FEATURE:
Beating Around the Proverbial
The Limitations of Artists Covering Kate Bush – and Why They Don’t Tell the Whole Story
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WHILST one can never begrudge…
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in a still from the video of Experiment IV (from 1986’s The Whole Story)
artists covering Kate Bush’s music, I do feel like there are issues. Bush herself, as I have explored before, was quite wide-ranging when covering others – from Elton John, to The Beatles and traditional songs, she has never been shy about keeping things varied and not restricting herself! It is a bit irksome when artists cover the same song. As NME reported, Car Seat Headrest are the latest to cover a well-trodden Kate Bush song, Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God). Georgia covered the same song not too long ago. I can understand why people gravitate towards the track - though no cover is especially radical! Once you have heard a cover or two, you don’t need artists doing it again. I wonder whether Car Seat Headrest considered other Kate Bush songs. It seems a bit Route 1 going for one of her best-known songs. There are playlists of artists covering Kate Bush songs. As you can see, there are few non-singles/deep cuts explored. Even though there have been some fine covers of Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God), it has been overdone now! Other notable covers stick close to the singles and do not tread past the oft-heard. This probably ties into my moan about radio stations playing the same Kate Bush songs. If artists are not massive fans, are they covering a Bush song that gets played a lot – the assumption that people only want to hear this and, therefore, a cover is a good choice?!
There is this link between stations being very limiting (only playing the hits) and artists not taking the opportunity to cover a less obvious track. Away from the singles, each of Bush’s studio albums has a song that warrants covering. I know that a few of her deeper cuts have been covered. It doesn’t happen that often. Kite and Room for the Life are two songs from The Kick Inside that have not been tackled too much. Lionheart’s Full House and Kashka from Baghdad would warrant new inspection. Every album after that has these gems that are not played on radio much and people do not know a lot about. Not to blame artists exclusively for a lack of imagination. I suppose they are either covering Kate Bush songs that mean a lot to them or ones that they feel they can do a good job with. I get a feeling that many are being rather lazy with covers and have not listened to other tracks. I don’t think the world needs another take on a song like Hounds of Love or Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God). How about more artists reinterpreting a song like The Dreaming’s Pull Out the Pin or Get Out of My House? Again, those songs have been done, though not very often. We have entire swathes of Kate Bush songs that have not been covered at all. It is ironic that, in a year where we celebrate the thirty-fifth anniversary of a Kate Bush greatest hits collection called The Whole Story, many people do not know the whole story regarding Bush’s music!
I do like a good cover version, regardless of what song is approached. The song above is an example of a great cover of a Kate Bush single. It is very different to the original. It would be nice, as there is as much love for Bush now as any other time, to get artists to dip down and provide new exposure to songs that get overlooked. This is especially true for big artists. How many major musicians have covered a Kate Bush song that wasn’t a single or is played a lot on the radio? It is not many! Rather than this being a rant on my part, cover versions, like radio play, helps gets Bush’s work to new generations. I do fear that, for an artist who is lauded because she is an albums artist, so many of the hits are being covered – whereas the album tracks are never even considered. Maybe this will change through the years. Although an act like Car Seat Headrest providing yet another cover of a song that has been hammered quite a bit is not so bad, it does show a lack of taking an opportunity or showing real knowledge of Bush’s work. If you spend some time listening to her albums, there are so many songs that are relatively untouched where artists could provide something magnificent! It is brilliant that radio stations play Kate Bush’s music and fellow artists cover her songs. Unfortunately, because the lesser-known songs are rarely played or covered, they are really not telling…
THE whole story.