Famous St. Vincent (musician) Quotes
QRO Magazine interview (2007)
Context: The first thing I did when I picked up any instrument, when I was five years old, was write a song. It's kind of funny; I thought about it, statements that it's a "solo effort" — it's kind of like, "Oh, well I've been doing this since I was five." I was kind of doing this before I did anything else.
“While people will cheer on the spectacle we've made
I'm sitting and sculpting menageries of saints.”
"Jesus Saves, I Spend"
Marry Me (2007)
St. Vincent (musician) Quotes about love
“Come, my love, the stage is waiting,
Be the one to save my saving grace.”
"Jesus Saves, I Spend"
Marry Me (2007)
On one of her compositions on the album Actor, in an interview for Billboard magazine (20 March 2009)
"Marry Me"
Marry Me (2007)
St. Vincent (musician): Trending quotes
“There are no signs,
There are no stars aligned,
No amulets no charms,
To bring you back to my arms.”
"All My Stars Aligned"
Marry Me (2007)
Context: There are no signs,
There are no stars aligned,
No amulets no charms,
To bring you back to my arms.
There's just this human heart.
That's built with this human fault.
What was your question?
Love is the answer.
“For what it's worth you're not the first to break my heart.”
"Human Racing"
Marry Me (2007)
Context: Little lamb, what's your plan?
Greener pastures in the sky?
It's a shame you want to die know why
Just to find you've been blinded to the greenest of pastures they're right here on Earth
For what it's worth you're not the first to break my heart.
“I'm a debut artist, I'm not established — nobody would write about it if they didn't like it.”
QRO Magazine interview (2007)
Context: I'm a debut artist, I'm not established — nobody would write about it if they didn't like it. So I'm waiting for the next album for the backlash.
St. Vincent (musician) Quotes
“And I can't see the future but I know it's watching me.”
"Laughing with a Mouth of Blood"
Actor (2009)
Context: I traded my plot of land for a plane to anywhere
Oh where did you go.
And I can't see the future but I know it's watching me.
All my old friends aren't so friendly
And all my old haunts are now haunting me.
“Now, now …
You don't mean that say you're sorry”
"Now, Now"
Marry Me (2007)
Context: Now, now...
You don't mean that say you're sorry
You don't mean that... I'll make you sorry
“You can’t apologize your way into people’s hearts … You have to go full force.”
"Friendly, and Just a Bit Creepy: St. Vincent Defies Categories" in The New York Times (7 May 2009) http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/07/arts/music/07vince.html?_r=1&ref=arts&pagewanted=all
Context: I think anyone who is creative or self-aware in any way, there’s like a humility to it, or I should say a humiliation to it. But there’s also a self-delusion — the provisional ego, as my uncle would call it. The self-delusion is the thing that makes you go, oh you know what, all the music that I’ve ever loved in the world, I want to be a part of that — hey, listen to what I have to say, it’s really important, it’s going to matter.”
You can’t apologize your way into people’s hearts... You have to go full force.
“You don’t ever get the sense that she's making music to pander to anyone.”
The Kate Bush Story (2014)
Context: You don’t ever get the sense that she's making music to pander to anyone. I think you always get her absolute best attempt at her true vision whenever you get a Kate Bush record.
"John Vanderslice interviews St. Vincent (on the road)" in Brooklyn Vegan (24 April 2007) http://www.brooklynvegan.com/archives/2007/04/john_vanderslic_5.html
Context: The drug issue is hard to separate from a class issue, an education issue, a wonky foreign policy issue, and a race issue. What I do know is, be it caffeine, alcohol, cocaine, or adrenaline, let's face it: people like to get high. From Starbucks to Budweiser to your own brain, everybody's a pusher these days. If I could substitute another drug to be consumed in the country as much as alcohol is, it would be helium from children's birthday party balloons. Try not laughing when someone sounds like a chipmunk!
"All My Stars Aligned"
Marry Me (2007)
"John Vanderslice interviews St. Vincent (on the road)" in Brooklyn Vegan (24 April 2007) http://www.brooklynvegan.com/archives/2007/04/john_vanderslic_5.html
Context: The drug issue is hard to separate from a class issue, an education issue, a wonky foreign policy issue, and a race issue. What I do know is, be it caffeine, alcohol, cocaine, or adrenaline, let's face it: people like to get high. From Starbucks to Budweiser to your own brain, everybody's a pusher these days. If I could substitute another drug to be consumed in the country as much as alcohol is, it would be helium from children's birthday party balloons. Try not laughing when someone sounds like a chipmunk!
“I always looked at any instrument as just a tool, an expressive voice to write with.”
As quoted in "The PopWatch Interview: St. Vincent's Annie Clark" in PopWatch (11 July 2007) http://popwatch.ew.com/popwatch/2007/07/the-popwatch-in.html
Context: I always looked at any instrument as just a tool, an expressive voice to write with. It even differs from guitar to guitar. Some guitars demand that you play them delicately and really respect the instrument, and some beg to be abused. Same with piano. I know with guitar, I'm intimate with it enough to know when I put my fingers here, it will sound like this. I prefer writing on piano because it's always a surprise.
“So I was, 'Well, okay, if you insist…”
QRO Magazine interview (2007)
Context: I was recording with The Polyphonic Spree, recording The Fragile Army, and we were holed up in January in Minnesota at our studio. They called Mike in to play, and we just hit it off, in a really, really special way. Actually, the night after meeting and having a conversation with him, I sat down and I wrote "All My Stars Aligned". And I just kind of had an idea, "Wouldn't it be amazing if Mike Garson played? So the guy who played solo in Aladdin Sane, wouldn't it be amazing if this guy played this song?"
And I wrote it, based on a conversation we had, but I didn't want to ask him, because I felt shy, and nervous, and everything. It was a few months later, actually, we kind of got in touch, and, 'Oh, what are you doing?', and I sent him a couple songs that I was working on. I sent him "Your Lips Are Red" and I sent him "All My Stars Aligned", just to show, you know, 'wink-wink, hint-hint, this is what I'm doing.' And he wrote me back, the things that we'd said, and asked to play on the record. So I was, 'Well, okay, if you insist…'
That worked out pretty miraculously.
“I was kind of doing this before I did anything else.”
QRO Magazine interview (2007)
Context: The first thing I did when I picked up any instrument, when I was five years old, was write a song. It's kind of funny; I thought about it, statements that it's a "solo effort" — it's kind of like, "Oh, well I've been doing this since I was five." I was kind of doing this before I did anything else.
“Good souls have born better sons,
Better souls born worse ones.”
"The Strangers"
Actor (2009)
Context: Good souls have born better sons,
Better souls born worse ones.
Paint the black hole blacker...
On her album Marry Me, as quoted in "The PopWatch Interview: St. Vincent's Annie Clark" in PopWatch (11 July 2007)
Context: A lot of the songs have a duality about them; one part is totally sincere, and there's another part that is kind of smirking and making light of it all. Or there's a very dark streak about it.
“What me worry? I never do.
Life is one charming ruse for us lucky few.”
"What Me Worry?"
Paris Is Burning (2006)
Context: What me worry? I never do.
Life is one charming ruse for us lucky few. Have I fooled you, dear?
The time is coming near when I'll give you my hand and I'll say,
"It's been grand, but... I'm out of here
I'm out of here"
“They always want more — they want more.”
"Human Racing"
Marry Me (2007)
Context: Romeo, where'd you go?
It's been years and still no sign,
But I'm keeping hope alive. Juliet, how you been?
You look like death like you sure could use some rest
from this place human racing and the faces of people who pound at your door
They always want more — they want more.
On the song "The Hounds of Love"
The Kate Bush Story (2014)
Context: I'm convinced that, as great as that record sounds, if you had anyone else sing it, you know, anyone else try to kind of weave and make it do that thing where it burns like wildfire and it comes alive, no one else could do it. It's incredible the way she kind of brings this cold arctic atmosphere, It's just like fire, you know? It's like all aaarh coming out of her mouth. … and now I'm listening to the song in my head. "Do you know what I really need? Do you know what I really need? I need lalalala yea yo yea yo your love."
“Lover, I don’t play to win but for the thrill until I’m spent.”
"The Strangers" - Live @ Great American Music Hall (27 February 2009) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAX3P1ueR6w
Actor (2009)
Context: Lover, I don’t play to win but for the thrill until I’m spent.
Paint the black hole blacker. Paint the black hole blacker
"Friendly, and Just a Bit Creepy: St. Vincent Defies Categories" in The New York Times (7 May 2009) http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/07/arts/music/07vince.html?_r=1&ref=arts&pagewanted=all
Context: I think anyone who is creative or self-aware in any way, there’s like a humility to it, or I should say a humiliation to it. But there’s also a self-delusion — the provisional ego, as my uncle would call it. The self-delusion is the thing that makes you go, oh you know what, all the music that I’ve ever loved in the world, I want to be a part of that — hey, listen to what I have to say, it’s really important, it’s going to matter.”
You can’t apologize your way into people’s hearts... You have to go full force.
QRO Magazine interview (2007)
Context: I enjoyed, and I tried to soak up and learn everything as fast as I could from doing any kind of music. It's good to have a gig. If you're a musician, it's good to be working.
I love doing all of it, but Marry Me is my baby, St. Vincent is my child.
“All my old friends aren't so friendly
And all my old haunts are now haunting me.”
"Laughing with a Mouth of Blood"
Actor (2009)
Context: I traded my plot of land for a plane to anywhere
Oh where did you go.
And I can't see the future but I know it's watching me.
All my old friends aren't so friendly
And all my old haunts are now haunting me.
The Kate Bush Story (2014)
Context: You can hear one note of a Kate Bush song, or one note of her voice even, and know immediately what it is. And that is the biggest feat of any artist, especially when you consider, you know, all the roads that she's gone down.
QRO Magazine interview (2007)
Context: Some songs I wrote that night, and some songs took nine months to arrange, get how I positioned them. Some songs I wrote parts of when I was twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen… Just putting it together, just finding the right place for it. So it's really been a long time coming.... I'm actually really restless, in the sense that I'd rather be always making something new. I'm really excited about making a second record. I've got a lot of things up my sleeve, I guess.
“For that to have come out of someone's brain, period, is a remarkable feat.”
On the song "Wuthering Heights"
The Kate Bush Story (2014)
Context: For that to have come out of someone's brain, period, is a remarkable feat. For that to have come out of someone's brain, at 17 years old — this incredible song, incredible song … there aren't that many amazing pop songs that have two or three key changes in them —‚ and I'm not talking about some modulations, I'm talking: "Okay, now we're in the key of Q." It's like WHAT?! But it's so brilliant, it's so memorable. I always karaoke that song — if I drink enough.
“We're sleeping underneath the bed to scare
The monsters out”
"The Bed"
Actor (2009)
Context: We're sleeping underneath the bed to scare
The monsters out
With our dear daddy's Smith and Wesson. We've got to teach them all a lesson.
“Please keep your victory
But give me little death.”
"The Apocalypse Song"
Marry Me (2007)
Context: All your praying moments amount to just one breath.
Please keep your victory
But give me little death.
“Marry me, John, I'll be so good to you —
You won't realize I'm gone”
"Marry Me"
Marry Me (2007)
Context: Marry me, John, I'll be so good to you —
You won't realize I'm gone,
You won't realize I'm gone.
QRO Magazine interview (2007)
“In a really great way, you simultaneously try to take up as little and as much space as possible.”
On working in the ensemble group The Polyphonic Spree.
QRO Magazine interview (2007)
“I'm a wife in watercolors I can wash away what seventeen cold showers couldn't wash away.”
"Save Me from What I Want"
Actor (2009)
"Jesus Saves, I Spend" - ( Studio video on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYoT14ZRY2E - Video of live performance on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qt3ykoc4tu0)
Marry Me (2007)
Context: While Jesus is saving, I'm spending all my days
in backgrounds and landscapes with the languages of saints.
While people are spinning like toys on Christmas day,
I'm inside a still life with the other absentee.
“What me worry? I never do
I'm always amused and amusing you”
"What Me Worry?"
Paris Is Burning (2006)
The Kate Bush Story (2014)
“What do I share?
What do I keep from all the strangers
Who sleep where I sleep?”
"The Strangers"
Actor (2009)
The Kate Bush Story (2014)
“The keys are in my pocket and they rattle you awake.”
"Save Me From What I Want" live @ SXSW 2009 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRYdWtjFJn8
Actor (2009)
"Paris Is Burning"
Paris Is Burning (2006)
QRO Magazine interview (2007)
“It's time.
You are light.
I guess you are afraid of what everyone is made of —
Time and Light.”
"The Apocalypse Song"
Marry Me (2007)
“Sticks and stones have made me smarter
it's words that cut me under my armor they say…”
"Paris Is Burning"
Paris Is Burning (2006)
“Just like an amnesiac, trying to get my senses back.
Oh where did they go.”
"Laughing with a Mouth of Blood"
Actor (2009)
On the first public performances of some of the music from her album Actor in an interview for Billboard magazine (20 March 2009) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0w53ut9dzhI
