"50ft Queenie"
Single by PJ Harvey
from the album Rid of Me
ReleasedApril 1993
RecordedDecember 1992 at Pachyderm Studio, Cannon Falls, Minnesota, US
Genre
Length2:26
LabelIsland
Songwriter(s)PJ Harvey
Producer(s)Steve Albini
PJ Harvey singles chronology
"Sheela-Na-Gig"
(1992)		 "50ft Queenie"
(1993)		 "Man-Size"
(1993)
Music video
"50ft Queenie" on YouTube

"50ft Queenie" is a song by English singer-songwriter PJ Harvey, and the first single from her second studio album Rid of Me. It is performed by Harvey's trio, consisting of Harvey on vocals and guitar, Rob Ellis on drums and Steve Vaughan on bass. Released in April 1993, the song charted in the United Kingdom and was a Top 30 hit, but failed to chart in the United States. A promotional music video directed by Maria Mochnacz was also filmed.

Background and history

The song was recorded at Pachyderm Studios with Steve Albini, who had previously produced albums for Pixies and The Breeders. Harvey praised Albini's work because she thought "the instruments on the album sound like they're breathing and real".

Music video

Directed by Maria Mochnacz, the music video for the song shows PJ Harvey performing the song, with the small leopard skin coat as seen in the single's inlay artwork. The backdrop of the video reads "HEY I'M ONE BIG QUEEN". It was later used on Beavis and Butt-Head.

Critical reception

Upon its release as a single, Gina Morris of NME picked "50ft Queenie" as one of the magazine's "single[s] of the week" and described it as "another startling, emphatic slab of potent punk rock, delivered in a flurry of intensity" and one which "again highlights Polly's ability to manoeuvre her voice to sound spent, torn and bleeding in emotive tension". Morris added that all four tracks on the single are "equally sublime" and "particularly the gripping" "Man-Size".[1] David Bennun of Melody Maker considered it "pretty good, in a weird frenetic steel-tipped rockabilly kind of way" but added that it was "by no means the best thing on the [new] album". While he encouraged buyers to purchase the album instead, he noted that the single was "worth having for the stark demo version" of "Man-Size".[2]

Track listing

All songs written by PJ Harvey.

UK CD and European 12" single (Island Records, CID 538, 862 037–2 / 12IS 538, 862 037–1)[3]

  1. 50 ft Queenie – 2:26
  2. Reeling – 2:39
  3. Man-Size (demo) – 3:24
  4. Hook (demo) – 4:33

Tracks 1 and 2 recorded by Steve Albini. Tracks 3 and 4 recorded by PJ Harvey.

The demo version of "Hook" later appeared on 4-Track Demos.

UK 7" single (Island Records, IS 538, 862 037–7)[4]

  1. 50 ft Queenie – 2:26
  2. Reeling – 2:39
  3. Man-Size (demo) – 3:24

Charts

Chart (1993) Peak
position
Australian ARIA Singles Chart[5] 179
UK Singles Chart[6] 27

References

  1. ↑ Morris, Gina (10 April 1993). "Singles - Single of the Week (1)". New Musical Express. p. 18.
  2. ↑ Morris, Gina (17 April 1993). "Singles". Melody Maker. p. 28.
  3. ↑ "PJ Harvey – 50ft Queenie (CD, Maxi)", discogs.com. Retrieved 30 April 2010.
    - "PJ Harvey – 50ft Queenie (12", Single)", discogs.com. Retrieved 30 April 2010.
  4. ↑ PJ Harvey – 50ft Queenie (7")", discogs.com. Retrieved from 30 April 2010.
  5. ↑ "Response from ARIA re: chart inquiry (submitted to charts.mail@aria.com.au), received 15 July 2015". imgur.com. Archived from the original on 16 July 2015. Retrieved 19 July 2015.
  6. ↑ "PJ HARVEY". UK Singles Chart. 2010. Retrieved 30 April 2010.
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