M-Bike

this is one of my favorite songs EVER. i think its about the typical man obsessed with his vehicle, and the woman, pissed and jealous that he spends more time obsessing over his motorbike, and doesn't have any time for her. typical pj harvey classic. manic lyrics, and insane bluesy riff. what's not to love??

About an insecure girl who resents her boyfriend's hobby.

"Think what you live" is wrong. I think its "think what you like", meaning the girl knows shes being unreasonable, but doesn't care.

Autobiographical. Written when Harvey was seeing Joe Dilworth of Th'Faith Healers. Who was quoted as remarking "She could just have said she didn't like my bike".

See sees the bike as a human female. And the significant other riding it as sex.

A song about being pushed over the edge. She can't bear to say it's first / full name, hence the title. When she does say 'motorbike', at the point of accepting there's a problem, it all comes spilling out...'MOTOR!' There is a sad ending suggested by the last few lines: that she is thinking of riding the M over a cliff, not merely push it over one. If you 'take his motor' rather than 'send it over' or 'push it over' you are going with it. 'Break her, break me'... she is thinking about how both the M and herself will be damaged. Does she do it? It's necessarily outside of the song's time line but seems she makes a decision to kill herself and wreck the M when she goes from saying 'I could break her' to 'I'm gonna break her'. Maybe then he will finally notice her. I don't think 'he' is necessarily the boyfriend; I picture all of this happening on neighbours' driveways, she washing her car whenever her gay neighbour tinkers with his motorbike. As it's all still future-tense by the end of the song, you can decide how it all ends!