Portions for Foxes: Alex Winston

"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.

This week the song is Medicine, a great rousing tune by Alex Winston, off her great 2012 record King Con, which is full of great music top-to-bottom and should be much better known than it is. (Looks like she finally had a second record earlier this year: I'll have to check it out.)

Yes, I used "great" three times in one sentence. It's allowed when it's true.

I get a feminist, don't-push-me-around vibe from a bunch of Winston's songs - mostly wrapped up in great tunes and metaphors and quirky ideas - and this is definitely one of them:

I won't take my medicine
I won't settle my debts, no
Sell your house
Sell your kids
Don't settle for less no uh oh

This one has a happy, positive vibe - a handclappy slow syncopated rhythm with light instrumentation for the verses, a bigger punchy sound swelling up for the chorus. It feels like a traveling song, like Winston and her band are skipping down the lane somewhere, calling out to the locals and dragging a swelling crowd of revelers behind them.

I don't know what it means; the words get tangled and obscure in the verses. But it's crisp and precise and I have a strong feeling Winston knows exactly what she means, what she wants, and where she's going. And that's enough for the song, and for me.

Don't settle for less.