Nick Drake committed suicide in 1974 aged 26.
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
Newspapers blow across the court
Lost matches sooner than you would have thought
Now the game’s been fought.
When the part is 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 part is 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.
Drake’s family (eg his sister on the radio not too long ago) point out that it is by no means certain he committed suicide – I think his sister’s view was that he probably didn’t. Hope you don’t think I’m being pedantic, but this ambiguity may matter a lot to some people.
Desperately sad loss either way. Desperately sad song, despite the over-arrangeing that hides his lovely guitar playing.(IMAO, of course…)
I had a feeling this was one for you, GM. Very much of its time, all those cellos. And yes, I believe his family always held out against the coroner’s ruling of suicide.