FEATURE:
The Kate Bush Interview Archive
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1989/PHOTO CREDIT: Guido Harari
Roger Scott: BBC Radio 1 (1989)
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BECAUSE The Sensual World…
turns thirty-two on Saturday (16th October), this part of the interview archive series takes us back to 1989. Gaffaweb have transcribed a BBC Radio 1 interview in promotion of The Sensual World. They transcribed most of the interview (they missed the start) but, as they say, it appears like Kate Bush enjoyed the chat. Roger Scott sounded like he was bonding with her. There are some segments from the chat that I want to bring in:
“RS: This song, _The_Fog_ on here, featuring your father as himself...
KT: <laughs> ...My first feature film. <laughs>
RS: A family affair, this album. Tell me about that song. I haven't quite go the hang of it, it's something to do with childhood, it's something to do with childhood memories and growing up and having to stand on your own two feet. I think so anyway, but can you tell me what you were thinking?
KT: Yes, well that's jolly good.
RS: Totally wrong, but...
KT: No, it's not. Again, it's quite a complex song, where it's very watery. It's meant to be the idea of a big expanse of water, and being in a relationship now and flashing back to being a child being taught how to swim, and using these two situations as the idea of learning to let go. When I was a child, my father used to take me out into the water, and he'd hold me by my hands and then let go and say "OK, now come on, you swim to me." As he'd say this, he'd be walking backwards so the gap would be getting bigger and bigger, and then I'd go <splutters>. I thought that was such an interesting situation where you're scared because you think you're going to drown, but you know you won't because your father won't let you drown, and the same for him, he's kind of letting go, he's letting the child be alone in this situation. Everyone's learning and hopefully growing and the idea that the relationship is to be in this again, back there swimming and being taught to swim, but not by your father but by your partner, and the idea that it's OK because you are grown up now so you don't have to be frightened, because all you have to do is put your feet down and the bottom's there, the water isn't so deep that you'll drown. You put your feet down, you can stand up and it's only waist height. Look! What's the problem, what are you worried about?
RS: Kate Bush and The Fog from The Sensual World . I got to stick this question in at some point, because everyone's saying "When is he going to ask her?" I ask you this every time and it's, "Are you going to tour this?" --- are you going to take it out on the road and 'do it'?
KT: It's a very good question... <pause -- laughs>. Umm... <pause>... I really enjoyed touring and this is so ironic. Everyone presumed I hated touring and this is why we haven't since. I wanted to spend time being a songwriter and writing songs, not re-creating songs that were already written, in front of an audience. They're two very different experiences. Touring is very much about contact. Real contact with an audience; with people. It's really having a good time, and it's also quite exhausting. It's a big commitment and exhausting.
Now, music is completely different. It's very microscopic --- that thing of taking lots of little bits of time and putting them together: it's just not running in real time. It's very introverted and it is the actual process of creation from scratch, and that meant so much more to me over the last few years than that contact. And I think I've learnt a tremendous amount by being in the studio for such intense periods doing this. Not only have I learnt a lot about the process of writing and and working with music but I've learnt a lot about myself, I think. But I do miss the human contact of touring and it really scares me --- the idea of performing live --- because I haven't done it for so long and the odd times I have, I felt very uncomfortable.
I'd really like to tour again but I'm terrified of committing myself at this point, but I guess this is one of the first points for a long time I'm actually starting to think "...it could be fun!". So the answer, in a short way...
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1989/PHOTO CREDIT: Guido Harari
RS: ...is "maybe"
KT: ...is "I dunno"! <laughs>
RS: Only do it if it's going to be fun.
KT: Yes.
RS: Don't do it if it's going to be a nightmare.
KT: Yes, and I think another reason why I haven't is I haven't been sure about that. You're absolutely right.
RS: I must ask you this --- you must know what this one's about. It's called "Heads We're Dancing" and... I read the lyrics here --- well, no, I'm not going to read them out but you just tell me what gave you the idea for this song.
KT: This is the darkest song on the album and I think, in some ways, it's not a song I would write now. But I had a friend who went to this dinner, years ago. He was sitting next to this guy all evening and they were chatting --- they had some of the most incredible conversations: he was so impressed with this guy. He was so intellectual and charming; so well-read, you know. He just thought this guy was perfect --- the chemistry between them... wonderful! They talked all night. And the next day, he went up to his friend who had arranged the evening and he said, "Who was that guy I was sitting next to last night? He was fascinating!" And the guy said to him, "Oh, didn't you know? That was Oppenheimer!" And my friend's reaction was absolute horror, because he had no idea.
RS: Just to conclude, you said earlier that the making of this album and the years of work that have gone into this, that one thing that came out of it, you did learn a lot about yourself. What sort of things have you learnt about yourself over the past three or four years?
KT: Um, well that's a very "up front" question there, Roger! And I suppose, I don't think I would have said after the last album "this is just an album". That's a very important thing for me to have learnt: I am very obsessive about my work. I spend most of my time working, and I think this is something that I've really looked at in the last few years: there's a lot more to life than just working and just making an album. It is just an album, it's just a part of my life. It's not my Life. And I think it was, you know... making albums was my life and it doesn't feel like that is any more. And that's tremendous, the sense of freedom that that gives me. It's so good and I think it's really healthy and much better for me, to try and put these things into perspective, you know.
RS: Right. Let us conclude with Deeper Understanding here... just fill me in on that one.
KT: This is about people... well, about the modern situation, where more and more people are having less contact with human beings. We spend all day with machines; all night with machines. You know, all day, you're on the phone, all night you're watching telly. Press a button, this happens. You can get your shopping from the Ceefax! It's like this long chain of machines that actually stop you going out into the world. It's like more and more humans are becoming isolated and contained in their homes. And this is the idea of someone who spends all their time with their computer and, like a lot of people, they spend an obsessive amount of time with their computer. People really build up heavy relationships with their computers!”.
As we mark thirty-two years of The Sensual World, I have been interested by some of the interviews Kate Bush took part in through 1989. It must have been quite an intense promotional cycle. By 1989, she was one of the most popular artists in the world. Although some interviews trod familiar lines regarding questions, her experience on BBC Radio 1 seemed to be quite refreshing and pleasant. The Sensual World remains one of Kate Bush’s greatest albums. It is one I appreciate more every time I listen to it. Like many releases from Kate Bush, The Sensual World is…
A remarkable album.