“One Of These Things First” by Nick Drake offers a window into the problems that led to the young folk singer’s untimely demise. Though his music endures and continues to be discovered by new audiences, Drake, in many ways, remains unknowable. A mysterious but tender songwriter who left behind three magnificent albums, then vanished.
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About “One Of These Things First”
A song about potential, Drake sings about what he could have been, rather than the unsteady person he views himself to be.
I could have been a sailor, could have been a cook
A real live lover could have been a book
I could have been a signpost, could have been a clock
As simple as a kettle, steady as a rock.
The second verse addresses an unknown person. The thought of whoever he feels he’s let down only deepens his spiraling despair.
I could have been your statue, could have been your friend,
A whole long lifetime could have been the end.
‘Bryter Layter’
Drake’s second studio album, Bryter Layter, was his last to feature accompanying musicians. Joe Boyd produced it with contributions from guitarist Richard Thompson as well as John Cale.
The rhythm section backing Drake on “One Of These Things First” plays a piano-heavy arrangement. But the drumming feels stuck—like a groove that can’t get going. It echoes Drake’s (perceived) lost potential. And the cascading disappointments he regrets.
Yet it’s bittersweet. There’s a glimpse of hope in the chiming piano notes. Drake’s voice gives a sense of detachment. A what-can-you-do attitude. Brighter later. Bob Dylan once sang: “It’s not dark yet, but it’s getting there” in “Not Dark Yet” from Time Out Of Mind. But brighter later suggests something else. Light, perhaps.
Unfortunately, Drake wouldn’t survive. Here’s an excerpt from Richard Morton Jack’s 2023 biography of the singer, Nick Drake: The Life. It’s an exchange between Drake and his father regarding whether Drake would leave college to pursue music full-time.
From his father, Rodney:
“If I am right in what I say, and the real trouble is that you have not yet overcome your weaknesses (and God knows we all have them), then you may well find that you have thrown over Cambridge simply to continue indefinitely on the outskirts of what you are looking for.”
His father’s prescient letter and the difficulties that plagued Drake make “One Of These Things First” feel like the other side of the conversation—after Drake had left Cambridge and moved to London to focus on music.
In 1974, Drake died after overdosing on antidepressants. He was 26.
I could be even here,
I would be, I should be so near.
Courtesy of Island Records/Bryter Music
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