When Neko Case arrived at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in December, she came bearing gifts – a way for Best Friends to benefit from the online release of her new single, “People Got a Lotta Nerve.”
The critically acclaimed singer and songwriter, whose last album Fox Confessor Brings the Flood has sold more than 200,000 copies in the U.S., informed us that she and her record label, ANTI-,would donate $5 for every blog that posts the song and $1 for every time a user of iLike adds the song to his or her profile.
(Editor's note: Response to Neko's promotion was so overwhelming that ANTI-'s contributions to Best Friends reached the specified cap of $4,000 within a week. Thanks to everyone who posted the song and generated funds to support our work with the animals.)
The song, from her upcoming album
Middle Cyclone, is now available for free.
Click here for instructions on how to add the song to a blog and to add the song to an iLike profile. This fundraiser runs until February 3.
The iLike application is available on Facebook and MySpace, allowing users to add the single to their profile. Check out Neko's song on the Best Friends Facebook page or our MySpace blog.
Called “one of pop music’s best” voices by SPIN magazine, Case learned about Best Friends last year watching the National Geographic Channel’s documentary series “DogTown,” about the lifesaving work that Best Friends does with dogs on a daily basis.
A fervent supporter of animal welfare, a dedicated volunteer at the Greyhound Adoption League in Tucson, Arizona, and mother to four adopted dogs and two adopted cats, Case was overwhelmed by what she saw in the series. So, she drove up to the sanctuary from her home in Tucson and spent three days volunteering with the animals. While at the sanctuary, she also recorded a public service announcement encouraging her fans to lend their support to Best Friends.
The story of her visit, and of how animals have been a saving grace in her life and a catalyst for her music, will appear in the March/April 2009 issue of Best Friends magazine.
“What appealed to me about Best Friends was the idea that people were interested in the direst cases – in the death-row animals,” she says. “I was excited to see people give them a chance.”
That kind of empathy for animals in distress comes through loud and clear in “People Got a Lotta Nerve,” a song inspired by the indignation Case felt after seeing a television documentary about animal disasters (and wishing she hadn’t).
One story in particular galvanized her; it was about a zoo elephant in Hawaii who went on a deadly rampage before police killed him. The cause of the elephant’s behavior was obvious: He had been kept in a dismally small enclosure for years. The story compelled Case to write a song about the absurdity of keeping large, wild animals in captivity for people’s amusement and expecting the animals to submit to it.
“I just think about all the things I’ve read about elephants – how they walk 65 miles a day and how important that is for their [health],” she says. “So why would you have an elephant in captivity, or a large predator like killer whales, who travel hundreds of miles in a day? Why would they be happy living in a swimming pool?”
Reminiscent of the music made by 1960s pop star (and Case’s childhood idol) Buffy Sainte-Marie, “People Got a Lotta Nerve” is colored with bright, Byrds-like guitar and galloping drums. Regardless of its unsettling theme, the song may be one of the most accessible songs she’s ever recorded, her irrepressibly expansive voice drawing instant compassion for the wild animals she personifies in the song.
“We are so grateful to Neko and her label, ANTI-, for giving Best Friends this opportunity,” says Vicki Kilmer-Rinker, manager of cause marketing at Best Friends. “We appreciate not only the financial contribution, but also the exposure they’re giving us to Neko’s animal-loving audience.”
Allowing Best Friends to benefit from the online release of her new single is just the icing on the enormous cake that Case has given us on Best Friends’ 25th anniversary. Stay tuned next month for details on additional ways Case is helping Best Friends usher in a time of No More Homeless Pets.
Written by Ted Brewer
Photos by Molly Wald
As part of Best Friends’ 25th anniversary in 2009, our goal is to double our membership, so we can double our efforts to bring about a time when all companion animals have a forever home. What can you do to help? Give the Gift of a Best Friends membership to family and friends.
For more information on Neko Case and her new album Middle Cyclone (which will be released on March 3), click on any of these links:
Neko Case’s web site
Neko Case’s MySpace
Shore Fire Media
