They'll only smile to see you while your time away
And once you've seen what they have been
To win the earth just won't seem worth your night or your day
Who'll hear what I say?
Look around you find the ground
Is not so far from where you are, but not too wise
For down below they never grow
They're always tired and charms are hired from out of their eyes
Never a surprise
Take your time and you'll be fine
And say a prayer for people there who live on the floor
And if you see what's meant to be, don't name the day or try to say
It happened before
Don't be shy, you learn to fly
And see the sun when day is done, if only you see
Just what you are, beneath a star
That came to stay one rainy day in Autumn for free
Yes, be what you'll be
Please beware of them that stare
They'll only smile to see you while your time away
And once you've seen what they have been
To win the earth just won't seem worth your night or your day
Who'll hear what I say?
Open up the broken cup
Let the goodly sin and sunshine in, yes, that's today
And open wide the hymns you hide
You find renown while people frown at things that you say
But say what you'll say
About the farmers and the fun
And the things behind the sun
And the people 'round your head
Who say everything's been said
And the movement in your brain
Sends you out into the rain
Nicholas Rodney Drake (19 June 1948 – 25 November 1974) was an English singer-songwriter. An accomplished acoustic guitarist, Drake signed to Island Records at the age of twenty while still a student at the University of Cambridge. His debut album, Five Leaves Left, was released in 1969, and was followed by two more albums, Bryter Layter (1971) and Pink Moon (1972). While Drake did not reach a wide audience during his brief lifetime, his music found critical acclaim and he gradually received wider recognition following his death.
Drake suffered from depression and was reluctant to perform in front of live audiences. Upon completion of Pink Moon, he withdrew from both performance and recording, retreating to his parents' home in rural Warwickshire. On 25 November 1974, Drake was found dead at the age of 26 due to an overdose of antidepressants.
Drake's music remained available through the mid-1970s, but the 1979 release of the retrospective album Fruit Tree allowed his back catalogue to be reassessed. Drake has come to be credited as an influence on numerous artists, including Robert Smith of the Cure, Peter Buck of R.E.M., Kate Bush, Paul Weller, Aimee Mann, Beck, Robyn Hitchcock and the Black Crowes. The first Drake biography appeared in 1997; it was followed in 1998 by the documentary film A Stranger Among Us.
