The Words That Maketh Murder

It was recorded live in April and May 2010 at the church in Eype, with Flood, John Parish, Mick Harvey and Harvey producing. Harvey wrote the lyrics first, and they were the starting point. The arrangement rests on autoharp, with saxophone and trombone in the chorus. It was released digitally on 6 February 2011 and on 7-inch the next day, with The Guns Called Me Back Again on the B-side. It did not chart.

The lyrics touch on diplomacy, the war in Afghanistan and both World Wars. The last refrain is adapted from Eddie Cochran's Summertime Blues, with permission, and it is credited in the liner notes. The Guardian called Seamus Murphy's video, the second of the twelve films, a masterstroke, and Patti Smith praised it.

Plagenhoef wrote in Pitchfork that the song shakes its head at the hopes for diplomacy after the First World War, and that the jaunty refrain asking what if I take my problems to the United Nations is a hilariously depressing coda.

Live

Harvey first played it live at La Maroquinerie in Paris on 14 February 2011, then on Later... with Jools Holland on 26 April 2011 and at the 2011 NME Awards. Setlist.fm logs it 216 times.