Uh Huh Her

Record Details

Release
2004

“Uh Huh Her marks PJ Harvey’s songwriting coming-of-age”
Observer Music Monthly, 23 May 2004

“dense and intense…beauty and passion unravels with repeated plays” 4*
Heat, 5 June 2004

“without question her finest [album] since the scorching ‘Rid of Me’”
The Times, 29 May 2004

Uh Huh Her was the sixth studio album by PJ Harvey. The album was written and recorded over a two-year period in Dorset, East Devon and Los Angeles. Much of the recording was done alone by Harvey using her four-track and eight-track home studio, guitar, keyboards and drum machine. For the first time since 1993’s 4-Track Demos album, she produced it herself and played every instrument bar the final drum tracks, which were handled by her longtime collaborator Rob Ellis. Final recording and mixing was done by Head at the Presshouse Studio in rural East Devon in the autumn and winter of 2003.

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Record Links

Record Tracklist

  1. The Life and Death of Mr. Badmouth
  2. Shame
    Shame

    I don’t need no rising moon
    I don’t need no ball and chain
    I don’t need anything but you
    such a shame, shame, shame

    shame, shame, shame
    shame is the shadow of love

    you changed my life
    we were as green as grass
    and I was hypnotized
    from the first till the last kiss of

    shame, shame, shame
    shame is the shadow of love

    I’d jump for you into the fire
    I’d jump for you into the flames
    try to go forward with my life
    but just feel shame, shame, shame

    shame, shame, shame
    shame is the shadow of love

    and if you tell a lie
    I still would take the blame
    and if you pass me by
    it’s such a shame, shame, shame

  3. Who the Fuck?
    Who the Fuck?

    Who the fuck do you think you are?
    Get out of my hair

    Who the fuck do you think you are
    coming round here?

    Who the fuck? Who the fuck?
    Who the fuck? Who the fuck?

    Who the fuck do you think you are?
    Get your comb out of there – combing out my hair

    I’m not like other girls
    You can’t straighten my curls

    I’m not like other girls
    You can’t straighten my curls

    Who the fuck you tryin’ to be?
    Get your dog away from me!

    What the fuck you doing in there?
    Get your dirty fingers outta my hair!

    Who? Who? Who? Who?
    Fuck! Fuck! Fuck you!

    I’m free! You’ll see!
    I’m me! You’ll see!

    Who? Who?
    Who? Who?

  4. Pocket Knife
    Pocket Knife

    Please don’t make my wedding dress
    I’m too young to marry yet
    Can you see my pocket knife?
    You can’t make me be a wife

    How the world just turns and turns
    How does anybody learn?

    Mummy, put your needle down
    How did you feel when you were young?
    ‘Cos I feel like I’ve just been born
    Even though I’m getting on

    How the world slips by so fast
    How does anybody last?

    As the world keeps coming
    And the bees keep humming
    I’ll keep running

    Flowers I can do without
    I don’t wanna be tied down
    White material will stain
    My pocket knife’s gotta shiny blade

    I’m not trying to cause a fuss
    I just wanna make my own fuck-ups
    I’m not trying to break your heart
    I’m just trying not to fall apart

  5. The Letter
    The Letter

    Put the pen to the paper
    press the envelope with my scent
    Can’t you see, in my handwriting –
    the curve of my ‘g’, the longing

    O

    Who is left that writes these days?
    You and me – we’ll be different
    Take the cap off your pen
    wet the envelope – lick it, lick it

    O

    I need you
    Time is running out
    Oh baby,
    can’t you hear me call?

    It turns me on to imagine
    your blue eyes on my words
    Your beautiful pen – take the cap off
    give me a sign and I’ll come running

    O
    it’s you
    I want you

  6. The Slow Drug
    The Slow Drug

    Blue now is the colour
    love the drug I’m needing
    got to keep this feeling

    With the headlights burning
    we’re looking up for something
    answers on the ceiling

    Watching out the windows
    watch the way the wind blows
    soon it will be morning

    Still the question lingers
    I twist it round my fingers
    could you be my calling?

    See this winged boy falling
    falling out of something
    hits the drug I’m needing

    Arrows that he’s turning
    need to keep this feeling
    slow drug in the morning

    With the headlights burning
    looking up for something
    something that we’re needing

    Still the question lingers
    I twist it round my fingers
    could you be my calling?

  7. No Child of Mine
    No Child of Mine

    I have no time for hate or love.
    Hey child, you’re so full of woe.
    I have no time for hate or lying.
    Hey child, you’re no child of mine.

  8. Cat on the Wall
    Cat on the Wall

    I heard our song on the radio
    It wasn’t long before I thought of you
    Can’t get the sound outta my head
    Don’t look now, it’s coming round again

    I saved your voice from the telephone
    I play it back on the message machine
    It really sounds like you’re having fun
    I’m going out into the midday sun

    Come night I’m gonna step outside
    Take a walk, I’m gonna clear my mind
    The radio still playing our song
    You got me jumping like the cat on the wall

    Turn up the radio

    They play the radio in my dreams
    Takes me back to when I was 17
    Dancing in circles on the kitchen floor
    I’ll play this song till I can’t take anymore

  9. You Come Through
    You Come Through

    We are waiting for the summer
    The sun will bring back treasures for us
    Come on my friend, drink to good times
    Golden wishes to your health and mine

    You come through for me
    You be well for me

    I’ll be lifted on this our holiday
    I’ll take you my friend, I’ll take you with me

  10. It’s You
    It’s You

    Oh dear sweet mama, I’m not feeling well.
    Can I step out for a little while?
    But I go missing – I steal away
    and I go kissing in the alleyway.

    All I want to do
    and all I want to grow up to be
    is all caught up with you –
    look what you’re doing to me!

    Oh dearest young man, teach me sweetheart
    how to love you. I’m a clever girl.
    You’ve got me lying, you’ve got me leaving home,
    you’ve got me crying when I’m alone.

    When I’m not with you my dreams are so very dark.
    When I’m not with you I dream of my hair falling out.
    When I’m not with you I walk the dark tunnels of my heart.
    When I’m not with you everything comes apart.

    When I was younger I spent my days
    wondering to whom I was supposed to pray –

    It’s you.

  11. The End
  12. The Desperate Kingdom of Love
    The Desperate Kingdom of Love

    Oh love, you were a sickly child
    and how the wind knocked you down.
    Put on your spurs, swagger around
    in the desperate kingdom of love.

    Holy water cannot help you now.
    Your mysterious eyes cannot help you.
    Selling your reason will not bring you through
    the desperate kingdom of love.

    There’s another who looks
    from behind your eyes.
    I learn from you how to hide
    from the desperate kingdom of love

    At the end of this burning world
    you’ll stand proud, face upheld
    and I’ll follow you, into heaven or hell
    and I’ll become as a girl
    in the desperate kingdom of love.

  13. Untitled (“Seagulls”)
  14. The Darker Days of Me and Him