There was a topic about this on the old forum. and since I'm both a Beefheart and a PJ fan I find it very interesting to find similarities between both.
yarnforhair wrote:
the main riff of "Heaven" by Peej and the main riff of "Tropical Hot Dog Night" by CB
-lyric "don't you wish you nevahh met her" from Rid of Me and Dirty Blue Gene
-lyric "meet the monster tonight" from Meet Ze Monsta and Tropical Hot Dog Night
bruise wrote:
'I Think I'm A Mother' is reminescent of Beefheart's 'Dropout Boogie':
You wanna do what?, you wanna do what?
I told you what, I told you what
You wanna do what?, you wanna do what?
I told you what, I told you what
Go t'school, go t'school
Go t'school, go t'school
Just cain't, just cain't
Just cain't, just cain't
Dropout, dropout, dropout, dropout
Cain't get a job, cain't get a job
Don't know what it, don't know what it
What it's all about, what it's all about
You told her you love her so bring her to mother
You love her, adapt her, you love her, adapt her
Adapt her, adapter, adapt her, adapter
'n' what about after that
what about after that
Support her, support her
She says you'd support her
Get a job, get a job
Get a job, get a job
You gotta support her
You told her you love her so bring her to mother
You love her adapt her, you love her adapt her
Adapt her, adapter, adapt her, adapter
'n' what about after that
'n' what about after that
Dr Dark wrote:
This ones more of a stretch, but the melodic structure of Teclo and Beefheart's "Her Eyes Are A Blue Million Miles" are similar.
Beefheart's spoken word "Man With The Woman Head" (which appeared on Zappa's Bongo Fury album) seems similar in concept to PJ's A Woman A Man Walked By.
Polly's opening lyric for To Bring You My Love may have been inspired by the opening line of Beefheart's "Sure 'Nuff and 'N' Yes I Do" from Safe as Milk:
"Well I was born in the desert, came on up from New Orleans"
bruise wrote:
I found another similarity between PJ and Beefheart:
the second verse in "Zig Zag Wanderer" (from the album 'Safe As Milk') goes
You can jump, you can holler
Never lose what I found
Heaven's free 'cept for a dollar
You can zig, you can zag
Whoa I'm gonna stay, gonna stay around
Similar in rhytm and rhymes to Down By The Water's
And now I moan, and now I holler
She'll never know just what I found
beafheart.com wrote:
P.J. Harvey
"Rid Of Me"
1993 UK CD Rid Of Me on Island Records
1993 UK CD 4-Track Demos on Island Records
In a section of the song Polly Jean sings/snarls "Don't you wish you never met her?" several times, a direct quote from 'Dirty Blue Gene'.
Thanks, George Shirley for pointing this one out.
"To Bring You My Love"
"Meet Za Monsta "
"Down By The Water"
"I Think I'm A Mother"
1995 CD To Bring You My Love on Island Records CID8035
Polly Jean grew up listening to Beefheart's music (her parents were fans) and talks to Don regularly on the phone. After listening to several albums of her music I found the songs rolling around in my head and changing into Beefheart songs - she's definitely influenced on a subliminal level.
'To Bring you My Love' begins with "I was born in the desert...".
'Meet Za Monsta' is a direct response to Don's invitation on 'Tropical Hot Dog Night' for 'all you young girls to come out n meet the monster tonight'
'Down By The Water' is melodically very similar to 'Zig Zag Wanderer' and 'I Think I'm A Mother' bears an uncanny resemblance to 'Dropout Boogie'.
Thanks to Toby Manning for pointing out 'Down By The Water' and 'I Think I'm A Mother'
2000 UK 7" A Place Called Home
In the notes on the back Polly dedicates this record to Don & Jan van Vliet
Some more:
Her music publishing company is called "Hot Head Music", a reference to the Beefheart song "Hot Head"
On her Myspace she names just two artist as influences: Bob Dylan and Captain Beefheart
She personally knows the Captain and always ask his advice when she has written new songs. apparantly the Captain likes here demos better than her finished songs (or so I once read in a PJ interview)
She often works together with Eric Drew Feldman, former member of Captain Beefheart's Magic Band