The Glorious Land
Encyclopedia
"The Glorious Land" is a song by the English alternative rock
Alternative rock
Alternative rock is a genre of rock music and a term used to describe a diverse musical movement that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1980s and became widely popular by the 1990s...
musician PJ Harvey
PJ Harvey
Polly Jean Harvey is an English musician, singer-songwriter, composer and occasional artist. Primarily known as a vocalist and guitarist, she is also proficient with a wide range of instruments including piano, organ, bass, saxophone, and most recently, the autoharp.Harvey began her career in...
. The song was released as the second single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
from her eighth studio album
Studio album
A studio album is an album made up of tracks recorded in the controlled environment of a recording studio. A studio album contains newly written and recorded or previously unreleased or remixed material, distinguishing itself from a compilation or reissue album of previously recorded material, or...
, Let England Shake
Let England Shake
Let England Shake is the tenth studio album by PJ Harvey, released on 11 February 2011 in the UK. Work on it began around the time of White Chalks release in 2007, though it is a departure from the piano-driven introspection of that album. The album was written over a period of two-and-a-half...
, on 18 April 2011. An accompanying music video, directed by Seamus Murphy, was recorded and was released in March 2011, prior to the single release. It is the fourth part of a twelve music-film project documenting Let England Shake.
Origin and recording
The song was written after the release of PJ Harvey's seventh studio album, White ChalkWhite Chalk
White Chalk is the eighth studio album by PJ Harvey, released on 24 September 2007 in the UK, and on 2 October 2007 in the US.Work on the album started in 2006, with producer Flood and John Parish, who also worked on her To Bring You My Love and Is This Desire? albums...
, in 2007. It is also known that the lyrics to the song were written prior to the music, as Harvey used this technique with all the songs written for the album, citing it as "the starting point" and explaining that it is "the root level" of her style of song-writing Recorded during the sessions for Let England Shake, the song was recorded over a five-week period in April and May 2010 with long-time collaborators John Parish
John Parish
John Parish is a British musician and producer best known for his work with singer and songwriter PJ Harvey,. His sister is the actress Sarah Parish.-Partial discography:Solo*Rosie *How Animals Move...
and Mick Harvey
Mick Harvey
Michael John Harvey , is an Australian rock musician, composer, arranger and record producer. He is best known for his long-time collaboration with the singer and songwriter Nick Cave...
, and, like other songs on the album, was recorded live so that Parish and Harvey could "bring their feelings into it."
Composition and lyrics
Although the majority of the songs on White Chalk, and Let England Shakes first single, "The Words That Maketh Murder", feature an autoharpAutoharp
The autoharp is a musical string instrument having a series of chord bars attached to dampers, which, when depressed, mute all of the strings other than those that form the desired chord. Despite its name, the autoharp is not a harp at all, but a chorded zither. -History:There is debate over the...
, "The Glorious Land" is primarily arranged for guitar, with the accompaniment of electronica beats
Electronica
Electronica includes a wide range of contemporary electronic music designed for a wide range of uses, including foreground listening, some forms of dancing, and background music for other activities; however, unlike electronic dance music, it is not specifically made for dancing...
. The guitar uses a capo
Capo
A capo is a device used on the neck of a stringed instrument to shorten the playable length of the strings, hence raising the pitch. It is frequently used on guitars, mandolins, and banjos. G.B...
on the eighth fret. It features a standard chord progression throughout the course of the song (Em-Bm/C/Am-D). Similarly, the bridge uses the first two chords. The song's final refrain alternates the basic chord progression (Em-A-Bm) and finishes on an Em. An extract of the song is based on "The Bed's Too Big Without You", a song by The Police, written by Sting. The bugle call sampled throughout the song is "Regimental March", performed by HM Irish Guards
Irish Guards
The Irish Guards , part of the Guards Division, is a Foot Guards regiment of the British Army.Along with the Royal Irish Regiment, it is one of the two Irish regiments remaining in the British Army. The Irish Guards recruit in Northern Ireland and the Irish neighbourhoods of major British cities...
.
Lyrically, the song refers to militarism and the ongoing Afghan war. The lyrics in the final refrain appear to refer to the disastrous effects of war: "What is the glorious fruit of our land? / the fruit is deformed children / what is the glorious fruit of our land / the fruit is orphaned children." Alex Denney of The Quietus
The Quietus
The Quietus is a British online rock music and pop culture magazine, focusing on arts news, reviews, and features. The site is an editorially independent publication led by John Doran and a group of freelance journalists and critics, some of whom have worked for other media outlets...
noted that the final refrain is "a chilling finale" to the song. Several lyrics throughout the song ("How is our glorious land being ploughed? Not by iron ploughs") are extracts from an untitled Russian folk song
Ethnic Russian music
Ethnic Russian music specifically deals with the folk music traditions of the ethnic Russian people. It does not include the various forms of art music, which in Russia often contains folk melodies and folk elements or music of aother ethnic groups living in Russia.-History:The roots of Russian...
anthologised in Russian Folk Songs by Vladimir I︠A︡kovlevich Propp and translated by Roberta Reeder. Other translated lyrics from the same song mimic lyrics from "The Glorious Land" such as "Our land is being ploughed by horses' hooves; And the glorious land is being sown with Cossack heads." These reworked lyrics, however, were noted by Harvey as a credit on Let England Shake.
Release
The plan to release "The Glorious Land" as a domestic single was announced on 7 March 2011, almost a month after the release of Let England Shake. Although initial reports claimed that it was only to be released on 7" vinyl, an official announcement on PJ Harvey's web site and FacebookFacebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
page confirmed it would also be available as a digital download
Music download
A music download is the transferral of music from an Internet-facing computer or website to a user's local computer. This term encompasses both legal downloads and downloads of copyright material without permission or payment...
. The b-side, "The Nightingale", is an outtake from the album's recording sessions and was also featured on limited edition releases of the album. The song was released on 16 April in Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
and two days later in the United Kingdom and United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. "The Glorious Land" is the third track on the album Let England Shake, which was released on 14 February 2011.
Critical reception
Critical reception of the song was mixed, in contrast to the generally-positive reception of the album. The GuardianThe Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
criticised the song's use of "incessant trumpet reveille sounds" and referred to the sample as "out of tune and time with the rest of the song." The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
recognised the political aspect of the song and stated that it "could be a partisan anthem from Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
or Palestine
Palestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
or any comparable resistance movement." The Quietus referred to the song as "almost shoegazy in tone" with an "overall aquatic feel", also noting its "linking war with [England's] agricultural heritage", though cited the song's overall composition as "a pleasure to see such obvious effort being made in the service of ideas as good as this", criticising its emphasis on lyrics.
Live performances
Although Harvey had previously performed a number of songs from the album in 2009, "The Glorious Land" was debuted live at La Maroquinerie in Paris, France on 14 February 2011, her first live performance to promote Let England Shake. This performance was also broadcast live as a webcastWebcast
A webcast is a media presentation distributed over the Internet using streaming media technology to distribute a single content source to many simultaneous listeners/viewers. A webcast may either be distributed live or on demand...
through a number of online sites, including the concert's promoter Dezzer Offline. The song has been performed at all of Harvey's live shows on the European leg of the Let England Shake tour throughout February and March 2011. The performances of the song feature Harvey on electric guitar, John Parish on keyboards and percussion, Jean-Marc Butty on drums and percussion, and Mick Harvey performance rhodes
Rhodes
Rhodes is an island in Greece, located in the eastern Aegean Sea. It is the largest of the Dodecanese islands in terms of both land area and population, with a population of 117,007, and also the island group's historical capital. Administratively the island forms a separate municipality within...
. In further promotion, the song was performed on Later... with Jools Holland on 26 April 2011 alongside "Let England Shake" and "The Words That Maketh Murder."
Music video
After viewing Seamus Murphy's award-winning "A Darkness Visible" exhibition in LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
in 2008, which she noted as having "an emotional impact", and purchasing his book, Harvey contacted Murphy as she "wanted to speak to him more about his experiences being there in Afghanistan." Murphy saw Harvey perform and the collaboration began with her requesting him to take promotional photographs for Let England Shake in July 2010. In addition to the album's photography, originally Harvey and Murphy planned to record a documentary of the recording process of the album; however, instead, twelve short films, one for each of the album's songs, were made. Each film incorporates a mix of still photography
Still photography
Still photography may refer to:* unit still photographer, a person who creates still photographic images for the publicity of films and television programs* other photography producing still images...
and video documenting the album's themes "in the manner of classic photographic reportage - recording real & spontaneous situations." Murphy travelled throughout England alone "with little equipment", due to a low budget and lack of assistants, and after photographing, directing and producing the films solely by himself, edited the final product in Berlin, Germany with video editor Sebastian Gollek.
The music video for "The Glorious Land" is similar in style to Murphy's other videos for Let England Shake. It was premiered on 9 March 2011 on YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
and Dailymotion
Dailymotion
Dailymotion is a video sharing service website, headquartered in the 18th arrondissement, Paris, France. According to Comscore, Dailymotion is the second largest video site in the world after YouTube....
alongside "The Last Living Rose," "The Words That Maketh Murder" and "Let England Shake" as the fourth installment of the twelve-film project. The video opens with a silent moving image of a tree in Dorset
Dorset
Dorset , is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The county town is Dorchester which is situated in the south. The Hampshire towns of Bournemouth and Christchurch joined the county with the reorganisation of local government in 1974...
in October 2010 and then Harvey rehearsing the introduction to the song, as seen in the other films for the album. The introduction of the song features images of trees, shot looking upwards during a car journey. The rest of the video also incorporates clips of Harvey performing the song, a mud track with smoke (shown alongside the lyric "our land is ploughed by tanks and feet") and overlapped shots of Harvey's rehearsal space in a panoramic fashion. The video ends with another image of a withered tree in a field. Murphy explained the origins and imagery of the video in an interview with music blog Stereoboard. He said that he intended "to avoid too literal an interpretation of Polly's lyrics, but to try to remain true to the spirit and feel of the track." He also noted that the "Autumn colours, the sunlight streaming through the trees, the effect of movement during driving, how things changed if I speeded up or slowed down" influenced the video's direction and how some shots were "deliberately overexposed and out of focus" in order "to increase the abstraction."
The video was released online on 8 March 2011 on YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
. A high definition version of the video was released on 15 March 2011.
Track listing
Digital download and 7" vinyl- "The Glorious Land" - 3:34
- "The Nightingale" - 4:14
Release history
| Region | Date | Format |
|---|---|---|
| Ireland Republic of Ireland Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,... |
April 16, 2011 | 7" vinyl Gramophone record A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove... |
| Worldwide World World is a common name for the whole of human civilization, specifically human experience, history, or the human condition in general, worldwide, i.e. anywhere on Earth.... |
18 April 2011 | Digital download Music download A music download is the transferral of music from an Internet-facing computer or website to a user's local computer. This term encompasses both legal downloads and downloads of copyright material without permission or payment... |
| United Kingdom United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages... |
Digital download, 7" vinyl | |
Musicians and personnel
Musicians- PJ HarveyPJ HarveyPolly Jean Harvey is an English musician, singer-songwriter, composer and occasional artist. Primarily known as a vocalist and guitarist, she is also proficient with a wide range of instruments including piano, organ, bass, saxophone, and most recently, the autoharp.Harvey began her career in...
- vocalsSingingSinging is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
, guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with... - John ParishJohn ParishJohn Parish is a British musician and producer best known for his work with singer and songwriter PJ Harvey,. His sister is the actress Sarah Parish.-Partial discography:Solo*Rosie *How Animals Move...
- guitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
, percussion, backing vocals - Mick HarveyMick HarveyMichael John Harvey , is an Australian rock musician, composer, arranger and record producer. He is best known for his long-time collaboration with the singer and songwriter Nick Cave...
- rhodesRhodesRhodes is an island in Greece, located in the eastern Aegean Sea. It is the largest of the Dodecanese islands in terms of both land area and population, with a population of 117,007, and also the island group's historical capital. Administratively the island forms a separate municipality within...
, backing vocals - Jean-Marc Butty - drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
, backing vocals
Technical personnel
- Flood - producerRecord producerA record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
, mixingAudio mixing (recorded music)In audio recording, audio mixing is the process by which multiple recorded sounds are combined into one or more channels, most commonly two-channel stereo. In the process, the source signals' level, frequency content, dynamics, and panoramic position are manipulated and effects such as reverb may... - Rob Kirwin - engineerAudio engineeringAn audio engineer, also called audio technician, audio technologist or sound technician, is a specialist in a skilled trade that deals with the use of machinery and equipment for the recording, mixing and reproduction of sounds. The field draws on many artistic and vocational areas, including...
, recording - Catherine Marks - mixing assistant
- John Catlin - mixing assistant
- John Parish - additional producer
- Mick Harvey - additional producer
- PJ Harvey - additional producer