Case, Neko - Thrice All American Lyrics

The accordion really takes this song to another level.

Never been to Tacoma, but i HAVE actually been stuck in Lodi...

ha too funny!

fall in love with this voice everytime

Born and bred in Tacoma. I miss it.

I live in Seattle and the degree to which people dog on Tacoma is ridiculous. Put them in a gritty town and these Seattleites are afraid they're in the "ghetto". More Seattleites need to hear this song.

Brandon Thompson Once I was able to legally drink in '96, I used to get a kick out of local Seattle kids who were SHOCKED that I grew up in Tacoma. The first thing out of their mouth was ALWAYS "You live in Tacoma? Wow aren't you afraid of getting shot?" Most of my friends hated it, but I loved it.

You're not kidding. I'm from Chicago originally, and Washingtonians have zero clue about what a real ghetto is.
Brandon Thompson

Love the ending of this song

They surely do hate California up in Washington.

I should add Californians couldn't give 2 shi*** about Washington's resentment.

Cool bruh - can guarantee nobody in WA gives two shits about your feelings on us.

I can confirm that Washington never loses ANY sleep over California's opinion. After all, you guys still haven't even legalized marijuana -- we did that 4 YEARS AGO. :-D

David Blum no one hates California in Washington. We just hate Californians in Washington.

have lived in kitsap county for 30 +years, just north of tacoma. . .we used to call the pulp mill "scent" the aroma of tacoma :) not only has walmat found it, but also target. . .thanks neko - great capture of a place and time!

Agreed! great song, great lyrics, great performance.

Dear lord, I left Tacoma 50 years ago, my father and grandfather were born there. LOL, the aroma of Tacoma, there was a Girl Scout song about Tacoma's scent! But so true, no hollow promise that life would reward you. But passion for life, in Tacoma. Thanks, Neko!

Everyone calls it that.

Awesome video. I love it!!!

Walmart finally found Tacoma, sorry Neko :(

I hope they don't find you Schenectady.

my daughter directed me here...my hometown....great song great lyrics.

HAPPY (45th) BIRTHDAY, NEKO!!!
NEKO CASE
(born September 8th, 1970)
Neko Case is an American singer-songwriter

It could be worse; you could hail from Bremerton

I wanna tell you about my hometown
It's a dusty old jewel in the South Puget Sound
Well, the factories churn and the timbers all cut down
And life goes by slow in Tacoma

People they laugh when they hear you're from my town
They say it's a sour and used up old place
I defended its honor, shrugged off the putdowns
You know that you're poor from Tacoma

The buildings are empty like ghettos or ghostowns
It gives me a chill to think what was inside
I can't seem to fathom the dark of my history
I invented my own in Tacoma

There was nothing to put me in love with the good life
I'm in league with the the gangs and the guns and the crime
There was no hollow promise that life would reward you
There was nowhere to hide in Tacoma

People who built it, they loved it like I do
There was hope in the train yards that something inspired
Once was I on it but it's been painted shut
I found passion for life in Tacoma

Well, I don't make it home much, I sadly neglect you
But that's how you like it away from the world
God bless California, make way for the Wal-Mart
I hope they don't find you Tacoma



Read more: Neko Case - Thrice All American Lyrics | MetroLyrics

Substitute Schenectady for Tacoma...done. I love it here.

@MWorsa First found my way to your town in the '90s on a company field trip to the ANG base at Scotia and loved the place.

Nice!...Schenectady's been going through a renaissance the past 10 years...it's really cool now.

yvwic50 C-130 life!

I live in Tacoma, and I couldn't love it any more. 
I'm so lucky to live in a place as beautiful as here. 

I appreciate the creativity here; but, Neko Case is singing about her Tacoma. She was born in 1970, long after the depression era footage shown here was shot. Moreover, it's not even Tacoma or anywhere near the Pacific Northwest. 

I don't think Neko made the video. One of her fans did.

+The Dude You may be right, but to me this beautiful video goes so well with this beautiful song and paints a great picture of this town, how it was in the 'old days". I think the name of the town, Tacoma, is from Dutch origine. Tacoma is a family name, often heard in the northern part of Holland, in Friesland.

+DirkjeA Tacoma comes from the original name of Mt. Rainier, "Tahoma".

LOL, I l grew up in Tacoma in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s when the downtown died ( I remember rats running over our feet at the Rialto Theater). And my father and grandfather lived there during the depression, WWII. Honey, Tacoma did not change, always struggling. When my grandfather was a kid, he watched Chinese immigrants put on trains out of town in the 1890s, due to the economic downturn. Tacoma is beautiful, and full of wonderful people (shout out to Paul, love you) but always economically strained. Cursed if you think that way. And now a bedroom community for Seattle. Neko, love your description of my hometown , so true.

Seattle is for the Rich.  Tacoma is the Real deal.  Thank you Neko.
Better yet, the Kitsap is cheaper and cooler.

Seriously, Seattle for the rich? LOL, never had any money when I lived there, always broke, Tacoma Tennis Club was my impression of Tacoma! Guess our experiences diverge.

Julie Taylor yes, "seriously" Seattles for the rich. How longs it been since you lived in Seattle? 4 decades? 5? I believe the median household is only second to San Francisco now in the entire country. There's been Grunge, Boeing, Microsoft, Amazon, list goes on and on since you were there last apparently. Seattle is far removed from the billboard "will the last person leaving Seattle turn the lights out". Before you go around LOL'ing people and trying to correct them, it might be best for you to catch up on the past 40+ years. People are being priced out of Seattle. It's been all over the news for years. And those people are moving to Tacoma. Tacoma people are starting to get priced out and will have to move. Even Hilltop isn't solely a crack sellers dream anymore. Even that's gentrified now. Your experiences diverge from OP due to half a century time lapse.

hell yeah

Moved to Seattle - it's feeling like the worst decision ever right now...

Viking Elvis is a great name.

No it is not the worst decision. As a Tacoma native who moved to Seattle-Iowa-California and back to Seattle, must not go back to Tacoma. All my sibs agree.

are you serious? You made this? It's SO AMAZING? I love it. Thank you.

Need video and photos of Tacoma!

The Walmart found us :(

Tacoma > Seattle

0ldfinger this is awesome work -- bravo! Will look through more of your videos.

Great video. Hard to believe it's fan made.

Love it With Tacoma being my home town it makes the song that much better

Sadly, they found you Tacoma.

You are one of my favorites! Thanks!

Wrong. They found Lakewood :P

It's my hometown. Haven't been back since 1999. I love this song.

hahah jst cuz u u used the word (shanty) there is no way ur from tacoma lmao.u want real tacoma look up fice-two five three

Michael Box you say look up that Fice song saying that's the "real" Tacoma, yet.. that Fice song samples this Neko Case song. Quit hating on Neko brah!

"Make way for the Wal-Mart..."

Nice, direct jab at a deserving target, Neko.

People go to Florida to die, son!

Sure Tacoma has its share of problems, but this video suggests it's some kind of shanty town?! Hardly!

I love this- as I'm about to move to north Seattle! :/

2012 - Wal-Mart found Tacoma. For shame!

The Tacoma aroma is gone. You should check it out again.

the most beeeeeutifulll fan vid EVER made..

I'm from Vancouver, Canada, but living abroad. And this song just makes me think of home. God I miss it.

This has become one of my favorite YT videos; I usually surf another tab while listening here at work, but I can't help but go back to watch time and time again. Well done!

This is a great video indeed. Can't stop listening to it and watching it. Well done.

This song is played in the start of "Two Five Three" by Fice, /watch?v=fZVI5ohXgfU

oh how i miss that crappy town...

Andrea K fuck off

Walmart just made a first successful step toward building a new 153,000 square foot store in Tacoma. I guess that makes this song Ironic.

Marvelous video. Touching and sweet.

I love Tacoma!

So get this, funny the last line is about how she hopes wal-mart never finds you Tacoma. Wal-Mart is trying, on 23rd and Union. Lets keep them OUT!!!

@AdamT253 253 reporting in!

@123Psychopathickilla That's cool, but I was just pointing out that I was born and raised here...TGH

@Tacoma1993 really? Ive been wanting to meet people that were around for the 90's and saw all the problems Tacoma had back then like I really wanna hear people's stories about the way things used to be and just learn the history of the city I live in...

@123Psychopathickilla I love Tacoma, its been my home for almost 18 years.

Good Ol' Tacoma.

Sorry at 1:06

Beatiful pictures,the one that´s is on 3:21 is Walker Evans?

Tacoma is a big but not overly big, its small enough that people know each other but its also got a sorta big city feel to it at the same time
I am proud to say that i am from Tacoma for as long as i live here it is the place that ive grown up most in but i will always call Kent my hometown

Love this video!!!! I live in Tacoma so of course, I truly appreciate this song!!!

Oh Tacoma, how I love you.
Haha, my stepmom actually lived with Neko Case in the north end back in the day. Real close to Stadium.

Being from Tacoma, this song has a particular sentiment for me... Thanks for posting.

I will never stop breathing that Tacoma Aroma <3

This song is amazing. I first heard by shear accident and it immediately made me think of my dusty old town, spring Valley. This is my favorite song of all time. The Video is cool with all the old footage from what I awesome is circa the 20's & 30's

lol...yea dogg tac town

@SuperYallow For accuracy's sake, I have to throw it out there that Paul Rigby isn't on guitar in this song. I don't think he entered into the picture until "Fox Confessor."

The liner notes credit the following guitarists for this song: John Ramberg - electric guitar; Travis Good - acoustic guitar, tenor guitar; Evan Johns - steel guitar;
And let's call the bass a "guitar," just in case: Scott Betts.

:)

wow, I grew up in tacoma but never thought of it this way. gave me goosebumps..

@SuperYallow ... wouldn't have been paul rigby. he didn't join until the period leading up to FCBTF. but nice observation. super cool.

Great video. One small suggestion - don't go to the effect too quickly on that very last photo. I think letting it linger a bit would be good.

I really enjoyed your video. I've loved this song (and Neko Case!) for a long time now, and your images fit into my idea of the time and place she is describing.

Thank you for being kind enough to share this.

I have loved this song from the first time I heard it....great video too!!

Hey, that's kinda cool. I live in Tacoma. It's definitely the way she describes it though lol, it's more like a smaller version of Seattle.

This is a great song, though Tacoma really is a pretty well-cultured place in alot of ways. Compared to New York, our streets are clean enough to eat off of; and with Starbucks, Microsoft, and all the cultural venues in the region, very few of the old stereotypical negative elements remain. Thanks for sharing this video!

Beautiful song and video from a one of the finest singers I have ever heard. Great music...she's an inspiration.

moved into Tacoma back in 1993, the place has changed a lot and the aroma is almost nonexistent... great video.

This song describes Tacoma almost to a T. Haha

Probably at times both incredibly mundane and fascinating :)

Fantastic, it's funny how little people change. Love those old candid films.

Great job, one of my favorite songs of hers, and even if those clips weren't really from Tacoma, it still just kinda has a Pacific Northwest vibe about it. 5 stars. :)

I loved it....5 more stars for you!