Portions for Foxes: Audra Mae

"Portions for Foxes" is a series of weekly posts, each about one song by a woman or a band led by a woman. See the introduction for more.

You know, by now, that I'm fond of metaphors - well, it's a great one, this week.

This time out, I have a short, sharp song, sung perfectly by its songwriter: The Happiest Lamb by Audra Mae.

I once loved a shepherd,
A charming, handsome man.
One wave of his hickory staff,
And I’d follow him ‘round the land.
‘Til one day I noticed,
I weren’t the only one,
There was all kind of other little pretty young sheep,
Havin’ all kind of pretty young fun.

If I'm not careful, I'll list the whole lyrics, and anatomize the whole metaphor right here. But I think you get it.

This is not the kind of "happiest" that is joyous and positive towards life, as you might guess. It's very much a "I am happier without you, you horrible person" song.

No shepherd man alive can grow the wool that gets him paid.

I do wonder about how far to take that metaphor - it could easily go much farther than just a relationship between two people, with one shepherd, multiple sheep, fleecing, getting paid, etc.. I think Audra Mae meant that implication, but wanted to keep it possible rather than obvious. But metaphors that can be more complex are only better.

This is a quick, smart, zippy song that has a gleam in its eye and an edge in its voice, one that tells all those other pretty young sheep to watch out for shepherds that want to fleece them, and does it with verve and energy to burn.