A collection of PJ Harvey’s favourite songs for the end of summer
As much as I might like to blab on about how listening to an album in full is the purest way to consume music, there’s no denying that playlist curation is an activity that even the biggest music snobs can enjoy indulging in and even spend hours devoting our imagination to. There’s just as much art to deliberating over the perfect track order like your life depends on it and carefully curating a selection of tracks to perfectly convey your taste as there is to putting together an album, and even your favourite artist would probably be inclined to agree with that sentiment.
One such artist who appears to have perfected both making albums and playlists that feel flawless is PJ Harvey, and while her own releases have always seemed to be meticulously crafted, it would appear she’s nailed the artistry of making playlists too.
The Dorset-born alternative rock legend has an entire section of her website dedicated to playlist curation, all for different moods and themes, and they offer a delightful insight into how Harvey dedicates her listening hours when not focusing on her own craft. From themes of ‘Brexit Blues’ to ‘Petals Have Fallen’, Harvey has been periodically updating this collection since 2016 with selections of a dozen, give or take, tracks that fit the theme she has chosen to follow.
One particular highlight of her library of playlists comes in the form of ‘Summer’s Almost Gone’, a selection of 14 of her favourite songs that mark the changing of the seasons from the balmy climes of the mid-year to the crispness of autumn. The selection takes a decidedly folky slant, but each song carries a warmth that evokes the thoughts of nights getting shorter and circling around the fire in thicker jumpers. While Harvey does make the cardinal sin of having multiple songs from the same artist in her playlist on more than one occasion, the careful selection of songs and their representation of her exquisite taste makes up for the doubling up.
Bookending her selection with songs from Bob Dylan’s Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid soundtrack, she picked out both ‘River Theme’ and ‘Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door’ to start and end the playlist and also made room for two songs from The Doors’ Waiting for the Sun to help mark the celestial body’s departure from the summer sky, selecting both ‘Love Street’ and the song from which the playlist takes its name, ‘Summer’s Almost Gone’ as her picks from the California band.
A couple of bluesier numbers also find their way into the selection, with Howlin’ Wolf’s ‘Spoonful’ and Captain Beefheart’s ‘Where There’s Woman’ making the cut. Other classics that feature include Neil Young’s ‘Winterlong’, The Velvet Underground’s ‘There She Goes Again’ and Leonard Cohen’s ‘Suzanne’, all of which exude the same warmth and intimacy that the rest of the playlist provides.
The most contemporary inclusion on her list comes in the form of Elliott Smith’s ‘Say Yes’, another intimate track that gives off an inviting sense of earnestness, while Harvey also takes time to acknowledge some poetry courtesy of Robert Frost, with his verse ‘A Considerable Speck’ being on the list. The final three entries are the most unusual inclusions, with Erik Satie’s ‘Gnossiennes No.5’ being a classical track that finds itself alongside the psychedelic folk of Jefferson Airplane’s ‘Lather’ and the reggae sound of Studio One legend John Holt and his track ‘Strange Things’.
While this playlist offers an insight into some of Harvey’s favourite songs that fit the ‘end of summer’ brief that the playlist title sets out, the rest of her playlists on her site are worth checking out and cover a variety of moods and aspects of the singer-songwriter’s exemplary taste.
PJ Harvey’s 14 songs for the end of the summer:
- Bob Dylan – ‘River Song’
- John Holt – ‘Strange Things’
- The Doors – ‘Summer’s Almost Over’
- Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band – ‘Where There’s Woman’
- Neil Young – ‘Winterlong’
- The Doors – ‘Love Street’
- Howlin’ Wolf – ‘Spoonful’
- Jefferson Airplane – ‘Lather’
- Robert Frost – ‘A Considerable Speck’
- Erik Satie – ‘Six Gnossiennes: No.5, Modéré’
- Elliott Smith – ‘Say Yes’
- The Velvet Underground & Nico – ‘There She Goes Again’
- Leonard Cohen – ‘Suzanne’
- Bob Dylan – ‘Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door’
