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.
This Tornado Loves You
Neko Case Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I left them motherless, fatherless
Their souls they hang inside-out from their mouths
But it's never enough
I want you
Carved your name across three counties
Their broken necks will line the ditch
'Til you stop it, stop it
Stop this madness
I want you
I have waited with a glacier's patience
Smashed every transformer with every trailer
'Til nothing was standing
65 miles wide
Still you are nowhere
Still you are nowhere
Nowhere in sight
Come out to meet me
Run out to meet me
Come in to the light
Climb the boxcars to the engine through the smoke into the sky
Your rails have always outrun mine
So I pick them up and crash them down
In a moment close to now
'Cause I miss, I miss, I miss, I miss, I miss
I miss how you'd sigh yourself to sleep
When I'd rake the springtime across your sheets
My love, I am the speed of sound
I left them motherless, fatherless
Their souls they hang inside-out from their mouths
But it's never enough
My love
I'm an owl on the sill in the evening
But morning finds you
Still warm and breathing
This tornado loves you, this tornado loves you
This tornado loves you, this tornado loves you
This tornado loves you
What will make you believe me?
This tornado loves you, this tornado loves you
This tornado loves you, this tornado loves you
This tornado loves you
What will make you believe me?
Neko Case's song “This Tornado Loves You” tells a story of a destructive and obsessive love. The singer in the song is desperate for the attention of her beloved, who seems to be always out of reach. The repetition of the phrase “I want you” emphasizes the intensity of her desire and hints at the unresolved feelings of unrequited love. The singer uses vivid imagery to illustrate the extent of her obsession, carving her beloved's name across counties and causing destruction with the speed of a tornado. She longs for her beloved to see her, and the line “come out to meet me, run out to meet me, come into the light” suggests that she is in darkness and needs her lover's light to see.
The song's chorus, “This tornado loves you, this tornado loves you, what will make you believe me?” reflects the singer’s desperation to be seen and loved. The tornado is a metaphor for the intensity of the singer’s passion, which is wild and destructive but also powerful and undeniable. The singer is aware that her love may be seen as extreme or even frightening, “I left them motherless, fatherless; their souls they hang inside-out from their mouths” but she is helpless to control it.
Overall, "This Tornado Loves You" is a powerful allegory of unrequited love, using vivid imagery to express the intensity of emotions felt by the singer. The lyrics convey a sense of desperation and longing for connection, but also suggest that the singer's obsessions may lead to danger, both for herself and those around her.
Line by Line Meaning
My love, I am the speed of sound
I move fast and furiously, leaving destruction in my wake, but I am unstoppable.
I left them motherless, fatherless
I have caused so much damage that people have lost their loved ones, and it's all because of my insatiable love for you.
Their souls they hang inside-out from their mouths
The devastation I have wrought has left those left behind in a state of shock and despair, with their innermost emotions laid bare.
But it's never enough
No matter what chaos I unleash, I cannot satisfy my desire for you.
I want you
My love for you is a raging inferno that consumes everything in its path, and I cannot quell the flames.
Carved your name across three counties
I have marked the land with your name, declaring to the world that you are the object of my obsession.
Ground it in with bloody hides
I have gone to extreme lengths to make my love for you known, including using the skins of animals to make my mark.
Their broken necks will line the ditch
My love has caused so much destruction that those who oppose it have fallen victim to it, evidenced by their broken bodies lining the roadside.
'Til you stop it, stop it
Stop this madness
My love for you has spiraled out of control, and I am begging you to put an end to it before it destroys everything in its path.
I have waited with a glacier's patience
I have been on this journey for what feels like an eternity, slowly and steadily making my way towards you with a determination that matches that of a glacier's movement.
Smashed every transformer with every trailer
Nothing has been able to thwart my progress, as I have destroyed anything that stands in my way, regardless of how substantial it may be.
'Til nothing was standing
65 miles wide
I have left a path of destruction 65 miles wide, as nothing could withstand the force of my love for you.
Still you are nowhere
Still you are nowhere
Nowhere in sight
Despite my best efforts, you are still out of my reach, which makes my love for you all the more intense.
Come out to meet me
Run out to meet me
Come in to the light
I am desperate for you to come out and meet me, to finally be in my embrace and make my love for you real.
Climb the boxcars to the engine through the smoke into the sky
I will do anything to reach you, even if it means scaling the boxcars of a moving train through smoke and into the sky.
Your rails have always outrun mine
You have always been ahead of me, and it has been a struggle to keep up with your speed.
So I pick them up and crash them down
In a moment close to now
I will do whatever it takes to catch up to you, even if it means derailing your progress and causing destruction in my wake.
'Cause I miss, I miss, I miss, I miss, I miss
I miss how you'd sigh yourself to sleep
When I'd rake the springtime across your sheets
I am plagued by the memory of your touch, your scent, your sound. I miss the intimacy we shared, and I long to bring it back.
I'm an owl on the sill in the evening
But morning finds you
Still warm and breathing
I watch over you like an owl in the night, but come morning, you are still alive and well, out of reach and always just beyond my grasp.
This tornado loves you, this tornado loves you
What will make you believe me?
My love for you is like a destructive force of nature, impossible to deny. I am asking you to acknowledge it and let me show you how true it is.
Lyrics © Peermusic Publishing, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Written by: Neko Case, Paul Rigby
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@04dionicio
My love, I am the speed of sound
I left them motherless, fatherless
Their souls they hang inside-out from their mouths
But it's never enough
I want you
Carved your name across three counties
Ground it in with bloody hides
Their broken necks will line the ditch
'Til you stop it, stop it
Stop this madness
I want you
I have waited with a glacier's patience
Smashed every transformer with every trailer
'Til nothing was standing
65 miles wide
Still you are nowhere
Still you are nowhere
Nowhere in sight
Come out to meet me
Run out to meet me
Come in to the light
Climb the boxcars to the engine through the smoke into the sky
Your rails have always outrun mine
So I pick them up and crash them down
In a moment close to now
'Cause I miss, I miss, I miss, I miss, I miss
I miss how you'd sigh yourself to sleep
When I'd rake the springtime across your sheets
My love, I am the speed of sound
I left them motherless, fatherless
Their souls they hang inside-out from their mouths
But it's never enough
My love
I'm an owl on the sill in the evening
But morning finds you
Still warm and breathing
This tornado loves you, this tornado loves you
This tornado loves you, this tornado loves you
This tornado loves you
What will make you believe me?
This tornado loves you, this tornado loves you
This tornado loves you, this tornado loves you
This tornado loves you
What will make you believe me?
@coolsnail58
so glad neko case invented songwriting!
@gavinshizuo9248
13 years after I first heard this song, here I am... it only becomes more true and more powerful
@clg7771
Growing up in Arkansas… remembering the Winter a crazy tornado left everyone’s Christmas presents in the trees. Fast forward to a tumultuous marriage… this song says it all.
@jefhuber
Ethereal voice, storyteller, killer musicians, like nothing else.
@uvp5000
Neko's lyrical perspective is certainly unique - a tornado in love with someone - just, wow. Something I can relate to from both sides of the lyrics.
@101Volts
She said she got the idea from a dream she had of a tornado that asked her to read a book to it since it couldn't hold the book.
@jonkiparsky7369
See also Kris Delmhorst's "Hurricane"... also beautiful...
@criticaloptimist
I think this song is just the most perfect song ever written. The rhythm is just like they say a tornado sounds, and the lyrics are so vivid.
@Scorpia161
This song is like eternal to me...i have a hard time remembering who i was before it, it seems like it's always been around for me.
@Herbertts
This song is absolutely brillant. It's pure prose poetry that transports you to a vastness of dormant feelings. It brings sincerity, devotion and agony in a self-reflective way. Amazing.