The Garden, a PJ Harvey Discussion Site

Wow, that was gorgeous.

Great to hear her singing a proper minor key song . I take it the score is by Harry Escott, not Polly though.

It appears Polly melded lyrics from several interpretations of it:
http://archipelago7.blogspot.com/2017/0 ... -land.html

This is kinda reminiscent of Polly singing Nick Bicat's "Who will love me now" for the 1995 movie The Passion of Darkly Noon

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Passi ... arkly_Noon

I thought that, too. It's noticeable that the other interpretations of the song treat it as a little piece of whimsy, while PJ turns it into this baleful, ghost-ridden ballad. It may still have been her suggestion to sing it in a minor key; Harry Escott's description makes it sound very much as though they worked it out together, rather than him presenting her with something which she then sang. When I try and hum it I keep slipping into the tune of 'Clothes of Grief', which makes me regret even more that nothing has been done with that. As yet.

Does anyone who may have downloaded both know how the extended and shorter versions differ?

AineteEkaterini wrote:...PJ turns it into this baleful, ghost-ridden ballad

Entirely appropriate, given the film's subject matter: http://www.cineuropa.org/it.aspx?t=inte ... did=335210 (link thanks to Me Jane).

AineteEkaterini wrote:I thought that, too. It's noticeable that the other interpretations of the song treat it as a little piece of whimsy, while PJ turns it into this baleful, ghost-ridden ballad. It may still have been her suggestion to sing it in a minor key; Harry Escott's description makes it sound very much as though they worked it out together, rather than him presenting her with something which she then sang. When I try and hum it I keep slipping into the tune of 'Clothes of Grief', which makes me regret even more that nothing has been done with that. As yet.

Does anyone who may have downloaded both know how the extended and shorter versions differ?

Completely agree with you. She turns a whimsical tune into a song so intense, beautiful, solemn and haunting.

Btw, can you tell me what the tune 'Clothes of Grief' is/where it's from? I haven't heard of it, but now I'm very curious.

I downloaded the edited 'Acre' single today, and the main differences are that her voice comes in far earlier at the start/less music in the intro. Also the verse "I harrowed it with a team of rats" has been cut out. They've cut out some of the instrumental parts, so the song is more focused on just Polly's singing rather than the music.

Oh, well I've got to have the harrowing with a team of rats. Thank you!

'Clothes of Grief' is one of PJ's Hope 6 demo songs worked into the Radio 4 drama 'On Kosovo Field' last year; you can't listen to the drama itself anywhere at the moment, but I managed to separate about forty seconds of the song. It's very much English folk-tradition and it's my favourite of those unreleased songs - at least, as far as you can tell from that limited amount of music. I could only make out two lines of which 'reforming as a thousand eyes/Staring from the ruins' is the clearer!

AineteEkaterini wrote:Oh, well I've got to have the harrowing with a team of rats. Thank you!

'Clothes of Grief' is one of PJ's Hope 6 demo songs worked into the Radio 4 drama 'On Kosovo Field' last year; you can't listen to the drama itself anywhere at the moment, but I managed to separate about forty seconds of the song. It's very much English folk-tradition and it's my favourite of those unreleased songs - at least, as far as you can tell from that limited amount of music. I could only make out two lines of which 'reforming as a thousand eyes/Staring from the ruins' is the clearer!

They cut the best line! The "I harrowed it with a team of rats" line is my favourite, (that and "I ploughed it with a rams horn") plus I love the entire piece of music, so the edited version won't be listened to much by me. Oh well.
I was too impatient and downloaded it immediately, even though I suspected they had simply cut out music.

Oh yes, thanks for reminding me, I do have the 'On Kosovo Field' music! I just haven't listened to it in a while.
I'll have to listen to that again now.

"My father he left me an acre of land, Sing ovey, sing ivy. My father he left me an acre of land, Sing holly, go whistle and ivy."

Not to be too blunt about it, the film's female character was molested by her father.

I'm going to risk being wrong and guess that the selection of the lyric is Polly's: Mr Escott's work doesn't sound particularly influenced by the folk tradition, so I think she's remembered this song and the aptness of the words, removed from the usual upbeat treatment of it. It says everything that needs to be said without being explicit.

official video

DrDark wrote:"My father he left me an acre of land, Sing ovey, sing ivy. My father he left me an acre of land, Sing holly, go whistle and ivy."

Not to be too blunt about it, the film's female character was molested by her father.

Thanks a lot.

Looking on the bright side, that's one less film I'll need to see.

DrDark wrote:"My father he left me an acre of land, Sing ovey, sing ivy. My father he left me an acre of land, Sing holly, go whistle and ivy."

Not to be too blunt about it, the film's female character was molested by her father.

Well, I think that's something the trailer and interviews with the director have strongly implied.
I have yet to see the film, but that was something I thought very obvious from everything I've seen and read about the film.

The song fits, in my opinion. "One acre of hay meadow" features in the film. The sadder, more solemn mood conveyed in the song is not the same as when reading an old folk song's lyrics off a page.
It's not supposed the be the entire story-line in a song.

It's certainly a bit different to Vaughan Williams' interpretation!

Clio Barnard was on The Film Programme on Thursday to discuss the movie (mainly in terms of memory and ideas of rural life in Britain) and PJH wasn't mentioned at all - which is most unusual for Radio 4!