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."
Pig Will Not
John Parish and Polly Jean Harvey Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I will
I will not
I will not
No, I will not
How dare you, says the angel
Shakes the disbeliever
Shakes the disbelievers head
Shakes him harder
Instructing you well....
Hear me, do you hear the law?
All that rubbish inside your rotting mind
I am your guardian, I am your fairy
Get out of my way or...
Such lovers, this is true love
This is true love that we are doing now
Even everywhere that I was before, all broken
Your face all mashed up
I will not
I will not
I will not
I will not..
The lyrics of "Pig Will Not" by John Parish and Polly Jean Harvey are steeped in complexity and interpretation. To start with, the repetitive use of the phrase "I will not" seems to signify defiance against something, a refusal to submit to authority or accept certain circumstances. The angel crashing down from the heights and shaking the disbeliever, as well as instructing to hear the law, can be seen as religious imagery. The voice of the guardian angel trying to enforce the law or rules are being overpowered by the defiant attitude of the singer of the song.
As the lyrics continue, the concept of love is introduced, with the lines "Such lovers, this is true love, This is true love that we are doing now, Even everywhere that I was before, all broken, Your face all mashed up." The reference to the "face all mashed up" seems to suggest a physical violence, which could indicate that the love being referred to is tumultuous and volatile. Despite all the challenges and brokenness that the lovers have been through, they continue to pursue love with everything they have.
Overall, the song appears to be about the defiance against authority, the clash between love and the law, and the willingness of individuals to fight for their desires, even if those desires come with a price.
Line by Line Meaning
I...
I am ambiguous, yet to be defined.
I will
I am determined and committed to something.
I will not
I refuse to comply with what's expected.
I will not
I'm adamant in my decision.
No, I will not
An affirmative response to a negative question or statement.
How dare you, says the angel
The angel is ferociously threatening the subject.
He crashes down from the heights
The angel descends from the sky with strength and fury.
Shakes the disbeliever
The angel is confronting the person who lacks faith or don't believe.
Shakes the disbelievers head
The angel has a grip on the nonbeliever's head as if trying to shake sense into them.
Shakes him harder
The angel increases the intensity of his attempts to convince or persuade.
Instructing you well....
The angel is giving meaningful instructions to the person to guide or direct them.
Hear me, do you hear the law?
The angel is enforcing the law and wants to be heard and followed.
All that rubbish inside your rotting mind
The angel is pointing out the negative thoughts and ideas that are polluting the nonbeliever's mind.
I am your guardian, I am your fairy
The angel sees himself as the protector and the magical being for the person whom he is addressing.
Get out of my way or...
The angel is warning someone of what's to come if they continue down a certain path.
Such lovers, this is true love
The relationship between two people is genuine and affectionate.
This is true love that we are doing now
The two individuals' acts are authentic and undeniable.
Even everywhere that I was before, all broken
The person was once shattered and fragmented everywhere they went.
Your face all mashed up
The person's face is now unrecognizable or injured.
I will not
The person reiterates the decision to decline or reject.
I will not
The person remains unbending and defiant.
I will not
The person repeatedly states their refusal.
I will not..
The person concludes their repeated refusal.
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, RESERVOIR MEDIA MANAGEMENT INC
Written by: JOHN PARISH, POLLY JEAN HARVEY
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind