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Published On: Sep 04, 2006 11:32 PM
Total entries in this category:
Published On: Sep 04, 2006 11:32 PM
The Thursday Tune 2
On Monday
I just wasn't inspired,
OK?
So, tonight iTunes came up with this song on party shuffle, and, while it merits but 4 stars, I think it's still worth discussing.
It is "The Wind," by PJ Harvey off Is This Desire?
There is something sinister and sexy about this song. In some ways, it's very much a song poem, with sounds expressing words, like how Harvey holds out the shhhhhhhhh at the end of "a place where she could wash."
I have long been a fan of speaking and singing on top of each other, and this song features that, but only in the second verse, after Harvey has talked through the first verse. The singing adds emotion but also vulnerability--somewhat mitigating the scariness of the speaking whisper.
The song is ostensibly about St. Catherine of Catherine Wheel fame (and I would also refer you to the great Crowded House song "Catherine Wheel" for more on this topic (iTunes doesn't have the wonderful Together Alone for some reason), hence the lines:
She dreamt of children's voices
And torture on the wheel
Patron saint of nothing
A woman of the hills
Great line, that: "patron saint of nothing."
The album is almost a song cycle, seeking to answer the question posed in the title as expressed through different women's stories and voices: indeed, the album starts with the lines:
My first name Angelene
Prettiest mess you've ever seen
then continues to declare that it's "A Perfect Day Elise" who is adored by Joe:
White sun scattered all over the sea
He could think of nothing but her name Elise
God is the sweat running down his back
The water soaked her blond hair black
(Great third line; great image in the fourth)
and then ends with an answer (?) to the question:
Is this desire
Enough enough
To lift us higher
To lift above?
Is this desire
Enough enough
Enough inside
Is this desire?
So, she doesn't give us an answer specifically, but we are made to feel yearning throughout the album, be it yearning for love, sex, solitude, safety, ourselves. "The Wind" encapsulates that for me, but the album is really worth having.
Runners-up from PJ Harvey: the above mentioned songs off Is this Desire?, and "The Mess We're In," featuring Thom Yorke, off of Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea
So, tonight iTunes came up with this song on party shuffle, and, while it merits but 4 stars, I think it's still worth discussing.
It is "The Wind," by PJ Harvey off Is This Desire?
There is something sinister and sexy about this song. In some ways, it's very much a song poem, with sounds expressing words, like how Harvey holds out the shhhhhhhhh at the end of "a place where she could wash."
I have long been a fan of speaking and singing on top of each other, and this song features that, but only in the second verse, after Harvey has talked through the first verse. The singing adds emotion but also vulnerability--somewhat mitigating the scariness of the speaking whisper.
The song is ostensibly about St. Catherine of Catherine Wheel fame (and I would also refer you to the great Crowded House song "Catherine Wheel" for more on this topic (iTunes doesn't have the wonderful Together Alone for some reason), hence the lines:
She dreamt of children's voices
And torture on the wheel
Patron saint of nothing
A woman of the hills
Great line, that: "patron saint of nothing."
The album is almost a song cycle, seeking to answer the question posed in the title as expressed through different women's stories and voices: indeed, the album starts with the lines:
My first name Angelene
Prettiest mess you've ever seen
then continues to declare that it's "A Perfect Day Elise" who is adored by Joe:
White sun scattered all over the sea
He could think of nothing but her name Elise
God is the sweat running down his back
The water soaked her blond hair black
(Great third line; great image in the fourth)
and then ends with an answer (?) to the question:
Is this desire
Enough enough
To lift us higher
To lift above?
Is this desire
Enough enough
Enough inside
Is this desire?
So, she doesn't give us an answer specifically, but we are made to feel yearning throughout the album, be it yearning for love, sex, solitude, safety, ourselves. "The Wind" encapsulates that for me, but the album is really worth having.
Runners-up from PJ Harvey: the above mentioned songs off Is this Desire?, and "The Mess We're In," featuring Thom Yorke, off of Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea
Posted: Mon - September 4, 2006 at 11:32 PM |