FEATURE:
“He Swooned in Warm Maroon”
Never for Ever at Forty: Kate Bush’s The Wedding List
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THERE is debate…
as to when Kate Bush’s Never for Ever turns forty. I have seen some sources say that it is 7th September (some say 5th September), but it seems to be the case that, in fact, 8th September (which would have been a Monday - albums usually were released on Mondays back then in the U.K.) is the anniversary – and that is the one that I am going with (even if some of my earlier features have said it was on the 7th…my bad). It is frustrating that it can be difficult trying to find a release date for an album but, on 8th September, 1980, Kate Bush released her third album, Never for Ever. This was Bush’s first number-one album (but not her last). It was also the first ever album by a British female solo artist to top the U.K. album chart, as well as being the first album by any female solo artist to enter the chart at number-one - quite the record-breaking gem! I still maintain that this album is underrated and, forty years later, there are people who place it way above many of her other albums. I can see how it does not quite reach the same heights as Hounds of Love – which turns thirty-five on 16th September -, but it is an album that contains massively impressive singles in Babooshka, Army Dreamers, and Breathing - and the remaining eight tracks are awesome! The album came just after a year from Bush’s The Tour of Life, and this was the first album where Bush co-produced (alongside Jon Kelly, who was the engineer on her first two albums). With the personal discovery of the Fairlight CMI (via her friend, Peter Gabriel), Bush had this new access to sounds that fed into her work, and I think Never for Ever is a broader album in terms of themes and compositions when one compares it to The Kick Inside, and Lionheart (both from 1978). I hope that Never for Ever gets a lot of acclaim and new attention when it turns forty, and that it is not overshadowed by Hounds of Love’s impending anniversary.
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush at Virgin Records in Eldon Square, Newcastle in September 1980/PHOTO CREDIT: Mirrorpix
Maybe there are a couple of tracks that divide people, and I would say that Egypt, and Violin are those two. The former ends the first side of the album, whereas Violin is the second track from the second side. Sitting between those tracks – and the song that people hear when they flip the vinyl and lay down the needle – is The Wedding List. I have paid special attention to a few tracks from Never for Ever, but the last one that I want to expose is The Wedding List. If some feel that Violin is one of Bush’s weaker rockers, and Egypt does not quite ignite, then one cannot deny that The Wedding List is a more interesting and emotionally-rich song that tells a fascinating story. I can appreciate that Bush did not want to release too many singles from Never for Ever. Although not all of its singles were released in the U.K., on The Dreaming (1982), Hounds of Love (1985), and The Red Shoes (1993), Bush did put out more than she did on Never for Ever. I respect how she did not want to put out too many singles when the albums were there; she was always about looking forward and doing something new, but there was an opportunity, I feel, to release a fourth single from Never for Ever. In terms of competition, one could cite All We Ever Look For, and The Infant Kiss as songs that would make popular singles, but I feel The Wedding List would have bested them both!
The reason I say this is because Bush performed the song as part of her Christmas Special in 1979 – it would be over eight months until people heard The Wedding List on Never for Ever. It was clear that Bush had a lot of love for this song, and the video/clip of that song being performed is incredible (and one can see where Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill character, The Bride, might have stemmed from!). The song was inspired by a François Truffaut's film called The Bride Wore Black ('La Mariée était en noir'). It tells of a groom who is accidentally murdered on the day of his wedding by a group of five people who shoot at him from a window. The bride succeeds in tracking down each one of the five and kills them in a row, including the last one who happens to be in jail. It is another case of Bush picking from the more obscure end of the inspiration section of the ideas supermarket! I love the fact that she was moved by areas, films and subjects that other songwriters would never consider. There is drama and beauty; some fantastic lyrics and story development, and I think it would make a great companion with Babooshka – which chronicles a wife's desire to test her husband's loyalty. To do so, she takes on the pseudonym of Babooshka and sends notes to her husband in the guise of a younger woman - something which she fears is the opposite of how her husband currently sees her.
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush at a Never For Ever album signing in 1980
In her bitterness and paranoia, Babooshka arranges to meet her husband, who is attracted to the character who reminds him of his wife in earlier times. The relationship is ruined only because of her own paranoia. Maybe Bush was wary of the songs being compared, but they are very different and I think having The Wedding List as a final single from Never for Ever would have been great! The Kate Bush Encyclopaedia gives examples where Bush discussed The Wedding List and its inspiration:
“The Wedding List' is about the powerful force of revenge. An unhealthy energy which in this song proves to be a "killer". (Kate Bush Club newsletter, September 1980)
Revenge is so powerful and futile in the situation in the song. Instead of just one person being killed, it's three: her husband, the guy who did it - who was right on top of the wedding list with the silver plates - and her, because when she's done it, there's nothing left. All her ambition and purpose has all gone into that one guy. She's dead, there's nothing there. (Kris Needs, 'Fire in the Bush'. Zigzag, 1980)
Revenge is a terrible power, and the idea is to show that it's so strong that even at such a tragic time it's all she can think about. I find the whole aggression of human beings fascinating - how we are suddenly whipped up to such an extent that we can't see anything except that. Did you see the film Deathwish, and the way the audience reacted every time a mugger got shot? Terrible - though I cheered, myself. (Mike Nicholls, 'Among The Bushes'. Record Mirror, 1980)”.
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush at EMI, Manchester Square, London in 1980/PHOTO CREDIT: Brian Rasic/Getty Image
I love The Wedding List, and it is one of those songs – among many others – that one never hears on the radio! It has a terrific chorus, and Bush’s range and voice throughout is amazing! She puts so much passion into the recording, I could imagine an official video of the song would be very similar to that Christmas performance. Maybe that is a reason why it was not released as a single: having it on T.V. and seen by many sort of does the same job. As we celebrate Never for Ever turning forty, songs such as Babooshka, Breathing, Army Dreamers, and even Delius (Song of Summer) will be discussed, and I think there are some underrated cuts that might not get mentioned as much – The Wedding List is certainly one of them! I wanted to salute the track, as it is one of my favourite Kate Bush compositions, and it is a gem from an album that is absolutely stuffed full of them! I do hope that people get a new sense of appreciation and context when they listen back to Never for Ever, and they look beyond the singles to realise there are many gifts and gems to be discovered. The Wedding List is a magnificent track that always blows me away, and it is further proof (if it were ever needed) that Kate Bush was a songwriter who…
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