FEATURE:
A Contemptuous Whirl in The Sensual World
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1989/PHOTO CREDIT: Guido Harari
The Strange Beauty of Kate Bush’s Heads We’re Dancing
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IN the cannon of Kate Bush…
there are few songs as unique and unusual as Heads We’re Dancing. For an artist who is known for her more unconventional songs, this track from The Sensual World has a very strange heart! I really like the song and, on an album that is underrated itself, not many people discuss Heads We’re Dancing. In fact, I do not think that this has been played on the radio at all – I have never heard it, that is for sure! In this article from the Kate Bush Encyclopaedia, we get some more insight into the track:
“That's a very dark song, not funny at all! (...) I wrote the song two years ago, and in lots of ways I wouldn't write a song like it now. I'd really hate it if people were offended by this...But it was all started by a family friend, years ago, who'd been to dinner and sat next to this guy who was really fascinating, so charming. They sat all night chatting and joking. And next day he found out it was Oppenheimer. And this friend was horrified because he really despised what the guy stood for. I understood the reaction, but I felt a bit sorry for Oppenheimer. He tried to live with what he'd done, and actually, I think, committed suicide. But I was so intrigued by this idea of my friend being so taken by this person until they knew who they were, and then it completely changing their attitude. So I was thinking, what if you met the Devil? The Ultimate One: charming, elegant, well spoken. Then it turned into this whole idea of a girl being at a dance and this guy coming up, cocky and charming, and she dances with him. Then a couple of days later she sees in the paper that it was Hitler. Complete horror: she was that close, perhaps could've changed history. Hitler was very attractive to women because he was such a powerful figure, yet such an evil guy. I'd hate to feel I was glorifying the situation, but I do know that whereas in a piece of film it would be quite acceptable, in a song it's a little bit sensitive. (Len Brown, 'In the Realm of the Senses'. NME (UK), 7 October 1989)
It's a very dark idea, but it's the idea of this girl who goes to a big ball; very expensive, romantic, exciting, and it's 1939, before the war starts. And this guy, very charming, very sweet-spoken, comes up and asks her to dance but he does it by throwing a coin and he says, ``If the coin lands with heads facing up, then we dance!'' Even that's a very attractive 'come on', isn't it? And the idea is that she enjoys his company and dances with him and, days later, she sees in the paper who it is, and she is hit with this absolute horror - absolute horror. What could be worse? To have been so close to the man... she could have tried to kill him... she could have tried to change history, had she known at that point what was actually happening. And I think Hitler is a person who fooled so many people. He fooled nations of people. And I don't think you can blame those people for being fooled, and maybe it's these very charming people... maybe evil is not always in the guise you expect it to be. (Roger Scott, BBC Radio 1, 14 October 1989)
Like Mick Karn's bass on 'Heads We're Dancing' puts such a different feel to the song. I was really impressed with Mick - his energy. He's very distinctive - so many people admire him because he stays in that unorthodox area, he doesn't come into the commercial world - he just does his thing. (Tony Horkins, 'What Katie Did Next'. International Musician, December 1989)”.
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1989/PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush
I really like The Sensual World, and I think it is this album that ranges from the better-known songs such as The Sensual World, This Woman’s Work, and Deeper Understanding, and those more underplayed tracks like Heads We’re Dancing, The Fog, and Never Be Mine. I guess Heads We’re Dancing could only really end the first side of the album. It has a lot of beauty but there is a lot of weight as well that, if the song was placed elsewhere, it might affect the next track. Opening with The Sensual World and getting to the end of the first half with Love and Anger, The Fog, and Reaching Out, a song where an unwitting girl dances with an evil dictator is a fine and very powerful conclusion! The second side opens with Deeper Understanding and, in its title and tone, it is almost the opposite to Heads We’re Dancing. The song was never released as a single. I guess the video might have proved controversial but, as one listens to Heads We're Dancing, you cannot help but imagine you are there and watching the events unfold! The opening line sort of sets out this deceit and trickery from Hitler: “You talked me into the game of chance”. The realisation that this seemingly anonymous man was the most infamous leader in the world shocks and appals the girl – I guess it would be more a woman – who has spent time with pure evil.
“They say that the Devil is a charming man/And just like you I bet he can dance/And he's coming up behind in his long/Tailed black coat dance/All tails in the air/But the penny landed with its head dancing” is such a beautiful verse….and I think The Sensual World was the last album of Bush’s – until Aerial in 2005 – where her lyrics were a step above anyone else in music. The fact that she concocted a song with such unusual origins could have been a bad thing in terms of making it work and not sound too ghastly. As it is, Heads We’re Dancing is one of the standouts on The Sensual World and it is one of those terrific tracks that does not get as much exposure as it should. At 5:21, it is the longest track on The Sensual World. I also love how frenetic and busy the song starts off - and how imposing the percussion is throughout. With some terrific bass from Mick Karn, big percussion and some wonderful strings - cello: Jonathan Williams; viola: Nigel Kennedy – the song is intoxicating and gripping! I don’t think Heads We’re Dancing is too busy and unfocused. That would be a problem on the follow up album, The Red Shoes, where there were too many layers and the sound lacked warmth. On The Sensual World, Bush continued from Hounds of Love in some ways. One can hear elements of certain songs from that album in Heads We’re Dancing and, even though she re-recorded several songs from The Sensual World on 2011’s Director’s Cut, Heads We’re Dancing was not included – indicating Bush was either happy with the original or that it was not a song that a lot of people had heard. From the changing pace and head-spinning sound of the composition, to Bush’s amazing and compelling vocals, take a listen to a song where a seemingly event-free and innocent dance puts a woman in…
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in a promotional image for The Sensual World (single)/PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush
AN impossible and unenviable situation