Help! What does this song mean?

I think that this song is about a young girl maybe being sexually abused under a bridge or losing her virginaty under a bridge near river and Pj Harvey is her mother...something like that its really strange but a work of art.

i think this is about a crazy woman who finds something out about her daughter and is angry at her. she gets so mad she kills her down by the water. she heard her daughter screaming and she was telling her to stop but she didn't. she takes the body home, then realises what she's done. she killed her in the water so she is askin for the fish to bring her daughter back

Yes,like she thinks her daughter is not pure anymore...something like Carrie's mother...it has a symbolic quality nonethless...like a fairytale.
And she blames it on the "fish"=sex.

This song is weird. I dont know what it means, I just like the buzz sound throughout the song.

This song is about how a woman who finds her daughter under a bridge. She had just lost her virginity and she's no longer the little girl her mother had known. She takes her home as an adult and the fish represent how she wishes she could have her little girl back.

I agree with what everyone says... I just wanted to say this is a great song. Wierd, but great.

i think she could be looking at her self in a past tense for example

"I lost my heart Under the bridge To that little girl
So much to me"

and she could have realized what had happened and made her feel in the present

"And now I'm moan And now I holler"
be some how guiding her out that situation like protecting her
trying to keep her from getting as far as she did in her present moment

"She'll never know just what I found "
thinking she could save her somehow

"blue eyed girl"
sometimes society perceives innocence and purity with angels white skin blue eyes

"Became blue-eyed whore "
she was taken or gave her self

"I took her hand Just like my daughter "
What bond and love could be stronger then a mother and daughter. The bond with that a woman haves with her self and purity.

"see her again I had to lose her To do her harm I heard her holler I heard her moan "
as in she couldn't help her and now she is begging to recognize herself in her present tense


"My lovely daughter I took her home "
She somehow subsided to what happened she's not beaten just guilty she couldn't change the outcome.

She address Jesus in these album in practically all her songs.

"Little fish, big fish swimming in the water "
how we are baptized we are pure again we are reborn and this what she is trying to do knowing she couldn't save her otherwise

"Come back here man gimme my daughter"
give her self her purity

I love this song I hope I didn't look so much into it but she does that to me pj is awesome.

Great song. It really can mean anything, but I think that PJ often refers to a daughter in her songs. Maybe she has lost a baby in the past.

I agree with hellas
"give me my daughter" could be a reference to a miscarriage
but there's definate sexual abuse references in there as well

I do not think this song has to do with any sexual abuse in it's literal context.

'Daughter' is symbolic. What is a daughter but a young girl that a woman has created, held within her, birthed, nurtured, and will protect at all costs? When we are little, our main role in our world is the role of daughter, and when we become older, we become sexual beings, girlfreinds, wives, employees, etc, and rarely stop to think of ourselves as our parents daughters... When a girl is a small girl, she has never been a mother, an aunt, a teacher, or anything esle. She is a daughter, an innocent, curious, naive, daughter.

Women often unintentionally try to keep thier daughters innocent and to themselves, forever, and in a subconsience attempt to do this, women often sheild thier daughters from the joys of life as they can present a threat to the daughters well being or mothers fear that they may; like sexual pleasure, men(women), and outside influences. Rarely done for any reason other than love, but very oppressive to the daughter just the same.

I think every woman had an inner innocence that is now like an inner child. The inner child is so hard to find and relate with.

I guess if you see the daughter as a symbolic part of her and not actual offspring, you find a different meaning altogher and that is how I see it.

I do not think miscarriage has anything to do with it, and although I first thought it was about an abortion, I have concluded that I was still taking 'daughter' and 'loose her' and all that, way too literally. Abortion, I have concluded, is not relative to this song.

I just thought I would throw you all some food for thought.
I will summerize what I think quickly:

The singer is looking back at the discovery of her sexuality, whether it was through masturbation or her first gratifying sexual experiance. While she loved what she "found" and could not deny herself the pleasure, she had an inner shame about it, so she tried to essentially hide her sensual maturing side from her innocent simpler side. But she could not do it forever, and eventually she lost the innocence.
Most people dont think of it too deeply, or they just have sexual liberation/sexual shame conflicts within and the conflict is not something they analyze... They deal or they don't deal, and don't realize it either way...But I think some do, but every girl/woman will all do it differently.

When we totally loose our innocence, we may feel liberated, but still, the complicated days of innocence are somthing we still desire at times. In the transition life can be downright painful.

When she says:
'Little fish, big fish' , she is creating a metaphor, the fish are her innocence and inner child(little fish), and the big fish, who in most cases will swallow the little fish, is the new, sexual, more empowered, her... The big fish may have swallowed the little fish, either way the big fish has taken the little fish, and sometimes she misses the little fish. At some time during her transition into a sexual creature, she may try to find it, but cannot.

"Come back here man give me my daughter":
A plea to go back to her simpler times, before conflict and shame. She to be almost literally asking the man who took it(which I have no reason to believe she did not willingly participate, though we do go through a time when we blame the men who we have our first sexual encounters with, so that may tie in in that way)'it', for good; to give 'it' back as a desperate attempt to get back what she could not give back to herself...

'just like my daughter to see her again' :
I think that is her way of showing her innocence was succumbing to her new, sensually aware self, and she tried to keep the innocence inside alive, with all the ignorant bliss it can bring, but her innocent side was not a permanent thing, and was bound to be lost in the new her...

"I lost my heart under the bridge to that little girl, so much to me" I do not think 'that little girl is her daughter, or innocence, but rather the other side of her conscience... Like the angel on one shoulder and the devil on the other, the little girl is the temptress, the devil on the shoulder... She lost her heart to that little girl, and though she tries to keep her daughter from seeing her, and hide what she has discovered "she'll never know just what I found"... But little girl(her tempted side, her sexual side)obviously will not leave the daugher alone, and the daughter (her innocence)continues to see her( the little girl, the temptress and maturity)again...

The transition from being your fathers daughter to your boy(or girl) freinds lover, the transition from girl to woman, the transition from innocent to not innocent.... it is an emotionally tyring time so intense many girls are depressed, angry, scared, rebellious, and conflicted... Sleep overs with friends or sleeping WITH friends... Playing dolls or getting dolled up... Being a good girl or being a young, curious woman... The pain and excitement are very stormy, especially if the seeds of religion have been planted in your psyche, you may find yourself pleading "Oh help me jesus, come through the storm." If adolescence is not a storm and not a time we are conflicted about our spiritual side as well as our sexual side, then what is it exactly, other than in it;s literal sense?

"I had to loose her to do her harm"... Well, the only way to harm the other side, to would be to loose it, vice versa... You cannot continue to grow as a woman, emotionally or sexually, if you hold on to your childhood and innocence. You may try to, and think you can just adjust that side... But that just makes yo naive. Naivity is ignorant and unhealthy, even if it is blissful for a while. So you would try to subdue that side, and realize you can't, it doesnt work that way, and that you cant ever return to being that innocent child, the 'pure daughter', now that you have seen, or "found" your "mother"(mother as in the woman you have become, a sexual and creative being of maturity), and since you can not subdue the little girl, or change her, you would have to loose her... And hence a woman is born... Though many a woman will still look back and wish they could be that little, innocent daughter again... And in dreams they often are. I think we look at our selves as women(big fish) and try to find the peace we once had as a small fish(innocent daughter)and try to find her even if it is just for a moment, so that we can remember the things we knew, that we didnt even know we knew, before so many other things in life(sex, relationships, etc)overcame us...

The blue eyed whore was the way she was viewing herself. She was a blued girl, now she is a blue eyed girl.

Holler and moan are likely the sound of her innocent daughter dying. Or, they are the sound of the little girl, taunting her with the sexual pleasures... I think it depends if you are looking at the first part of the song, or the latter reference.

I didn't quite interpret this the same way. I think that this song isn't necessarily an allusion to her daughter loosing her virginity and the mother wanting her little girl back, but something more direct. I think that the disturbed narrator killed her daughter; the music itself and the strain in her voice supports this idea. Also, I think that the singer is moving in and out of reality; one minute she knows that she's killed her daughter, the next, she doesn't.

"That blue-eyed girl/ Became blue-eyed whore"= This is what pushes the mother over the edge: she catches her daughter with a man.

"Just like my daughter/ See her again"= The girl that she killed is no longer the same girl as her daughter; she's disassociated the two people in her mind (living, innocent daughter vs dead, non-virginal girl). She's disturbed enough to think that the dead body merely resembles her daughter, and she's wondering when she'll get to see her daughter again (she thinks that her daughter is gone, not dead).

"I took her home"= A reference to the previous Jesus statement, she sent her daughter to heaven, away from her being a whore.

"Little fish, big fish swimming in the water/ Come back here man gimme my daughter"= Since she killed her near the river, she's returned to it, or another river. I think that as she's saying this part, she is more detached from reality. She thinks that the fish is the one who stole her daughter and she's asking him for her back.

When I hear this song, I picture PJ sitting dirty on a river bank in the dark, rocking and staring blankly into the water, muttering at the fish to return her daughter.

PJ Havey's Pronounciation of Water/Daughter > Everyone

i agree with certain parts of idontdoubt's comment but basically this is the river situated where pj harvey used to live as a child and how she wanted to be a boy initially because she used to "hang" around with brother's mates and usually she would be left out and voila down by the river covers that.
nothing to do with her "child" whatsoever

sorry its idoubtthat not idontdoubt :P

I always assumed it was about infanticide. Or, perhaps, an abortion.

I always regarded the bridge and the water as symbolic rather than literal, but the lost innocence of a mothers' daughter was plainly apparent.

I thought it was about abortion too, and PJ is closemouthed, so I'm not sure.

This song distresses me because I can't figure it out. Also, it's creepy. But I love it anyway.

As I said in my earlier comments, I did at once think it was possibly about abortion or miscarriage. That was the first 2-3 times I heard it. After the third time, when I really listened to the lyrics, I realized it couldn't possibly be about a pregnancy of any literal kind; not an abortion, not a miscarriage, and not infanticide.

The following lines show that this is not a fetus and not an infant:

"That blue-eyed girl
She said no more
That blue-eyed girl
Became blue-eyed whore
Down by the water
I took her hand
Just like my daughter
See her again"

How on earth would this have anything to do with a pregnancy or fetus? And how likely is it that a baby could disobey and "see her again"?

I don't see why/how it would be about any literal murder or death at all.

All the talk of fishes at the end of the song should show just how very symbolic the song is. Same as the blue eyes, I dont see how literal blue eyes would have anything to do with anything relevent to anything else she says.

Severedvox basicly said what I was trying to say, only doing so neater and more to the point, lol. I hadnt noticed Severed's interpretation when Iposted or I would have just said that 95% of what he/she said is what I would say too... And I could have saved myself so much time!
What Raul7_7 said is interesting too... The fact that she grew up with boys down by the water was somthinig I did not know, but it helps explain why the water meant so much to the "story" of her sexual maturation. Growing up with boys and penis envy also explains why she is so focused on the 'girl' and the 'daughter' whilst discovering her sexual self; they aren't just great metaphors, but they have a real almost literal purpose as the metaphors as well. That just enriches the symbolism even further. Very cool.

This song quite scared me really.
I lost a certain innocence I had under a bridge and I just felt like a complete whore.
"That blue-eyed girl
Became blue-eyed whore"
Oh and I have blue eyes. So in a strange way I feel connected to this song, it's strange.

To be honest, looking at the lyrics, in one way it could be about a girl getting sexually abused under a bridge and the singer sees her as a daughter figure (not necessarily her daughter)
Or if you look at it another way, it's as if the singer is the one who sexually abused the girl under the bridge, and is regretting it.

"So in a strange way I feel connected to this song, it's strange."

Should read through my posts before sending them :|

"Some critics have taken my writing so literally to the point that they'll listen to 'Down by the Water' and believe I have actually given birth to a child and drowned her."

The idea of the fish in the water seem to be mocking the man doing the harm to the girl. Perhaps he can hear her mother in his mind, "come back here, man, gimme my daughter," as the fish swim around in the water by the canal where he is doing these awful things to a girl. I also think it's a new girl and he's doing the same thing he did to his own daughter to her.

I think this about a girl who is wither under a bridge wherein she gets pregnant and finds herself alone. She late drowns the baby girl,and then is haunted by the guilt.
It fairly simple,and the people who see sexual abuse references (other than abadonment) are barking up the wrong tree,IMO.

I think this song is very simple, and not about abortion or murder: a woman, who lost her own innocence down by the water, is dismayed to find her daughter has gone and done the same. She loses her daughter's love as a result of trying to bring her back, of punishing her for straying: "I had to lose her/To do her harm"

And the big fish, little fish are the sharks (men) who have taken her daughter from her, metaphorically-speaking, by taking her innocence, and by changing her (her daughter no longer wants to be the little blue-eyed girl.)