FEATURE:
Original Intent
Kate Bush: Keeping Cover Versions from Her Studio Albums
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MAYBE it is not too noteworthy…
PHOTO CREDIT: Alamy
but I feel that most legendary artists, on one of their albums at least, will include a cover version. It is not the case that artists are short of material: rather, they want to bring in cover songs, as they can put their own stamp on things. I have spoken before how Bush’s production work is underrated. Many people, when they think of her, do not usually consider her producing and the skill she has in this area. One reason why albums such as The Dreaming (1982) and Hounds of Love (1985) are so nuanced and extraordinary is because Bush was at the helm. Not that she was shunning people - though one feels that others calling the shorts regarding production would have annoyed her. She worked with producers on her first few albums, yet Bush had a desire to produce her own work and put her stamp on the albums. The same can be said of the songwriting. Whilst one can look at songwriters like Joni Mitchell and say that she wrote her own material and produced her albums (after a certain point), there are very few artists that do not bring in others’ work. In fact, if you look through Mitchell’s catalogue, she has not solo written every one of her songs. Over ten studio albums, Kate Bush has ensured that her name is the only one on the songwriting credits.
One can argue that, on Director’s Cut (2011), she reinterpreted her song, The Sensual World (from 1989’s The Sensual World) and renamed it Flower of the Mountain. As she wanted to use Molly Bloom’s soliloquy from James Joyce’s Ulysses on the original, when she did get permission for Flower of the Mountain, she credited James Joyce. I am not really counting that. No doubt Joyce’s words are important, though the majority of the song was composed by Kate Bush. On The Dreaming, certain musical parts were composed by others (the string arrangement on Houdini was from Dave Lawson and Andrew Powell). Apart from that, Bush has written all of her album tracks. I find that amazing! I will come on to cover songs. One can also not say that she was short of original material and, had she recorded more albums, she would have needed to turn to covers. She wrote the excellent Experiment IV for the greatest hits collection, The Whole Story (1986). She had a B-side as incredible as Under the Ivy (the B-side to Hounds of Love’s first single, Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God), that could have easily slotted on the album’s second side. One suspects there are unrecorded songs that Bush could record and kept aside. I am not sure whether there were moments when Bush thought about doing a cover of two for an album. She has recorded and/or performed live songs by Steely Dan, The Beatles, Ike & Tina Turner, and Elton John.
I may do another feature about the best cover versions by Kate Bush. When it came to tackling other artists’ songs, Bush kept them to B-sides or other projects. She recorded two Elton John/Bernie Taupin tracks for the 1991 album, Two Rooms: Celebrating the Songs of Elton John & Bernie Taupin (Rocket Man was the A-side; Candle in the Wind the B-side). I really love a lot of Bush’s B-sides. Burning Bridge (the B-side to Cloudbusting and Hounds of Love), The Empty Bullring (the B-side to Never for Ever’s Breathing) and Ran Tan Waltz (the B-side to Never for Ever’s Babooshka) are wonderful. She clearly had a lot of material aside that she did not feel fitted on an album. If you look at the songs Bush covered, it is not like they are slight versions that could not have made it onto an album. The Handsome Cabin Boy was a B-side on the Hounds of Love single. Whilst it might not have worked on Hounds of Love, it could have appeared on an E.P. or future project. Donavon’s Lord of the Reedy River was a B-side to the Sat in Your Lap (The Dreaming) single. I feel that could have been an album track. This is also true of My Lagan Love (a traditional song that was a B-side on the Hounds of Love single). Whether she was tackling Sexual Healing (the B-side to 2005’s King of the Mountain) or adapting Elton John classics, it would have been interesting to hear her include a cover on a studio album.
I guess Bush wanted to keep her albums her own - made sure they only featured her own songwriting. I am fascinated by the divide in Bush’s career. There are those album tracks that Bush wrote, although it is clear that she loved reinterpreting other people’s tracks. Bush featuring a wide range of non-original songs as B-sides. Given her love of artists such as David Bowie and Captain Beefheart, I wonder whether Bush ever covered any of their songs and they have not seen the light of the day. I guess this feature is a reaction to the fact that, still, we see big artists release albums where there are scores of other songwriters. You wonder how personal and meaningful the songs are when you count the co-writing credits! Perhaps Bush felt that putting cover versions on her albums would taken her own voice and perspective away. As much as I love her covers, she is at her most exceptional when delivering her own songs. This is one (among many) reasons as to why she is so respected as an artist. That sense of autonomy and singular vision meant that, over ten studio albums, it was her words alone that we heard (taking into consideration the very minor James Joyce inclusion on Director’s Cut). One can never say never, butit is unlikely Bush will include a cover version if she releases another studio album. I really like how she paired Sexual Healing with King of the Mountain in 2005 (quite an introduction to Aerial!). The range of songs she covered is amazing! I suppose Bush created a flow and concept with many of her albums. Putting in a cover song might have disrupted that. Across the studio albums, Bush has ensured that her songs alone have featured. This is something that…
FEW others can claim.