FEATURE:
Kate Bush’s Never for Ever at Forty-Two
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1980/PHOTO CREDIT: Gered Mankowitz
A Song That Has Become Especially Relevant to Me Lately
__________
NOT that I am going to lean…
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush at a signing for Never for Ever in Glasgow on 9th September, 1980
too heavily on the Kate Bush Encyclopedia too much for this feature – though I need to use it as a guide a bit later. As the gorgeous and stunning Kate Bush album, Never for Ever, is forty-two on 8th September, I am writing a few features about it. For this one, I wanted to get specific. A song from it has come to mind and increased in its relevance. I will also flesh this feature out with a 1980 interview with Kate Bush. I have said many a time how The Wedding List – the middle track (six) on the album – is my favourite cut. It is Bush at an early peak in terms of her vocal dexterity, lyrical brilliance and production genius. I think that Babooshka is the best single (of the three) from Never for Ever. The song I am going to reference and explore has an odd position on the album. I think that the tracklisting is mostly right, though a couple of tracks could have been moved. There is an odd run from tracks three to five. Blow Away (For Bill) starts it, whilst Egypt ends it. Positioned, somewhat awkwardly, in the middle is the divine and relatively unknown All We Ever Look For. I have spotlighted this song before, but there is a personal and more emotional relevance to it now that I wanted to tie in with a more general salute to a magnificent album ahead of its forty-second anniversary.
Before concentrating on a beautiful song that has stirred me recently, I wanted to quote a bit of an interview from Smash Hits of May 1980. This was a good four months before Never for Ever came out. At that point, Bush had not long finished her The Tour of Life (1979). That took her around the U.K. and Europe in an amazing live spectacle. Breathing came out in April 1980; Babooshka would be unveiled in June 1980, so this was an interesting mid-point where the media were keen to talk with a well-known young artist whose new music was unlike anything she had done before. Just hearing Bush asked about her personal life and how she retains this normalness and grounded approach (she also talks about the single, Breathing) struck my eye:
“Kate rightly points out, however, that her lyrics do go into the psychology of relationships, and analyse what lies under that superficial banner of "love", which--no matter how common a theme--is still very important to a lot of people.
Her new album, however, is exploring different avenues.
"There are a lot of different songs," she says. "There's no specific theme, but they're saying a lot about freedom, which is very important to me." Which is why Kate is also producing the album herself this time, helped by John Kelly, who produced The Kick Inside and Lionheart . <False. Andrew Powell produced The Kick Insied , and Kelly was assisted by Kate on the production of Lionheart .>
"It means I have more control over my album, which is going to make it more rounded, more complete--more me, I hope."
Her latest, fifth, single is very different from anything Kate has done before, and different from anything on the album, she says. Breathing is a dramatic statement about the very real dangers of a possible nuclear disaster in our world.
"It's about a baby still in the mother's womb, at a time of nuclear fallout, but it's more of a spiritual being," Kate explains, gesticulating with her hands, drawing a picture in the air to demonstrate.
"It has all its senses: sight, smell, touch, taste and hearing; and it knows what is going on outside the mother's womb. And yet it wants desperately to carry on living, as we all do, of course.
"Nuclear fallout is something we're all aware of, and worried about happening in our lives, and it's something we should all take time to think about. We're all innocent, none of us deserves to be blown up."
The hopelessness and pointlessness of nuclear fallout is conveyed also in the haunting, ominous melody which swirls forlornly around Kate's familiar crying vocals. The lyrics are short but to the point, while in the background an officious-sounding broadcast instructs its nation what to do.
It seems strange to hear Kate singing about politics, something I associate more with fighting, militant bands such as the Clash and the Stranglers.
Kate is so slight and demure, an extremely artistic person whose aims seem more concerned with entertaining people by taking them away from the outside world and its problems, even if only for an hour or two.
Hers seems a comfortable, almost fairytale success story. Discovered by EMI Records at the age of sixteen, she was sponsored for a couple of years, writing, during which time she continued learning to dance, perform and project herself.
"I think from the outside it does look as if it's been very easy for me--if you believe what the media say. But in fact it hasn't. Everyone thinks--knows, because it's true--that you need that lucky break, but what really counts is the determination that has to be there in the beginning.
"Basically it all comes down to personality. You have to be very strong to get where you want in this business. I mean, some people have been going ages, like Elkie Brooks. She's amazing (n.b.: the only time in an hour's conversation that Kate uses that word).
"Elkie's been knocked down so many times, and yet she always gets up and fights back. It's the same with me. Because I want to keep going, I can. I don't deny that I've been lucky, though."
The determination, just as important as the talent, has always been there, probably even before Kate learnt to play the piano at the age of eight.
"Instead of going out to play with other children I used to play the piano--it was my way of talking, of expressing myself."
Kate admits she was a fairly solitary child who didn't have many friends, and I wonder if she still is a bit of a loner. It seems rather an odd question when picturing the self-assured performer onstage--but what about offstage, away from it all? Is she much of a socialite
"No, I don't go to parties much. The last one must have been, ooh, Christmas, I suppose. When I get home I tend to sleep--especially at the moment, because I've been working too hard; or I clean up--wash-up and hoover. I find that very therapeutic. When I've got a lot on my mind I like to get away to something totally non-taxing
"I see friends whenever possible, too, and watch television, because that's something you can just switch off when you've had enough."
She laughs at having to relate such run-of-the-mill things to prove she's "normal".
"I'm not a star," she says adamantly. "My name is, but not me. I'm still just me”.
The song that has been in my thoughts and has affected me recently is All We Ever Look For. I seriously doubt people who do not know Kate Bush’s work well are aware of the song. I love the wonderful sounds through the song. Her brother Paddy plays a koto (a Japanese plucked half-tube zither instrument). There is some great timpani from Morris Pert. I particularly like the fact there are backing vocals from Preston Heyman, Paddy Bush, Andrew Bryant, Gary Hurst. Bush would bring a choir and string of other, lesser-featured vocalists on her songs from this point on. All the Love features answerphone messages from a range of people. Hounds of Love’s The Ninth Wave also has a few voices pop up through the suite. One of her greatest tracks to this point, here is some further information about All We Ever Look For:
“Song written by Kate Bush. The Fairlight is used on this track to great effect, with many sound samples being played back. At one point, a group of Hare Krishna followers is singing the 'Maha Mantra', with Kate using a tiny part of a line from this mantra: "(Hare) Krishna, Hare Krishna, (Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare)", presumably to represent the chorus immediately following the sound clips: "a God", followed by birdsong ("A Drug") and then finally applause ("A Hug"). The song was released on the album Never For Ever.
“'All We Ever Look For' is about how we seek something but in the wrong way or at wrong times so it is never found. (Kate Bush Club newsletter, September 1980)
One of my new songs, 'All We Ever Look For', it's not about me. It's about family relationships generally. Our parents got beaten physically. We get beaten psychologically. The last line - "All we ever look for - but we never did score".' Well, that's the way it is - you do get faced sometimes with futile situations. But the answer's not to kill yourself. You have to accept it, you have to cope with it. (Derek Jewell, 'How To Write Songs And Influence People'. Sunday Times (UK), 5 October 1980)”.
The message of the song, as Bush explains, about seeking something at the wrong times chimes with me (particularly the lines “All they ever want for you/Are the things they didn't do/All they ever wanted, a little clue/All they ever wanted, the truth/All they ever wanted, a little bit of you/All they ever wanted/But they never did get”). I am working on projects at the moment and hoping to advance them but I think, with everything happening in the world. Not a lot will happen for a while. I am also moving flats very soon and I am trepidatious about that. There is change and, for me personally, I am looking to add things to my life that are missing at the moment. All We Ever Look For has hit me because of what it says and what it is about. Its beauty, too, has got under my skin. Maybe it is a wake-up call or a realisation (“All we're ever looking for/Is another open door”). I am searching for a lot and seeking stuff. I think, because of a variety of things, maybe I am doing it at the wrong time and in the wrong way. Even though All We Ever Look For is more general and perhaps less personal to Kate Bush, it is a song that is relevant to everyone. We can all relate to what she is saying and the message behind the song. A magical and simply beautiful song from Never for Ever, it is an ongoing shame that deep cuts like this are rarely discussed and not given the airplay they deserve. As look forward to the forty-second anniversary of Never for Ever on 8th September, I wanted to highlight a song that has…
TOUCHED me deeply.