Polly Jean Harvey Questions

[*Taut*Datura*]

I have a few questions about my second favorite sing Polly Jean Harvey.
#1. Does anyone know what these songs are about or why she wrote them?
Dress
Sheela-Na-Gig
Rid Of Me
Missed
Legs
Hook
Man-Size
50FT Queenie
Dry
Snake
Meet Ze Monsta
C`Mon Billy
Long Snake Moan
Down By The Water
I Think I'm A Mother
The Wind
A Perfect Day Elise
Sweeter Than Anything
Maniac
The Faster I Breathe The Further I Go
The Northwood
Nina In Ecstasy
Rebecca
Harder
Taut
Urn With Dead Flowers In A Drained Pool

#2 Does ANYONE have the guitar tabs for these songs? e-mail me at celt84@hotmail.com if u do

Dress
Water
Missed
50FT Queenie
Man-Size
Wang Dang Doodle
Me-Jane
To Bring You My Love
Meet Ze Monsta
C'Mon Billy
Taut
Urn With Dead Flowers In A Drained Pool
A Perfect Day Elise
Catherine
Is This Desire?
Sweeter Than Anything
The Bay
Instrumental #2
Instrumental #3
Ecstasy

#3 Does anyone know when and if her newest album is coming out?
Thanks :)

[blackdove]

oh jeez!!!!!

unfortunatly, Polly Jean is one of those extremely private musicians who NEVER talks about her songs or why she writes them.

i'll take a shot though:

Dress - this is such an intense song. Polly *personifies* feminine expectations and the pressure of the double standard in the action of putting on a dress.
powerful stuff!!

Sheela-Na-Gig - i think this one is about gender roles and communication ... she points out her feminine features to a partner "Look at these - my child bearing hips... Look at these - my ruby red ruby lips", and then takes his place singing "'Sheela-na-gig! Sheela-na-gig!! you ex-hi-bitionist!!'"
another intense song.

Rid Of Me - speaks for itself i think

Missed - ??? no idea, but appears to be biblical revisionism (Mary, resurrection)

Legs - one of her angriest songs, IMO. PJ seems to be taking the role of an emotionally brutal lover.
"I might as well be dead... but i could kill you instead"
after he finds the strength to shake her off, she isn't about to let him win, because she still wants him.

Hook - ??? this one seems to be one her "genderbender" type songs, like Victory.

Man-Size - this one is also heavy in gender role themes. see Dress and SheelaNaGig.

50FT Queenie - kind of a goofy song, but i think that how its meant

Dry - speaks for itself.
she's not interested in her lover, but they're still together. and it sounds like the sex isn't that good either :D

Snake - speaks for itself ... another gender-themed song. think garden of eden/adam and eve.

Meet Ze Monsta - i think this one is about a one night stand. its actually kind of funny, the imagry. :O

C`Mon Billy - speaks for itself

Long Snake Moan - ???????

Down By The Water - i love the creepy feel of this song. i think its about a mother who drowns her daughter and then wants her back. "little fish big fish swimming in the water... come back here and gimme my daughter" ... its so chilling!

I Think I'm A Mother - ???????? i guess she's a mother, or something, and there is conflict over whether or not she should keep the baby

The Wind - speaks for itself ....... i've always had a great idea for a video for this song... it reminds of this book <u>The Wyndcliffe</u> by some author (forgot who) and anyway, the cover of that book is really creepy

A Perfect Day Elise - ???? well, there's definatly something going in some hotel.... i think Joe falls in love with Elise, but Elise doesn't want him so he blows his brains out ("said a prayer pulled the trigger and cried")

Sweeter Than Anything - soooo sad ...... i love this one.... an all-time fave....
i think it's about a fling... err, i don't mean that to sound trite or anything ;r

Maniac - ?????????????????????

The Faster I Breathe The Further I Go - ???... i dunno... its kind of nosensical like The Sky Lit Up

The Northwood - speaks for itself, i guess...

Nina In Ecstasy - ??????
this doesn't even sound like PJ!!

Rebecca - ahhh, a real beauty..... PJ fantasizes about... another woman i guess.... and herself finding love and happiness by the sea

Harder - ?? it rocks anyway. :q

Taut - a demonic car!!! another chilling song. this would make a great video too. it reminds me of something out of Stephen King.... (like CHRISTINE, and for some reason Cujo)

Urn With Dead Flowers In A Drained Pool -- ??? i don't know... most of the DHALP songs don't make much sense to me, 'speshly this one.


<b>#2</b>
guitar tabs??.............. there was a site........... i think it was called Happy and Bleeding....
check http://www.bluetavern.org . they have all kinds of links

<b>#3</b>
the single in August, and the album in September... (like what she did with APDE & ITD)

:O

[LcKyNmBeR13]

WONDERFUL EXPLANATION BLACKDOVE...GOOD SHOW...KUDOS TO YOU

[Lite Sneeze]

Are you sure about those dates, blackdove?

Last thing I heard was that the single would be out in september and the album in october.

It would be great of course if everything happens one month earlier!

[in_limbo*]

just to say, sheela-na-gig was an ancient Irish Goddess of birth and death. her figure used to be outside churches. she is often portrayed grinning, with legs apart, holding her vagina open. woman's genitalia was thought to hold sacred power, and the Celts honoured this (so i've heard)...

[KJnomadic]

i'm not gonna try to analyze all those songs ...at least not until i get into one of my moods, drink 5 cups of coffee and stay up til 3 in the morning...it happens, you never know...i may be back ;)

but here's some stuff on "down by the water"

my husband had a guitar book for old folk songs...
there was a song that had these lines in it

"little fish big fish
swimming in the water
come back here man
give me my daughter"

someone borrowed that book years ago and lost it :s grrr

but i remember that the song was from 2 perspectives:
a father
and his daughter's "lover" (or at least someone who seduced her)

the father is mad at a man who seduced his daughter
(it had something to do with an office or work....maybe she worked for him or he worked with the dad, i don't know)...he's the one who says the "little fish big fish....bring me my daughter" part

then the lover called himself a "salty dog"..."let me be your salty dog" or something like that...or maybe the father calls him that, i forget, but the phrase is in there

anyways, i've searched and searched for that same folk version that was in the guitar book....but folk songs come in many versions and i haven't had any luck finding the same one with the "little fish big fish" lyrics

i have found one called "salty dog", sung by the "lover", but it's pretty straightforward, a "come here baby" song with no mention of the "little fish big fish" stuff

and i've found some other southern squaredancing song called "salty dog", i forget the lyrics, but it's not the same one...

anyways, PJ must have known the same version of the folk song that was in our book...

i can't always figure if the theme of her song is the same or she is just playing with that song...or a little of both?

a lover (salty dog) situation,...maybe she is singing about the innocence she lost...her "daughter", the little girl in her?

maybe she is singing from the perspective of a parent whose daughter has been wronged or hurt by the parent or someone else...i say someone else...

the water (ocean) somehow ties in with "salty dog", even if just as a play on words...

let's look at the lyrics
bear with me ;) :

i lost my heart
under the bridge
to that little girl
so much to me
and now i moan

***who lost a heart to her? the mother singing? or is it the perspective of a dirty man, a salty dog? let's go with that idea for now***

and now i holler
she'll never know
just what i found
that blue eyed girl
{that blue eyed girl}
she said "no more"
{she said "no more"}

*** with the dirty man theme here..."she said NO MORE"...maybe she was being raped and then murdered? or maybe a somewhat mutual seduction that then turned into rape, although that doesn't fit with "little girl"...depends how old the girl is..***

that blue eyed girl
{that blue eyed girl}
became blue eyed whore
{big blue eyed whore}

***keeping with the dirty man/salty dog theme...he sees her as a whore...a common projection in rapes..."allowing" him in his mind to be violent with her***

down by the water
{down by the water}
i took her hand
{i took her hand}
just like my daughter
{just like my daughter}

***"just like my daughter"... it's not actually a real daughter, but it's a sick thought here...kind of incestuous...or possibly he is feeling remorse here because the girl is like his daughter, and he takes her hand...the song seems like it's mixed with violence/tenderness

see her again
{see her again}

oh help me jesus
come through this storm
i had to lose her
to do her harm


***he's contemplating what he has done...but he "had" to, he reasons to himself and to jesus***

i heard her holler
{i heard her holler}
i heard her moan
{i heard her moan}

***she screamed and she moaned...moan here is a tricky word...maybe this guy thinks she wants it...maybe she's not a little girl and she was part of a seduction at first until it turned violent...or maybe it was just a painful moan and not what i'm thinking...it's just that "moan" is so suggestive of a word, and you know pj...either way...bad stuff happening


***my lovely daughter
{my lovely daughter}
i took her home
{i took her home}


**"i took her home"...he killed her...her final resting place is in the water now***


little fish. big fish. swimming in the water.
come back here, man. gimme my daughter.
little fish. big fish. swimming in the water.
come back here, man. gimme my daughter.
(repeats)


***maybe this is where the mother comes in? maybe this is a change in the narrator...the original folk version i had had two narrators too...the two narrator thing also supports the repeat of lyrics throughout the songs...the mother could also be saying the same things that are in parenthesis, kind of echoing them through her perpective...***

i'm also wondering why "salty dog" and the fish and the water are used as symbols here...well, "salty dog" fits as a nasty name for a pervert, but....the rest...i'm wondering if there's any mythology at play here....just a thought, don't know

***********SO what do you think of all that?
of course, it would help if i could show you the same version of the folk song that i had, but trust me on it...

[Assless Pants]

I have a 50 Foot Queenie interpretation...... I think it's Polly mocking guys who are obsessed with dick size. It's her way of saying "big dicks don't really make you the king", and she uses irony to get that across. I mean, look at the lyrics. It's really obvious!

Hey I'm one big queen no one can stop me
Red light red green smack back and watch it
I'm your new one second to no one
No sweat I'm clean nothing can touch me

I'll tell you my name F U and C K
50ft queenie force ten hurricanes
Biggest woman I could have ten sons
Ten daughters ten queens
Ten foot and rising

Hey I'm the king of the world
You ought to hear my song
You come on and measure me
I'm twenty inches long

Glory glory lay it all on me
50ft queenie 50 and rising
You bend over Cassanova
No sweat I'm clean
Nothing can touch me

Hey I'm the king of the world
You ought to hear my song
You come on and measure me
I'm twenty inches long
Hey I'm king of the world
You ought to hear my song
You come on and measure me
I'm thirty inches long
Hey I'm king of the world
You ought to hear my song
You come on and measure me
I'm forty inches long
Hey I'm king of the world
You ought to hear my song
You come on and measure me
I'm fifty inches long
50ft queenie

[KJnomadic]

"You bend over Cassanova"

LOL
assless, i think she's strappin' it on in this one
she's gonna give it to him gooood ;)

[KJnomadic]

ok, i just *had* to boost this....i've been dying to know if
**anyone** has ever seen that folk song i was talking about (in my long post on "down by the water")??? i could just scream at my friend for losing that book! anyways, i posted the same story about it on the old dent and didn't get any replies there. i've searched pj harvey sites as well as folk song sites with no luck.

i just find it so interesting and apparently unknown....does anyone know what i'm talking about??

[i am a cat.]

Great interps, everyone! I'll add my own later. :)

[Elise]

these are great interps, I'll come back with some more later but here's a couple thoughts:

Long Snake Moan - honestly I've never thought about the verses that much, they're kinda nonsensical/subliminal, much like the title and song as a whole which is very sexual and very obviously sexual but the way she's expressing it it's also not literal/overt, it's a lot of psychological triggers and suggestion. Meaningwise, I'll have to listen to it and form a good interp later but I think it's kinda like 'you oughta see my long snake moan: you should see what I can do to ya', y'know?

Perfect Day Elise: I will do a long-form interp for the song that gave me my Dent nick :)

<I>He got lucky got lucky one time
Hittin with the girl in room 509
She turned her back on him facing the frame
Said 'listen Joe don't you come here again'</i>

pretty obvious I think. I always thought Joe & Elise might be having an affair of some sort and her partner is about to/already has found out so she's breaking it off with Joe.

<I>White sun scattered all over the sea
Could think of nothing but her name 'Elise'
God is the sweat running down his back
The water soaked her blonde hair black</I>

Joe's completely infatuated with Elise and I think the last line has that kind of 'everything they do is perfect' sort of emotion you get when you're just dead nuts about someone.

<I>It's a Perfect Day, a Perfect Day, Elise</I>

This part I think really foreshadows (at this point in the song) and later reflects on his suicide, like he did it all for her and he couldn't stand not having her.

<I>He got burned by the sun
His face so pale and his hands so worn
Let himself in Room 509
Said a prayer pulled the trigger and cried
It's a Perfect Day Elise</I>

The first line in this part, I think the 'sun' is definitely a reference to Elise because she's so important to him and now he's been 'burned' by her, betrayed. The next part is all pretty damn explanatory, he kills himself over her. One thing I think is interesting though is that PJ didn't include the "pulled the trigger" in the printed lyrics on ITD (the typed ones at least, I can't be sure if they're on the handwritten bit [which I love btw] but I don't remember them being there).

OK that's it fer now ;)

[No Angel Came]

wow, these are REALLY good interpretaions!!! I never even thought of half of this!