Cover Art of PJ Harvey’s First Solo LP To Bring You My Love released in 1995.
PJ Harvey’s first song and title track on her 1995 album To Bring You My Love, is a blues heavy track, with vocals that mimic the vibrato nature of female blues artists such as Bessie Smith. The song begins with a single guitar riff that uses a filtered effect in order to make it echo in a way that almost replicates the sound of a bass. There is a single hi hat coupled with the guitar in order to create backbeat that amplifies the focus of her voice as the instrumentation behind her is extremely simple, with the same notes repeating for almost the entirety of the song. A synthesizer also is being played to replicate the sound of an organ which is a common instrument in the world of blues and jazz. Most notable are Harvey’s belting lyrics, which are filtered to sound gritty and unpolished. The repeated belted lyric, “To bring you my love” is replicative of the blues style repetitive chorus, and the organ also pays homage to the gospel influence that is seen in blues music. She also uses a thick textured voice in order to create a warm timbre even though the lyrics themselves suggest the true loneliness that the narrator of the song is feeling. This song explains the story of a young woman who has gone through heaven and hell, in order to express her love to a man who will not reciprocate her feelings in the same way and intensity. The second verse of the song is as follows “Cast down off heaven/ Cast down on my knees/ I’ve laid with the Devil/ Cursed God above/ Forsaken heaven/ To bring you my love” (Harvey). This lyrics of the song coupled with her melancholy vocal execution suggest that the nature of the song is one of lament and sorrow. This narrator has done all that she can and given apart of her soul away, in order to give all of her love to a man that does not give her the same love in return. The theme of being wanted, and self worth (as identified by a man’s acceptance and reciprocated desire) is an aspect that is central to this album, as Harvey consistently questions the extent that a woman will go in order to appease the man that one loves. As Lankford in Women Singer-Songwriters Of Rock explains “Within Harvey’s world men desire and become obsessed with ideal women, ignore real women, and leave women behind without explanation” (33). Shortcomings such as these, are common issues that feminist studies have with traditional masculinity, as there becomes a fascination with the image of a woman, and not the reality of who she is. In this song, Harvey consistently references God and the Devil in a manner suggesting that she played with the fate of her soul in order to conform to the ideal image of what she thought her lover would want her to be.
Harvey in White Dress, and Curlers “Down By The Water” Photo by Kevin Cummins
There is also a continued reference to the religious imagery of water. As seen in the album cover Harvey is depicted floating in a body of water. The title track, “To Bring You My Love” consistently references religious themes. The first line of the song, “I was born in the desert” and the second verse begins with the following lines, “Climbed over mountains/ Traveled the sea” (Harvey). These lines are reminiscent of the story of Moses, and how God aided him in guiding the Jews from slavery and persecution to freedom. In the article, “Water imagery and the power and presence of God in the Gospel of John” Sherri Brown states the following, “In Jewish-Christian cosmology, water is a fundamental element of creation (Gen 1, 6–9). Further, in the biblical tradition, control of the waters, the forces of primeval chaos, is the prerogative of God alone (Job 9:8, 38:16; Ps 77:20; Hab 3:15; Isa 51:9–10).” In the story of Moses it was God who granted Moses passage across oceans by splitting the sea, Harvey references this power consistently as she pairs religious figures such as God with the imagery common in the story of Moses. This may be in order to show the devotion of herself to her lover, just as Moses was to God. For Harvey, this man may be her only salvation.
To Bring You My Love Live Performance (2007)
The video linked above is a live, visual performance of PJ Harvey singing the title track of her third album, “To Bring You My Love.” This source is a great example of the way in which Harvey uses her own vocal ability as an instrument. To begin with her appearance, she is dressed in a Victorian era white dress, and performs this song solo. The chords of this song are simple and repeated consistently so the audience has no choice but to listen to her voice. Her voice begins in a low register with a distortion effect over it to really emphasize the intensity that she feels. As she belts out each lyric, in an operatic style at times, one cannot help but be captivated at her performative, vulnerable energy.