Natalie Merchant - Kind and Generous at TED 2010 (Live)

One of the best performance i ever seen , she brought a lot emotions with her performance and the way she plays with audience is perfect.

Filmed at February 2010 , TED

Natalie Merchant sings from her new album, Leave Your Sleep. Lyrics from near-forgotten 19th-century poetry pair with her unmistakable voice for a performance that brought the TED audience to its feet.


(Music)

I'd like to thank everybody, all the scientists, the philosophers, the architects, the inventors, the biologists, the botanists, the artists, everyone that blew my mind this week. Thank you. (Applause)

♫ Oh, La li la li la la la ♫

♫ La li la la li la la la la la la ♫

♫ La li la la la ♫

♫ La li la la la la ♫

♫ La li la la la la la la ♫

♫ La la la li la la la la la ♫

♫ You've been so kind and ♫

♫ generous ♫

♫ I don't know how you keep on giving ♫

♫ And for your kindness, ♫

♫ I'm in debt to you ♫

♫ And for your selflessness, ♫

♫ my admiration ♫

♫ And for everything you've done, ♫

♫ you know I'm bound ♫

♫ I'm bound to thank for it ♫

♫ La li la li la la la ♫

♫ La li la la li la li la la la ♫

♫ La li la la la ♫

♫ La li la la la la ♫

♫ La li la li la la la ♫

♫ La li la la li la li la la ♫

♫ Thank you ♫

♫ Now you've been so kind and ♫

Curb the enthusiasm, just a little bit. Just bring it down a little. (Laughter) It's my turn. I still have two minutes. (Laughter) Okay, we're going to start that verse again.

♫ Well, you've been so -- ♫

That's innovative, don't you think? Calming the audience down; I'm supposed to be whipping you into a frenzy.

I like that. That's enough. Shhh.

♫ Now, you've been kind and -- ♫

I'm going to sing this to Bill Gates. I have so much admiration for him.

♫ Now, you've been so kind and ♫

♫ generous ♫

♫ I don't know how you keep on giving ♫

♫ And for your kindness ♫

♫ I'm in debt to you ♫

♫ And I never could have come ♫

♫ this far without you ♫

♫ So for everything you've done,

♫ you know I'm bound ♫

♫ I'm bound to thank you for it ♫

♫ La li la la li la la la ♫

♫ La li la la li la la la ♫

♫ La li la la la ♫

♫ La li la la la la ♫

♫ La li la la li la la la ♫

♫ La li la la li la li la la la ♫

♫ La li la la la ♫

♫ I want to thank you for so many gifts ♫

♫ you gave in love with tenderness ♫

♫ Thank you ♫

♫ I want to thank you ♫

♫ for you generosity ♫

♫ the love and the honesty that you gave me ♫

♫ I want to thank you ♫

♫ show my gratitude, my love ♫

♫ and my respect for you ♫

♫ I want to thank you, thank you ♫

♫ Thank you, thank you ♫

♫ Thank you, thank you ♫

♫ Thank you, thank you ♫

♫ I want to thank you, thank you ♫

♫ Thank you, thank you ♫

You know what? I'll show you how to clap to this song.

♫ I want to thank you, thank you ♫

♫ Thank you, thank you ♫

♫ Thank you, thank you ♫

♫ Thank you, thank you ♫

♫ I want to thank you, thank you ♫

It works better, right?

♫ I want to thank you, thank you ♫

♫ I want to thank you ♫

♫ Oohoo ♫

♫ Oohoo ♫

♫ Hoohoo ♫

♫ Woohoo ♫

Let's bring it down. Decrescendo. Gradually, bringing it down, bringing it down.

♫ I want to thank you, thank you ♫

Finger puppet. Ain't no stopping. Thank you so much.

(Applause)

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[chokguzel100]

That's hilarious she told the audience to chill out. I have to agree with her, they were being idiots.

[mystro810]

haha. of course a room full of scientists and computer techs would mess up the rhythm of a song

[Rengryffyn]

That song was probably part of the closing ceremonies paid for by the Ted Conference.

[Rengryffyn]

You have to realize that you did not see her whole time on the stage and do not know what was said before. She could have been building on something you have no clue on. It is amazing to see after all these years the amount of stage presence she has that she can still command the audience to be interactive in the performance. For her thanking only specific people and not everyone in the world for supporting her was a technique used in performance arts and speeches.

[johnny appleseed]

I know. Just get agged at the MAN

[Chris Woodworth]

Haha, come on Johnny chill out man. :-) At these TED conferences, everyone who speaks gets a very specific amount of time, and she probably had about 30 mins max. As you probably heard at the beginning of the video, there had been allot of speakers and presentations that week, so now it was her stage time. She was clearly being playful, as everyone had had their turn. Now it was hers. That's why people laughed. Think about it, it must be fun to instruct a room full of scientists! :-D

[purds17]

Geez, the point of the whole exercise is to have

people expand their minds ! Hmm

Trash need not show up or even comment.

GO piss off

[johnny appleseed]

Natalie I loved you for years and still do like your music but you left US out. You have shown ME no Thanks or Respect. Im sorry for all the money that Ive spent on her bullshit. HUSH. Slow down.. this is MY moment.. She is egotistical as God and it really fucks me up to see ANOTHER corporate WHORE

[TheWolfmanjenkins]

I really liked Natalie Merchant until I saw this video.

[johnny appleseed]

Why didnt she say this to her FANS? Fuck Bill Gates

[johnny appleseed]

If it wasnt for her audience buying tickets & CD's she wouldnt even be known. I myself thought it VERY rude to give thanks to everyone in the world except for who counted:HER FANS. They made her famous & known & not one shred of acknowledgement. Only credits to the well to do & famous. I thought that she was "down to earth", however I now see where her bullshit heart is at. Fuck the BITCH

[Swason Fatovich]

You been so kind & generous...I wanna thank you...were would I be without you...?