"Requiem for a Fox" is an emotional piece and maybe the greatest achievement so far of Sandro Perri, at least in my humble opinion. I did a little research and found why this song is so moving. It's a posthumous collaboration between Perri and Todd Fox, the latter being the ‘Fox’ for whom the Requiem was written. Fox was a very close friend of Perri's, and Perri credits him with turning him onto such artists as Thomas Koner and Moritz von Oswald. The two made music together in 1999 before Fox tragically drowned with his twin brother, thus bringing their collaboration as Dot Wiggin to an unfortunate end. The first half was written as an instrumental piece and then Perri wrote the lyrics a few years later. Perri integrated those with what became the second half of the tune; a variation on a theme Fox wrote and recorded shortly before he died. Perri then re-recorded it, so Fox's version is not actually on the final recording. Perri himself describes it as possibly one of his "favorite songs of all time."

I hear some of the same creative spirit and general aesthetic of Arthur Russell in this song. It is deeply touching without even knowing the back story. Realizing the inspiration, I find it meaningful to be able to understand the underlying spirit which brought it to fruition.