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# Singing the word England: PJ Harvey, without apology
- URL: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/singing-word-england-pj-harvey-without-apology/
- Published: 2011-02-17T10:02:40.000Z
- Updated: 2026-04-22T09:49:43.000Z
- Description: Will England find its voice? PJ Harvey’s acclaimed new record opens with 'Let England Shake': a blood lust for the ancient practice of English Revolutions, and an uncanny hymn to possible future ones.
- Author: Tamara Barnett-Herrin
- Tags: Cultural politics, #Migrated, Europe, Politics & activism, United Kingdom, culture, International politics, Civil Society, openglobalrights-openpage-blog, #en, #Import 2026-04-09 15:45, #appended-excerpt

PJ Harvey’s acclaimed new record opens with the title track, ‘Let England Shake’. It is an eerie, intimate song, all spacey autoharp and brushed cymbals. It reaches out for a martyr whose smile might save England from its rot: ‘Bobby’, who will splash around in ‘a fountain of death’ and ‘laugh out loud’.

It’s a blood lust for the ancient practice of English Revolutions, and an uncanny hymn to possible future ones - and all the repressed forces they might unleash. Strange and apt that this record should be released now, striking a weird harmony with the reverberating aftermath of Egypt and Tunisia and the rumbling overtures in the rest of the Arab world.

Harvey sings:

The West is lost, let England shake

*Weighted down with silent dead*

I fear our blood won’t rise again

Harvey has always found a way to sing the unsayable and here she sings the word England without apology. The album is a dirge for England and also a warning.

Watch out to take care of your English shame, your English pride, and your English indifference - lest they be lost in blood spilled elsewhere in pointless, nameless war.

Will England find its voice? PJ Harvey’s acclaimed new record opens with 'Let England Shake': a blood lust for the ancient practice of English Revolutions, and an uncanny hymn to possible future ones.