FEATURE:
She’s Leaving Home
IN THIS PHOTO: Bob Geldof, Kate Bush and Paul McCartney in 1980
Kate Bush and The Beatles
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BECAUSE I am writing a lot…
IN THIS PHOTO: The Beatles in 1966/PHOTO CREDIT: Robert Whitaker
of features about Paul McCartney ahead of his eightieth birthdays in June, I have also been researching The Beatles. There is still a lot of talk following The Beatles: Get Back from last year. A hugely important band to so many artists, Kate Bush was a big fan. I wondered what Beatles albums were played in her house. I cannot find a link to the interview but, early in her career, she was asked about her favourite albums. She said that The Beatles’ Magical Mystery Tour (a double E.P. from 1967) was her favourite from the group. Maybe not a popular choice for most Beatles fans, I can understand why she would have selected that. Becoming more experimental with her own music, the different colours, shades and odder moments would have inspired her and resonated. Magical Mystery Tour came out when Bush was at school. A kaleidoscopic album, I think that Bush had a greater fondness for The Beatles’ albums post-1966. The Beatles were using the studio a lot more from that point and pushing technology to the limits. This is something Bush connected with. She took a similar approach when she started producing her own albums. Listen to The Dreaming (1982) and Hounds of Love (1985), and I can hear elements of The Beatles in there. Definitely, when we discuss Bush as being more out-there and experimental, it is easy to draw a line to The Beatles. I wonder whether Bush has a favourite album from The Beatles from their first few years. I could always imagine her giving her own take to a song like I Saw Her Standing There (Please Please Me, 1963) or Help! (Help!, 1964).
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush and Paul McCartney
I will come to some articles that document times Kate Bush tackled The Beatles. All of her covers were Beatles albums from 1967 onwards. I am not sure whether Bush got to meet George Harrison before he died or whether she has met Ringo Starr. There are several photos (from more than one meeting) of her with Paul McCartney. I have said before how this is a duet or collaboration everyone would love to hear! Imagine hearing McCartney and Bush come together for one of their albums. I could see no reason why either would object or not want it to happen. The sonic experimentation and great melodies from the band affected Bush from a young age. This article talks about one of the earliest occasions Kate Bush covered a Beatles song:
“Song written by John Lennon, but credited to Lennon-McCartney. The song was inspired by Timothy Leary's campaign for governor of California against Ronald Reagan, which promptly ended when Leary was sent to prison for possession of marijuana. According to Lennon, "The thing was created in the studio. It's gobbledygook; 'Come Together' was an expression that Leary had come up with for his attempt at being president or whatever he wanted to be, and he asked me to write a campaign song. I tried and tried, but I couldn't come up with one. But I came up with this, 'Come Together', which would've been no good to him - you couldn't have a campaign song like that, right?"
Kate Bush performed the song with her own KT Bush band in March 1977. Gigging around the pubs of south London in a Hillman Imp and Morris 1000 van, she performed a set that included songs like the this song, 'Come Together'. Vic King, who played drums in the band, later reflected: "Kate didn’t frequent pubs, but she wanted to do it because she had to learn stage presence and projection. She wasn’t doing it because she loved being on stage”.
From that Abbey Road classic, Bush would have explored The Beatles’ catalogue. It is interesting in terms of the main songwriter, who she was inspired by most. I feel that she gravitated more towards Paul McCartney. In terms of their personalities and songwriting styles, they are closer in tone compared to John Lennon and George Harrison. Not only did Bush cover Let It Be for a 1987 charity single with a load of other artists, she performed it a couple of other times at least. The Kate Bush Encyclopaedia explains more:
“Kate Bush performed 'Let It Be' live in a Japanese television programme in June 1978 (most probably 'Sound in S', 23 June 1978).
On 12 May 1979 she performed the song as part of one of her own live shows, in aid of Bill Duffield together with guest starts Steve Harley and Peter Gabriel. In March 1987 (four consecutive nights from 26 to 29 March), Kate performed 'Let It Be' during the Secret Policeman's Third Ball for Amnesty International together with David Gilmour”.
Although Bush did not really get a chance to work up any Beatles songs professionally and put them out as a B-side, I am fascinated in her love of the band. Maybe there is something very English or universal about them that struck her. One could say that Bush is less Pop-orientated than The Beatles. I think the biggest attraction for her was the eclectic nature of their albums and how they could put so many different sounds and layers into the mix. One can never say Bush will not cover the band again. I would love to hear her in the studio and laying down a great take of a Beatles song she has already covered or taking on something else. When she visited Japan in 1978 to promote her debut album, The Kick Inside, she did perform a number of Beatles songs. Maybe this was the most translatable band and artist for Japanese audiences. As The Beatles were popular there and are less obscure than other artists, it would have been easy for audiences to understand and recognise what Bush was singing. Returning to the Kate Bush Encyclopaedia, and they reveal the Beatles songs Bush covered in Japan:
“During a promotional visit to Japan, Kate Bush performed five songs on television: Moving, Them Heavy People, She's Leaving Home, The Long And Winding Road and Let It Be. These performances have all been attributed to the show 'Sound in S', 23 June 1978, but they may in fact have been performed for various different TV programmes”.
I love the fact that Bush decided to perform She’s Leaving Home from Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. A McCartney number (of course!), it is quite a hard song to nail. Reversing the gender roles and singing more from the point of view of a mother having to see their child leave home, I wonder whether that would inspire some of her later songs like Army Dreamers (Never for Ever, 1980), All the Love (The Dreaming), Watching You Without Me (Hounds of Love), Reaching Out and This Woman’s Work (The Sensual World), or even A Coral Room (Aerial, 2005). I am sure Bush watched The Beatles: Get Back and was blown away. It made me wonder whether there was any documentary footage of Bush when she recorded her albums. That would be fascinating! Although other artists like David Bowie, Elton John, Captain Beefheart, Roxy Music and Steely Dan inspired her in different ways, she did not really cover their music extensively. The Beatles is the act that Bush has interpreted the most. From those pub gigs in 1977 to her joining the Ferry Aid single, Let It Be, in 1987, The Beatles have been close to her heart – and I know that is very much still the case. I still hold hope that Bush and McCartney will do something together. As he is eighty soon, it would be lovely if there was some musical interaction between two musical legends! I just wanted to explore Bush’s love and appreciation of the greatest band ever. Taking on some of their best-known songs, she definitely added her own take and stamp. Though we do have access to a number of recordings of Kate Bush covering The Beatles, I’ve got a feeling that there may be…
MORE in the archives.