singing your songs to my grandpa and all the other blokes. Give them my regards, will you? I hope to see you someday aswell but I'll stay here for a little longer. Don't wait for me though. I will keep listening to your music for the rest of the way, if that is alright. It's so I can...
"... forget this cruel world
Where I belong
I'll just sit and wait
And "listen" to your song
And if one day you should see me in the crowd
Lend a hand and lift me
To your place in the cloud"
With the greatest appreciation,
a Stranger.
@criselver4244
Played this song at my beautiful son's funeral. He was called Zeph. It has taken 22 years for me to listen the whole way through since then. Thank you to whoever put it up here.
@denisobrien3851
So sorry
@thesundew
What shall words from a stranger might mean to you. Yet, glad that you are now able to enjoy the song for what it is.
@katherinehigham3152
First time Ive heard this...and ill feel your loss each time I hear it from now. Big love
@roisinbournehill1750
My darling boy was taken from me too; I completely agree. 'Didn't do the things you meant to do.....' beauty such as this makes the pain more bearable. Hugs to you.
@criselver4244
@Roisin bourne hill Thank you for what you said. Sorry that you too are part of the world's crappest club. I return your hug Roisin, lovely name by the way, take care, cRis
@butimar68
One of those songs that you love at very first listen and never grow tired of it.
@12inchvertical
for every Nick Drake that finds recognition after his flame has died, there are a hundred others that are never known. Thankyou Nick for showing us the hidden gifts of the shy and retiring souls on this earth.
@janedoe4780
I swear I've seen you in like 3 comment sections today, good taste in music.
@irelandspacifist6156
ill e one of those soon, my name has been disgraced i cant even publish my work and it puts everyone to shame.