The Soldier
PJ Harvey · A Woman A Man Walked By [2009]
I imagine a dream
In which I'm a soldier
And I'm walking
On the faces
Of dead women
And everyone I've
Left behind me
It's the year when
The troops entered
The thirty-ninth
Thirty-ninth parallel
Send me home restless
Send me home damaged
And wanting
It's the year when
Some poet said
"We must live, or accept the
Consequences"
I want you to share
Every pinprick of guilt
That I have felt
That I have felt
Send me home restless
Send me home damaged
Send me home disposes
Send me home damaged
And wanting
In which I'm a soldier
And I'm walking
On the faces
Of dead women
And everyone I've
Left behind me
It's the year when
The troops entered
The thirty-ninth
Thirty-ninth parallel
Send me home restless
Send me home damaged
And wanting
It's the year when
Some poet said
"We must live, or accept the
Consequences"
I want you to share
Every pinprick of guilt
That I have felt
That I have felt
Send me home restless
Send me home damaged
Send me home disposes
Send me home damaged
And wanting
The Soldier
On the 2009 album A Woman A Man Walked By, PJ Harvey delivers 'The Soldier' as a haunting exploration of war's psychological toll. The track exemplifies her signature blend of folk instrumentation and gothic atmosphere, utilizing sparse arrangements to amplify the song's narrative weight. Harvey's vocal delivery shifts between whisper and roar, mirroring the internal conflict of a soldier grappling with trauma. Released during a period where she frequently revisited themes of conflict and displacement, the recording stands as a potent piece of her discography, capturing the raw emotion of modern warfare through a lens of poetic ambiguity.