Lyrics:

The Song:

"One of These Days" is a fairly standard pop rock song, which I guess is kind of rare for Beck. The musical backing and sleepy melody is nice, but a lot of the songs seems to hint at something deeper which just is not there. That's not a bad thing necessarily, but what seems to be missing?and is missed?is strong images. Beck usually fills his songs with such striking and original phrases and rhymes, that the almost generic and banal quality of much of what is here is almost a shock. He just floats through it, offering cliches like "One of these days / I hope it's soon / I'll see you smiling the way you do." The second verse is a nice one though, with the "cardboard faces" and the "empty and cold / burning a light bulb" feeling. Fortunately, he sounds somewhat sincere, and the hazy atmosphere of the song helps. It works better on stage, where a little more life is usually infused in to the song.

I'm fairly sure that this song is very old, much like most of Mutations. It was not recorded until after that album's sessions though. One clue to "One of These Days"' age is that two of the lines ("Up on the bridge, nowhere to go / Empty and cold, burning a light bulb") previously appeared way back on Golden Feelings. "People Gettin' Busy" begins with a snippet of a folk song with the lyrics "Walk to the bridge, stand like a fridge / Empty and cold, burning a light bulb." Beck has probably had the lines around a very long time. But does that imply "One of These Days" is also old? Or just that couplet? And where's the rest of the snippet?!

Live:

Played live 10 times:
Earliest known live version: April 12, 1999
Latest known live version: August 22, 2000

"One of These Days" was premiered on stage on April 12 1999, the second of an eight-show tour of Japan in support of Mutations. The version on April 19 is quite pretty, and as I said above, there's a bit more sparkle in the dusty old song when it's performed on stage. Beck changes the "it's getting better, that much I know" line to "it's getting later, nowhere to go."

On July 2 2000, at the This Ain't No Picnic Festival, Beck took the chance to play a number of songs that he just does not get to do all that often. The "One Of These Days" is led by a rolling acoustic guitar and some flute by Brass Menagerie member, David Ralicke, it had a much better arrangement than ever before. Beck has some trouble in the beginning remembering the lyrics correctly, and ends up changing the verses fairly drastically:

One of these days, I hope it's soon
I'll see you smiling, I'll see you
Out in the rain, somewhere unknown
Looking for something to call your own

Cardboard faces blowing away
Down in the gutter, my burden lays
Up on the bridge, somewhere unknown
Looking for something you'll never know