Talky Songs #9: Reynard The Fox

Following on from last week's post about The End by The Doors, here's the first of two songs which owe a huge debt to it.

Reynard The Fox was a medieval character that appeared in Dutch, English, German and French folklore. Julian Cope adopted the character for this epic track on his second album, 1985's Fried, using the alter ego to partly explain his own onstage self-mutilation (he'd slashed his stomach with a broken microphone stand the previous year*) in a gloriously OTT slice of Jim Morrison-esque humbug that made a huge impact on me as a teenager**.

Reynard left and went to Warwickshire, to a mound near a railway line,

With canals and a freezing swamp. He climbs high up above the countryside

And breathes freely. To the south he could see Polesworth, and to the

North he could just make out the ruins of the priory where Joss and I

Played cricket as children. We were only three miles away, probably drinking

Tea and talking,

At the same time as he was taking the Stanley knife out of

The bag. He pushed the point into his stomach,

until the light shone right

Through. And then he reached down, and he took the bag.

It's a plastic bag

With plastic handles

And plastic sides

And

And

And

AND

HE SPILLED HIS GUTS ALL OVER THE STAGE!

HE SPILLED HIS GUTS ALL OVER THE STAGE!

*Cope didn't actually spill his guts all over the stage... it was just a minor surface wound that became exaggerated in the way that all great pop legends should.

**I never spilled my guts, except that one time, after too much red wine... but I was in my 20s then and should have known better.