1. |
Loretta
03:22
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Loretta - Words and music by M. Scott Nielsen @2014
Verse 1
Loretta,
hustlin’ tips on the ticket line
Poor Loretta,
Just trying to make a few dimes
Sleepin’ on the street in a cardboard shack
You got no place to go no place to go back. . .help Loretta
Verse 2
Loretta,
Shaking, she can hardly stand
Poor Loretta
Lookin’ for her candy man
Won’t you find me some sugar as fast as you can
I’m feelin’ kinda sick Mr. candy man . . . poor Loretta
Verse 3
Poor Loretta,
Fever runnin’ 105
Poor Loretta,
What keeps you alive
Got an ache in her belly, got a hole in her sole
There aint no soup in Loretta’s bowl . . . help Loretta
Bridge: For Loretta now . . . (first verse of Amazing Grace)
Verse 4
Loretta,
It’s a crying shame
Poor Loretta,
You’re going to dye without your name
No one to mourn no mercy shown
Sweet Jesus come and take Loretta home
Reprise: No one to mourn no mercy shown
Sweet Jesus come and take Loretta . . . .
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2. |
She's on Her Own
03:53
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She’s On Her Own
Lyrics and music by Scott Nielsen © 2002
Verse one
She was ten years old when her mama died
Daddy tried to raise her Lord knows he tried
But it was not the same
He wasn’t all to blame
When she left home running just seventeen
With the local trouble maker out chasing a dream
On the run
Back then it seemed like fun
A year later in Memphis, the trouble maker was gone
She was left with a baby a long way from home
And no place to go
Chorus 1
She’s on her own
Trying to make it alone
All the dreams and the plans came a tumbling down
She longed for the house in her old hometown
The little girl room where the secrets were kept
Dreams were dreamed and sometimes she wept
But it was home
Now she’s on her own
Verse two
Too hurt to cry, too tired to quit
Waiting tables at a diner on the midnight shift
While the baby stays with the lady next door
It’s a drafty little rental in a trailer park
A little cold in the winter not much of a start
And not the dream she held in her heart
With mixed up feelings of shame and pride
She writes to her daddy in the letters she lied
She said, “I’m doing fine”.
Chorus 2:
Here on my own
I’m going make it alone
But sometimes when things are getting’ her down
She longs for that house in her old hometown
The little girl room where the secrets were kept
Dreams were dreamed and sometimes she wept
But it was home
Now she’s on her own.
She’s on her own
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3. |
Most Likely to Succeed
03:22
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Most Likely to Succeed
Lyrics & Music by Scott Nielsen & John Kurhajetz, ©1993
Verse 1.
I got the invitation to the high school class reunion
And I sure would like to see you all again
Due to prior obligations, unbreakable commitments
Most likely to succeed will be unable to attend
Chorus 1.
Most likely to succeed is pumping gas out on the thruway
Countin’ headlights on the highway in the cool, September rain
Most likely to succeed has given up on dreaming
And starting to believe there’s no one left to blame
Verse 2.
In the high school yearbook, underneath my picture
The words were there for everyone to see
Selected by his classmates by unanimous prediction
You’ll never know how much he tried to be
Chorus 2.
Most likely to succeed is checking oil and washing windshields
On the four lane by the cornfields, as the time just slips away
Most likely to succeed will try again tomorrow
He’ll beg steed and he’ll borrow enough for one more day
Bridge.
So lift your glass and have a drink when you wonder where I am
I’ll be there in sprit with my friends
Tell Cindy Johnson I still think about her now and then
About the things that happened and the way things might have been
Chorus 3.
Most likely to succeed is selling cigarettes and coffee
To the truckers and the lonely on the graveyard shift till dawn
Most likely to succeed watches the rain drip down the windows
And wonders where the time goes and where all the times have gone
D7 G
Tag: Most likely to succeed will be unable to attend . . .
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4. |
The Lost and Found
04:22
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I’m the Lost and Found © 2017 M Scott Nielsen
V1
When the party’s over
And all the guests have gone
The band has packed and left
After playing their last song
The fleeting hopes and promises
All left here in the room
Like confetti on the floor
I’m here with the broom
Chorus:
I’m the keeper of lost chances
The holder of left dreams
I collect all forgotten promises
I save all the undone schemes
They never take them home
they’re left here on the ground
I pick them up and keep them
I’m the lost and found
I’m the lost and found
V2
When the bar is closing
They have given the last call
The lights come up the spell is broken
The barkeep says that’s all
There’s a number on a matchbook
Lipstick on a glass
A love note on a napkin
A wish that waits to pass
- Repeat Chorus X2:
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5. |
Living in a River Town
04:13
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Living in a River Town
Words & music by M. Scott Nielsen ©2010
Verse 1.
Livin’ in a river town, stand on the bank watch the water run down
to the sea, leavin’ me high and dry as the cracks in the mud on this levy.
I’m stuck here I got no gas in my Chevy.
That old river’s run through this town before. There’s a high water mark up on the grocery store.
It washed believers up to heaven and the sinners down to hell
And left me sittin’ here with a story to tell. High and dry with these low down river town blues.
Chorus:
That old river runs quiet and deep like an old man dreamin’ in his sleep
Keeping all his secrets in the swearlin’ muddy mater about the
gambler and the preacher, the farmer and his daughter.
Just a rollin’ on to the sea, pays no attention doesn’t care about me
sittin’ here with these low down river town blues.
Verse 2
This old town has seen it’s day. All the bars closed down and the gamblers sailed away-
Long before I was born they disappeared down river taken away on the last sternwheeler with the dance hall girls and the crooked dealers.
That old rivers’ been here long before this town before Noah fought the flood and
The water went down. That deep muddy water keeps a roll’in and a churn’in,
Never says nothing doesn’t feel my yearnin’ sitt’in here here with these low down river town blues.
Repeat chorus:
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6. |
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Flower from the Iron Range
© 2004 M. Scott Nielsen
V1
G C
I was young and restless when I left my northern home
D7 G
I went east to the canyons of the city made of stone
C
Years went by and I made my way down a one way track
D7 G
Until a spirit sang to me and the memories all came back
C
She was strumming on a twelve string in a coffee shop
D7 G
Singing songs from somewhere with names that I’d forgot
C
Like Sliver Bay and Grand Marais on the great north shore
D7 G
She turned me round and pulled me back and I was home once more
CHORUS
C G
She’s a flower from the iron range a ghost sent from the past
D7 G
Her eyes as black as midnight deep as a looking glass
C G
Strumming on that old guitar softly she would sing
D7 G
Floating songs out on the air, like a flicker on the wing.
V2
I closed my eyes and smelled the scent of woods of birch and pine
I saw summer days in a leaky boat with a tangled fishing line
And crystal quiet winter nights so cold your breath would freeze
Driving home without the lights by the moonlight through the trees
She sang me back to places in the caverns of my mind
Where a day can last forever and no ones keeping time
Star filled nights and northern lights and the lonesome mournful cry
Of a loon across a misty lake and tears filled up my eyes
Chorus
Reprise: Floating songs out on the air like a flicker on the wing
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7. |
Against All Odds
03:51
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Against All Odds words & music by M. Scott Nielsen ©2002
V1
Their eyes meet for an instant across a crowded bar
They share some drinks and small talk not revealing who they are
But they ware their hunger and loneliness like a badge for all to see
It seemed perhaps a one-night stand is what was meant to be
He walks her to her car in the pouring rain
They embrace and when their lips meet something sparks a flame
That ignites with such a passion it must surely tempt the gods
They throw their lot together and take a chance against all odds
Chorus:
Against all odds without a prayer or a snowballs chance in hell
A most unlikely couple
Their friends all wished them well
But as weeks turn into months and years they just go on and on
They’re still living, laughing, crying and loving against all odds
V2
She’s a mystic, he’s a sometimes cynic but they find common ground
In all they share together and in the love they found
She gets angry, he gets stubborn but it never lasts too long
They always laugh and make up and their love seems twice as strong
He still has the matchbook with her number from that night
In her heart she saves the memories of a love that feels so right
When they kiss there’s still a warmth left from the flame
That ignited with the first one in the pouring rain
Chorus: repeat.
Reprise:
They’re still living, laughing, crying and loving against all odds
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8. |
No Abra La Puarta
03:24
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NO ABRA LA PUERTA
WORDS AND MUSIC BY M. SCOTT NIELSEN ©1996
Put the laundry inside
Pour in the tide
Slot the quarters in the machine
Select temperature
Watch the water and suds wash away all of last weeks dead dreams
Then I see Marie
Two machines down from me
She comes every week at this time
She’s a black haired beauty
With Latin fire in her eyes and she could have my heart for a dime
But we never speak
And when our eyes meet
I smile and I just look away
She speaks no English
Me hablo no espagnol
So I don’t know what I could say
Chorus:
No abra la puerta de la maquina
Lavadora sino hasta que la
Maquina haya terminado su cyclone
Ay la luz operativa esta apagado
Y el cilindro de lavado
Completamente termindo de girar
Then I hear her voice
Whisper softly to me
Con permissio oh senior
When I turn around
She hands me a sock
One I just dropped on the floor
My tongue doesn’t work
I feel like a jerk
And I utter some stupid reply
Oh but I wish
I could sing a Spanish love song to her
So beautiful that she would cry
Chorus
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9. |
Lips That Lie
03:13
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LIPS THAT LIED
WORDS AND MUSIC BY M. SCOTT NIELSEN ©1998
V1
There’s no fool like an old fool
They say old fools are blind
The thought you would deceive me
Never crossed my mind
I trusted you completely
There was only lovelight in your eyes
So I guess I’ll never understand
How your lips could tell those lies
Chorus:
The lie was on your lips
My heart was in my throat
I was holdin’ back my tears
I knew that’s all she wrote
But I pretended to believe you
while I swallowed down my pride
I even smiled and said, “I love you”
Then I kissed the lips that lied
V2
That night as you lay sleeping
I packed some things and I slipped away
No note, no explanation
There was nothin’ I could say
I put some miles behind me
Lord, it felt good just to ride
Running from my broken pride
And from the lips that lied
Bridge
I been around a while and I’ve heard all the alibis
I’ve tasted love and salty tears
Now I’ve tasted lies
Repeat Chorus
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10. |
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A Day Late , a Dollar Short M. Scott Nielsen ©1998
M Scott Nielsen
Time on my hands, ten bucks in my jeans
I got the cupboard stocked up with some pork’n’beans
I do my Christmas shopping at the five and dime
My lucks gona change, I’m just bidding my time
Chorus:
I’m a day late, about dollar short
Writin’ home with no good news to report
I’m tired of loosing but I think I’m snake bit
I lost the ticket when my number hit.
Could have been a rich man, maybe it’s true
When lady luck smiled I think she smiled on you
There aint no use in cryin’ about what might have been
But I was riding on the train when my ship came in
Chorus
My old car is all busted and bent
I’m three weeks late with my rent
Every bill collector is lookin’ for me
But I’ll be alright, you just wait and see
Chorus:
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11. |
The Man I Never Knew
03:59
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The Man I Never Knew
Words & music by M. Scott Nielsen ©1999
V
erse 1
I was forty-five and restless, my children all but grown
And haunted by some questions about a man I should have known
I never called him daddy; he left when I was two
I went searching for the man I never knew
Verse 2
A man who burns his bridges, isn’t looking to be found
It took 3 years of searching but I finally tracked him down
The Sierra Nevada Mountains, in a one street mining town
I stood face to face with the man I never knew
Verse 3
All the questions in my mind I couldn’t bring myself to ask
So we told each other stories from 40 years gone past
Tales of dreams and schemes that turned to whispers in the grass
Stories from the man I never knew
Bridge
I could see his health was failing, I thought Lord I’ve come too late
He held the pictures of his grandchildren I thought his heart would
Verse 4
When you’re running from your past he said there's nowhere you can hide
You take the baggage with you and keep it all inside
I buried all my shame beneath my foolish stubborn pride
A lesson from the man I never knew
Verse 5
We parted with some promises, I left him there alone
The next time that I saw him, I’d come to take him home
A dying man who left so many stories still untold
All buried with the man I never knew
Verse 6
Sometimes the things we look for are the things we fear to see
I found a man I never knew hidden deep inside of me
When I learn to know this man in me maybe he will set me free
Living with the man I never knew
Searching for the man I never knew
I’m still searching for the man I never knew
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Scott Nielsen Bordentown, New Jersey
"I'm a 50's rocker and never was told how to grow up and when to grow old . . ." to quote one of my tunes and it sums me up
pretty well. I have been writing songs since the early 60's. In the 70's I wrote children's songs for Captain Kangaroo. I have been a writer and publisher ASCAP member since 1973.
I write across several genres: country, rock and adult alternative.
... more
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