FEATURE:
Kate Bush’s 50 Words for Snow at Twelve
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in a promotional photo for 50 Words for Snow/PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush
An Alternative Christmas: Inside the Magical Misty
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ON 21st November…
PHOTO CREDIT: Fish People/The state51 Conspiracy
it will be twelve years since Kate Bush released her current studio album, 50 Words for Snow. There is activity in Kate Bush’s world with the reissue of her studio albums. With vinyl designed by her, we are getting this new treat in the form of the albums all looking splendid and ready in time for Christmas! I have written about that separately. I recently wrote about her first Christmas song, December Will Be Magic Again, as that was released on 17th November, 1980. During that feature, I mused how it was a little disappointing why there was no music video made for that song. Bush did perform the track on T.V. a couple of times, yet there is no official video. I kind of think that is a missed opportunity. It would have been great seeing Kate Bush in a Christmas scene. December Will Be Magic Again is a beautiful track that would have benefited from a wintery video. Thinking about 50 Words for Snow. Even though it is not a Christmas album, the songs are linked by snow. I do actually think that the third song on the album, Misty, evokes Christmas. It is an epic song that I feel is one of Kate Bush’s very best. In terms of the themes, it does not mention Christmas. You can feel and sense elements of The Snowman. That Raymond Briggs’ classic is definitely an influence you can hear on the track. Before moving on, here are extracts from interviews where Bush talked about Misty and what it concerns:
“Well, I think in that particular song obviously there is a sexual encounter going on… (John Doran, 'A Demon In The Drift: Kate Bush Interviewed'. The Quietus, 2011)
It's a silly idea. But I hope that what has happened is that there's almost a sense of tenderness. I think it's quite a dark song. And so I hope that I've made it work. But in a lot of ways it shouldn't because... It's ridiculous, isn't it, the idea of the snowman visiting this woman and climbing into bed with her.
But I took him as a purely symbolic snowman, it was about...
No John, he's REAL (laughs). (BBC4 Radio, Front Row, 2011)”.
50 Words for Snow uses snow as a backdrop. It has a particular interest in fascinating creatures, something child-like and wonderful. Maybe because Bush’s son Bertie was still small, many of the songs are about magic and mystery. Wild Man is about a half-man create, a yeti, that is being hunted. Lake Tahoe is about a ghostly figure who supposedly lives in the lake. The title track features fifty words for snow. It is pretty funny and cute. I think that Misty is the standout in many ways. It is the longest track on the album at 13:32. I think that there is something Christmas-like at its heart. It does seem to conjure the spirit of The Snowman. It is the time of year when Christmas songs are being played. I am marking the approaching anniversary of 50 Words for Snow by highlighting an unofficial Christmas song. That said, it is not one that is instantly appropriate for children. Maybe a more erotic and adult version of a Christmas classic. I think it is the updated The Snowman, in the sense a woman brings this snowman to life but it melts in the night – though many have said it is this tryst that went wrong, a brief moment of passion. I will move on. Before I do, this article from 2012 shines a light on the long-lasting and amazing Misty:
“Perhaps not coincidentally, it’s also my favorite song on the album. In fact, it could be said that I am somewhat obsessed with “Misty” — not just the song itself, but all of the artistic qualities it represents. After the album came out, I excitedly told everyone about how it had a “13-minute song about falling in love with a snowman.” Because who makes a 13-minute song about falling in love with a snowman? Why would anyone do that? And how could it possibly be good?
Perhaps the only person in the world who could do it or would do it is Kate Bush, who in her 30+ year career has consistently pushed the boundaries of art and has an affinity for oddball subject matter. A very underrated trait among great artists, especially ones I admire, is the willingness to go through with ideas that seem insane on the surface. As someone who has a lot of half-finished posts sitting in my drafts folder on this blog, I feel a lot of respect towards Bush, who sat down at her piano and hammered this song out because she knew it would be good. I imagine her picking up the phone during the writing process and having to tell whoever called “I can’t speak right now. I’m working on my song about loving a snowman.” She probably put off other real-life responsibilities while writing her snowman song, confident that people would want to listen to it when it was finished. To me, that is pretty much the definition of an artist.
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in a promotional photo for 50 Words for Snow/PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush
Now, when you read that the song is about falling in love with a snowman, you probably figured “oh, it’s a metaphor for being with a cold, distant lover or something.” Nope. Another reason why this song is great is that Bush attacks the subject matter head-on instead of using bland, figurative language. Above a recurring piano figure, she recounts building the snowman, then how the snowman ends up in her bed.
Unfortunately, like all one-night affairs with snowmen, Bush’s tryst was doomed to end in heartbreak. “I can feel him melting in my hand,” she laments, knowing that you only have a limited amount of time to be with a snowman. At about the 8-minute mark, a guitar and some light strings join the piano as the song picks up in tempo. “I can’t find him… the sheets are soaking,” Bush sings, her voice full of very real yearning. The seriousness with which Bush sings the song is just another way that I think she’s in on the “joke” and is aware of the song’s dark comedy and absurdity.
But even though this song is absurd, it has a genuine emotional impact. Once you let the initial concept sink in (and since the song is so long, it will if you have the patience), it becomes a pretty stirring tale of two star-crossed lovers who obviously can never have a future. She was the good girl from the high-class family who wanted the best things in life. He was three balls of snow stacked on top of each other with a mouth full of dead leaves. You can see why it would never work out”.
Critics loved Misty. One of the highlights of 50 Words for Snow, this is what Pitchfork observed about a song so strange and unconventional that it could only have come from the splendid imagination of Kate Bush:
“But Bush continues to infuse her narratives with a beguiling complexity while retaining some old-school directness. Because while most of this album's songs can be easily summarized-- "Snowflake" chronicles the journey of a piece of snow falling to the ground; "Lake Tahoe" tells of a watery spirit searching for her dog; "Misty" is the one about the woman who sleeps with a lusty snowman (!)-- they contain wondrous multitudes thanks to the singer's still-expressive voice and knack for uncanny arrangements”.
Even if critics found the song unusual, they saluted its ambition and unconventional arc. A tale that, to me, seems steeped in Christmas and that time of year. Maybe an introversion of a classic tale. A woman who dreams of a night with a snowman. There are various different takes you could have. This is what The Guardian had to say about the glorious Misty:
“It devotes nearly 14 impossibly beautiful minutes to Misty, a song on which Bush imagines first building a snowman and then, well, humping him, with predictably unhappy consequences: "He is dissolving before me," she sings sadly, not the first lady in history to complain about an evening of passion coming to a premature conclusion. It features a title track that turns out to be more prosaically named than you might expect”.
I am going to wrap it up there. I did want to use the final 50 Words for Snow anniversary feature to celebrate and discuss Misty. A grand and incomparable song, I would urge people to listen to the whole album. It is twelve on 21st November. It is a glorious work from an artist who moved from shorter and more conventional songs to these longer and more expansive ones. It was a great shift that led to some of her best work. Let us all hope that there is…
MORE to come.