FEATURE:
Inside Kate Bush’s The Dreaming at Forty
Track Four: Suspended in Gaffa
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BECAUSE Kate Bush’s…
underrated and excellent fourth studio album, The Dreaming, is forty in September, I am going to write many features about it. One run is a track-by-track look. I am at the fourth track and the mighty Suspended in Gaffa. A song I feel should have been released as a single in the U.K., it was released as a single in Europe. Here, There Goes a Tenner was released. One of the most musically-rich songs on The Dreaming, I love the video especially. It is very uncomplicated. Bush was keen to keep it that way, so that there are minimal effects and extras. In fact, her mother is the only extra (as shown in the photo above). It is a beautiful video where we concentrate on Bush’s dancing and her entrancing performance. On an album that is quite complex and layered, the video for Suspended in Gaffa is much barer and more direct. I will nod to the lyrics in a minute. After three very different songs, Suspended in Gaffa reminds me, rhythmically, of There Goes a Tenner (the track is follows). Each of the ten tracks on The Dreaming has a distinct sound and origin. The Kate Bush Encyclopaedia collated interviews where Bush discussed the origin of the song:
“I could explain some of it, if you want me to: Suspended in Gaffa is reasonably autobiographical, which most of my songs aren’t. It’s about seeing something that you want–on any level–and not being able to get that thing unless you work hard and in the right way towards it. When I do that I become aware of so many obstacles, and then I want the thing without the work. And then when you achieve it you enter…a different level–everything will slightly change. It’s like going into a time warp which otherwise wouldn’t have existed. (Richard Cook, 'My music sophisticated?...'. NME (UK), October 1982)
‘Suspended In Gaffa' is, I suppose, similar in some ways to 'Sat In Your Lap' - the idea of someone seeking something, wanting something. I was brought up as a Roman Catholic and had the imagery of purgatory and of the idea that when you were taken there that you would be given a glimpse of God and then you wouldn't see him again until you were let into heaven. And we were told that in Hell it was even worse because you got to see God but then you knew that you would never see him again. And it's sorta using that as the parallel. And the idea of seeing something incredibly beautiful, having a religious experience as such, but not being able to get back there. And it was playing musically with the idea of the verses being sorta real time and someone happily jumping through life [Makes happy motion with head] and then you hit the chorus and it like everything sorta goes into slow mo and they're reaching [Makes slow reaching motion with arm] for that thing that they want and they can't get there. [Laughs] (Interview for MTV, November 1985)”.
A stunning song that should have been a single here, it is one of the strongest cuts from The Dreaming. In every Kate Bush track, there is a verse or lines that jump out and blow the mind. Suspended in Gaffa is no exception! My favourite section is: “That girl in the mirror/Between you and me/She don't stand a chance of getting anywhere at all/Not anywhere at all/No, not a thing/She can't have it all/"Mother, where are the angels? I'm scared of the changes". There are other songs on The Dreaming where Bush references and alludes to God and that search for deeper truth and meaning. I think that Suspended in Gaffa is one of the most personal songs on the album. One can definitely feel something revealing and emotional from Bush. Even though the tempo and sound of the song is quite springy and jaunty, you only need to read the lyrics and hear her sing to realise that something heavier and deeper is at work. A remarkable song from an album that, ahead of its fortieth in September, warrants more love, Suspended in Gaffa hits you pretty much from the first note! Another track where Bush’s production talent and instinct means that the potency and brilliance of every aspect – vocals, composition and performance – comes to life and resonates. The fourth track on The Dreaming, Suspended in Gaffa is a magnificent diamond from…
A classic album.