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Neko Case

Neko Case Quotes

Singer-songwriter

Neko Case is a talented singer-songwriter known for her distinctive voice and poignant lyrics. Born on September 8, 1970, she has established herself in the independent music scene since the mid-1990s. Case's musical style blends folk, rock, and country elements, making her a landmark figure in the independent music world.

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All People Thinking Kind Want Feels Knows Song Ifs Writing Trying

Famous Neko Case Quotes

“Fear is funny; it sometimes seems more possible to continue doing time in the lonely jail you know rather than rising above it to connect with others.”

Fear Loneliness Connection

Book:The Harder I Fight the More I Love You: A Memoir

Source: The Harder I Fight the More I Love You: A Memoir

“Loving someone else's art can give you a ride at least halfway to where you are trying to go. Even if you don't know where that is yet.”

Art Inspiration Artist Musician

Author:Neko Case

“I grew up believing I was nothing, and sometimes my own insignificance wracked me with pain. But luckily, somewhere down the line, I came to realize that if I'm nothing, and have nothing, what's the real risk of putting myself out there?”

Motivation Risk Identity Nothingness Nothing

Book:The Harder I Fight the More I Love You: A Memoir

Source: The Harder I Fight the More I Love You: A Memoir

“What drug will keep night from coming?”

Author:Neko Case

“People get strange about whether you've written your own songs, which seems really stupid considering that, especially in Country Music, it's about oral tradition and passing things on and the songs weren't meant to be played by one person and then forgotten.”

People Persons Country Seems Song Written Stupid Strange Tradition Forgotten Passing Passings Meant To Be Considering Really Stupid Oral Tradition

Author:Neko Case

“I remember people would talk about Country Music like it was this sexist, lame thing. Well, no, because Dolly Parton is writing songs and playing her guitar and producing. She's doing it all and she's got hits on the radio.”

People Writing Wells Country Remember Song Guitar Radio Writing Songs Lame Sexist

Author:Neko Case

“When you live in a lot of places, you can't help but have them become part of you. Technically, I am a Southerner, but I did not grow up in the South. So I'm a Southerner by accident, but a Washingtonian.”

Helping Grows Growing Up South Accidents Southerner

Author:Neko Case

“Rich kids who write songs about food stamps always piss me off. I'm not going to write any songs about that, either.”

Writing Kids Song Rich Stamps Food Stamps Rich Kids

Author:Neko Case

“I think I have a lot of empathy for animals and nature in general. Those things just make me comfortable. I grew up in the middle of nowhere, around a lot of animals. I feel for them.”

Thinking Feels Animal Middle Grew Comfortable Grew Up Empathy Middle Of Nowhere

Author:Neko Case

“I try to think of the songs as little movies. They're always pretty visual to me. I can always sort of see them. I don't always know what the end result is going to be, and I don't know exactly what it's going to sound like, but I can kinda see them.”

Thinking Knows Trying Littles I Can Ends Song Sound Results Visuals End Results

Author:Neko Case

“You're not supposed to totally know what's happening. The songs are supposed to give you clues so you can fill in the blanks.”

Knows Giving Song Happenings Clue

Author:Neko Case

“When you're making records, you develop, and so you hear the things you want to move away from. It stings a little, but you know, you gotta own it too. You've got to just go, "You know, I wasn't afraid to learn in front of people, so I give myself a little credit for not being afraid of anything."”

People Knows Want Giving Littles Moving Records Fronts Credit Being Afraid

Author:Neko Case

“Sounds like to have space sometimes. It's good to give yourself a variety, or you just fatigue your ear. Like if somebody sings in the same register all the time, or if it's got the same feel the whole way through, I just find I get fatigued, so it's nice to break it up.”

Ifs Way Giving Feels Sometimes Whole Sound Space Break Nice Ears Variety Fatigue Register

Author:Neko Case

“There's not like a science to it, necessarily, but I'm also the kind of person who spends a long time in the studio. I will spend my entire advance just getting it done, which is probably stupid, but I don't have extravagant taste. I mean, I paid for it, so there you go. Why not? The recording process is also very fun.”

Kind Mean Persons Long Done Fun Process Stupid Taste Long Time Paid Studios Why Not Extravagant

Author:Neko Case

“I like driving. I'm a real sucker for driving across North America - I never get sick of it, ever.”

Real America Sick Driving Sucker North America

Author:Neko Case

“I'm not very interesting. Birds are interesting. I could stand there lip-synching all day long, but it would feel funny, and people would be able to tell. I'm not a good actress.”

People Feels Long Would Be Able Interesting Bird Lips Actresses Very Interesting

Author:Neko Case

“I have a pathological fear of getting my picture taken.”

Taken Picture Taken

Author:Neko Case

“I think if you're a lady playing a guitar, other ladies need to see you playing the guitar, and they don't need to see men come out and fix your equipment for you. It just looks incredibly pussy. So I just do it all myself.”

Ifs Thinking Men Needs Looks Guitar Equipment Just Do It Pussy

Author:Neko Case

“I like to think that I'm not old yet.”

Author:Neko Case

“It's like sometimes, you can just lay back and it takes the pressure off of you.”

Sometimes Pressure Lays

Author:Neko Case

“I don't think it's important for everyone necessarily, and I totally respect that because everyone writes differently.”

Thinking Writing Important

Author:Neko Case

“I always end up working with people that do a really good job, so I'm the only one that I'm worried about disappointing me, not the musicians ever.”

People Ends Jobs Musician Worried Good Job Disappointing

Author:Neko Case

“Every band wants to go believe me, not everybody makes it, but they want to.”

Want Believe Band Believe In Me

Author:Neko Case

“Making music makes me feel vulnerable in the best possible way. It gives me a feeling of balance.”

Way Giving Feels Feelings Balance Give Me Vulnerable

Author:Neko Case

“I get outside a lot. I am a huge champion of physical activity. It's so important.”

Important Huge Activity Champion Physical Activity

Author:Neko Case

“We shouldn't censor ourselves based on the weak idea of "looking cool." It's such a waste of potential awesomeness.”

Ideas Waste Weak Awesomeness

Author:Neko Case

“I'm too small for the universe to revolve around me. It is a huge relief!”

Universe Huge Relief

Author:Neko Case

“The relationship of humans to nature. We are sadly divorced from it.”

Humans Divorced

Author:Neko Case

“Being the boss of your own career, you get used to having veto power and getting what you want, or as close to what you want as you have mapped out.”

Author:Neko Case

“Around 2010, I kind of looked up and said, I'm 40 years old. You know, I chose music. I don't have a husband. I don't have any kids. Like, I chose music. So, I had to make a decision. Like, do I want to do something else, or do I want to go from journeyman to master? And I realized, I want to be a really good musician.”

Kind Kids Decision Husband Musician I Realized

Author:Neko Case

“Dream dictionaries are so disappointing. They're so limited, and I think they're just total bullshit. I really do. I don't know much about the Freudian theory of dreams; it's probably more interesting than your average hippie dream dictionary, but it's got to be a lot deeper than that. It can't all be about sex all the time, so I don't know if Freud is right either.”

Thinking Dream Interesting Bullshit Dictionary Hippie Disappointing

Author:Neko Case

“I want the recording process to be a time in my life that I will remember.”

Author:Neko Case

“I was raised to be modest to the point of fanaticism. In my family, we don't talk about ourselves to each other. Vanity is considered the worst possible sin. I've gotten better about having to describe things. If you're going to make a record and people are going to write about you, it's your responsibility to answer questions. It's validating - I'm just very clumsy.”

People Writing Sin Responsibility Worst My Family Modest Fanaticism

Author:Neko Case

“I have a hard time taking myself seriously. My band the New Pornographers doesn't take me seriously, which is why I love them. We can't stand up there and pretend. What we're doing is really important to me and it's my job and I love it, but I can't just stand there unflinchingly noble in front of the audience.”

Important Audience Hard Times

Author:Neko Case

“A live show is one of the last holdouts of a thing that makes you feel a part of a community, where you'll go and maybe meet your future wife or boyfriend, or you're taking your sister to her first show. These are the things that you remember later in your life.”

Remember Community Wife Our Future

Author:Neko Case

“There's this art form in songwriting that's incredibly difficult - to be really funny in a song and also really touching. I can't do that.”

Art Song Difficult Songwriting Touching

Author:Neko Case

“The only ones that stand out to me are people like Jonathan Richman or Robyn Hitchcock, who can make you totally cry while their music is so funny and they're hilarious. They know they're great but they also don't think they're better than you and they really invite you into their show.”

People Thinking Cry Music Is Standing Out

Author:Neko Case

“I'm pretty self-conscious, so I tend to work in a way where I say what I need to say and get out rather than revisit things. It's kind of a collage style. I realized that it had more emotional weight that way. I'll always be in the developmental stages as far as being a songwriter.”

Kind Style Emotional I Realized

Author:Neko Case

“I once asked a studio guy in Toronto, "How many people don't use auto tune?" and he said, "You and Nelly Furtado are the only two people who've never used it in here." Even though I'm not into Nelly Furtado, it kind of made me respect her. It's cool that she has some integrity.”

People Kind Guy Integrity

Author:Neko Case

“There are things about the production I'm not crazy about though. People mix records to be heard in cars and to have the bass incredibly loud so the vocals have to fight with everything so there's no dynamic left, and that's kind of a bummer. That may not be my taste but I'm not going to go, "Kanye's not very good," because he's pretty badass. It's a difference in taste, like the New Pornographers and myself have different taste in production as well but it all works out in the end.”

People Kind Different Fighting Crazy Car Very Good Work Out Badass

Author:Neko Case

“Being in two full-time rock bands is pretty impossible. I love to tour but I have a dog and I want to see him. And, being a songwriter, you have to have experiences and do things. You can't just go on tour all the time, otherwise you get nothing to write about. It's finally at a point where the balance is perfectly right.”

Writing Impossible Dog Balance

Author:Neko Case

“There's no grand excellence to it. In my experience it was just almost the gulaggy boringness of it that'll kill you. You're just in this murk. And you're with other humans, but you lose all your human skills and it's just like you're in this plastic bag and you can't quite connect with people. You lose your ability to transmit electricity or something, and to receive it.”

People Humans Loses Ability Like You Skills Depression Excellence Illness Mental Illness Bags Plastic Electricity Transmit Plastic Bags

Author:Neko Case

“The men who have gotten women pregnant need to be accountable if we are. If we are going to jail, the men are coming too. Religious rhetoric will bite its own ass trying to nail only women in a two-person process.”

Ifs Men Needs Trying Persons Two Process Religious He Man Ass Jail Bites Pregnant Nails Rhetoric

Author:Neko Case

“If you want to be noticed as a drop of water, why would you move to the ocean?”

Ifs Want Moving Water Ocean Drop Of Water

Author:Neko Case

“I should have been an abortion. The only reason I wasn't was that my father was a Christian.”

Should Has Beens Reason Christian Father Should Have Abortion Should Have Been

Author:Neko Case

“I think my songwriting might be a little more on the darker side maybe.”

Thinking Littles Might Sides Songwriting Darker Side

Author:Neko Case

“I tried to have more than one emotion on the record.”

Emotion Records

Author:Neko Case

“I try not to be overly literal. When I'm writing songs, I write down a lot of words, and then I try to simplify it. I like to give people hints or words that make visual pictures for them.”

People Giving Writing Trying Song Visuals Hints Literal Simplify Writing Songs

Author:Neko Case

“I know that I can sing really loud. It's like having that really big Evinrude engine on the back of your fishing boat. But I've been trying to be more dynamic with my voice and not just singing on ten all of time out of terror.”

Knows Trying I Can Bigs Voice Singing Terror Boat Loud Fishing Engines Fishing Boats

Author:Neko Case

“I would be a huge hypocrite if I didn't tell you that at one time in my life I thought the way that you made music was you got on a major label and you got famous.”

Ifs Way Made Would Be Huge Majors Labels One Time Hypocrite Hypocrit

Author:Neko Case

About the Author

Born: September 8, 1970
Known for: Singer-songwriter
Quotes: 74

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People Ifs Thinking Knows Men World Way Want Love Life Inspirational Needs Giving Feels Should Writing Trying Years Mind Firsts

Books & Sources

The Harder I Fight the More I Love You: A MemoirRelated source material

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