FEATURE:
When I Was a Child, Running in the Night….
ILLUSTRATION CREDIT: Louise Patricia Crane
Kate Bush’s Hounds of Love at Thirty-Eight
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IT does seem strange…
that any song from Hounds of Love would get a mixed reaction. That is the case with the title track. Released on 17th February, 1986, I wanted to look ahead to the thirty-eighth anniversary of one of Kate Bush’s most celebrated and best tracks. Kate Bush’s fifth studio album was released in September 1985. The sublime title track saw Kate Bush step behind the camera to direct her first video. She had assisted and co-directed other videos, yet this was her first sole direct. I am going to go a bit deeper into one of the most iconic songs in Kate Bush’s catalogue. Thanks to the Kate Bush Encyclopedia for bringing in interview archive of Bush discussing Hounds of Love. A song that is still widely played and loved to this day:
“[‘Hounds Of Love’] is really about someone who is afraid of being caught by the hounds that are chasing him. I wonder if everyone is perhaps ruled by fear, and afraid of getting into relationships on some level or another. They can involve pain, confusion and responsibilities, and I think a lot of people are particularly scared of responsibility. Maybe the being involved isn’t as horrific as your imagination can build it up to being – perhaps these baying hounds are really friendly.
KATE BUSH CLUB NEWSLETTER, 1985
The ideas for ‘Hounds Of Love’, the title track, are very much to do with love itself and people being afraid of it, the idea of wanting to run away from love, not to let love catch them, and trap them, in case th hounds might want to tear them to pieces and it’s very much using the imagery of love as something coming to get you and you’ve got to run away from it or you won’t survive.
CONVERSATION DISC SERIES, ABCD012, 1985
When I was writing the song I sorta started coming across this line about hounds and I thought ‘Hounds Of Love’ and the whole idea of being chasing by this love that actually gonna… when it get you it just going to rip you to pieces, (Raises voice) you know, and have your guts all over the floor! So this very sort of… being hunted by love, I liked the imagery, I thought it was really good.
RICHARD SKINNER, ‘CLASSIC ALBUMS INTERVIEW: HOUNDS OF LOVE’. BBC RADIO 1 (UK), 26 JANUARY 1992”.
There is not much written about the title track from Hounds of Love. Reaching number eighteen in the U.K. chart, I am always surprised that the song did not get higher. I am going to give my thoughts on it, in addition to considering its importance and influence. With B-sides, The Handsome Cabin Boy, Jig of Life, Burning Bridge and My Lagan Love (depending on the country the song was released in), it is wonderful that we are still listening to and celebrating such a hugely powerful song. I always associate Hounds of Love with its ambition and incredible production. On the second side of the album is the magnificent suite, The Ninth Wave. The first side is where the more conventional songs are. Four out of five songs from that first side were released as singles (Mother Stands for Comfort was not). Hounds of Love is often ranked as one of Kate Bush’s best songs. The Guardian ranked Hounds of Love fifth in the best Kate Bush songs in 2018. Back in November, MOJO ranked Kate Bush’s fifty best songs. Hounds of Love came out first:
“Kate runs headlong from love and right into its clutches.
No matter how refined the circumstances of its creation – built at leisure in Bush’s new 48-track studio – or how newfangled its production – still tangible in the hi-tech stabs and pads of Fairlight, and the crispness of Jonathan Williams’ cello – Hounds Of Love is red in tooth and claw, its breathless, atavistic fear of capture mixed with almost supernatural rapture. Love is thundering through the psychosexual woods, hunting down somebody terrified of what it means to surrender to another person. The song opens with a quote from British horror film Night Of The Demon but that’s the only moment it feels like theatre. From then on, Hounds Of Love maintains a dizzying emotional velocity, the relentless double drumming of Charlie Morgan and Stuart Elliott stamping down on the accelerator. Bush’s voice might dip and soften, but those drums are merciless, while the strident backing vocals, like a hunting horn call, goad her on if introspection threatens to slow her down. It never lets up, every line heightening the pitch, closing the distance between song and listener. It ends with a suddenness that makes it seem like she’s hit the ground and you’ve hit it with her, breathlessly waiting for an answer to the question: “Do you know what I really need?” The uncertainty, however, is not reflected in the confidence – the perfect, dazzling completeness – of the song’s execution. On Hounds Of Love, Kate Bush is going at full pelt, chasing the horizon, running her vision to ground. Not really the hunted, but the hunter all along”.
There is some debate around the release date of Hounds of Love. Some say that it is 24th February, 1986, though the vinyl 12” single was released on 17th February, 1986. It is amazing to consider what was happening around the time of the single’s release. On 17th February, 1986, Bush was extremely busy! This website documents how busy things were for Kate Bush on 17th February, 1986 and the month that followed. The fact that she was recording with Peter Gabriel on the same day. I have always felt a film version of The Ninth Wave should be released. We can see that it was planned and discussed, though Bush abandoned that as I feel album promotion would have been too pressing and time-consuming:
“February 17, 1986
The third single, Hounds of Love, is released in seven- and twelve-inch formats.
Kate records a duet with Peter Gabriel for his fifth solo album. The track is called Don't Give Up.
Kate abandons the plan to make a film version of The Ninth Wave side of the new album.
March 6, 1986
Kate appears on Top of the Pops to perform Hounds of Love.
March 19, 1986
For the making of the video for The Big Sky Kate assembles over one hundred fans on the sound stage of Elstree Studios.
Kate records a live performance of Under the Ivy at Abbey Road Studios for the 100th edition of the Tyne Tees TV programme The Tube”.
Although it is played quite a lot on the radio, I still think there is not enough attention given to Hounds of Love and its themes. As it is Valentine’s Day today (14th February), there is something both appropriate and ironic focusing on a song released a few days after Valentine’s Day in 1986. There is a lot of passion and desire in the song, yet it is a young Kate Bush fearful of love chasing her down and attacking her. Bush opening up and being very open. Confessing to cowardice. Such a mature and intriguing song from a genius songwriter, this beautiful moment from Hounds of Love still makes such an impact thirty-eight after its release. After successful singles in the form of Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) and Cloudbusting, the fact that a supreme song like Hounds of Love barely got into the top-twenty in the U.K. seems very frustrating. Why people thought there were any better songs out, let alone nearly twenty! Despite the fact I have written about Hounds of Love a lot and explored this track thoroughly, I wanted to spend more time with it. I think it is one of the most powerful and beautiful songs she ever released. As a first-time director, the video is really accomplished and memorable. Stirring, cinematic and with a wonderful colour palette and composition, I am sad I have never seen Kate Bush play this song live. Those lucky enough to see her live in Hammersmith in 2014 would have done. Turning thirty-eight on 17th February, go and listen to Hounds of Love’s mesmeric title track. Seen by many as her greatest achievement, I think there are…
FEW can have any argument about that.