FEATURE:
Reaching Out for a Deeper Understanding
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 2005/PHOTO CREDIT: Trevor Leighton
The Hope and Happiness in Kate Bush’s Music
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EVEN the city…
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1993/PHOTO CREDIT: John Stoddardt
cannot kill the beat of a good heart. That is how I feel when I approach Kate Bush’s music. Bush spent a lot of time recording at various studios through London. Whilst not residing in the heart of the city, she did have the bustle and smog of the city around her. Living in London myself, I doubt much has changed since the 1980s. Think about how tough it would have been living and working in London. I am sure Bush was inspired by people there and brought that into her music. However, with it not being the warmest place and not having the best people, I can imagine it would have been quite tough to keep upbeat and positive. When she was living at East Wickham Farm – not too far from London but more rural and quieter - things were quite different. Family around her. I do think that this upbringing and start moulded Bush as a person and songwriter. I will explore it in a bit. You can feel the positivity, understanding and happiness throughout Bush’s albums. I feel that she differed in that sense to many of her contemporaries because of the stability and support she received when young. A solid family who were comfortable. Art and music around her. A peaceful and positivity household where there was a lot of encouragement. Not experiencing much dislocation, tragedy or upheaval, it gave Bush this really grounded and loving environment. As I have recently written about Hounds of Love, it makes me think about the positivity of that album. Once more nodding to the recent reissue of Under the Ivy: The Life and Music of Kate Bush by Graeme Thomson, you discover how there is this consistent desire to make her music uplifting and hopeful. Hounds of Love especially has this real mantra. To provide a sense of hope and happiness.
Maybe this was not as evident through The Dreaming. Whilst there is light and some positive moments on the album, perhaps Hounds of Love was an attempt to redress what was on that album. Some of the regrets, anxieties and fears. The singles on the first side of Hounds of Love have that sense of curiosity, desire, strength and positivity. The giddy joy of The Big Sky; the understanding and desire for harmony on Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God); even the sense of self-reflection and confession on Hounds of Love. Listen to The Ninth Wave and you get that desire to survive and stay strong. Think about The Morning Fog and how Bush’s heroine survives an ordeal at sea and wants to kiss the ground in gratitude after being rescued. How she yearns to see her mother, brothers and father to tell them how much she loves them. Her lyrics throughout so considered, deep and poetic. Love, light and nature in the words. The influence of her home and background comes into the music. That stability and support. It is what makes Hounds of Love such a popular and timeless album. It has this energy running throughout that is all about balancing the darkness with light. Any harrowing thought or fear is then met with the affirmative. The positives of life. How many songwriters pen songs like this?! Have a career where they lean towards the positive? It could be Bush referencing her family and keeping their words close to her heart and pen. Expressions from her mother or the support from her father and brothers. Running through and infusing so many of her songs.
Think back to the first few albums from Kate Bush. There are a lot of different emotions and dynamics to each. Think about the overall mood and intention. The Kick Inside is abound with this young woman letting her desires out. Exploring people sexuality, film, fiction and the world around her. I listen to the album and feel this joy under the surface. Maybe that is because she was a teenager still and had this really good life. I don’t think that would automatically make you a positive songwriter. Someone always looking to keep their music up. To inspire the listener and not head towards anger and accusation. Even if there are more reflective or introspective songs on Lionheart – such as Hammer Horror or Fullhouse -, you get everything from child-like wonder to a woman exploring her moods and the meaning behind colours. In Search of Peter Pan and Symphony in Blue. The hopefulness and sense of strength on Don’t Push Your Foot on the Heartbrake. On Never for Ever, there are only a couple of songs that are more troubled or darker. Army Dreamers and Breathing have a certain dread or sense of loss. Listen through the rest of the album and you can feel and hear so much warmth and light. If it is the delight of Delius (Song of Summer) or even the sound of Babooshka – which has this audible sense of dance, smile and potent energy. All We Ever Look For, Blow Away (For Bill), The Infant Kiss. These songs, whilst dealing with some heavier or unorthodox themes and topics, have a lightness to them. Instinctively as a producer giving her music this air of audio sunshine and embrace. I think that was conscious. Not a move to commercialism or accessibility.
In a way, The Dreaming – a masterpiece through it is – was a rarity. Her only album where I hear something different or distinctly less bright. Regardless, many of the songs do have love and positivity through them. Houdini, All the Love, Suspended in Gaffa and There Goes a Tenner. That need to balance things and find positives. I think it is fundamental to Bush’s music and personality. Even when psychologically shadowy or expressing something distributed or intense, I do think there is this need for her to find meaning and resolve. The politics and warfare of Pull Out the Pin and The Dreaming. Bush as an activist or voice of reason. Get Out of My House one of the few songs in her catalogue where there are few shards of light or happiness – and I think that is natural with every artist; there will be songs that are more tense and angry. The Sensual World is an example of how Bush’s natural warmth and yearning for love was expressed in a different way. Perhaps less about family and autobiographical, there are different themes at the fore. However, you only need to listen to songs such as Between a Man and a Woman, This Woman’s Work and Reaching Out. There is this constant wisdom and strength. Maybe ‘positivity’ is not the right word. An attitude that is mature and always understanding. Consider these words from Reaching Out: “See how the flower leans instinctively/Toward the light/See how the heart reaches out instinctively/For no reason but to touch”. You get this sense of a mature and intelligent woman who knows how powerful the heart is. The heart and its roles, symbolism and how it drives us all is right at the core of so many of her songs. How it enforces our decisions and desire.
Whereas other songwriters might use the heart in a more destructive or steely way, there is always this patience, warmth and passionate blood flow in Kate Bush. You can even feel it in 2011’s 50 Words for Snow. A chilly album by definition and in the lyrics of its songs, Among Angels sees Bush very much this positive and strong figure: “I can see angels standing around you. They shimmer like mirrors in Summer. But you don't know it. And they will carry you o'er the walls”. The Red Shoes marked the bookends of times when family were very much in her heart. The loss of her mother the year before The Red Shoes came out. Even at a tough and busy time for Bush, there was this feeling of love and joy through the album. Almost bringing us back to Hounds of Love and how family were in her mind. Eat the Music and Rubberband Girl. Joy and fascination in one; this resilience and bouncing back in the other. Rocket’s Tail inspired by a family pet (Kate Bush’s cat). I do love that. A few of the songs about love and relationship showing great understanding and sense of positive. Constellation of the Heart: “Who said anything about it hurting/It's gonna be beautiful/It's gonna be wonderful/It's gonna be paradise”. And So Is Love: “You let it slip/You let it slip/I love you more/I love you more for it”. You’re the One: “The only trouble is/He's not you/He can't do what you do/He can't make me laugh and cry/At the same time”. It may be a bold claim but something occurs: Is there a negative line or song in Bush’s career? There are songs that are eccentric, political or about loss. Even so, I think that Bush always has patience and tries to show compromise. How there is always this degree of happiness or kindness. I can’t really recall any of her songs that attack someone or are self-destructive. Even if Get Out of My House does seem like Bush breaking down, I feel it a defence. She could have been biting or negative. In need of letting something out that needed to be said, there is little of the personal in the song. Using The Shining as a reference point. Can you think of any other artist who has never really expressed a cruel or nasty thought?! Maybe people will correct me and find songs of her that leave a sour taste. I don’t think so. Nearly every other artist I can list either has written hopeless, dark or light-less songs. Kate Bush’s family and upbringing runs through her entire discography.
Aerial was the happy resolve and result of grieving for her mother, taking time out from recording and starting her own family. The joy and love that we hear on Hounds of Love is present on Aerial. There are so many connections and parallels between those albums. Family defining both. Even if The Ninth Wave is scarier and tenser than Aerial’s A Sea of Honey, you can feel this real sense of love and positivity. The need to embrace life and everything in the world. That is when Kate Bush is at her most wonderful and moving. Where her creativity and genius is at her peak. Thinking about Hounds of Love and how it was this album defined by love and hope, you can sense if through most of her studio albums. As I say, there are few artists in history who have a body at work where the best of human nature and understanding is so present and strong. Eschewing the natural desire to let out anger and bitterness, this is all but absent from Kate Bush’s career. It could be the simple fact that this is what she is like as a person. That her family were so loving and together. There was very little division and trouble in her young life. Kate Bush has always been fascinated by people. Her main inspiration. Whether from her life, literature or film, she always seems to find the best in people. I have explored before Bush’s positive attitude towards men. It goes further than this. Her positivity towards her family and herself. This real feeling of light and strength. Kate Bush is very much someone who shows…
ALL the love.