A collection of PJ Harvey’s favourite songs
Inspired by an eclectic mix of artists, ranging from blues musicians like Robert Johnson, the pioneering punk of Patti Smith, and folk singers such as Bob Dylan, PJ Harvey emerged in the 1990s as one of Britain’s most vital musical voices.
Initially beginning her career as a member of Automatic Dlamini, the musician soon began a project of her own, blending her various influences to create a bold and uncompromising sound, complete with lyrics that explored womanhood, sexuality and violence.
Her debut single, ‘Dress’, with its pounding drums and prominent, rumbling guitars, which seem to be in a constant battle with Harvey’s tremendous voice, was explosive. Lyrically, the track is a darkly humorous look at female objectification, pointing out the absurdity of the demands placed on women to dress a certain way and perform for men.
After the release of her debut album, Dry, Harvey teamed up with Steve Albini for Rid of Me, which is considerably more abrasive. Yet, the album continues to centre lyrical explorations of womanhood, particularly through songs such as ‘Man-Size’ and ‘50ft Queenie’. Since then, Harvey has released more stellar albums, including Is This Desire?, Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea, and Let England Shake, frequently collaborating with her former Automatic Dlamini bandmate, John Parish.
While Harvey’s earlier music most prominently bore influence from punk, blues, grunge, and folk, the latter genre has become a more prominent influence through her later work. Never boxing herself into one sound, Harvey’s discography reflects a wide span of inspirations. For Jehnny Beth’s Beats 1 show, Start Making Sense, Harvey once picked out three of her favourite songs, which reflect her broad taste.
The first was ‘From Her to Eternity’ by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, taken from their debut album of the same name. Cave and Harvey dated in the ‘90s, although the relationship came to an end when Harvey called Cave to break up with him, who was so shocked he “almost dropped his syringe”. As a result, Cave penned several songs that ended up on The Boatman’s Call and Harvey’s on Is This Desire? Despite the relationship’s end, Harvey still greatly admires Cave’s work, and ‘From Her to Eternity’, co-written by Anita Lane, is one of his finest early songs.
Harvey also selected Captain Beefheart And His Magic Band’s ‘Dropout Boogie’, taken from their 1967 debut album, Safe as Milk. Although the record wasn’t as successful as the band’s third album, Trout Replica, which emerged two years later, it was still well-received. Harvey once told the BBC, “I’d heard Beefheart when I was really young through my father and my mother, they had all of Beefheart’s work, but when I was a child, it just used to make me feel ill.” It wasn’t until years later that she rediscovered the musician’s excellence and subsequently became a Beefheart superfan.
Finally, Harvey picked out John Jacob Niles’ ‘I Wonder As I Wander’. The musician has exerted considerable influence over folk music, with Niles collecting and transcribing many traditional pieces since the early 1900s, taking particular interest in Appalachian folk. He wrote ‘I Wonder As I Wander’ in the 1930s, which was inspired by the fragment of a song he heard a girl singing in the street.
