M-Bike Lyrics

Lyric discussion by Falsedog 

Cover art for M-Bike lyrics by PJ Harvey

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!