Sums it up perfectly




I was going to write a review of P J Harvey's new(ish) album 'Let England Shake', it's one of the best albums of the past ten years or so. It's a record about hope, loss, war, England's place in the world and much more. The song 'Written on The Forehead' however seems to sum up the situation in North Africa and the Middle East as witnessed over the past month or so perfectly, perhaps a sign that things change and remain the same because Polly Jean wrote and recorded the album last year, I decided to leave the review and just post one song and its lyrics.

The lyrics on the album could standalone as poetry, the words to this particular song are:

People throwing dinars at the belly-dancers
In a sad circus by a trench of burning oil
People throw belongings; a lifetime's earnings
Amongst the scattered rubbish and suitcases on the sidewalk

Date palms and orange and tangerine trees
With eyes that're crying for everything
(Let it burn! Let it burn, burn, burn...)

So I talked to an old man by the generator
He was standing on the gravel by the fetid river
He turned to me and answered, "Baby, see."
Said, "War is here in our beloved city."

So I jumped in at the riverhead and tried to swim away
Through tons of sewage; fate written on their foreheads
Date palms and orange and tangerine trees
And eyes are crying for everything

Let it burn, let it burn!
Let it burn, let it burn!
Let it burn, let it burn!
Let it burn, let it burn!

The Blood & Fire refrain used on the track are from the song of the same name by Winston 'Niney' Holness, he was great on Blockbuster wasn't he?

There's no doubt in my mind that P J has grown over the last decade and a half from being seen, lazily in my opinion, as a slightly battier Kate Bush to an artist who grows with each album. Each one of the dozen songs on this album reflects that growing lyrical maturity.