FEATURE:
Let It Be
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush with Paul McCartney in 1980/PHOTO CREDIT: Mirrorpix
Kate Bush and Paul McCartney: Will the Two Ever Collaborate?
__________
THROUGH November and December…
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush with Paul and Linda McCartney, Victor Spinetti, Phil Lynott and Leo Nocentelli
I am doing a selection of Kate Bush features. Of course, with it being Christmas next month, there will be an assortment of snow-tinged pieces. I am keen to write about her 1979 Christmas Special. Also, because 2022 has been so successful and busy regarding all things Kate Bush, there will be a round-up of all the news and happenings. I will also look ahead to 2023. Also, because there is a new Kate Bush book out by Tom Doyle, Running Up That Hill: 50 Visions of Kate Bush, then there will be a few more articles based on that book and things that have caught my eye. I have spent a lot of time last month and this celebrating album anniversaries. A few of Bush’s albums have anniversaries this month – 50 Words for Snow is eleven later this month (21st) -, so that has taken up a lot of my time. Rather than focus on an album or a song, I wanted to use this feature to return to a subject that I have touched on before. In a previous feature, I looked at the link between Kate Bush and The Beatles. There are parallels that can be drawn for sure. Although the acts are very different, Bush definitely loved The Beatles and drew inspiration from them. I am going to end with a dream collaboration. I love the fact that, early in her career, Bush did cover The Beatles.
She’s Leaving Home, Let It Be, The Long and Winding Road and Come Together were songs that she sung at various point. She also mentioned in an interview that Magical Mystery Tour was one of her favourite albums. That 1967 album is fifty-five this month (it was released in the U.S. in November 1967 and as a double E.P. in the U.K. the month after), and it got me thinking about Paul McCartney. I mused before how McCartney seems like the one Beatle that Bush identified with the most. In some ways, you could say she has traits of each member, and that George Harrison might be closer to her personality – in terms of the spirituality and his musical sensibilities. In terms of songwriting and sound, I feel The Beatles did play a vital role; McCartney seemed to spark something in her. Consider The Beatle songs Bush has covered, and McCartney was lead songwriter on most of them. I feel Magical Mystery Tour is a McCartney-led album – he came up with the concept for the film and, when it came to Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967), he was the driving force there -, and a sense of silliness and the whimsical comes through in that album and a lot of Bush’s work. Aside from at an award ceremony in 1980, Bush met Paul McCartney on a few occasions. Abbey Road Studios connected both of them. The Beatles pretty much lived in those studios, and McCartney recorded there a bit post-Beatles. Bush also recorded there. I think one of the big reasons for that is Paul McCartney.
Last year, both led the call for streaming payments and laws to change, so there is a connection and respect between them. There is a song on a 1975 Wings album, Venus and Mars, that is called Spirits of Ancient Egypt. I wonder whether Bush got any impetus from that title for her song, Egypt (for her 1980 album, Never for Ever). I can imagine Bush was a bigger Beatles fan, but she would have also followed McCartney through Wings and his solo career. This unearthed and minor chapter in Bush’s career fascinates me! It is obvious that there was a lot of different music in the Bush household when the songwriter was very young. Bush was about four or five when The Beatles broke through but, in 1967, I think this was a year when McCartney’s role in The Beatles started to make an impression. By the time Let It Be came out in 1970, Bush was eleven. It is a formative age when it comes to musical digestion and fascination. She could not have helped but be swept up in what was happening with The Beatles and the impact they were having. Whereas one cannot draw too many parallels between the solo careers of Kate Bush and Paul McCartney, I like the fact that the two have met and no doubt swapped stories and conversations. It is telling that, in 1977 and 1978 when Bush was starting out, she did perform some McCartney-penned Beatles songs.
There are a few Kate Bush songs and ideas that I can trace back to Wings and Paul McCartney, whether it is the sound and inspiration or the title. I like the fact that both, in their solo careers, had similar approaches. Whilst both have collaborated with other musicians across various studios, each have also recorded at home and had this D.I.Y. approach. I sort of think about McCartney recording McCartney II (1980) and doing everything himself. A strange and wonderful album that is quite experimental and underrated, I think about Bush’s The Dreaming of 1982. Here, although there were other musicians, Bush took control and it is also quite an experimental and out-there album. I have been thinking about the medley on The Beatles Abbey Road – which McCartney led and wrote most of – and the song suite on Hounds of Love, The Ninth Wave. Although not a medley, that idea of a suite and flow of songs I think had an impression on Bush. There is something about the working ethics and ambitions that ties the two together. In terms of musical exploration and the span into different genres, you know that Bush has been influenced by McCartney. Indeed, I am sure that it works the other way around: McCartney would surely have been influenced by Bush and albums like Hounds of Love (1985) and Aerial (2005).
This all takes me to something I have been thinking about for a while. Bush has collaborated with musical legends like Prince and Elton John, but never Paul McCartney. I think about an album like McCartney III (2020) and it seems like an album Bush might make today. In the sense of being holed up alone and doing something quite personal and without too much distraction. That farm and barn connection. Bush’s family lived at East Wickham Farm, and Bush built her own studio there for Hounds of Love. McCartney recorded at his Scottish farm for Ram (1971), and at Hogg Hill Mill, Icklesham for McCartney III. That combination of having family around but having this dedicated and rural recording space is another connection between the two. I would love to think that these two music icons would record together. To think of them either recording at McCartney’s space in East Sussex or at Bush’s home studio would be magnificent. Perhaps that common connection of Abbey Road Studios? Going back to song connections, and McCartney wrote Hands of Love as part of a medley for Wings’ Red Rose Speedway (1973). Did Bush think of that song when writing Hounds of Love?! I think that the two would be perfectly blended. Maybe McCartney is thinking of a studio album to follow McCartney III. Many hope Bush will release her first new studio album since 2011’s 50 Words for Snow. Paul McCartney and Wings released the iconic Wonderful Christmastime in 1979. Bush performed December Will Be Magic Again during her 1979 Christmas special and released it as a single in November 1980.
The notion of the two of them releasing a Christmas song. They have appeared on record together. In 1987, for the Ferry Aid charity single, Let It Be was performed by a cast of musicians including Paul McCartney and Kate Bush. I think the two would be so electric in the studio together. Some of the collaborations between Bush and other artists have not quite resulted in terrific songs, but I feel there is a natural chemistry and love between her and Paul McCartney that fans would love to see. Also, as a sidenote, Bush is lending her voice and memories to a forthcoming documentary about Abbey Road Studios, If These Walls Could Sing. Made by Paul McCartney’s daughter Mary, it is another connection between Bush, Paul McCartney, and Abbey Road Studios. There is a lot of connected and disconnected history and similarities that I think should be explored. The two are entering stages of their careers where they are perhaps making more introspective or ‘calmer’ music. Though McCartney III has some edgier moments, I feel Bush and McCartney’s music has a similar wavelength. To hear them sing together over something conceptual or calming. Maybe a beats-driven song or something else. The possibilities are tantalising! I have been thinking about the connection and relationship between Paul McCartney and Kate Bush and feeling the two not recording together for a studio album track is a missed opportunity. Though neither have made plans or announcements for a new album, let’s hope that if they do, that they will come together. Won’t you please, please, please…
PHOTO CREDIT: Gered Mankowitz
LET it be.