The Strange, Lonely Childhood of Neko Case
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What struggles did Neko Case face in her childhood?
This is Radio Atlantic. I'm Hannah Rosen. Last month, Nico Case peeled back some of the mystery. She's written a memoir called The Harder I Fight, The More I Love You, which shares part of the same title as one of her albums from 2013. She writes about growing up poor and neglected. Her parents were teenagers when they had her, and her guess is that neither of them ever wanted a child. By the end of her sophomore year in high school, she asked her mom for emancipation. She writes, quote, she couldn't sign it quickly enough. She didn't even have to think it over. And so Case hid a lot behind her music. One of my favorite scenes is you as a kid in the school library. Like, you remember that the beanbags were corduroy, you know? Oh, yeah. The image was so perfect.
Like, it was such a perfect image from that era. And you were hiding out with your headphones on. I think you mentioned listening to Atomic by Blondie.
Over and over and over and over. Like, only— A neurodivergent ADHD kid can do. Right.
How did music influence Neko Case's upbringing?
Right. Like just a million times. Do you have words for what that was like for you? Because it felt like, OK, that's the moment that she discovers the power of music. And like in a movie, that would be the scene in which you discover like what music is for and what it does to you.
Music was always just there and I took it for granted, but I also leaned really heavily into it. I did not make a connection that music was something I would want to do or I would do because I was kind of, you know, I was just a girl. And I did not. make a connection between myself and Blondie or myself and the Go-Go's. I just knew I really loved them.
So why did it take so long, do you think, for you to, you know, open your mouth and sing? Like you played in bands, but you didn't really sing for a while.
Well, I was raised to be female in the United States of America. So, you know, I wasn't raised with a lot of self-confidence.
So what was the point where you were like, oh, I can do this?
It wasn't so much deciding I could do it. It was just that I couldn't help but to do it because the desire was so intense.
Now, the desire is the desire to make music, to write music, to sing. Like, what was the desire?
Even just to sit near it. Anything. Anything I could have.
In the book, you complain about your voice. You write that it was neither pretty nor powerful. Yeah. Oh, that's not a complaint. It's not a complaint.
Okay, okay, okay. No, no, no. It's not powerful and it's not pretty. Like, those are things that, you know, I wish it were powerful. I don't care that it's not pretty. I very much enjoy hearing women singing in ways other than being pretty. And, you know, singing is an incredible physical feeling. It's like... your mouth is a fire hose, and you can twist your insides and make a powerful thing come out to the point where your feet levitate ever so slightly off the floor.
What was the turning point for Neko Case in her music career?
Chimney falls and lovers blaze Thought that I was young It gets so physical.
It is so athletic, and... There's nothing else like it.
Well, even in this just few minutes that we've been talking, you like describe a little journey from a point where, you know, the world gives you a set of expectations and tells you you can and can't do things. And you seem to sort of find your way out of that, you know, either through your voice or how you experience music or even the way you write about institutions.
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
What struggles did Neko Case face in her childhood?
1:13–2:25
2
How did music influence Neko Case's upbringing?
2:25–4:46
3
What was the turning point for Neko Case in her music career?
4:46–9:20
4
How does Neko Case view the country music industry?
9:20–15:03
5
What themes are explored in Neko Case's memoir?
15:03–20:07
6
How does Neko Case connect her personal experiences to her lyrics?
20:07–31:24