Big Exit

I don't think this is about suicide, or love- since it's from the album Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea, which seems to have a strong sensation of wanderlust, I think it's about just that- the want to travel, or maybe elope with a new man, to escape from where you are at the moment and discover new worlds and people, apart from the strong city atmosphere. I see the bit about "beautiful people, beautiful girls" referring to the models and larger-than-life pin-ups we are bombarded with today. I don't think this song is about suicide, because as someone who has 5 of PJ's albums and some of the harder-to-find songs downloaded, I think she would be more creative and original if she were to write about suicide. Furthermore, it would be ironic to use a suicide song as the first song on an album. I see it more as a big exit from, say, New York, ready to begin a journey round the world :-)

I always thought it was her intial reaction to New York City, as apparently she took her time from New York for the inspiration of this album. I think at first she found it to be a big and intimidating city, and felt safe only when she was with someone she was familiar with. But even when with that person she may have felt vulnerable in such a new place.

In my opinion, this is not about suicide at all. Someone has already said that it would actually be pretty weird to start an album with a song about death. "Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea" is a pretty energetic, vitalistic album indeed. I think the gun/pistol works more as some kind of metaphor: she wants danger and she's ready to handle it, so she wants "a gun", a weapon, something that will help her realise her fantasy of risk and escape. If you think about it, in the outro for "Good Fortune" she sings: "So I take my good fortune / And I fantasize of our leaving / Like some modern day gypsy landslide / Like some modern day Bonnie and Clyde / on the run again". There is this idea of being "on the run", in an almost-glamorous way, the Bonnie & Clyde reference is more than obvious, but one can also think of Steve McQueen and AliMacGraw in "The Getaway". In conclusion, I think PJ Harvey is singing about the questionable "pleasures" of violence and crime as sources of power, enjoyment and freedom.

You are the one who should "get ur facts rite before u criticise", jonnybassman. The song I think you are talking about is "The Whores Hustle And The Hustlers Whore":

[...] "I watch the news, I read newspapers. I am like most people. I am very affected and can be emotionally upset by what is going on, and it reaches the point of anger: 'This is just awful and has to stop.' I can't even remember what affected me at the time, but it is so many things on a daily basis, when it comes to world news. It was me voicing my anger and upset at the state we are in."

Correct me if I'm wrong, but when it comes to "Big Exit" it doesn't say much about the meaning of the song, just a bit about the making of it. To be acting like you are speaking the truth, when what you call facts don't seem to be much else than a mix-up from your side... that just makes you seem inattentive.

Here's how I hear this song: I think yurigon is getting close. I hear it as being about how dangerous, fucked up, and sexist society is, and about injustice in general. The pistol/gun, on the surface, seems to refer to a weapon to protect oneself, but also represents the favored gender in the world ("gun" is a penis). "go to a different land" is talking specifically about wanting to go to a place where injustice doesn't exist.

Could be interpreted as a suicide-song

I really doubt that this can be about anything else than suicide. If not to the land of the dead, where would that gun take her?

She can no longer see any hope for this "crazy" world of ours, she can only see the pain and suffering that no-one seems to be able to stop. Wherever she walks this feeling and these images are always following her, she wants to "run" away from them but can't. Since "the hurt" is probably taking her over, she fears it might have already managed to kill her emotionally. Maybe she thinks that the only way she now could find a "safe place" is by putting a bullet in her heart, 'cause in that way the hurt would die with her last hearbeat.

*heartbeat

I think it's about how scared she feels in this world, and she wants the gun to protect her, not to commit suicide.

I probably would think so too, if it wasn't for these lines:

"But I want a pistol In my hand I wanna go to A different land"

The title, "Big Exit", also makes me believe it's about stepping out of the mortal world and into whatever awaits you when you have. In my opinion, a "big exit" that leads to a "different land" seems to be representing death (and life after death) way too well to be some sort of coincidence or random choice of words.