Quotes from Nellie McKay

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

The other kids wanted to play Destiny's Child, but I wanted Anita O'Day.

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.

I will say that art may well be the only thing that lasts, so I guess it's worth trying.

Less money for public media means less access to the arts.

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.

Just like everything, even the most fun and creative endeavor requires work to be successful, and I'm so sick of working. I'm a lazy person at heart. I never meant to be a go-getter.

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.

I think I have advanced ADD.

I kind of go for the MGM version of every musical style.

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

The civilised cultures are the most cruel. It's the same with education - often it breeds sadistic forms of cruelty.