“The Words That Maketh Murder” is a song by English alternative rock musician PJ Harvey. The song was released as the first single from her eighth studio album, Let England Shake, on February 6, 2011. Dealing with diplomacy, the ongoing conflicts in Afghanistan and world wars, it is Harvey’s first solo single since 2007′s “When Under Ether” and uses similar dynamics of song-writing to its predecessor, including folk influence and instrumentation. “The Words That Maketh Murder” was released to British radio in early January 2011 and was premiered by Zane Lowe on BBC Radio 1 on January 11, 2011. At the time, there were no plans to release a single of the song domestically; however, it was announced in early February that the song would be issued as a single. Released digitally on February 6, and as a 7 vinyl on February 7, the song accompanied Harvey’s appearances with John Wilson on BBC Radio 4′s Front Row. It was eventually featured as the fourth track on Let England Shake, released on February 14, 2011. The song was also heavily promoted through in-studio radio performances by Harvey. An accompanying music video, directed by Seamus Murphy, was released prior to the single in January 2010 and is the second part of a twelve music-film project documenting Let England Shake. The video was released online on January 13, 2011 on Norwegian website Lydverket; however, it was later removed for unknown reasons. It was re-released on Daily motion the following day and on YouTube on January 17. A high definition version of the video was released on March 15, 2011.