50ft Queenie

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 British photographer and music video director Maria Mochnacz, the accompanying music video for "50ft Queenie" 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 released on 19 April 1993 and was shot in a barn in Bristol. The video 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". 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".

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)

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

Note: 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)

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

Charts

References

References

1. (17 April 1993). "Promos In Production".
2. Morris, Gina. (10 April 1993). "Singles - Single of the Week (1)".
3. Bennun, David. (17 April 1993). "Singles".
4. [http://www.discogs.com/P-J-Harvey-50ft-Queenie/release/404656 "PJ Harvey – 50ft Queenie (CD, Maxi)"], ''discogs.com''. Retrieved 30 April 2010.
   - [http://www.discogs.com/P-J-Harvey-50ft-Queenie/release/1563933 "PJ Harvey – 50ft Queenie (12", Single)"], ''discogs.com''. Retrieved 30 April 2010.
5. [http://www.discogs.com/P-J-Harvey-50ft-Queenie/release/1633436 PJ Harvey – 50ft Queenie (7")"], ''discogs.com''. Retrieved from 30 April 2010.
6. "Response from ARIA re: chart inquiry (submitted to charts.mail@aria.com.au), received 15 July 2015".
7. (8 May 1993). "Eurochart Hot 100".
8. (2010). "PJ HARVEY". [[UK Singles Chart]].