This song is written as the perspective of the boys in the street, as a whole, and what path they are going to choose as they get older and grow into men. (This is why the music video takes place in an orphanage.) The seen, and unseen collective suffering is imbedded in the boys’ mind, consciously or subconsciously, and is haunting them. Which path will the boys choose? Issac Hayes is the voice of reason, maybe God, the angel on his shoulder, or the voice of his forefathers from beyond the grave who can see the big picture and are pleading with the boys not to continue the violence and pattern of killing their brothers, but to rise above. The most beautiful song and has so many levels. Racism towards African Americans in America would not exist if everyone sat down and listened to this song and understood the history behind the words. The power, fear, pleading in RZA and Ghostface voices are genuine and powerful. Issac Hayes’ strong voice makes the perfect strong father figure, who is possibly from beyond the grave.
Did you see her walking?
Did she come around here, Sir?
Black hair, brown eyes
My beautiful Leah
She was always so needing
Said, 'I have no-one'
Even as I held her
She went out looking for someone
She only had nightmares,
And her sadness never lifted
And slowly over the years
Her lovely face twisted
Did she come around here, Sir?
I swear you would remember
Black hair, Brown eyes
Late September
October
November
December
It never leaves my mind
The last words she said
'If I don't find it this time,
Then I'm better off dead'
Did she come around here, Sir?
Black hair, brown eyes
My beautiful Leah
She was always so needing
Said, 'I have no-one'
Even as I held her
She went out looking for someone
She only had nightmares,
And her sadness never lifted
And slowly over the years
Her lovely face twisted
Did she come around here, Sir?
I swear you would remember
Black hair, Brown eyes
Late September
October
November
December
It never leaves my mind
The last words she said
'If I don't find it this time,
Then I'm better off dead'
Lyrics submitted by shut
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The song starts out with a chorus, that has two quistions, "Did you see her walking? Did she come around here, sir?" so now we can see, that this person are looking for someone. In the next two sentences, we get a little discription of this girl and also her name; Leah. "Black hair, brown eyes. My beautiful Leah". By using the word beautiful, we can sense that this person cares about Leah. In the first stanza, we get a deeper discription of Leah. The person is telling somebody what her bad sides was, "She was always so needing" and "Said 'I have no-one'", with the last sentence i get the feeling that Leah isn't satisfied with herself. The last sentences of the first stanza is he/she who is telling somebody, that nomatter how much he/she held her or showed that he/she loved her, Leah went out looking for someone to care about her, even though she had it right in front of her. In the second stanza he/she tells more abouth Leah; "She only had nightmares, and her sadness never lifted" wich also gives us a better picture of Leah, she is depressed or just not satisfied with herself and her life and it did'nt get any better with time. "And slowly over the years, her lovely face twisted", that's a metafor for Leah's situation, it got worse over the years and then she got suicidal. Then the chorus comes again, but with some changes. He/she is asking again if 'Sir' has seen Leah and tells him that he would have remembered her, if he saw her. And the look of Leah is coming again "Black hair, brown eyes" and then he/she is telling us that Leah disapeared "Late september" and after that he/she is counting down the months of Leah's disapearing "October, November, December", so they found her dead when december was over. The third stanza or a outro, he/she rememberes Leah's last words; "It never leaves my mind, the last words she said, 'If I don't find it this time, then i'm better off dead". So Leah went out looking for someone who could care about her, but she didn't find it, so she killed herself. He/she could never let it go, because if he/she told her that he/she loved her, she wouldn't have killed herself. Overall this song is about a persons longin to Leah, who died because he/she never idmittet his/her love to her.
I generally agree with Sundquist but when I listen to the song think that the person who is looking for Leah is her mother. So I imagine an old lady grabbing my hand and asking me with anxiety in her eyes 'did you see her walking? did she come around here sir? Dark hair brown eyes..my beautiful Leah'. Powerful song.
No I think PJ Harvey is singing as Leah's mother who feels she loved Leah, but Leah wanted a romantic love with some perfect guy she couldn't find.
One of my favorite Polly songs. So chilling and shockingly real. Very sad. The way she drags out the revelation of Leah's suicide by counting down the months of her absence is brilliant.
I'm sure Leah commits suicide at the end. "If I don't find it this time i'm better off dead." The worried character Harvey is singing as can't find Leah and it would make sense for this to be why.