FEATURE:
Kate Bush: In Search of a Great Mystery
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in a promotional image for 50 Words for Snow/PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush
Wild Man from 2011’s 50 Words for Snow
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THIS will be a fairly brief feature…
as there is a great song from 2011’s 50 Words for Snow that I have not covered. Before I come to that, it was nice to see earlier in the week – before Christmas – Kate Bush wish people well via her official website. The last time she posted an update to her site was earlier in the year where she praised key workers and hoped that everyone was keeping well. In a year where many have talked about Bush’s music and there has ben plenty of love for it, a few words for the woman who created the gold was a nice end to a bad time. Her message is quite touching and sweet:
“Hi everyone,
There’s very little that hasn’t already been said about 2020... I just hope you’ve managed to cope and to stay safe through all the ins and outs of lockdown.
Without the key workers on the front line, this year would’ve been so very different. A huge thank you to them, especially those working in the health services.
Wishing you all the best possible Christmas in such difficult circumstances and hoping there's a much happier and brighter year ahead.
Kate”.
Not that, as I have said, 50 Words for Snow is a Christmas album but, as we have just celebrated the big day (in a rather unusual way), I am minded to return to Bush’s most-recent album, 50 Words for Snow, and immerse myself in it. Not only do the compositions and stories provoke a certain sense of magic and curiosity but, in a brutal year, there is a sense of escape and the child-like that we have not really found this year – whether it is the un-Christmas-like weather or the fact many cannot celebrate the holidays with their family.
I discussed the way Bush embraces and wonders about the mythical and spiritual earlier in the year. Kate Bush’s lyrics are like nobody else’s. She can write about passion and desire in a very original way, but she has this more activist and political side; there is a nod to the mystical and otherworldly and, as we know, she draws great inspiration from film, literature and T.V. Wild Man is a song that I have been revisiting a lot lately, as it is a gorgeous and evocative track. It appears just after 50 Words for Snow’s longest track, Misty, and one would think that any song that followed such an epic would suffer by comparison. On the contrary: Wild Man is a song that has urgency and something darker alongside some really beautiful playing from Bush and a sense that we are wandering through woodland and the land looking for an elusive yeti! Wild Man was released as a digital download single on 11th October, 2011, where it reached number seventy-three in the U.K. It is not a high chart position but, as the song is over seven minutes in length, perhaps it is best enjoyed in the context of an album. Sandwiched between Misty, and Snowed in at Wheeler Street, Wild Man is this wonderful song that one can come back to again and again.
IN THIS IMAGE: Wild Man Segment - Animation Image 4
The song premiered on BBC Radio 2 on Monday, 10th October, 2011. The 7:16 minute version was first played on The Ken Bruce Show, whereas the 4:16 minute radio edit was made available for streaming on Kate Bush's official YouTube channel after the radio premiere. The song was BBC Radio 2's Record of the Week for the week starting 16th October. I am glad Wild Man got that support, as it is not an obvious track to play on the radio and, as many stations limit the Kate Bush songs they play, I hope that the full-length version will be played more in 2021. In 2015, Bush contributed the track to The Art of Peace − Songs for Tibet II compilation album – made to mark the eightieth birthday of the Dalai Lama. The song was remixed and retitled as Wild Man (Remastered Shimmer). I am grabbing from Wikipedia there, but it is useful information that shows just how the song has been used and where it has appeared. I have just sort of labelled Wild Man as a song about a yeti…but I have not given too many details. I want to bring in an article from the Kate Bush Encyclopaedia, where we hear from Bush herself; recording engineer Stephen W. Tayler discusses the remastered version:
“Well, the first verse of the song is just quickly going through some of the terms that the Yeti is known by and one of those names is the Kangchenjunga Demon. He’s also known as Wild Man and Abominable Snowman. (...) I don’t refer to the Yeti as a man in the song. But it is meant to be an empathetic view of a creature of great mystery really.
And I suppose it’s the idea really that mankind wants to grab hold of something [like the Yeti] and stick it in a cage or a box and make money out of it. And to go back to your question, I think we’re very arrogant in our separation from the animal kingdom and generally as a species we are enormously arrogant and aggressive. Look at the way we treat the planet and animals and it’s pretty terrible isn’t it? (John Doran, 'A Demon In The Drift: Kate Bush Interviewed'. The Quietus, 2011)
Stephen W. Tayler about 'Wild Man (with remastered shimmer)'
It was something I worked on with Rupert [Hine]. I added layers of sound to it, but they’re almost inaudible, which was done with Kate’s approval. In fact, fans were pissed off because they felt it wasn’t any different to the original version. In fact, it’s completely different. It has a very different sonic approach. We asked Kate to name it and she said it should be “With Remastered Shimmer” so that’s what it was called. (Anil Prasad, Stephen W Tayler - Experiential evocation. Innerviews, 2020)”.
It is a shame that most radio stations have a limit to what they can play in terms of length, because Wild Man is an amazing song with some great drumming from Steve Gadd; Bush exceptional on lead and backing vocals; Andy Fairweather Low also appearing on vocals to add something very special. It is a wonderful song, and one that has come more to mind this year. Maybe it is the pandemic and the fact we are looking for hope and something almost far-fetched; at this time of year, I feel it does have a sort of Christmas vibe. Regardless of the reason behind loving the song, I would recommend others to listen to it and check out the 50 Words for Snow album. Many might wonder when we will get a follow-up to the 2011 album and whether 2021 will be made especially wonderful with news of new Kate Bush material. Who know!. It is brilliant that she gave her fans and people a message of support – good to know she is well and okay. Surrender yourself to Wild Man, as it is…
A really immersive and gorgeous piece of music.