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."
lost fun zone
John Parish and Polly Jean Harvey Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I believe his son was sent to save
The fun zone is here
Ride free, so...
Take me one more time
Take me one more time
Take me one more time
I don't believe that I gotta die someday
Please take me one more time
Take me one more time
Take me one more time
The song "Lost Fun Zone" presents a contemplative approach to religious themes in connection to the desire of transcendence. The first verse portrays the singer's belief in the permanence of things and a sense of purpose. This idea connects to the Christian tradition of everlasting life through faith in God. The second line refers to the biblical figure of Jesus Christ and suggests the possibility of redemption from shortcomings.
However, this introspection reveals an awareness of the present moment, represented by the "fun zone," as a place of grace and vitality that should be enjoyed to the fullest. The chorus emphasizes the desire to prolong this experience, as the singer begs to be taken "one more time." The repetition of this phrase is both an expression of yearning and a denial of ultimate endings.
The juxtaposition of religious motifs and the celebration of life creates a tension that echoes the contradictions and complexities of the human experience.
Line by Line Meaning
I believe I am here to stay
I have a strong conviction that my presence in this world is meant to be permanent and long-lasting
I believe his son was sent to save
I hold a belief that a divine entity sent his son to rescue or redeem humanity
The fun zone is here
The place where joy, entertainment, and leisure activities are plentiful and accessible is at hand
Ride free, so...
Enjoy the ride without any restraints or limitations, hence...
Take me one more time
I am pleading for another chance to experience something delightful or pleasurable
Take me one more time
I am imploring for another opportunity to savor something that brings me happiness or bliss
Take me one more time
I am beseeching for one final shot to relish or enjoy something that I fear I may lose soon
I don't believe that I gotta die someday
I refuse to accept the inevitability of death and hold a sense of immortality or invincibility
Please take me one more time
I am earnestly asking for another chance to partake in something that brings me joy or elation
Take me one more time
I am begging for a final opportunity to appreciate or relish something before I have to let it go
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: POLLY JEAN HARVEY, JOHN PARISH
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind