FEATURE:
Until the Morning Fog Comes
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in a promotional photo for The Ninth Wave/PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush (from the book, Kate: Inside the Rainbow)
Kate Bush’s The Ninth Wave
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THIS month…
two of Kate Bush’s best albums celebrate big anniversaries. To be fair, not that many people will be spreading love about Never for Ever’s fortieth on 8th September (some sources say the album was released on 7th September; others say it is the 8th). It is a fantastic album, but I don’t think it gets the same sort of love and appreciation as Hounds of Love. On its thirty-fifth anniversary on 16th September, people around the world will be sharing their stories about Hounds of Love and which tracks are their favourite. As I have said in previous features, there is a split between the two sides of Hounds of Love. On the first, there are the tracks that are almost like a collection of singles – in fact, every one of the five tracks bar Mother Stands for Comfort were put out as a single. Even though the tracks are unconnected in terms of themes, one can get a sense of nature and the open land on Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God), The Big Sky, and Cloudbusting. Maybe that is a reach, but one senses an openness and evocative nature that takes one’s imagination into the countryside. On the other side, The Ninth Wave takes us into the ocean. There is a mix of the first-person/personal and character-based on the first side – Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God), and The Big Sky seems much more like Kate Bush talking and sharing her feelings, whilst Hounds of Love, Mother Stands for Comfort, and Cloudbusting is more Bush taking on different guises.
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1985/PHOTO CREDIT: Guido Harari
There is debate as to whether Bush is the heroine on The Ninth Wave, or whether she has completely taken herself out of the role and is writing from a fictional perspective. In interviews, Bush has talked about The Ninth Wave and how she spoke with friends and they agreed that being lost in water and at the mercy of the ocean is the scariest thing one can imagine! Maybe I have covered that before, but I was keen to delve into The Ninth Wave again as I think it is the crowning achievement of Hounds of Love. As much as I love the first side, the sheer sense of accomplishment and ambition of The Ninth Wave blows me away! I have written how Bush’s two suites, The Ninth Wave, and A Sky of Honey (from 2005’s Aerial) are quite rare to see in music. It is a big thing committing to a song suite, and I think it can be harder writing a series of songs that link together, rather than a series of tracks that do not have a conjoined thread and narrative. This article from the Kate Bush Encyclopedia brings in an interview from Kate Bush where she explained the origins of The Ninth Wave:
“The Ninth Wave was a film, that's how I thought of it. It's the idea of this person being in the water, how they've got there, we don't know. But the idea is that they've been on a ship and they've been washed over the side so they're alone in this water. And I find that horrific imagery, the thought of being completely alone in all this water. And they've got a life jacket with a little light so that if anyone should be traveling at night they'll see the light and know they're there.
And they're absolutely terrified, and they're completely alone at the mercy of their imagination, which again I personally find such a terrifying thing, the power of ones own imagination being let loose on something like that. And the idea that they've got it in their head that they mustn't fall asleep, because if you fall asleep when you're in the water, I've heard that you roll over and so you drown, so they're trying to keep themselves awake. (Richard Skinner, 'Classic Albums interview: Hounds Of Love'. BBC Radio 1, 26 January 1992)”.
Most classic albums are remarkable because of the songs and how they hang together, but Hounds of Love is special because of its two contrasting sides! Even though Hounds of Love is not a double album, it almost seems like one considering the weight and substance of the tracks! From the run of brilliant tracks on the first side – which, if one were digging deep, could be a suite/narrative of its own – to the immensely atmospheric The Ninth Wave, it is a staggering album! Hounds of Love reached number-one in the U.K. album charts and it is regarded as one of the best albums ever – I think one big reason is because of The Ninth Wave. There is a literary adaptation of The Ninth Wave, and many people have argued whether the song cycle is her finest work.
I admire The Ninth Wave, as the concept is one that is simple and we can all understand, yet it could have come off poorly. Not to underestimate Kate Bush as a writer, but other artists could have created something a little unrealistic or boring; others would have written a few songs that sound the same, or the overall effect would have been quite unsatisfying or flat. From the heartbreaking And Dream of Sheep, through to the rescue of The Morning Fog, The Ninth Wave is an epic odyssey where the heroine strives for survival, even when all seems lost. The Ninth Wave was brought to the stage for 2014’s Before the Dawn and, whilst those there attested to its incredible impact, The Ninth Wave is even more powerful in the minds of the listener – playing the songs through headphones and just imagining everything unfold! I want to bring in a couple of articles that focus on particular songs; four songs of that second side that are especially evocative and moving. I love And Dream of Sheep, but Under Ice is the moment when the heroine’s mind slips into nightmarish territory. Bush discussed Under Ice in an interview from 1992:
“Well at this point, although they didn't want to go to sleep, of course they do. [Laughs] And this is the dream, and it's really meant to be quite nightmarish. And this was all kinda coming together by itself, I didn't have much to do with this, I just sat down and wrote this little tune on the Fairlight with the cello sound. And it sounded very operatic and I thought "well, great" because it, you know, it conjured up the image of ice and was really simple to record. I mean we did the whole thing in a day, I guess. (...) Again it's very lonely, it's terribly lonely, they're all alone on like this frozen lake. And at the end of it, it's the idea of seeing themselves under the ice in the river, so I mean we're talking real nightmare stuff here. And at this point, when they say, you know, "my god, it's me," you know, "it's me under the ice. Ahhhh" [laughs] (Richard Skinner, 'Classic Albums interview: Hounds Of Love. Radio 1 (UK), aired 26 January 1992)”.
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1985/PHOTO CREDIT: Guido Harari
It is not just the incredible writing and the way Bush immerses herself in every track that captivates me. The musicianship and range of sounds on each track is stunning! Watching You Without Me provides another emotional hit where the heroine’s family are watching the clock and waiting for her to come home. Neither party can see or communicate with one another. Before this song, Waking the Witch arrives. I think this is the best-written track on the album because there are so many different voices and characters that mingle together. I love all the different people that are in the song and try to keep the heroine awake and alive as things look bleak. Again, I want to bring in the aforementioned Bush interview, as she explained each song – and she discussed the origins of Waking the Witch:
“These sort of visitors come to wake them up, to bring them out of this dream so that they don't drown. My mother's in there, my father, my brothers Paddy and John, Brian Tench - the guy that mixed the album with us - is in there, Del is in there, Robbie Coltrane does one of the voices. It was just trying to get lots of different characters and all the ways that people wake you up, like you know, you sorta fall asleep at your desk at school and the teacher says "Wake up child, pay attention!". (...) I couldn't get a helicopter anywhere and in the end I asked permission to use the helicopter from The Wall from The Floyd, it was the best helicopter I'd heard for years for years [laughs].
I think it's very interesting the whole concept of witch-hunting and the fear of women's power. In a way it's very sexist behavior, and I feel that female intuition and instincts are very strong, and are still put down, really. And in this song, this women is being persecuted by the witch-hunter and the whole jury, although she's committed no crime, and they're trying to push her under the water to see if she'll sink or float. (Richard Skinner, 'Classic Albums interview: Hounds Of Love. Radio 1 (UK), aired 26 January 1992)”.
Every song on The Ninth Wave is essential, because they are stages of the story. One cannot help but be immersed in the action and sympathise with the heroine, hoping that she gets through things. There is this tangible feeling of the elements and time conspiring against the heroine whilst she fades in and out of hope. The fact that Bush allows the imagination to wander but explicitly documents the horrors and changing moods of the heroine stranded at sea makes The Ninth Wave so utterly intoxicating. Jig of Life is the next track from The Ninth Wave that really hits me. I think it is the tonal shift that makes it so remarkable. There is a defeatism and sense of lost hope in Watching You Without Me, whereas Jig of Life brings in fiddles, whistles, bouzokis, uilean pipes and bodrans to provide this Celtic flair!
Bush is half-Irish (her mother was Irish), and I love the fact that one of the most musically-remarkable songs on Hounds of Love takes us via Ireland. The lyrics, again, are superb, and there are so many terrific lines and phrases that stand out – “Can't you see where memories are kept bright?/Tripping on the water like a laughing girl/Time in her eyes is spawning past life/One with the ocean and the woman unfurled/Holding all the love that waits for you here”. Jig of Life is a turning point: the first sense of sunlight and hope coming through the stormy night. Again, I will let Bush herself discuss the song:
“At this point in the story, it's the future self of this person coming to visit them to give them a bit of help here. I mean, it's about time they have a bit of help. So it's their future self saying, "look, don't give up, you've got to stay alive, 'cause if you don't stay alive, that means I don't." You know, "and I'm alive, I've had kids [laughs]. I've been through years and years of life, so you have to survive, you mustn't give up."
This was written in Ireland. At one point I did quite a lot of writing, you know, I mean lyrically, particularly. And again it was a tremendous sort of elemental dose I was getting, you know, all this beautiful countryside. Spending a lot of time outside and walking, so it had this tremendous sort of stimulus from the outside. And this was one of the tracks that the Irish musicians that we worked with was featured on.
There was a tune that my brother Paddy found which... he said "you've got to hear this, you'll love it." And he was right [laughs], he played it to me and I just thought, you know, "this would be fantastic somehow to incorporate here."
Was just sort of, pull this person up out of despair. (Richard Skinner, 'Classic Albums interview: Hounds Of Love. Radio 1 (UK), aired 26 January 1992)”.
Hello Earth was, according to Bush, almost too big a track to write. It is about the heroine watching from the water and looking up at the stars, as they sort of look down on her as this speck in the water. After the hope of Jig of Life, maybe there is this solace and acceptance from the heroine. Whether she is resigned to an uncertain fate or knows that rescue will come, she is a lot calmer than when we visited her during Under Ice, and Waking the Witch. The grand finale gives us the answer that we were all hoping for: that the heroine survives and is rescued after such a tortuous and unsure time at sea. Hounds of Love is such a positive album, and Bush could not well of left her heroine to die or spend days floating without knowing what lays ahead – we end on a sense of relief. There is a new-found sense of respect for the daybreak and planet from the heroine – “The light/Begin to bleed/Begin to breathe/Begin to speak/D'you know what?/I love you better now”.
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in Studio 2 of Abbey Road in 1985/PHOTO CREDIT: Guido Harari
In some ways, I wonder whether The Ninth Wave is a dream or continuation of one of the songs from the first half of Hounds of Love; maybe Bush during the album’s title track…that is just me speculating! Rather than The Ninth Wave being a suite that is distinct from the album’s first five songs it could almost be a single track about someone who is not taking things for granted after being tested and enduring such a trial. That is another reason why The Ninth Wave is such a masterful work: thirty-five years after it was released, there is a mystery and ambiguity at play. The Morning Fog takes us to the next day and, as Bush explained, it is like the curtain closing on the play:
“Well, that's really meant to be the rescue of the whole situation, where now suddenly out of all this darkness and weight comes light. You know, the weightiness is gone and here's the morning, and it's meant to feel very positive and bright and uplifting from the rest of dense, darkness of the previous track. And although it doesn't say so, in my mind this was the song where they were rescued, where they get pulled out of the water.
And it's very much a song of seeing perspective, of really, you know, of being so grateful for everything that you have, that you're never grateful of in ordinary life because you just abuse it totally. And it was also meant to be one of those kind of "thank you and goodnight" songs. You know, the little finale where everyone does a little dance and then the bow and then they leave the stage. [laughs] (Richard Skinner, 'Classic Albums interview: Hounds Of Love. Radio 1 (UK), aired 26 January 1992)”.
Combined, The Ninth Wave is 26:21 of wonder that takes us through the night and into the morning. We are watching this heroine from different angles and perspectives. From under the ice and above the Earth to under the sea and inside her mind, we also visit her parents’ house and hear these voices plead for the woman to survive. It is such a wonderful work where each song is so different and deep – that is why I wanted to focus on a few of the songs and why they are so interesting. So many people talk about Hounds of Love’s first side, because that is where the singles are and, with Mother Stands for Comfort, you have a non-single that could well have been released – even if it is darker and perhaps not as commercial as other songs on that side. I think The Ninth Wave is a suite that was begging for some sort of theatrical or filmic realisation and, though Bush presented it during her Before the Dawn residency six years ago, might there be room for a short film of the songs at some point? I have speculated before, but it is a question that keeps coming back to mind! On 16th September, we will bow and salute Hounds of Love and talk about how influential it is. The sublime The Ninth Wave is a song suite so many emotions, stories, and colours, and it is a series of songs that one keeps coming back to over and over…
IN THIS PHOTO: The album cover for Hounds of Love/PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush (from the book, Kate: Inside the Rainbow)
EVEN though we know what the outcome is!