“The most tender place in my heart is for strangers
I know it’s unkind, but my own blood is much too dangerous”
I know people like this. I bet you do, too. What an opening.
Those lines immediately introduce someone who feels safer with strangers than with her own family. The rest of the song is filled with that same tension: longing for connection while recognizing the danger, damage and bad decisions that accompany it.
I love Neko Case’s album Fox Confessor Brings the Flood. I enjoy introducing it to people because, despite receiving considerable critical praise, it escaped much of the broader listening public in 2006.
This isn’t even my favorite song on the album, but it demonstrates Case’s remarkable control as a singer. She sounds powerful without oversinging, and the arrangement remains restrained while suggesting that something could erupt at any moment.
It is also an unusually adaptable composition. I can imagine it recast as a slow soul ballad or an explosive hard-rock song without losing its identity. That is usually evidence of strong songwriting.