FEATURE:
My Lagan Love
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush shot by Brian Griffin in 1983
Kate Bush and the Irish Connection
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THIS will be a fairly brief feature…
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush with her mother, Hannah (far left), and brothers Paddy (left) and John (right) in 1978
but I was writing about Hounds of Love earlier in the week as it celebrated its thirty-fifth anniversary. There are some fascinating sounds and moods through the album, but one of the most striking and invigorating cuts from the album occurs on the album’s second sides, The Ninth Wave. Jig of Life is awash with fiddles, whistles, bouzoukis, uillean pipes, and bodhran and, whilst not all native instruments to Ireland, Bush wrote a lot in Ireland for Hounds of Love, and Jig of Life features wonderful players like Liam O'Flynn (who plays uillean pipes). Kate Bush talked about the origins of Jig of Life back in 1992:
“At this point in the story, it's the future self of this person coming to visit them to give them a bit of help here. I mean, it's about time they have a bit of help. So it's their future self saying, "look, don't give up, you've got to stay alive, 'cause if you don't stay alive, that means I don't." You know, "and I'm alive, I've had kids [laughs]. I've been through years and years of life, so you have to survive, you mustn't give up."
This was written in Ireland. At one point I did quite a lot of writing, you know, I mean lyrically, particularly. And again it was a tremendous sort of elemental dose I was getting, you know, all this beautiful countryside. Spending a lot of time outside and walking, so it had this tremendous sort of stimulus from the outside. And this was one of the tracks that the Irish musicians that we worked with was featured on.
There was a tune that my brother Paddy found which... he said "you've got to hear this, you'll love it." And he was right [laughs], he played it to me and I just thought, you know, "this would be fantastic somehow to incorporate here."
Was just sort of, pull this person up out of despair. (Richard Skinner, 'Classic Albums interview: Hounds Of Love. Radio 1 (UK), aired 26 January 1992)”.
Whilst the sounds of Ireland are not necessarily synonymous with Kate Bush’s work, I think it is one of her most interesting and beautifully rendered aspects. A lot of artists, when they deploy Irish instruments and tones, can sound cliched or rather ill-disciplined. Bush’s mother, Hannah, was an amateur traditional Irish dancer, and her infectious spirit and heritage would definitely have resonated and fascinated the young Kate Bush. No stranger to experimentation and combining various cultures and fabrics into her work, I am surprised that Bush’s Irish roots did not appear into her music until fairly late into her career. Her debut album, The Kick Inside, is a more traditional piano album, so she might not have felt like incorporating Irish tones into her music from the start. By time Never for Ever arrived in 1980 (her third album), we started to hear Irish inflection and instruments in her music. Famously, Army Dreamers finds Bush singing in an Irish accent, and the track features a bodhrán – an Irish frame drum (and it turns forty on 22nd September).
There is a lightness to that song and a sense of waltz-like romance that bellies the serious nature of the lyrics, but I love Bush’s voice on Army Dreamers and the fact she has this Irish hue; maybe, as I have speculated in previous pieces, how she may have been singing from her mother’s position in the song – as the track concerns young men being sent to war so young; many of them never to return. Even though it was quite an occasional deployment, I think some of the most engaging and repeat-worthy songs on Bush albums are those where there is a sound of Ireland. That is the case with Never for Ever’s Army Dreamers, and the following album, The Dreaming, features the beautiful Night of the Swallow – with the musical talents of Liam O'Flynn (penny whistle and uilleann pipes), Seán Keane (fiddle), and Dónal Lunny (bouzouk). The song was a B-side to Houdini, and it was released in Ireland in 1983. I am surprised the song was not released more widely – as EMI did release various album tracks in other countries other than the U.S. and U.K. -, as it is one of the best tracks on The Dreaming, and, again, I want to bring in Kate Bush’s words - as she talks about Night of the Swallow’s origins, and her instilled love of Irish music:
“Unfortunately a lot of men do begin to feel very trapped in their relationships and I think, in some situations, it is because the female is so scared, perhaps of her insecurity, that she needs to hang onto him completely. In this song she wants to control him and because he wants to do something that she doesn't want him to she feels that he is going away. It's almost on a parallel with the mother and son relationship where there is the same female feeling of not wanting the young child to move away from the nest.
Of course, from the guys point of view, because she doesn't want him to go, the urge to go is even stronger. For him, it's not so much a job as a challenge; a chance to do something risky and exciting. But although that woman's very much a stereotype I think she still exists today. (Paul Simper, 'Dreamtime Is Over'. Melody Maker (UK), 16 October 1982)”.
“Ever since I heard my first Irish pipe music it has been under my skin, and every time I hear the pipes, it's like someone tossing a stone in my emotional well, sending ripples down my spine. I've wanted to work with Irish music for years, but my writing has never really given me the opportunity of doing so until now. As soon as the song was written, I felt that a ceilidh band would be perfect for the choruses. The verses are about a lady who's trying to keep her man from accepting what seems to be an illegal job. He is a pilot and has been hired to fly some people into another country. No questions are to be asked, and she gets a bad feeling from the situation. But for him, the challenge is almost more exciting than the job itself, and he wants to fly away. As the fiddles, pipes and whistles start up in the choruses, he is explaining how it will be all right. He'll hide the plane high up in the clouds on a night with no moon, and he'll swoop over the water like a swallow.
Bill Whelan is the keyboard player with Planxty, and ever since Jay played me an album of theirs I have been a fan. I rang Bill and he tuned into the idea of the arrangement straight away. We sent him a cassette, and a few days later he phoned the studio and said, "Would you like to hear the arrangement I've written?"
I said I'd love to, but how?
"Well, Liam is with me now, and we could play it over the phone."
I thought how wonderful he was, and I heard him put down the phone and walk away. The cassette player started up. As the chorus began, so did this beautiful music - through the wonder of telephones it was coming live from Ireland, and it was very moving. We arranged that I would travel to Ireland with Jay and the multi-track tape, and that we would record in Windmill Lane Studios, Dublin. As the choruses began to grow, the evening drew on and the glasses of Guiness, slowly dropping in level, became like sand glasses to tell the passing of time. We missed our plane and worked through the night. By eight o'clock the next morning we were driving to the airport to return to London. I had a very precious tape tucked under my arm, and just as we were stepping onto the plane, I looked up into the sky and there were three swallows diving and chasing the flies. (Kate Bush Club newsletter, October 1982)”.
Moving forward to Hounds of Love, and actually And Dream of Sheep features whistles, which gives it a slightly Irish tinge in places. I was surprised that there was virtually no Irish influence on a track from the first half of Hounds of Love like The Big Sky (even if she does say during this song: “That cloud, that cloud/Looks like Ireland!”), as that song’s imagination and blend of colours and visions would invite some Irish influence – even the didgeridoo makes an appearance in The Big Sky!
On Hounds of Love and its follow-up, The Sensual World, in 1989, Bush recorded with Irish musicians and had ‘Irish sessions’. I think this is the album where Irish influences are strongest. The Celtic harp (native to Ireland and Scotland) appears on Between a Man and a Woman, and The Fog, and the fiddle makes a memorable appearance on The Sensual World’s title track. It may sound cliché to say that Irish pipes and fiddles add an element of romance and nature, but I think Bush’s execution and use of instruments like this really aided and augmented songs, rather than just being thrown into the mix for the hell of it! It is perhaps inevitable that the music of The Sensual World’s title track has an Irish edge as the song, in part, was inspired by James Joyce’s Ulysses. From the Kate Bush Encyclopedia, here is some background:
“Bush was inspired to write the song after hearing Irish actress Siobhan McKenna read the closing soliloquy from James Joyce's 'Ulysses', where the character Molly Bloom recalls her earliest sexual experience with husband-to-be Leopold Bloom. The book was published in 1922. Kate, believing the text had fallen to public domain, simply lifted parts from it and sang them on the backing track she'd created. She approached director Jimmy Murakami to make a video for the song, and he expressed doubts because he suspected James Joyce's grandson Stephen James Joyce had the rights to the book”.
“Because I couldn't get permission to use a piece of Joyce it gradually turned into the song about Molly Bloom the character stepping out of the book, into the real world and the impressions of sensuality. Rather than being in this two-dimensional world, she's free, let loose to touch things, feel the ground under her feet, the sunsets, just how incredibly sensual a world it is. (...) In the original piece, it's just 'Yes' - a very interesting way of leading you in. It pulls you into the piece by the continual acceptance of all these sensual things: 'Ooh wonderful!' I was thinking I'd never write anything as obviously sensual as the original piece, but when I had to rewrite the words, I was trapped. How could you recreate that mood without going into that level of sensuality? So there I was writing stuff that months before I'd said I'd never write. I have to think of it in terms of pastiche, and not that it's me so much. (Len Brown, 'In The Realm Of The Senses'. NME (UK), 7 October 1989)”.
Although, like the start of her career, there is far less Irish influence to be heard, The Red Shoes was perhaps the last album where we can hear this key and always-arresting side to her work. The Red Shoes’ title track definitely has an Irish feel and, whilst Bush was mixing in other sounds through the album – she was still working with the Trio Bulgarka (is a Bulgarian vocal ensemble) as she had on The Sensual World -, I like that the title track has that dance and merriment that is defined by a definite Irish kick!
I think Bush has scaled back her musical palette on albums like Director’s Cut, and 50 Words for Snow (both 2011), whilst her ambition and musical genius has not lessened! One of my favourite lesser-known Kate Bush songs definitely has Ireland at its core. My Lagan Love is a gorgeous track, and I am surprised that it has not been played more on the radio, as it features a wonderful vocal from Kate Bush. It is not her song, but Bush’s interpretation adds something fresh:
“My Lagan Love' is a song to a traditional Irish air collected in 1903 in northern Donegal. The English lyrics have been credited to Joseph Campbell (1879–1944, AKA Seosamh MacCathmhaoil and Joseph McCahill, among others). Campbell was a Belfast man whose grandparents came from the Irish-speaking area of Flurrybridge, South Armagh. He started collecting songs in County Antrim. In 1904 he began a collaboration with composer Herbert Hughes. Together, they collected traditional airs from the remote parts of County Donegal. While on holidays in Donegal, Hughes had learned the air from Proinseas mac Suibhne, who had learned it from his father Seaghan mac Suibhne, who in turn had learned it fifty years previously.
The Lagan referred to in the title is most likely the area of good farming land between Donegal and Derry known in Irish as An Lagán. The Lagan is the river that runs through Belfast. However, some argue that the Lagan in the song refers to a stream that empties into Lough Swilly in County Donegal, not far from where Herbert Hughes collected the song. The song was arranged in a classical style by Hamilton Harty; this was used by Mary O'Hara and Charlotte Church.
'My Lagan Love' was recorded with new, original lyrics by Kate Bush, first released in 1985 as the second B-side track to the 12" version of Cloudbusting. The track was first released on CD as part of the This Woman's Work Anthology 1978-1990 box set. It was also included in the 1997 'EMI Centenary' re-release of Hounds Of Love”.
Whilst Bush has sung in a variety of languages and accents, I always love it when she evokes her Irish heritage, as it does take songs to new heights. The last song I want to mention is Mna na hÉireann. It is another rare jewel that many people might not be aware of. The Kate Bush Encyclopedia provides background to this famous poem, that has been performed as a song by a range of artists.
“Poem written by Ulster poet Peadar Ó Doirnín (1704–1796). It is most famous as a song, and especially set to an air composed by Seán Ó Riada (1931–1971). As a modern song, 'Mná na hÉireann' is usually placed in the category of Irish rebel music; as an eighteenth-century poem it belongs to the genre (related to the aisling) which imagines Ireland as a generous, beautiful woman suffering the depredations of an English master on her land, her cattle, or her self, and which demands Irishmen to defend her, or ponders why they fail to. The poem also seems to favor Ulster above the other Irish provinces.
Kate Bush recorded her rendition in 1995 for the 1996 compilation album Common Ground - Voices of Modern Irish Music. According to Donal Lunny, who contacted her for this contribution, 'She was very excited with the idea of singing the Irish in a way that Irish speakers would understand, and of conveying the meaning of the song through the sounds of the words. I helped as much as I could. She had Seán Ó Sé’s recording of Mná na hÉireann as reference. She was as faithful to the pronunciations as she could possibly be. It was with characteristic care and attention that she approached it. She did not stint one bit. Of course you’ll get people saying, `Oh, you’d know she doesn’t talk Irish straight off’. You wouldn’t know it straight off. I would defend her efforts as being totally sincere. No matter how perfect she gets it, she’s not an Irish speaker. This may rankle with some people.'
Critical reception
The track was reviewed as 'impressive' by Hot Press, saying that Kate’s 'fiery interpretation….may well prove to be among the most controversial cuts on Common Ground'. Indeed the Irish Times review of Common Ground singled out Kate as 'fumbling her way through' the song. NME was more positive about the track: "Since Lunny made a significant mark on her 'Sensual World' album, she repays him with a swooning version of 'Mná na hÉireann' (Women Of Ireland) that’s as good as anything she’s done this decade."
“It was fun and very challenging …..I will eagerly await comments from all Irish-speaking listeners in particular. I’m sure Ma gave me a helping hand! (Kate Bush Club Newsletter, December 1995)”.
Before moving on, I found an article from the Irish Independent from 2014 that references the song, and how Bush is proud of her Irish roots:
“A quiet and stable family life is important to Kate. Bush is married to guitarist Danny McIntosh, whom she met in 1992 while recording her seventh album, The Red Shoes. She told me that her mother was a massive source of inspiration to her, especially when she collaborated with legendary Irish traditional musician Dónal Lunny on a version of 'Mná na hÉireann'.
"Although she'd already passed away, I really felt that she was there helping me get it right," Bush said. "I loved singing it and I hope I did an okay job, because I never spoke or sung in Irish before."
"I'm incredibly proud of being half-Irish. I really wanted to get that Irish blood in me to come through, so I worked very hard on it."
Dónal Lunny confirms that Kate poured her heart and soul into the recording sessions. "She never told me that about her late Mother, but it clearly meant an awful lot to her," Lunny says.
"It was a joy to be in the studio with her. Kate is a very vivacious, happy and positive person. She is great fun to be around. I'm absolutely delighted that she is back playing concerts".
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in a promotional image for Hounds of Love in 1985/PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush (from the book, Kate: Inside the Rainbow)
I will leave it there but, having immersed myself in Hounds of Love lately and tracks like Jig of Life, I thought about how Bush travelled to Ireland to write and record for that album and how, afterwards, her connection to Irish music continued. Bush connected to her Irish roots and her mother before that, but I think Jig of Life is one of the most overt and obvious nods to Ireland; for her most-celebrated album, she was determined and inspired to include Irish musicians and sounds. I think many people see Bush as a quintessential English rose, but she is half-Irish and I think, directly or not, that plays as an important a role as her Englishness does. I just want to bring in a little passage from the Irish Post from 2014, where we realise Bush’s true love and admiration for Ireland:
“All the Bush family were artistically creative and Kate’s musical interests originally drew from her Irish heritage. As she once explained: “I’m very influenced in my writing by old or traditional folk songs, ballads handed down by new generations of musicians but with the original atmosphere and emotions still maintained.
"The sort of music my mother, who’s Irish, would have listened to and danced to, and used to play for me when I was very little. It’s still probably my biggest influence.”
Like her Anglo-Irish contemporaries, she seems both connected to and dislocated from her Irishness. While admitting that she is drawn to the idea of living in Ireland, the whim remains unrealized. “I’ve always felt pulled to Ireland because my mother was Irish,” she says, “but whenever I’ve gone, I’ve never felt very at home”.
It is obvious how important Ireland, her Irish heritage and the music from that great nation was and is to Bush, and how it is responsible for some of her greatest musical moments. Anytime Bush stepped into Ireland for her music, it was always…
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in a promotional image for The Sensual World in 1989/PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush (from the book, Kate: Inside the Rainbow)
SO beautiful, pure and committed.