I was fired last week from a job I’ve held a little less than two years. Every other job I’ve had ended when I decided to walk away. So it was a new experience for me, and not an entirely unpleasant one. The only thing I ever liked about that job, I liked way too much. I could never get the right balance.
I fell into a bit of a funk, which was actually a deepening of a low-level funk I’ve been in for a long time. A conversation with a friend, unbeknownst to her, helped turn me around. When I heard how pathetic I sounded talking to her, I realized I’d been wallowing in self-pity, which is not only an ugly thing to do but it’s also antithetical to my normal outlook and personality.
So I’m good now, but while I was in the gutter this tune came up on my iPod and struck a chord with me. From the pen of my favorite songwriter, John Lennon: Nobody Loves You (When You’re Down and Out):
Nobody loves you when you’re down and out
Nobody sees you when you’re on cloud nine
Everybody’s hustling for a buck and a dime
I`ll scratch your back and you scratch mine
I’ve been across to the other side
I’ve shown you everything, I got nothing to hide
But still you ask me do I love you, what it is, what it is
All I can tell you is it’s all show biz
All I can tell you is it’s all show biz
Nobody loves you when you’re down and out
Nobody knows you when you’re on cloud nine
Everybody’ hustling for a buck and a dime
I’ll scratch your back and you knife mine
I’ve been across the water so many times
I’ve seen the one eyed witchdoctor leading the blind
But still you ask me do I love you, what you say, what you say
Every time I put my finger on it, it slips away
Every time I put my finger on it, it slips away
Well I get up in the morning and I’m looking in the mirror to see, ooo wee
Then I’m lying in the darkness and I know I can’t get to sleep, ooo wee!
Nobody loves you when you’re old and grey
Nobody needs you when you’re upside down
Everybody’s hollering about their own birthday
Everybody loves you when you’re six foot in the ground
Words & Music by Mike Power 