Vixen

(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!"

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.

^

Vixen: Fall Tracks A-Z

The Story of the Fall: 1985