Interesting how some
words stay with you. Random words, silly words, careless words. Words that were
not even supposed to be taken at their face value (maybe). But these words
haunt and affect you, for no apparent reason, and it might take years for you
to break the spell.
There’s a particular
song by PJ Harvey which I had avoided for years. It was an odd but strong
comment from a person I knew long ago and in short it dismissed the song so
snidely you would think Polly should be embarrassed for life. Bizarrely, the
words affected me so much that I couldn’t listen to the song objectively. I
never gave it the time of day. What made things even worse is that it was from
PJ Harvey’s best album (up until 2011 in any case), To Bring You My Love.
But then, just the
other day, it finally clicked with me. Again, for no apparent reason. I’m not
saying it’s better than the intense rhythm of “C’mon Billy” or the sheer
guttural power of the title track, but my God what a song this is.
