Let England Shake

This is the first single and title track from English alternative rock singer-songwriter PJ Harvey's eighth studio album. She previewed the song earlier in 2010 on BBC's Andrew Marr Show. Gordon Brown was on the same program and viewers were taken aback to see Harvey singing, "The West's asleep/Let England Shake" in front of Britain's then Prime Minister. Harvey herself was excited to have the opportunity to express her views. She told Q magazine: "I was thrilled by that. It was one of those moments that I'll never forget. You couldn't have planned it better if you wanted. I was just astonished really. You can only wonder what he might have heard in it. He might have heard nothing at all. But I was really honored to be able to sing that in front of him and have him as an audience."

The song originally incorporated a sample of the Four Lads' 1953 single "Istanbul (Not Constantinople)" but Harvey later scrapped it. She explained to the NME this was because, "it actually became something that was drawing the song back rather than letting it become its own living entity, so we got rid of that in the end."

Harvey told Andrew Marr this song is an example of Let England Shake where she "was looking outwards a lot more." She added: "I think a lot of my work has often been about the interior, the emotional, what happens inside oneself. This time I've just been looking out, so it's not only to do with taking a look at England, but taking a look at the world and what's happening in the current day world affairs. But always trying to come from the human point of view because I don't feel qualified to sing from a political standpoint."