Natalie Merchant

Natalie Merchant (born 26 October 1963) is an American singer, song-writer, musician and poet who first gained fame in the group 10,000 Maniacs which she co-founded in 1981.

Quotes



 * There is one tradition in America I am proud to inherit. It is our first freedom and the truest expression of our Americanism: the ability to dissent without fear. It is our right to utter the words, "I disagree." We must feel at liberty to speak those words to our neighbors, our clergy, our educators, our news media, our lawmakers and, above all, to the one among us we elect President.
 * The Nation (15 July 1991)


 * I grew up as a TV baby, with my TV babysitter, up until I was about 10. Then my mother just ripped the thing out of the wall and put it in a closet, and we didn't watch it. I have that sort of ability to become addicted to it. And I'm just so fascinated by it once I turn it on, I'm not even that aware what's there. I'm just watching it. So I don't ever turn it on. I get my news from the newspaper. I don't want to watch the Hollywood news product on TV... There's no other piece of furniture in my home I'd stare at for three hours at a time, so I try not to do it to the TV.
 * Orlando Sentinel (6 November 1992)


 * My drug period was between the age of 17 and 18. That was a time when I was experimenting with a lot of things, I was experimenting with sleep deprivation, fasting. The longest fast I ever did was 12 days. You go that long without food and you hallucinate. I would take this powder made out of guarana seed, my friend Mary would bake it up like cocoa in muffins and leave them on my doorstep. My drinking period was when I was 13, 14. Drugs fascinated me for a short period of time but not any more. A glass of wine puts me in a weird enough state.
 * NME (1 July 1995)

Quotes from NatalieMerchant.com



 * It’s pretty obvious to everyone that the revolution has happened. The People can now easily cut out a hoard of middlemen (record companies, radio stations, music press and retail shops). With a series of computer strokes they can find the music they want to hear, become informed about the musicians who make it, find other people who share their interest and ultimately either buy, trade or steal that coveted sound.


 * After spending nearly 20 years contracted to a major label, I have mixed feelings about their demise. These companies have profited immensely from your insatiable desire for listening and helped musicians for several decades to reach you. They grew fat and excessive. They exploited and they monopolized. They edited and censured. They’ve been rapidly losing their means of production, distribution and promotion to the internet. They have been economizing by dropping artists, cutting staff and folding into one another but they can’t keep up with the pace of disintegration. You might not have ever heard my name if Elektra Records hadn’t made me one of their artists for hire. I’m both grateful and resentful and you probably are too.


 * I don’t listen to anything on the radio but NPR and occasional oldies programs. I can’t comment on the content or format of most commercial radio but I have read the statistics about the step-by-step deregulation of FCC rules that has allowed monopolies like Clear Channel to buy up massive shares of the airwaves. This has damaged our business (music) and our culture (American). The internet is offering bold alternatives but a transistor radio is only $25.00 and not everyone is hooked up through a computer and high speed connection.


 * I don’t want to overdo discussing my experience of motherhood, its too private and profound to parade around. I will say that carrying a child, giving birth to a child and raising that child up has made me feel more engaged and connected to others. I have a greater understanding of people (living past & present). We all begin so pure, so innocent and so hungry for physical and emotional comfort. It’s so important that every baby be generously cherished, fed and comforted. I can see now how withholding these essentials can do irreparable damage. Now (post-baby) when I encounter a sad or aggressive character, I wonder what the first three years of his or her life were like. Imaging them alone, crying in their cribs has given me much more compassion.


 * For the time being I am enjoying my chance to enjoy civilian life off the road. If I combined all the months that I have lived out of a van or tour bus it would amount to twelve solid years. That would be twelve years of driving or flying an average of 100 to 400 miles per day and sleeping in a different city every night. It was a very unique lifestyle that I adapted to and even enjoyed with it’s surreal pace. It’s also a lifestyle that can take a toll on the body and relationships with the people that you are constantly leaving behind.


 * I think many people have been made curious about Henry Darger because of the song on my album Motherland. Henry Darger (1892-1973) was the author and illustrator of what could possibly be the longest unfinished fictional work of all time. His towering hand-bound manuscript of 17,000 pages was found in this obscure retired hospital janitor’s apartment after his death. Henry worked in obsessed isolation for six decades on his saga entitled, The Story of the Vivian Girls, in What is Known as the Realms of the Unreal, of the Glandeco-Angelinian War Storm, Caused by the Child Slave Rebellion.


 * I saw my first Henry Darger collage/paintings in the early 1980’s when the tale of Henry’s life was just emerging through rumor and scattered fragments of his book. He lived and died a recluse in Chicago where no one knew of his writings or paintings. There was a folk art gallery in New Orleans that had acquired a small pile of Realms of the Unreal illustrations. I was on tour with REM at the time, Michael Stipe and I visited the gallery where we had a first look at these images of seven little horrified girls pursued by a purple and orange winged cats or evil professors on horseback or resting peacefully under giant sunflowers. I was completely captivated and intrigued.

The Wishing Chair (1985)


for the sake of pity save the pistol save the cynic's tongue save the cool white stare treat me to an honest face sometime
 * If I could calm or restrain you
 * "Scorpio Rising"

What's The Matter Here?

 * Official video

he's their kid I stay out of it, but who gave you the right to do this?
 * I'm tired of the excuses everybody uses

"slap you, slap you silly" made me say, "o, what's the matter here?"
 * threats like, "if you don't mind I will beat on your behind"

City of Angels

 * heaven, is this heaven where we are?

if you call that walking stumble, stagger, fall and drag themselves along the streets of heaven
 * see them walking, if you dare

that should glow 'round your face and where are the wings that should grow from your shoulder blades?
 * where is the halo

in the City of Angels have all been one rude awakening that was due to me in this city of fallen angels
 * these sobering sights I've seen

Like The Weather

 * Official video

lift my head from the pillow and then fall again with a shiver in my bones just thinking about the weather a quiver in my lips as if I might cry
 * the color of the sky as far as I can see is coal gray

where on earth is the sun hid away?
 * what a cold and rainy day

Don't Talk

 * Official video

don't talk, you keep your distance I'd rather hear some truth tonight than entertain your lies
 * don't talk, I will listen

you talk as if you care but when your talk is over tilt that bottle in the air tossing back more than your share'''
 * '''talk, talk, talk about it

Hey Jack Kerouac

 * MTV Unplugged performance

I think of your mother and the tears she cried, she cried for none other than her little boy lost in our little world that hated and that dared to drag him down her little boy courageous who chose his words from mouths of babes got lost in the wood hip flask slinging madman, steaming cafe flirts they all spoke through you
 * hey Jack Kerouac

now for the tricky part when you were the brightest star who were the shadows? of the San Francisco beat boys you were the favorite now they sit and rattle their bones and think of their blood stoned days
 * hey Jack

Trouble Me

 * Official video

disturb me with all your cares and you worries trouble me on the days when you feel spent
 * trouble me

don't mislead me, the calm I feel means a storm is swelling there's no telling where it starts or how it ends
 * speak to me

have a look inside these eyes while I'm learning please don't hide them just because of tears
 * let me

These Are Days

 * Official video · MTV Unplugged performance


 * these are days you'll remember

it's true, that you are touched by something that will grow and bloom in you
 * you'll know it's true, that you are blessed and lucky

make its way across your face and when you do you'll know how it was meant to be see the signs and know their meaning
 * these days you might feel a shaft of light

Candy Everybody Wants

 * Official video

if blood and love tastes so sweet then we give 'em what they want Hey, hey, give 'em what they want
 * If lust and hate is the candy

'cause they want to turn it on so their minds are soft and lazy Well, hey, give 'em what they want
 * So their eyes are growing hazy

Carnival

 * Official video

in the mad house asylum they can be where a wild eyed misfit prophet on a traffic island stopped and he raved of saving me
 * I've walked these streets

have I been lost inside myself and my own mind hypnotized mesmerized by what my eyes have seen?'''
 * '''have I been blind

Wonder

 * Official video

just to see me stand over my bed disbelieving what they're seeing they say I must be one of the wonders of god's own creation and as far as they can see they can offer no explanation'''
 * '''doctors have come from distant cities

want confessions they reach into my head to steal the glory of my story
 * newspapers ask intimate questions

I'm a challenge to your balance I'm over your heads how I confound you and astound you'''
 * '''people see me

fate smiled and destiny laughed as she came to my cradle know this child will be able laughed as she came to my mother know this child will not suffer laughed as my body she lifted know this child will be gifted with love, with patience and with faith she'll make her way
 * o, I believe

Ophelia

 * Official video



a novice Carmelite in sister cells the cloister bells tolled on her wedding night
 * Ophelia was a bride of god

the female cannonball projected through five flaming hoops to wild and shocked applause...
 * Ophelia was a circus queen

a god damned hurricane your common sense your best defense lay wasted and in vain
 * Ophelia was a cyclone, tempest

you'd wonder where she'd gone through secret doors down corridors she'd wander them alone
 * Ophelia's mind went wandering

Break Your Heart

 * Official video

for the simple pleasures in their lives but trouble comes from everywhere it's a little more than you can bear
 * people struggle, people fight

I know that it will break your heart the way things are and the way they've been and the way they've always been'''
 * '''I know that it will hurt

see the damage that some people do full of hatred, full of pride it's enough to make you lose your mind
 * people ruthless, people cruel

don't spread the lies don't make the same mistakes with your own life'''
 * '''don't spread the discontent

My Skin
look at my hands there's so much here that I don't understand
 * take a look at my body

whispered like prayers I don't need them
 * your face saving promises

it thrives in the dark with fine winding tendrils that strangle the heart''' they say that promises sweeten the blow but I don't need them no, I don't need them
 * '''contempt loves the silence

the darkness the sweetness the sadness the weakness I need this
 * o, I need

a lullaby a kiss goodnight angel sweet love of my life o, I need this
 * I need

Kind & Generous

 * Official video

I don't know how you keep on giving for your kindness I'm in debt to you for your selflessness, my admiration and for everything you've done you know I'm bound... I'm bound to thank you for it
 * you've been so kind and generous

for so many gifts you gave with love and tenderness I want to thank you I want to thank you for your generosity the love and the honesty that you gave me
 * I want to thank you

Life Is Sweet

 * performance on VH1 Storytellers

it's misery from the start it's dull and slow and painful '''I tell you life is sweet in spite of the misery there's so much more''' be grateful
 * they told you life is hard

who will you listen to who will it be? it's high time that you decide in your own mind
 * who do you believe?

Motherland

 * Celtic Connections performance (2010)

far from the things that you know far from the sprawl of concrete that keeps crawling its way about 1,000 miles a day?
 * where in hell can you go

commit this to memory and mind don't miss this wasteland, this terrible place when you leave keep your heart off your sleeve
 * take one last look behind

close my eyes lullaby me to sleep keep me safe lie with me stay beside me don't go, don't you go
 * motherland cradle me

The Worst Thing
but that was just about the worst thing that I could do it was just about the worst thing that I could do
 * once I could love, I could trust, I could not doubt

but that was the worst thing that I could do
 * once I was open, could hope, I had no doubt

burning with hopeless love and desire but it was just about the worst thing that I could do it was just about the worst thing I could do
 * once I came close to that most elusive fire

Henry Darger

 * Album performance

oh, Henry... who'll tell the story of her? Henry Darger
 * who'll save the poor little girl?

risk his very own precious skin to make our Angelinia a free and peaceful land again?''' Henry who'll love a poor orphan child? Henry Darger
 * '''who will draw the calvary in