Nellie McKay

“I never know how to get off the phone, so I'm terribly admiring of people who can.”

“In New York City, when they develop something, they never use the old buildings. It's so wasteful. Why not use what's there?”

“In high school, I was always into Jerry Lee Lewis, and they decided they needed a piano player for the jazz band. I had my little boogie-woogie thing that I did, so I did my little boogie-woogie thing. I had a very high-pitched voice.”

“Public radio is the last oasis of free and independent music. For satellite radio channels, you have to subscribe; commercial stations are as corporate as basic cable.”

“If we went back to the basics of vegetables, legumes, grains - the things closer to the Earth - it's a lot better for the Earth and for other people. We can feed more people, we can feed the starving people.”

“I used to play in the subway. If everyone tossed in a quarter, at the end of the day it would add up. It shows you aren't invisible. And it's better than being ignored, or kicked in the head, or worse.”

“I don't listen to much rap, really. I can rarely listen to a whole record of it, because musically, it's very formulaic, and oftentimes it doesn't have the best hooks on every track.”

“Love is such a fleeting emotion. It's such a small part of the things you do in your life.”

“Toronto's a delightful city.”

“You know, if I can survive marching band, I can survive anything.”

“I think I have advanced ADD.”

“Music can make the cerebral accessible, the subconscious hummable. It communicates our shared needs and desires as sentient beings better than any other medium.”

“I'm pretty indiscriminating, and I have awful taste, generally.”

“I'm not sure I know how to make music anymore. Maybe you're given a window into things for a time, and beyond that maybe it goes away. Why should you expect it to stay?”

“I love writing for dancers. You don't have to worry about the lyrics. I think to write words without music must be so frustrating. It must be always be so good, so perfect.”

“I guess you deal with what you get.”

“You know, I wanted to get married, and so I - but I, you know, I realize no matter what you want, it's kind of a fantasy.”

“I really don't care what people say. It's amazing that feminism continues to exist at all, considering how much counter-feminism is out there.”

“You can criticize something you strive for, and you can avoid something you dream about.”

“If you look through the century, certain things have gotten better and certain things have gotten worse. I wouldn't say overall that things have gotten better. I think you could say things have gotten worse, but I don't think you could say that things have gotten better. Overall. You can't say that.”