One of my favorite songs for years has been Nick Drake’s “One of these things first”. I first heard it on the soundtrack to movie The Garden State, as did many it seems, a film remembered for it’s music more than anything else.

I’ve never listened to Nick Drake’s work outside of this song, but prompted by it coming on today I started to explore his past (he died of suicide) and his albums Five Leaves Left, Bryter Layter (the album featuring this song), and Pink Moon. The music stuck me as similar to one of my other favorite artists from Seattle, Damien Jurado. Melancholy, calming, meditative. Something to put on in the morning or for a long drive.

“One of these” is a song I want my kids to hear often. It somehow sums up the wonder and mystery of life, and the heartbreak and seeming impossibleness of it all, in a way that makes me feel happy to have my part.

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

I could be here and now

I would be, I should be, but how?

I could have been

One of these things first