John Parish and PJ Harvey have made two albums together: 1996's Dance Hall … Read Full Bio ↴John Parish and PJ Harvey have made two albums together: 1996's Dance Hall at Louse Point and 2009's A Woman A Man Walked By.

The pair had previously been musical collaborators for several years. As a teenager growing up in rural England, Harvey contributed saxophone, guitar and backing vocals to Parish’s band Automatic Dlamini before forming her own band in 1991. Parish later served as co-producer, guitarist, percussionist and keyboard player on Harvey’s 1995 album To Bring You My Love and was featured heavily on her 1998 album Is This Desire?.

On Dance Hall at Louse Point, Parish wrote and played the music, while Harvey sang vocals and wrote the lyrics. The album was viewed by many of Harvey's fans as a minor side project, perhaps due to the top billing accorded the more obscure Parish and her own accreditation as Polly Jean Harvey rather than the more widely recognised PJ Harvey name. Consequently, it sold more poorly than any of her solo releases, entering the UK charts at #46 and barely denting the U.S. Billboard charts at #178.

It yielded only one single, That Was My Veil, which spent a week at #75 in the UK charts. Harvey later admitted that she let Parish handle all promotional duties for the record because she was exhausted following a year of intense promotional activity for To Bring You My Love in 1995. Reportedly, bosses at Harvey’s Island Records label feared that the avant-garde venture was “commercial suicide”, despite it winning generally positive reviews. Entertainment Weekly opined, “This is 'deep' music in every sense; total immersion is recommended.” Musician reckoned “The results are as engaging as they are disturbing....full of strange moves and unusual textures.” Logo felt it was “thrillingly sinister”, while Q magazine praised its “polecat scat and brooding rural blues," adding that it felt "more a series of themes and word paintings.”

Speaking about the album to NME in 1998, Harvey explained "I just really wanted to learn different things, and a lot of learning comes from working with other people. I tend to place more importance on lyric writing than music, and I wanted to somehow bring the music to a similar level with that, but I didn’t feel confident in myself as a musician to do it. I know John can write demanding and intellectual music – much more than mine, which is very simple. So it was really just to test my lyric writing." In 2001, she told Chicago Sun-Times, "People don't even count that, yet that's the record I'm really proud of. It was an enormous turning point. Lyrically, it moved me into areas I'd never been to before. Faced with John's music, which is so different to my own, it just made me write lyrics in a very different way and structure songs in a different way."

Parish and Harvey did a brief UK club tour with the Mark Bruce Dance Company in early 1997, performing the album’s experimental songs with a group of interpretive ballet dancers onstage.

Twelve years later, the duo released A Woman A Man Walked By, also on Island. The album, which was recorded in Bristol and Dorset and mixed by Flood, was released on March 30, 2009 on Island. It consisted of 10 new songs, including an instrumental. All the music was written by Parish, who also played most of the instruments. The lyrics, once again, were by Harvey.

The first single from the album was "Black Hearted Love," which is described as having "anthemic grunge-pop guitars." The track debuted on the Zane Lowe Show on March 2.

The album was described by journalist John Harris, as "...mischievous, deadly serious, elegant and poetic, and possessed of a brutal power – it is doubtful that you will hear a record as brimming with creative brio and musical invention this year." In a track by track synopsis on their website, The Fly described the album as "a body of folk tales, funeral songs and trapped, tangled love songs... brilliant."

Leaving California
John Parish and Polly Jean Harvey Lyrics

Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴

California
Leaving
California
California
Leaving
California

No one but me is walking

Under palms that give no shade
I'm leaving you today

California
Leave me
California
Leave
California
Leave Me
California

How cruel was I to think that
I could you change
Oh give me some shade
Oh England come soon
How could I've believed that I could live and breathe in you
Ooh

California
Killed me
California
California
Killed me
California

I think it's time to leave
I think it's time to leave
I told no one I'd stay

I think it's time to leave
Ooh

Overall Meaning

The lyrics to John Parish and Polly Jean Harvey's song Leaving California paint a picture of an individual who has decided to leave California and head back to their home country, England. The opening lines speak of being alone and walking under palm trees that provide no shade. The repetition of the phrase "Leaving California" emphasizes the decision that has been made and creates a sense of finality.

As the song progresses, the singer reflects on their time in California and their failed attempt to change someone or something. The line "How cruel was I to think that I could you change" captures feelings of regret and disappointment. The reference to England as a place where shade can be found and the plea for it to "come soon" suggests a longing for familiarity and comfort.

The chorus repeats the phrase "California killed me," which could be interpreted as a hyperbolic expression of how difficult it can be to adapt to a new place or situation. The final lines "I think it's time to leave, I told no one I'd stay" convey a sense of urgency and a desire to move on without looking back.

Line by Line Meaning

California
The setting of the song and the root of the singer's problems - California.

Leaving
The central theme of the song - leaving California behind and moving on with life.

No one but me is walking
The realization that the singer is alone, with no one to share their troubles with.

Under palms that give no shade
The bleak reality of California - even the palm trees offer no relief from the oppressive heat.

I'm leaving you today
The reason behind the singer's decision to leave California - a person or situation that they need to escape.

Leave me
The singer's plea to California to let them go, to stop weighing them down.

How cruel was I to think that I could you change
The singer recognizes their own folly in thinking that they could fix the problems of the people or places around them.

Oh give me some shade
A lament for relief from the oppressive heat and difficult situations surrounding the singer.

Oh England come soon
The hope that a new location - in this case, England - will provide a fresh start and a better life.

How could I've believed that I could live and breathe in you
Another acknowledgement of the singer's misplaced hopes and dreams for California.

California killed me
The realization that California has taken a toll on the singer, both physically and emotionally - it has 'killed' a part of them.

I think it's time to leave
The ultimate decision to move on from California and start anew.

I told no one I'd stay
A realization that the singer has kept their departure plans to themselves, possibly out of fear or uncertainty.

Lyrics © RESERVOIR MEDIA MANAGEMENT INC
Written by: JOHN PARISH, POLLY JEAN HARVEY

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind

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