“Prettiest mess you’ve ever seen…”
Not me no, I’m the messiest um idk mess I guess you could ever see… (and currently feeling the weight of my world in an Atlas-esque manner.)
[media=https://youtu.be/m8XzHhC9czw]
PJ Harvey - Angelene
My first name Angelene
Prettiest mess you've ever seen
Love for money is my sin
Any man calls, I'll let him in
Rose is my color, and white
Pretty mouth and green my eyes
I see men come and go
But there'll be one who will collect my soul and come to me
Two-thousand miles away
He walks upon the coast
Two-thousand miles away
It lays open like a road
Dear God, life ain't kind
People getting born and dying
But I've heard there's joy untold
Lays on that open road in front of me
My first name is Angelene
~~~
When I first heard this song I thought how tragic and sad.
Now I wonder if it was written about the infamous woman in LA who was known known for her billboards in the 80’s and 90’s especially. She seems a good fit for the lyrics. What do you think?
Evidently the inspiration was something else entirely and literary in nature. I should have known better. My classical education is slowly slipping from my minds grasp 😔
JD Salinger no less. How interesting!!
According to: Songfacts®:
Like the album's lead single, "A Perfect Day Elise," the opening track, "Angelene," takes inspiration from a short story by American author J.D. Salinger. "Pretty Mouth and Green My Eyes" is about a lawyer named Arthur who discovers his wife has been unfaithful. Harvey's song, about a prostitute who longs for real love, is a much different story, but the two tales are connected by a bit of verse. Angelene introduces herself as "the prettiest mess you've ever seen," adding
Rose is my color, and white
Pretty mouth and green my eyes
The lyric is taken from a poem Arthur wrote about his wife. In the 1951 short story, he tells his friend:
"I start thinking about this goddam poem I sent her when we first started goin' around together. 'Rose my color is and white, Pretty mouth and green my eyes.' Christ, it's embarrassing – it used to remind me of her."
This was used in the 1998 movie Playing By Heart, starring Angelina Jolie and Dennis Quaid.
Harvey's longtime photographer/director Maria Mochnacz helmed the music video, which unfolded through a collection of photographs. Mochnacz explained to The Guardian: "The images were supposed to resemble passport photos, as though the machine had gone wrong. So the pictures were stained to distress the Polaroids. I sprinkled some with bleach or put them through in the washing machine. The video is just a series of slow dissolves through the images with only one small portion of real movement at the end with Polly mouthing the last line of the song."
Polly Jean Harvey aka PJ Harvey MBE (born 9 October 1969) is an English singer-songwriter. Primarily known as a vocalist and guitarist, she is also proficient with a wide range of instruments.
Harvey began her career in 1988 when she joined local band Automatic Dlamini as a vocalist, guitarist and saxophonist. The band's frontman, John Parish, became her long-term collaborator. In 1991, she formed an eponymous trio called PJ Harvey and subsequently began her career as PJ Harvey. The trio released two acclaimed studio albums called Dry (1992) and Rid of Me (1993) before disbanding, after which Harvey continued as a solo artist. Since 1995, she has released a further ten studio albums with collaborations from various musicians including Parish, former bandmate Rob Ellis, Mick Harvey, and Eric Drew Feldman, and has also worked extensively with record producer Flood.
Among the accolades Harvey has received are both the 2001 and 2011 Mercury Prize for Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea (2000) and Let England Shake (2011), respectively, making her the only artist to have been awarded the prize twice. She has also received eight Brit Award nominations, eight Grammy Award nominations and two further Mercury Prize nominations. Rolling Stone awarded her three accolades: 1992's Best New Artist and Best Singer Songwriter, and 1995's Artist of the Year. Rolling Stone also listed Rid of Me, To Bring You My Love, and Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea on its list of their 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. In 2011, she was awarded for Outstanding Contribution to Music at the NME Awards. In the 2013 Birthday Honours, she was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for services to music.
[/b]
Harvey began her career in 1988 when she joined local band Automatic Dlamini as a vocalist, guitarist and saxophonist. The band's frontman, John Parish, became her long-term collaborator. In 1991, she formed an eponymous trio called PJ Harvey and subsequently began her career as PJ Harvey. The trio released two acclaimed studio albums called Dry (1992) and Rid of Me (1993) before disbanding, after which Harvey continued as a solo artist. Since 1995, she has released a further ten studio albums with collaborations from various musicians including Parish, former bandmate Rob Ellis, Mick Harvey, and Eric Drew Feldman, and has also worked extensively with record producer Flood.
Among the accolades Harvey has received are both the 2001 and 2011 Mercury Prize for Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea (2000) and Let England Shake (2011), respectively, making her the only artist to have been awarded the prize twice. She has also received eight Brit Award nominations, eight Grammy Award nominations and two further Mercury Prize nominations. Rolling Stone awarded her three accolades: 1992's Best New Artist and Best Singer Songwriter, and 1995's Artist of the Year. Rolling Stone also listed Rid of Me, To Bring You My Love, and Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea on its list of their 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. In 2011, she was awarded for Outstanding Contribution to Music at the NME Awards. In the 2013 Birthday Honours, she was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) for services to music.
[/b]
[media=https://youtu.be/m8XzHhC9czw]
PJ Harvey - Angelene
My first name Angelene
Prettiest mess you've ever seen
Love for money is my sin
Any man calls, I'll let him in
Rose is my color, and white
Pretty mouth and green my eyes
I see men come and go
But there'll be one who will collect my soul and come to me
Two-thousand miles away
He walks upon the coast
Two-thousand miles away
It lays open like a road
Dear God, life ain't kind
People getting born and dying
But I've heard there's joy untold
Lays on that open road in front of me
My first name is Angelene
~~~
When I first heard this song I thought how tragic and sad.
Now I wonder if it was written about the infamous woman in LA who was known known for her billboards in the 80’s and 90’s especially. She seems a good fit for the lyrics. What do you think?
Evidently the inspiration was something else entirely and literary in nature. I should have known better. My classical education is slowly slipping from my minds grasp 😔
JD Salinger no less. How interesting!!
According to: Songfacts®:
Like the album's lead single, "A Perfect Day Elise," the opening track, "Angelene," takes inspiration from a short story by American author J.D. Salinger. "Pretty Mouth and Green My Eyes" is about a lawyer named Arthur who discovers his wife has been unfaithful. Harvey's song, about a prostitute who longs for real love, is a much different story, but the two tales are connected by a bit of verse. Angelene introduces herself as "the prettiest mess you've ever seen," adding
Rose is my color, and white
Pretty mouth and green my eyes
The lyric is taken from a poem Arthur wrote about his wife. In the 1951 short story, he tells his friend:
"I start thinking about this goddam poem I sent her when we first started goin' around together. 'Rose my color is and white, Pretty mouth and green my eyes.' Christ, it's embarrassing – it used to remind me of her."
This was used in the 1998 movie Playing By Heart, starring Angelina Jolie and Dennis Quaid.
Harvey's longtime photographer/director Maria Mochnacz helmed the music video, which unfolded through a collection of photographs. Mochnacz explained to The Guardian: "The images were supposed to resemble passport photos, as though the machine had gone wrong. So the pictures were stained to distress the Polaroids. I sprinkled some with bleach or put them through in the washing machine. The video is just a series of slow dissolves through the images with only one small portion of real movement at the end with Polly mouthing the last line of the song."
46-50, F
