No one

No one knows you when it's raining
No one knows you when you're poor
But why do I keep looking up
When I hear someone at the door

No one knows you when you're down
No one knows you when you're all alone
But why do I keep hoping
When I pick up the phone

*****
Chorus:
****

Because baby I'm a fool for you
In a game as old as time
You're my sunrise and my sunset
On this mountain I'm struggling to climb

****
****

No one cares when the money's gone
If you're at the gate
But why do I keep listening
Taking a breath to wait

No one sees you when you're troubled
Reaches out a hand to you
But why when love is spoken of
Do I want to know if it is true

****
Repeat chorus:
****



Neils
about 1997
another from the
Lost Highway and Tears
experience
*
transcribed this time
5:19 pm
01/30/2005

Pick up the phone

I got psychic hot lines
To give me advice
And at $4.oo a minute
They talk so nice

I got info-mercials
And TV whores
Who in the world
Could ask for more

*****
Chorus:
****

And it's no makin me crazy
It's not down right bazaar
That's why I record it
On my VCR

To have somebody there
When I get home
Who sincerely wants me to
Pick up the phone

****
****

I got plastic surgeons
With their cut rates
And phone in home loans
Tellin me it's not too late

I got lawyers
And their testi-lying too
All tryin to save me
From the likes of you

****
Repeat chorus:
****




Neils
5:11 pm
01/30/2005

She talks to me

She calls me on the phone
Just to talk to me
About her dreams
And how it will be

She opens windows
Just to smell the rain
Yeah the way she loves
Takes away the pain

****
Chorus:
****

And I remember what she said
About bein strong
There's more to right
Than not bein wrong

Now when the sky falls
And the night gets long
I pick up my ax
And return to the song

****
****

She says she likes the river
And the way it sings
To her it's just sort of a
Natural thing

To study wood
Collect small stones
Knowin lonely isn't only
When you're alone

****
Repeat chorus:
****

She drives over
Knocks on my door
I don't always know why
Or what for

We go to the country
Sit on a rock
Sometimes we're quiet
Sometimes we talk

****
Repeat chorus:
****

She's got a simple job
And a small place
She's not lookin for a savior
But she will share grace

She's wearin thrift store clothes
Standin in the sun
With the wind in her hair
And one button undone

****
Repeat chorus:
****

And she talks to me
Yeah she walks with me

She talks to me



Neils
about 1996
*
transcribed this time
11:01 am
01/30/2005

The chains of my wings

The chains of my wings

Ain't got me no hill billy story
Ain't got me no country tale
All I got is this urban madness
That makes me want to wail

Ain't got me no slacker groupies
Ain't got me no good news
All I got is a bunch of bills
And most of them are overdue

****
Chorus:
****

But
What's that over there
Twistin in the wind
Anothered mirrored reflection
Of pretend to be friends

And
What was that again
I heard howlin at the stake
Another of salems lot
Askin for one more break

****
****

But
I ain't got me no country club
Ain't got me no designer sheets
All I got is this place in line
And ocassionally this funky

Front row seat

Ain't got me no excuses
For bein what I want to be
All I've got are the chains of my wings
And that's enough for me

****
Repeat Chorus:
****



Neils
August 1999
*
transcribed this time
12:37 pm
01/25/2005






Neils
4:31 pm
01/23/2005

Oh you've always got problems

You've gotten your eviction notice
They're turning the electricity off
They either flat out ignore you
Or derisively laugh and scoff

Like they have any idea
Floatin through their heads
About what to put in place
Of all their complacency instead

****
Chorus:
****

But you believe in your dreams
I see you hangin in there
Amongst the wrong but strong
And I know you belong

With those who care

Yeah you believe in your dreams
I see you hangin in there
Amongst the wrong but strong
And I know you belong

With those who dare

****
****

I see you got vehicle troubles
If the damn thing runs at all
And that's a pretty thin coat
When the winter winds come to call

While they are waitin to see
If you will make it this time
Like a bunch of neutered witnesses
With blank faces and blanker minds

****
Repeat chorus:
****

But you believe in your dreams
I see you hangin in there




Neils
about 1997
*
transcribed this time
5:46 pm
01/22/2005

The city

The city

Mindlessness is great
Wasting all those hours
It's not me and you
It's all about the power

So scatter it to the wind
And dismiss it if you can
And pour your genius into
Stupid little plans

****
Chorus:
****

Because
The city is an octopuss
That arms itself with pain
And if you wonder what that sound is
It's just me singin from the drain

It's been our observation
Our transcendental key
We'd like to help you out some
But it's against our policy

****
****

Eat some peanut butter
Eat some jelly too
Because everyone is perfect
All except for you

And no one's got a problem
Or one that can't be solved
With noses to the grindstone
Troubles just dissolve

****
Repeat Chorus:
****

I'm really kinda busy
You know short on time
I gotta let you go
If you don't mind

Oh about that agreement
This'll have to suffice
I just said that other
To be nice

****
Repeat chorus:
****

Because
The city is an octopuss
That arms itself with pain
And if you wonder what that sound is
It's just me singin from the drain

It's been our observation
Our transcendental key
We'd like to help you out some
But it's against

It's against
Our policy



Neils
about 1997
*
transcribed this time
5:37 pm
01/22/2004

I found out

I found out

I lost you to the highway
Had to let you go
There were just too many things
That I didn't know

I didn't know that you would
Leave me and make me cry
I didn't know that you would do it
With a lie and good bye

****
Chorus:
****

But I found out
Yeah I found out

I found out
Why the sky rains
And in some darkness
There is such pain

Because
When the truth is
What you lack
Then once you're gone
There's no coming back

****
****

I lost you to the highway
Where the moon beams gleam
And the heart aches take
Is never what it seems

To the lost and forsaken
Out along the way
I never knew I knew you
Or what I would say

****
****

But I found out....

Repeat Chorus:

****
****


Neils
about 1997
*
transcribed this time
5:30 pm
01/22/2005

A mean ol woman

Got me a mean ol woman
Who don't give a damn
Who don't care about nuthin
Always runnin a scam

She's got two faces
And which one you see
Depends on what she wants
And where she might be

****
Chorus:
****

She can turn it off and on
Make your heart a meal
But that ain't nowhere
That ain't the real deal

And you ask how can she do it
Mess up a love true blue
Cause she lies like a rug
And she's good at it too

****
****

She got her loudmouth open
Always flappin in the breeze
Always stirrin up trouble
And doin it with ease

Yeah
She's got her own truth
And uses it a lot
Hey it's not wrong
If you don't get caught

****
Repeat chorus:
****


Neils
Possibly also in 1997
*
transcribed this time
1:41 pm
01/20/2005

Heels and hose

She was wearin heels and hose
And a black knit skirt
She was lookin so good
I must confess I hurt

As she walked across the room
Sat in a chair
And that nylon on nylon
Had my soul layed bare

****
Chorus:
****

In the essence of neon
Shining in the night
Yeah everybody's lookin
For some kinda light

And she was the inspiration
That is hard to beat
She was one class act
And.... primal heat

****
****

And if she talked of travel
She might take a chance
But who had those tickets
On Air Romance

She was half illusion
But all real
Oh Good God Almighty
The way she made me feel

****
Repeat chorus:
****


Neils
Transcribed
10/30/2000..Sunday evening
Maybe 1997
*
From memory
lookin for my song book

Makin a stand

If you're goin to make a stand
I suggest you learn how to fall
And if you say your love's for sale
Then it's really not love at all

The very meaning of be careful
Knowin when to take the dare
And yes it's hard to sing alone
When the word for song is share

****
Chorus:
****

There's no such thing as a new beginning
Unless you've reached an end
And it can make you wanna quit
But don't you think

You ought to.. get back up again

****
****

Cause
If you're goin to celebrate
I suggest you learn how to grieve
And what about the simple truth
I still wanted to believe

Like when you're tryin to make a run
And all you can do is crawl
And every time you see the sun
That's when the rain begins to fall

****
Repeat Chorus:

(when the feeling moves you)
the last line may repeat fade with

You ought to.. get it back up again
get it back up again


Neils
*
taken from a poem
transcribed 10/28/2000
words written 1998

I'm down

That's right
I'm down....

Down to my last nickle
Down to my last dime
But I still think eternity
Is how you measure time

I'm down to my last notebook
Down to my last pen
Thinkin some games ain't worth playin
Much less tryin to win

****
Chorus:
****

And I
Know you have to be an oak tree
Got to have that steel in your spine
But isn't it also very true
That you just got to bend with it sometime

****
****

That's right
I'm down....

Down to thinkin half-assed
Ought to take one step back
Like if the liberty bell hadn't been rung
Then it wouldn't be cracked

I'm down to my last cup of coffee
Down to my last plate of beans
But aren't you the cutist
Thing I've ever seen

****
Repeat Chorus:
****

Neils
*
written at the Cafe
late nineties

Slumlord

I rent from a slumblord
And he ain't got no soul
All he's ever interested in
Is money and control

He don't care if it's cold
He don't care if it's hot
He don't care if the roof leaks
Where the wood is startin to rot

****
Chorus
*****

But
He's such an upstanding citizen
Lives in a pretty nice home
And lord knows if it needs repair
He's right there with his cell phone

He has a neatly mown lawn
Setting off well trimmed trees
Because good can always get better
Better than you and me

****
****

Hey
He don't care what he hears
He dont' care what he sees
He keeps it all tangled up
In legal technicalities

Becaue all tennants are the same
We can all be replaced
We're the dependable expendables
And there's no such thing as grace

****
Repeat chorus:
****



Neils
*words end of august
beginning of september 1999

Loser

You are such a loser
You are such a head case
And you always think your anger
Has something to do with grace

And you want everybody to listen
But you don't listen much yourself
But even Saint Adreas doesn't say
The fault lies with everyone else

****
Chorus
****

When the dishes
Are broken in the kitchen
And there's
Holes in all of the walls

From the glass and frames
That lay shattered
That once were
The pictures in the hall

****
****

You are such a liar
But you never know what to do
When somebody want's that something
From the deepest part of you

So
You keep on taking
Like that's any way to live
And mercy was anything else
Other than what you give

****
Repeat chorus:
****


Neils
Possibly 1998