FEATURE:
Or Dangle Devils in a Bottle and Push Them from the Pull of the Bush
Looking Ahead to the Fortieth Anniversary of the Title Track from Kate Bush’s The Dreaming
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ON 26th July…
it will be forty years since Kate Bush released the title track of her album, The Dreaming. That album did not come out for another couple of months (13th September). I am going to look at other songs besides The Dreaming to mark the fortieth anniversary of one of Bush’s best albums. The title track is an interesting one. In 1981, Bush released the first single from The Dreaming, Sat in Your Lap. That was released on 22nd June. Over a year after its first single, a very different-sounding track was unveiled! I do wonder about the promotion and release schedule at this time. I think one reason why Sat Your Lap came out so long before the album is that it was seen that, if she left too big a gap – to be fair, Never for Ever came out in September 1980…so hardly that much of an absence! -, then attention around her would fade. Bush was on a roll after 1979’s The Tour of Life and a number one album. Maybe EMI wanted her to put out material before she was ready. Sat in Your Lap was Bush’s most propulsive and percussion-heavy song to that point. Fans would have got a little bit of a shock when that single arrived! The second single reached number forty-eight in the U.K. It was the first single from Bush to that point that was seen as a slight flop in this country. She would not have a lot of luck with the following U.K. release, There Goes a Tenner.
After co-producing Never for Ever with Jon Kelly, Bush as sole producer was free to take full control and craft music in her own vision. Maybe a conscious attempt to make an album that was less commercial – and, therefore, meant that it wouldn’t be toured -, The Dreaming’s title song has this importance and depth that was not reflected in its chart position. Not often ranked alongside the best Kate Bush singles, I feel we should salute its fortieth anniversary later in the month. Ironically, for a song that highlighted aboriginal culture in Australia, The Dreaming did not score high in the Australian charts! An excellent song, one of the unfortunate associations is that Rolf Harris played didgeridoo. Not to tarnish this track, but a lot of the interviews around The Dreaming do mention him. I want to bring one in, as it is nice to read Bush discuss a song that has never garnered the sort of acclaim and inspection that it deserves:
“The title actually came last. It always does. It's the most difficult thing to do. I tried to get a title that would somehow say what was in there. It was really bad. Then I found this book [Hands me huge tome on australian lore]. I'd written a song and hadn't really given it a proper name. I knew all about this time they call Dreamtime, when animals and humans take the same form. It's this big religious time when all these incredible things happen. The other word for it is The Dreaming. I looked at that written down and thought, ``Yeah!'' (Kris Needs, 'Dream Time In The Bush'. ZigZag (UK), 1982)
The Aboriginals are not alone in being pushed out of their land by modern man, by their diseases, or for ther own strange reasons. It is very sad to think they might all die. 'The Dreaming' is the time for Aboriginals when humans took the form of animals, when spirits were free to roam and in this song as the civilized begin to dominate, the 'original ones' dream of the dreamtime. (Press statement by Kate Bush, 1982)”.
There is so much I love about The Dreaming. The bullroarer (played by her brother, Paddy) and the animal noises (from Percy Edwards) all add to the mood and soundscape. Bush’s excellent Fairlight CMI work, and her Australian twang are also brilliant (even if some are not a fan of her accent). It is interesting that she released two singles back-to-back where she put on an accent (There Goes a Tenner was her affecting a Cockney voice). I have highlighted lyrics before, but one of my favourite passages is this: “Erase the race that claim the place/And say we dig for ore/Or dangle devils in a bottle/And push them from the Pull of the Bush”. Her lyrics are so vivid and remarkable! On an album where Bush was a little more political and darker in terms of lyrics, perhaps people were not quite ready or expecting something like The Dreaming. Her next studio album, Hounds of Love, did rectify things a little bit in terms of having more commercial singles. I often wonder what could have come if Bush released another album like The Dreaming. I am curious whether there were unused songs or demos available from the recording sessions that didn’t make the album. They would be great to hear! On 26th July, we will get to mark forty years of a terrific song. Not a chart success, instead it is a wonderful and important song that opened the second side of The Dreaming. Rather than release a song about love or something radio-friendly, Bush was more concerned with the plight of the Aboriginal peoples. For that alone, The Dreaming deserves…
HUGE respect and love!