FEATURE:
Stepping Towards The Fog
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1989/PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush
Highlighting Another Underrated Gem from Kate Bush’s The Sensual World
___________
I know I have expended a lot of focus…
on Kate Bush’s 1989 album, The Sensual World. It is one that received some great reviews, though some were disappointed it was not the same as Hounds of Love or quite as strong. Away from the obvious big songs from The Sensual World – The Sensual World, Deeper Understanding and This Woman’s Work – there are these great tracks one never hears. I have already spent time with Reaching Out, Heads We’re Dancing and Love and Anger. There are a couple of reasons why I wanted to arrive at The Fog. The third song from The Sensual World, there are so m any beautiful elements to it. Whistle is played by Davy Spillane; Jonathan Williams adds cello; Nigel Kennedy is on violin, whilst Alan Stivell plays the Celtic harp. Some beautiful orchestral arrangements from Michael Kamen means we have this evocative, beautiful and quite heartbreaking song. Dr. Bush (Kate’s father) appears on the song. There is that familial link. A song of letting go and learning to swim. Being let go to swim by yourself, but having your father there to support you. Bush’s has a fascination with water, as a literal and metaphorical device. The Fog has so many musical elements that blend beautifully. Dr. Bush’s speaking part is so affecting and touching (as he died a long time ago). I reckon Bush must listen to The Fog to hear her father’s voice). Given the sense of being alone, growing up and that attachment to fog and the water, this song could have fit on Hounds of Love’s The Ninth Wave – possibly between Waking the Witch and Watching You Without Me.
It is worth learning about the story behind The Fog. The Kate Bush Encyclopaedia sources interviews where Bush discussed one of The Sensual World’s best tracks:
“It's about trying to grow up. Growing up for most people is just trying to stop escaping, looking at things inside yourself rather than outside. But I'm not sure if people ever grow up properly. It's a continual process, growing in a positive sense. (Len Brown, 'In The Realm Of The Senses'. NME (UK), 7 October 1989)
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? (Roger Scott, BBC Radio 1 (UK), 14 October 1989)
That started at the Fairlight. We got these big chords of strings, and put this line over the top, and then I got this idea of these words - slipping into the fog. I thought wouldn't it be interesting to sort of really visualize that in a piece of music, with all these strings coming in that would actually be the fog. So I wrote a bit of music that went on the front of what I'd done, and extended it backwards with this bit on the front that was very simple and straightforward, but then went into the big orchestral bit, to get the sense of fog coming in.
Then we put a drummer on, and Nigel Kennedy, the violinist, came in and replaced the Fairlight violin, which changed the nature of it. He's great to work with - such a great musician. The times we work together we sort of write together. I'll say something like, "what about doing something a bit like Vaughan Williams?", and he'll know the whole repertoire, and he'll pick something, and maybe I'll change something. By doing that we came up with this different musical section that hadn't been on the Fairlight.
So when I got all this down it seemed to make sense story-wise. This new section became like a flashback area. And then I got the lyrics together about slipping into the fog, and relationships, trying to let go of people.
It sounded great with the Fairlight holding it together, but it just didn't have the sense of dimension I wanted. So we got hold of Michael Kamen, who orchestrated some of the last album, and we said we wanted this bit here with waves and flashbacks. He's really into this because he's always writing music for films, and he loves the idea of visual imagery. So we put his orchestra in on top of the Fairlight.
Again a very complicated process, and he was actually the last thing to go on. I don't know how anything comes out as one song, because sometimes it's such a bizarre process. It does seem to work together somehow. (Tony Horkins, 'What Katie Did Next'. International Musician, December 1989)”.
I love Dr. Bush’s dialogue on the song, though it is the lyrics that really stand out. I think one of my favourite passages from The Sensual World occurs on The Fog: “Just like a photograph/I pick you up/Just like a station on the radio/I pick you up/Just like a face in the crowd/I pick you up/Just like a feeling that you're sending out/I pick it up/But I can't let you go/If I let you go/You slip into the fog...”. It is a shame that The Fog was not released as a single, as it would have been great to see it realised and Dr. Bush appear alongside his daughter (one can see Bush’s mother in the video for Suspended in Gaffa). Also, seeing a song like The Fog realised in a live setting would have been extraordinary. I feel one of the great losses is the fact albums like The Sensual World have not really been explored by Bush live. So many of the album’s songs would look wonderful on the stage (The Fog, Heads We’re Dancing, This Woman’s Work and Deeper Understanding would have great visuals!). I shall end things there. I might come back to The Sensual World and another of the under-played songs. Whilst not quite as exceptional as Hounds of Love, there are some brilliant moments on The Sensual World. The Fog is an example of Kate Bush being one of the most fascinating songwriters who can pen tracks that are personal yet manage to resonate with the listener. The Fog struck me, as I can apply some of the lyrics to my feelings and personal feelings now. It is a shame the song is not played on the radio or known more widely. Let us not let The Fog…
DISSAPEAR in the mists of time.