Nick Drake - Songs

Nick Drake: Bio | Chronology | Death  | Guitars  | Interplay One 1972 | London 1968 | Photographs | Ross Grainger Reminiscences 1969-70 | Songs |

Introduction

The following is a preliminary listing of the various songs and alternate recordings by Nick Drake known to exist as of 8 February 2011. Since that date much more information has become available, and many bootleg recordings have been speed corrected, enhanced and officially issued. The content of this site nevertheless is archived as it initially appeared. [Michael Organ 28 April 2023]

During his lifetime, Nick Drake issued 31 official recordings of his songs, inclusive of 4 instrumentals. However, it can be seen from the listing in the table below that a total of 47 original songs are now known, along with 9 instrumentals and 17 cover versions, as issued on the Tanworth-in-Arden I bootleg. No information is as yet available on the precise track listing for the French Aix-en-Provence tape of covers dating from 1967, though some individual items are known. Nick also played sessions resulting in 5 recordings, and the Pink Moon book of 1986 included lyrics to 4 unknown songs (Mickey's Tune, Joey in Mind, Outside and Blue Season). The listing has been broken down into the following sections:

• Songs written by Nick Drake 
• Monologue
  
• Instrumentals
• Cover versions
• Sessions
• Unreleased / Unknown

The listing has been compiled from Nick's three officially released albums, two posthumous releases and six bootlegs:

• Five Leaves Left
• Bryter Layter
• Pink Moon
• Time of No Reply
• Made to Love Magic
• Tanworth in Arden (I and II)
• Saturday Sun
• Complete Home Recordings
• Second Grace (I and II)

Within the listing, information is provided on: 

• 1-2. The song title
• 3. Source of known variants and availability
• 4. Length in minutes and seconds
• 5. Sound quality
• 6. Comments. 

Sound quality is graded as follows, from low to high:

1. Inaudible - very bad quality
2. Listenable - e.g. low quality bootleg
3. Average - e.g. good quality bootleg
4. Good - e.g. very good quality bootleg item which has been cleaned up
5. High quality - e.g. studio recording - original recording or remasters

The Comments sections provides additional relevant information on the individual recording, such as dates and technical notes. Also included are links to available chord and tab transcripts. NB: The compiler of this web page would appreciate any comments or corrections which would enhance the informational value of this page. Please contact me at Michael, Australia. Thanks to all those Nick drake fans who have supplied information to date.

Song No.	Title	Source	Length	Quality	Comments
1	Time Has Told Me	Five Leaves Left	3.56	5	*
	"	Tanworth in Arden II, Saturday Sun	4.02	3	Nick says at start "Sorry, got the tempo wrong" - studio recording
2	River Man	Five Leaves Left	4.28	5	*
3	Three Hours	Five Leaves Left	6.01	5	*
	"	Second Grace II	6.14	4	*
4	Way to Blue	Five Leaves Left	2.22	5	*
5	Day is Done	Five Leaves Left	3.05	5	*
	"	Second Grace I & II	4.23	4	Home recording 1968
6	Cello Song	Five Leaves Left	3.58	5	*
	"	Unreleased - known to exist	*	*	Unreleased studio version discovered 2001
7	Thoughts of Mary Jane	Five Leaves Left	3.12	5	*
	"	Time of No Reply	3.42	5	Recorded 20 December 1968
8	Man in a Shed	Five Leaves Left	3.49	5	*
	"	Time of No Reply	3.02	5	Recorded 10 October 1968
9	Fruit Tree	Five Leaves Left	4.42	5	*
10	Saturday Sun	Five Leaves Left	3.56	5	*
	"	Tanworth in Arden II, Second Grace II	3.27	4	"Take I"
	"	Second Grace II	0.42	3	*
	"	Second Grace II	2.22	3	*
11	Introduction	Bryter Layter	1.33	5	*
12	Hazey Jane II	Bryter Layter	3.41	5	*
13	At the Chime of a City Clock	Bryter Layter	4.42	5	*
14	One of these things first	Bryter Layter	4.46	5	*
15	Hazey Jane I	Bryter Layter	4.24	5	*
	"	TIAII	4.35	3	*
	"	Second Grace I & II	4.43	3	*
16	Bryter Layter	Bryter Layter	3.16	5	*
17	Fly	Bryter Layter	2.56	5	*
	"	Time of No Reply	3.35	4	Home recording
	"	TIAII, Second Grace I & II	2.53	3	*
	"	Second Grace II	3.37	3	*
18	Poor Boy	Bryter Layter	6.31	5	*
	"	TIAII	2.25	3	Incomplete
19	Northern Sky	Bryter Layter	3.42	5	*
20	Sunday	Bryter Layter	3.39	5	*
21	Pink Moon	Pink Moon	2.01	5	*
22	Place to Be	Pink Moon	2.39	5	*
	"	TIAII	2.42	3	*
	"	Second Grace I & II	1.05	4	*
23	Road	Pink Moon	1.58	5	*
24	Which Will	Pink Moon	2.56	5	*
25	Horn	Pink Moon	1.19	5	*
26	Things behind the Sun	Pink Moon	3.23	5	*
27	Know	Pink Moon	2.23	5	*
28	Free Ride	Pink Moon	2.57	5	*
29	Parasite	Pink Moon	3.31	5	*
	"	TIAII, Saturday Sun	4.03	3	*
	"	Second Grace I & II	4.03	4	*
30	Harvest Breed	Pink Moon	1.01	5	*
31	From the Morning	Pink Moon	2.25	5	*
32	Time of No Reply	Time of No Reply	2.52	5	Recorded 20 December 1968
33	I was made to love magic	Time of No Reply	3.08	5	Recorded 20 December 1968
34	Joey	Time of No Reply	3.04	5	Recorded 11 November 1968
	"	CHR, Saturday Sun	5.04	2	*
	"	Second Grace II	1.44	4	*
	"	Second Grace I & II	5.41	4	*
35	Clothes of Sand	Time of No Reply	2.32	5	Recorded 11 November 1968
36	Mayfair	Time of No Reply	2.28	5	Recorded 10 October 1968
	"	Second Grace 1	0.36	4	Part only
	"	Second Grace II	1.31	4	Part only
	"	Second Grace 1 & II	3.04	4	*
37	Strange Meeting II	Time of No Reply	3.32	4	Home recording
	"	Complete Home Recordings	3.22	3	Also titled "Princess of the Sand"
	"	Second Grace II	3.45	4
38	Rain	Complete Home Recordings, SGII	3.08	3	Also titled "Thoughts of Rain"
39	Bird Flew By	TIAI, Complete Home Recordings	2.49	3	Also known as Stange Meeting I
	"	Second Grace 1 & II	2.55	3	*
40	To The Garden	TIAI, Complete Home Recordings	1.56	3	Echo on voice
	"	Second Grace II	2.01	3	*
41	Blossom Friend	Saturday Sun, Second Grace I & II	2.46	3	Also listed as Blossom
42	Leaving Me Behind	Second Grace I & II	3.28	4	*
43	Rider on the Wheel	Time of No Reply	2.31	5	Recorded February 1974
44	Black Eyed Dog	Time of No Reply	3.21	5	Recorded February 1974
		TIAII	2.59	3	Instrumental
45	Hanging on a Star	Time of No Reply	2.42	5	Recorded February 1974
46	Voice from the Mountain	Time of No Reply	3.41	5	Recorded February 1974
	"	TIAII	0.22	2	Part only
47	Tow the Line	Made to Love Magic	2.20	5	Recorded July 1974
	Monologue	Second Grace I & II	3.14	*	*
Instrumentals
1	Instrumental 1	TIAII, Saturday Sun
2	Instrumental 2	TIAII, Saturday Sun
3	Instrumental 3	TIAII, Saturday Sun
4	Instrumental 4 - piano	TIAII, Saturday Sun
5	Instrumental 5	TIAII, Saturday Sun
6	Instrumental 6 - piano	TIAII, Saturday Sun
7	Instrumental 7 - piano	TIAII, Saturday Sun
8	Instrumental	Second Grace I & II	1.17
9	Instrumental	Second Grace I & II	2.13		Has elements of Free Ride in it
Cover versions
1	All My Trials	TIAI, CHR	1.51	3	Composer - unknown. Backing vocals by Gabrielle Drake
2	Been smoking too long	Time of No Reply, CHR	2.13	3	Composer - Robin Frederick
3	Betty's Blues	Second Grace I & II	2.08	3	Composer - unknown
4	Black Mountain Blues	TIAI, CHR	2.35	3	Composer - J.C. Johnson or H. Cole
5	Blues Run The Game	TIAI, CHR	2.22	3	Composer - Jackson C. Frank
6	Cocaine Blues	TIAI, CHR	2.03	3	Composer - Luke Jordan
7	Courting Blues	TIAI, CHR	2.32	3	Composer - Bert Jansch
8	Don't Think Twice, It's Alright	TIAI, CHR	2.21	3	Composer - Bob Dylan
9	Get Together	TIAI, CHR	1.55	2	Composer - Dino Valente, of the Youngbloods
10	Here Come The Blues	TIAI, CHR	3.45	3	Composer - Jackson C. Frank
11	If You Leave Me Pretty Moma	TIAI, CHR	2.01	3	Composer - unknown. Similar tune to Betty's Blues
12	Milk And Honey	TIAI, CHR	2.47	3	Composer - Jackson C. Frank. Tune has links with Strange Meeting II
13	My Sugar So Sweet	TIAI, CHR	1.45	3	Composer - Blind Boy Fuller?
14	Strollin' Down The Highway	TIAI, CHR	3.03	3	Composer - Bert Jansch
15	Summertime	TIAI, CHR	1.33	3	Composer - George Gershwin / DuBose Heyward
16	Tommorow Is A Long Time	TIAI, CHR	3.16	3	Composer - Bob Dylan
17	Winter Is Gone	TIAI, CHR	2.37	3	Composer - unknown
					>
Sessions
1	Full Fathom Five	Interplay One	1.11	5	*
2	With a Swag all on my shoulder	Interplay One	2.32	5	*
3	I wish I was a single girl again	Interplay One	2.01	5	*
4	The Commissioner, He Come	Dark And Devil Waters		5	Mick Audsley - Dark And Devil Waters lp, 1972
5	Dark And Devil Waters	Dark And Devil Waters		5	Mick Audsley - Dark And Devil Waters lp, 1972
Unreleased
1	Various - 12 songs + dialogue	Aix-en-Provence Tape	35	*	Recorded Feb-Mar 1967. Songs include - Strange Meeting II, Tomorrow is such a long time, Strolling down the highway, Get together, Cocaine blues, Here comes the blues, Milk and honey, Kimbie, Michael row the boat ashore.
2	Home demos	Scott Appel collection	3.5 hrs	*	Cassettes
3	Home demos	Drake family collection	*	*	3 ft high stack of 1/4 inch tapes
3	Brian Wells Tape	Drake family collection	*	*	Recorded at home 1969
4	Time of No Reply, Cello Song, River Man and Three Hours	BBC I session	*	*	4 songs, recorded off air on 5 August 1969
5	Cello Song	Unreleased	*	5	Studio recording
6	Mickey's Tune	Unreleased	*	*	Pink Moon book 1986
7	Joey in Mind	Unreleased	*	*	Pink Moon book 1986
8	Outside	Unreleased	*	*	Pink Moon book 1986
9	Blue Season	Unreleased	*	*	Pink Moon book 1986

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Nick Drake: Bio | Chronology | Death  | Guitars  | Interplay One 1972 | London 1968 | Photographs | Ross Grainger Reminiscences 1969-70 | Songs |

Site last updated: 8 February 2011. 

Michael Organ, Australia