Case moved around often as a child, spending the largest part of her youth in Tacoma, Washington. She left her parents at age 15 and three years later she started playing drums for several bands around the Northwest's punk rock scene. In 1994, she moved to Vancouver, BC to enter art school, and simultaneously joined the punk group Maow, who released a record on the Mint label. She also played with roots rockers the Weasles, and eventually formed her own backing band, the Boyfriends, which initially featured alumni of the Softies, Zumpano, and Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet.
Case released her solo debut, The Virginian, in 1997, delving wholeheartedly into traditional country via a mix of covers and originals. She went on to perform with Carolyn Mark in the old-timey side project the Corn Sisters, and recorded with the Vancouver indie supergroup the New Pornographers, which she continues to be a member of. In 1998, Case completed her studies and, with her student visa expired, returned to Washington and began work on her second solo album. The lovely, melancholy Furnace Room Lullaby was released on Bloodshot Records in 2000 and won high praise from most critics.
Case subsequently relocated to Chicago, home of a thriving alt-country scene, and released the home-recorded Canadian Amp EP in 2001. Its moody, late-night ambiance carried over to 2002's Blacklisted, a darker yet more eclectic affair; it garnered Case her strongest reviews up to that point, making many year-end critics' polls, and landed her a tour slot opening for Nick Cave. Blacklisted was recorded at Wavelab Studio in Tuscon AZ, where Case had moved to in 2002.
In 2004, Case signed with Anti Records in the United States, and that year she released a live album, The Tigers Have Spoken, recorded during several dates with Canadian surf-country band the Sadies.
Fox Confessor Brings the Flood, hailed by critics as an instant classic and Case's most realized work yet, followed in 2006. Calexico's Joey Burns and John Convertino contributed guitar, cello, bass, and drums to the album.
On March 3, 2009, Case released Middle Cyclone. It was her first album to reach the top ten's on the Billboard charts in the US.
Middle Cyclone was followed by "The worse things get, the harder I fight, the harder I fight, the more I love you" which came out September 4th 2013.
Case now lives on her farm in Vermont.
Red Tide
Neko Case Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Dog hair in the heater, gas pumps and cedar
And jackknifes on the nine
And seabirds choked on fishing line
Clouds are a hush but the chainsaws mush on to Custer and Columbia
Salty tentacles drink in the sun but the red tide is over
The mollusks they have won
There's a smell here of gravel and cigarettes lit
When the match made them sweet
When the engine turned over and beat up our street
Oh, that was the day
To remember
I remember because of the fires that leapt
From the caves of the things that have not happened yet
When I think of it now they smell to me quite sinister
I want to go back and die at the drive in
Die before strangers can say
I hate the rain
I hate the rain
In Neko Case's song Red Tide, the lyrics seem to be an evocative portrayal of a specific place and time, with a strong focus on sensory details. The first verse describes a smell that is unsettling, with hints of dog hair, gas pumps, cedar, and seabirds choked on fishing line. The second verse takes a sharper turn, with a mention of chainsaws in the background and the idea of the "red tide" being over, hinting at some kind of environmental disaster that has occurred. The final verse seems infused with a certain sense of nostalgia, painting a picture of a specific moment ("the day to remember") when everything seemed to come together in a particular way, but with a creeping sense of darkness just under the surface. The singer seems to be looking back on this moment with a mix of longing and fear, wanting to go back but also aware of the dangers that lurk there.
One interpretation of the song's meaning could be that it's speaking to the impact of environmental disasters on specific places and communities. The imagery of the red tide and the seabirds choking suggests a place that has been ravaged by pollution, where the natural world is struggling to survive. The chainsaws could represent the continued destruction of this environment, with little regard for the long-term consequences. The nostalgia in the final verse could be seen as a longing for a time before this kind of destruction, a sense that things were simpler and more innocent before we began ravaging the environment in the pursuit of profit and progress.
Line by Line Meaning
There's a smell here that stands my hairs on end
An overwhelming and eerie smell fills the air
Dog hair in the heater, gas pumps and cedar
The smell is a strange and unsettling mixture of dog hair, gas, and cedar
And jackknifes on the nine
There have been accidents involving jackknifed trucks on the highway
And seabirds choked on fishing line
The environment is suffering, and wildlife is getting caught and killed by human-made hazards
Clouds are a hush but the chainsaws mush on to Custer and Columbia
Despite the peacefulness of the clouds, the sounds of civilization and destruction carry on
Salty tentacles drink in the sun but the red tide is over
The ocean is absorbing sunlight, but the harmful red tide has come to an end
The mollusks they have won
The mollusks are the survivors of the red tide, having outlived other sea creatures affected by it
There's a smell here of gravel and cigarettes lit
The new smell in the air is that of gravel and lit cigarettes
When the match made them sweet
The lighting of the cigarette made the gravel smell more appealing
When the engine turned over and beat up our street
The noise and disturbance of a loud engine caused chaos on the street
Oh, that was the day
That day was one that stuck out in memory
To remember
It's important to never forget the events of that day
I remember because of the fires that leapt
The memory of that day is associated with fires that could have happened but didn't
From the caves of the things that have not happened yet
The potential for disaster is present, but it hasn't come to fruition yet
When I think of it now they smell to me quite sinister
The smell of gravel and cigarettes now carries a sinister connotation due to the memory it evokes
I want to go back and die at the drive in
There's a desire to relive a moment from the past and ultimately succumb to its tragic fate
Die before strangers can say
To die before the opinions of others can influence or be expressed
I hate the rain
The rain is a source of discomfort and negativity
Lyrics © Peermusic Publishing, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Written by: Neko Case, Paul Andrew Rigby
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@hailmaryrecordings8255
I love the guitar playing on this record so much. ❤️
@Ger71
Brilliant song
@101Volts
I think this song's about a feeling of homesickness for how the Pacific Northwest was before things changed and the town began to feel less local; less like the home that it was from the 1980s - about 2000. That's especially with both the canceling of "Almost Live," and the rise of Amazon. Maybe an "Uff Da!" is in order.
I never lived in the PNW, but I /was/ familiar with Bill Nye the Science Guy, which had a Billy Quan clip in one episode. By Billy Quan, I then heard of "Almost Live" (eventually.)
@cheaptshirt
A beautiful song about the Pacific Northwest.
@seanohalloran384
Fox Confessor gets most of the props but this albums equally amazing to me.