Cass grew up in North London as the only daughter in a large working-class Irish family. From her lyrics you can tell this wasn't the easiest childhood with her only escape being music. From an early age she sang in Irish pubs and won talent contests but when choosing a career, she didn't see singing as something which she could be successful in. Along with a friend from school, she went into nursery nursing. She went through a series of dead-end jobs, finally servicing fruit machines so she could get a company car. She recalls how she felt, "Even though I wasn’t being honest with myself about what I really wanted to do, I always knew it was all temporary. When I worked in offices, I was always the girl asking if anyone wanted a tea or coffee. Then I’d go hide in the toilet, doodling or day-dreaming or writing songs." She lived for the weekend, during these jobs, when she would go across the country with her friends to popular large clubs such as Cream, Gatecrasher and Miss Moneypenny's. At 4am one morning she nearly crashed her car into the central reservation. This made her reassess her life. "I suddenly thought, ‘What am I doing? I’ve got a voice, I can write songs, and I’m just doing these crappy jobs. It’s time for me to be brave. No more messing about.’" She said "I had no money, no car, but from that day I started making music."
She quit her job and started singing in clubs, bars, and on the street. Rui Da Silva saw her performing with some buskers in the West End and he invited her to start hanging out at his studio. It was there she wrote the lyrics to Touch Me over one of Rui's old demos. This became her first success. The single topped the UK charts early in 2001, selling some 300,000 copies. Cass decided though to walk away and start again. "I knew from the start that dance music wasn’t the direction I wanted," she says. "I thought having a hit would open doors, but that’s not how it worked out." She wanted success, but on her own terms. "If I do something, I have to do it 100 per cent,"
She stopped working with Da Silva, due to her desire to work in other genres, and began working with a friend, eventually finding a musical style that felt her own. 'Army Of One' is about her frustration with record companies and was the first song she felt was hers and hers alone. "I felt, 'This is it. This is what I want to do." She played the song to Rollo Armstrong at his studio and he immediately wanted to work with her. Unfortunately he had commitments with his sister Dido and band Faithless, so while waiting Cass worked with Craig Dodds (Sugababes), writing three songs with him. "That was brilliant, it was like a therapy session - getting all my angst out." When she eventually worked with Rollo, he helped her add to her music and find her more passionate side.
You can hear the influence she draws on her debut album Come Here from people such as her childhood heroine Dolly Parton, Annie Lennox, Tracy Chapman or Kate Bush. She has even drawn comparisons to Eminem due to her lyrics describing family strife.
Cass was the first of two support acts on Faithless' "Forever Faithless" tour in 2005, the other being Crazy P. Cass later appeared on the 2006 Faithless album To All New Arrivals, providing vocals for the track "Music Matters". She has appeared alongside the band on the tour supporting this album.
A version of her song "Little Bird" was remixed into DJ Tiësto's compilation album "In Search Of Sunrise 5" released in 2006. On 4 September 2006 Cass's Songs "Army of One" and "Come Here" were made available as free singles for the week on the UK version of iTunes.
As of 3 June 2007 Cass had added a song "Home" to her MySpace page along with a small sample of artwork for the song. It is expected that the song will feature on her second album which is currently in production.
Strangers
Cass Fox Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Didn't you see I was hurting here?
Father, didn't you want me to grow like I did?
But mother, you are scared, and I recognise myself
And brother, you're lost and I see myself in you
Do you see?
Do you, do you see?
And to hurt each other like this
We need to be, to be like
Strangers
And to break each other like this
We need to be, to be like
Strangers
Skin-close thing, don't know where to begin
And I can't see colours
And I can't hear a thing
In this world I'm not scared to realise I need help
And use my strength to reach out
I need to find some reality
'Cause to hurt each other like this
We need to be, to be like
Strangers
And to break each other like this
We need to be, to be like
Strangers
We can't carry on
We're going nowhere in this storm
As the day starts to clear
The Sun comes through when everything looks like a mountain
To hurt each other like this
We need to be, to be like
Strangers
And to break each other like this
We need to be, to be like
Strangers
And to hurt each other like this
We need to be, to be like
Strangers
'Cause to hurt each other like this
We need to be, to be like
Strangers
The song "Strangers" by Cass Fox is a powerful reflection on the pain and distance that can exist within a family. The opening lines address the absent father, lamenting how his absence and lack of attention caused pain. The next lines turn to the mother and brother, recognizing the fear and confusion they experience and the ways that the singer sees herself reflected in them. The chorus repeats the phrase "to hurt each other like this, we need to be like strangers," suggesting that perhaps it is the familiarity and closeness that breeds this pain between family members.
The second verse seems to take a more introspective turn. The singer notes that she is "skin-close" to something but unsure where to begin. She cannot see colors or hear anything, perhaps suggesting a sense of disorientation or confusion. But she also notes that she is not scared to realize that she needs help and to use her strength to reach out. The final lines return to the chorus, again emphasizing the idea that sometimes the only way to avoid hurting each other is to retreat into a sense of distance and unfamiliarity.
Overall, "Strangers" is a poignant and emotional song that speaks to the complex dynamics within families. It suggests that even those we love most deeply can sometimes hurt us the most, and that perhaps the only way to avoid this cycle of pain is to create a sense of distance and separation.
Line by Line Meaning
Father, you have taken so long
Father, your absence and lack of help for so long has been hard for me
Didn't you see I was hurting here?
I was hurting and needed you, why didn't you notice?
Father, didn't you want me to grow like I did?
I grew despite your absence, didn't you wish to be a part of that growth?
But mother, you are scared, and I recognise myself
Mother, I understand your fear and I see that same fear within myself
And brother, you're lost and I see myself in you
Brother, you are lost and I can relate and see myself in your struggles
Do you see?
Do you truly understand and see the connections and similarities between us?
Do you, do you see?
I am asking again, do you truly see?
And to hurt each other like this
The pain we inflict on each other
We need to be, to be like Strangers
We need to emotionally detach ourselves from one another to cause such hurt
Skin-close thing, don't know where to begin
Our relationship is complex and it can be hard to know where to start fixing it
And I can't see colours
I am blinded by my emotions and cannot see the situation clearly
And I can't hear a thing
I am deaf to any possible solutions or advice
In this world I'm not scared to realise I need help
In this current context, I am not afraid to admit that I need help in order to move forward
And use my strength to reach out
I will use my inner strength to ask for help and support
I need to find some reality
I need to find a way to ground myself and address the situation as it is, not as I fear it to be
We can't carry on
Things cannot continue as they are
We're going nowhere in this storm
Our current situation is chaotic and not leading us anywhere productive
As the day starts to clear
With time and effort, things may start to become clearer
The Sun comes through when everything looks like a mountain
Even in the darkest moments, hope and solutions may arise
Contributed by Nolan Y. Suggest a correction in the comments below.