Vixen

Lyrics

(1)

It had taken her a long time
Suddenly back on its own
To sit, friendless & alone
She is friendless and alone
She is friendless and alone
And the vixen on its own

The triple gang & the throng
Did not feel helpless or alone

The vixen got no friends
She needs a poison pen
Even in Switzerland
The people cry, "vixen!"

Silver cross, all alone
The bird had flown
With the omen their bird had flown
Silver cross
All alone, all alone,
All alone, all alone (So millions were broken hearted)
All alone, all alone
All alone, with no home
WIth no home, It's all alone
All alone

And some night, the wind moves the leaves
They pick themselves up & run
Perhaps all that night possessed no ways of telling time

The vixen got no friends
The vixen got no friends
She needs a poison pen
The vixen got no friends

 

It had taken her a long time
Suddenly back on its own
To sit friendless & alone
To sit friendless and alone
A man's trust, apalling debt
A man's chest, appalling debt
To sit friendless and alone
With no home, with no home
The vixen's got no home
She is friendless and alone
A long time on its own
It shone around her Triple gang

The vixen's got no friends
She needs a poison pen
Even in Switzerland
The people cry, "vixen!"

 

 

 

 

 

 

Notes

1. This song mingles self-pity with grandiosity, as the singer (Brix) is presumably the "Vixen." However, is there a hidden meaning, or at least a secondary geopolitical resonance? According to Dan:

It would seem to be about a person, wouldn't it? But... Historically, "triple gang" can refer to Prussia, Russia and Austria, who partitioned Poland from 1772. Following this up, the "Vixen" was a British ship captured by Russia in 1836. Marx wrote about the incident in his account of the life of Palmerston. See also Wikipedia.

Brix discusses this song in her memoir, The Rise, The Fall, and The Rise:

"'Vixen' [is] a song that was quite special to me. It was inspired by a TV documentary on foxes. I was a TV addict, and the problem would get worse and worse... The documentary depicted an urban fox, living in the city with her cubs, and how she was such a solitary creature. In it, i sing, "The vixen has no friends." Writing it, I thought that it was about an animal, not a woman. But, subconsciously, i was really writing about myself. There were so many parallels between the vixen and myself. I identified with her and was even refereed to as a "rock and roll vixen" in the press.'" 

See Dan's comments below re: the documentary.

^

Comments (13)

Martin
  • 1. Martin | 16/02/2014
What's with the small font here for most of the lyrics?!
dannyno
  • 2. dannyno | 30/06/2014
It would seem to be about a person, wouldn't it? But...

Historically, "triple gang" can refer to Prussia, Russia and Austria, who partitioned Poland from 1772.

Following this up, the "Vixen" was a British ship captured by Russia in 1836. Marx wrote about the incident in his account of the life of Palmerston: https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1853/palmerston/ch08.htm

See also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mission_of_the_Vixen
dannyno
  • 3. dannyno | 22/07/2014
The lyrics here are incomplete.

Here is what I hear:

"It had taken her a long time
Suddenly back on its own
To sit friendless and alone
She is friendless and alone
She is friendless and alone
And the vixen on its own
And the vixen on its own
The triple gang and the throng
Did not feel helpless or alone
The vixen got no friends
She needs a poison pen
Even in Switzerland
The people cry, "vixen"
Silver cross, all alone
The bird had flown
With their omen their bird had flown
Silver cross
All alone
All alone
All alone
All alone
(So millions were broken hearted)
All alone
All alone
All alone, with no home
With no home
It's all alone
All alone
And some night, the wind moves the leaves
They pick themselves up and run
Perhaps all that night possessed no ways for telling time
The vixen got no friends
The vixen got no friends
She needs a poison pen
The vixen got no friends
It had taken her a long time
Suddenly back on its own
To sit friendless and alone
To sit friendless and alone
A man's trust, appalling debt
A man's chest, appalling debt
To sit friendless and alone
With no home
With no home
The vixen's got no home
She is friendless and alone
She is friendless and alone
A long time on its own
It shone round her
Triple gang
The vixen got no friends
She needs a poison pen
Even in Switzerland
The people cry, "vixen" "
dannyno
  • 4. dannyno | 22/07/2014
It's also possible to see this as referring to Nietzsche, who was buried in a coffin decorated with a silver cross. He describes himself as "friendless and alone". And his sister certainly wielded a poison pen.

I think I prefer the ship story.
dannyno
  • 5. dannyno | 04/05/2016
From Brix Smith-Start's The Rise, The Fall, and The Rise:


'Vixen', a song that was quite special to me. It was inspired by a TV documentary on foxes. I was a TV addict, and the problem would get worse and worse... The documentary depicted an urban fox, living in the city with her cubs, and how she was such a solitary creature. In it, i sing, 'The vixen has no friends.' Writing it, I thought that it was about an animal, not a woman. But, subconsciously, i was really writing about myself. There were so many parallels between the vixen and myself. I identified with her and was even refereed to as a 'rock and roll vixen' in the press.


Which kicks my Nietzsche theory into touch, though I still like that thought.
dannyno
  • 6. dannyno | 04/05/2016
I think the TV documentary Brix is referring to must be the 1984 series "Three in the Wild". This consisted of 6 episodes, 2 about foxes called "Shak the Red Fox", 2 about "Mordicus the Buzzard", and 2 about "Toran the Dartmoor Pony". These were filmed by John and Simon King (Simon still films nature documentaries now), and the Fox episodes first aired on BBC South-West and first aired nationally on BBC 2 from 9 November 1984.
dannyno
  • 7. dannyno | 04/05/2016
Here's the detail:

First broadcast on BBC 2 in two 30 minute parts.: 9th and 16th November 1984

It was first repeated on BBC 2 on Christmas Day 1984 in an hour-long version. The hour-long version was repeated in 1990, the two-part version was repeated on several occasions in the 80s and 90s. But it must obvioulsy be the 1984 versions that Brix would have seen.
bzfgt
  • 8. bzfgt | 24/06/2016
Is the first sentence ungrammatical in her text, or is it an excerpt?
dannyno
  • 9. dannyno | 25/06/2016
Sorry, the paragraph starts:

"The B-side to the 12" of 'Cruiser's Creek' included 'Vixen', a song that was..." etc
dannyno
  • 10. dannyno | 01/04/2020
Shak the Red Fox

(Probably)
dannyno
  • 11. dannyno | 03/01/2021
dannyno
  • 12. dannyno | 28/02/2021
I uploaded the Shak clip to my youtube channel:

dannyno
  • 13. dannyno | 28/02/2021
Just also to note that Brix must have seen one or both of the two November broadcasts of Shak, because of course Brix and MES spent Christmas 1984 aboard the Royal Viking Sky on the Salenger family cruise commemmorated by Cruiser's Creek

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