To Bring You My Love - Music and Lyrics

Music and Lyrics

The subject matter and tone of the songs on To Bring You My Love differs somewhat from what Harvey had presented on her earlier albums. The songs on Rid of Me (1993), for example, are aggressive in their depictions of relationships. Those songs deal with revenge ("Rid of Me", "Rub Til it Bleeds"), or act as an attack on traditional masculinity ("Man-Size", "50ft. Queenie", "Me-Jane"). Many of the songs on To Bring You My Love, however, are about the loss of, or longing for, a departed lover. The title track presents a narrator who not only desires love but is willing to sacrifice everything to get it. "I’ve lain with the devil," Harvey sings, "Cursed God above/Forsaken Heaven/To bring you my love."

Many of the songs on To Bring You My Love employ biblical imagery such a Heaven, God, and Jesus Christ. Harvey, however, is not a religious person. She wasn’t baptized and did not attend church as a child. She spoke of her use of religious imagery by saying "I look towards religion as possibly one means to finding an answer, to making sense why we’re here. That’s what drives the creative force, to make sense of one’s life. A very natural place to look is in that divine area, because it’s so strong and has been here long before us."

Many references are made to one of Harvey's major influences, Captain Beefheart. The opening line of the album, "I was born in the desert", is also the opening line of Beefheart's debut album, "Safe as Milk". The album's second track, Meet Ze Monsta, borrows the line "meet the monster tonight" from Beefheart's "Tropical Hot Dog Night", the second track of his album Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller), an album which Harvey has said had a particular impact on her. A lyrical and melodic resemblance to Beefheart's "Dropout Boogie" is also found on the track "I Think I'm a Mother".

Musically, the album is more complicated than Dry or Rid of Me. Two guitar parts are used in many of the songs, in most cases played by Harvey and Parish. Acoustic guitar and strings, used sparingly in her previous releases, can be heard throughout To Bring You My Love. Bells, chimes, and a vibraphone add to the atmosphere of the recording. Keyboards and organ are also used extensively, a result of much of the album being composed on a Yamaha keyboard Harvey bought second-hand. The deep, rumbling organ tones provide many of the lower notes on the album, replacing traditional basslines. The bass played by Mick Harvey on "Long Snake Moan" is one of the few times an actual bass guitar is heard on the album.