FEATURE:
All the Things I Should've Done That I Never Did
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1989/PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush
Imagining Kate Bush’s Alternative Career Arc
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THE title might be a bit misleading…
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1980/PHOTO CREDIT: Colin Davey/Getty Images
but I have been thinking about a few events and things that Kate Bush suggested or started but never completed or fulfilled. Another feature inspired by Tom Doyle’s new book, Running Up That Hill: 50 Visions of Kate Bush. Bush has been the subject of many other books herself, but there was a suggestion that she would write her autobiography. I think Off the Tracks was the title (though I haven’t got a copy of Doyle’s book to hand, so someone may correct me), though that never came to light. I know why there would be demand to have one of there. Such a popular and original artist, what a fascinating read that would have been. Someone more comfortable writing songs and recording, maybe it would have been too revealing and time-consuming writing a memoir. I have been thinking about the offers and things that Bush would have done or explored but never did. Sort of paraphrasing her 1989 song, This Woman’s Work, which she wrote from an expectant dad’s perspective. In it, there is this sense of regretting all the things (he) never did or said. I often wonder how much of Bush is in that song, but she has explained its origin. I can see why a memoir would have been great, but also why she would not want to commit. That was earlier in her career, bur I am curious whether the offer has come back up since.
Bush did release a book of lyrics, How to Be Invisible, four years back, but that was lyrics already written. Since she wrote articles and correspondences earlier in her career, I am thinking about whether Bush has actually written any longform pieces since. She has written updates and posts to her fans, but nothing in the way of books. I think, if she had released a memoir back in the 1980s or 1990s, then she might have felt too exposed or that she had to ‘set the record straight’ when it came to gossip or perceptions about her. The music is Bush’s way of communicating, and she has always guarded her personal life. A memoir might also have signalled a career. Things have changed since then, so I wonder whether that would be more inviting. After the success Bush has had this year, maybe not a tell-all or career-spanning memoir. Instead, perhaps a chapter or time of her life. I do feel there is a book inside Kate Bush, and it would strike me as something she would take to. I am sure she had many offers, and it does not mean that her career would be over. Maybe there will be another album, so that would probably take priority. The almost-memoir Bush was going to write was shelved but 2023 and beyond might be a different story. Let’s see what comes about.
There are a couple of other areas that Bush could have stepped into. Recording and promotion has dominated her career, so acting wasn’t that big. She did do a bit of acting. She appeared in Les Dogs: a Comic Strip episode from 1990, Bush played the part of a bride. The band are Les Dogs, and there is a gun battle at a wedding where many of the guests die. Bush played a silent part, but she did take in a central role in the 1993 short film, The Line, the Cross and the Curve. One that she directed and wrote, it is her biggest acting role ever. I think that short failed or was not received well because Bush took on too much. She is a very capable actor and one who could have thrived under the right director. Maybe requiring a little coaching and more time, 1993 was a year when she took on too much. Bush was offered a role opposite Oliver Reed in 1986’s Castaway. The role went to Amanda Donohue. Bush would have essentially been naked with Reed on a desert island, so you can understand why she turned it down! She contributed a song for the film, Be Kind to My Mistakes, that opens the film. I know Bush got offered a load of acting roles. Someone who is very funny and shows such dynamic and theatrical range through her music videos, I have said before how she would have made a great actor. If a memoir would have been premature or not a great move, maybe acting would have taken her away from the studio. I do feel a few well-chosen roles would have been interesting. Something comedic or a thriller. She would have been approached for gothic and darker roles based on Wuthering Heights and perception about her. I do wonder what was put Bush’s way in the way of scripts.
Dedicated to her music, acting might have been a diversion or distraction Bush could have done without. Still, it seems like an opportunity missed that she did not take to the screen more. I can see her doing a drama or film in 1985 or 1986 (not Castaway) where she really shone and would have gone on to do other things. As she guards her privacy and never wanted fame, that might have brought unwelcomed press intrusion and celebrity her way. The third career trajectory actually relates to music. It is touring. Or just live work. Bush did take The Tour of Life around the U.K. and Europe in 1979. She was on stage after that and it wasn’t the case 2014’s Before the Dawn was the first time she was on the stage since 1979. That said, she didn’t do anything large-scale between 1979 and 2014. Again, recording got in the way I guess. I feel that Bush might have felt touring would have taken too much time away from new music and she would be on the road endlessly. A couple of groups that really inspired her, The Beatles and Steely Dan, gave up touring during their careers and dedicated themselves more to the studio – and, in the process, they created their most popular works. I think a lot of artists are expected to tour every album they release. After 1979, there would have been demand for Bush to tour Never for Ever (1980). Maybe The Dreaming (1982) would be less demanded, but it would have made a fascinating live show! Imagine pairing Never for Ever and The Dreaming?! Also, after Hounds of Love (1985) exploded, I can imagine that intensified. Maybe Hounds of Love’s The Ninth Wave would have been too hard to stage (though she did do it fort Before the Dawn) and she released videos for three of the four songs from the album’s first half.
Regardless, Bush only toured one and did one residency. She often said in interviews how she will do a tour or is trying to figure it out. Like writing a book or going into films, perhaps touring would have taken Bush’s career in a different direction and robbed her of time writing and being in the studio. Although she loved 1979’s The Tour of Life, I feel it is the exhaustion that put her off touring altogether. Performing this demanding show each evening and pushing her voice, body and soul to the limit, there wouldn’t have been much personal appeal. She loved her fans, but maybe repeating herself and traveling (she especially hared flying) would have meant fewer albums. It is hard to balance the desires of the fans with that of the artist. In Kate Bush’s case, I think the physical toll was the deciding factor when it came to ending touring. One of the only reason Bush did a residency in 2014 was because her young son Bertie helped persuade her. She stayed in London in Hammersmith and did not take Before the Dawn anywhere else. One of the big tragedies is the world did not get to see many of Bush’s songs taken to the stage. Apart from it being a chance to see these songs come to life in a live setting, tours would allow Bush to mix songs from different albums. One can speculate about Kate Bush and what would happen if things worked out differently. I have been thinking about it because she was going to write a memoir and it was never to be – something that still could happen. Although there were so many things that she could have did but never did, we are always eternally grateful for…
ALL that she has given us!