FEATURE:
Angels and the Wild Man
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in a promotional photo for 50 Words for Snow/PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush
Kate Bush’s 50 Words for Snow at Twelve: Ranking the Tracks
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THERE are no weak moments…
on 50 Words for Snow. But, as I am doing an anniversary feature, I thought I would use this opportunity to rank the seven songs. I am going to come to that in a minute (thanks to the Kate Bush Encyclopedia for information about each song). Released on 21st November, 2011, I am looking ahead to twelve years of a masterpiece album. The most recent Kate Bush studio album, we all hope something else comes soon. Reaching number five in the U.K., it ranks alongside her very best. I think all the tracks, which are set against the backdrop of snow (except Among Angels), are magnificent and so rich. With fewer tracks that other album, the emphasis is on mood and detail. It is an album where songs unfurl and go on this quest. As such, the listener can get really immersed. I think people should check out the album and explore it for themselves. You may be new to it. For those who do know about 50 Words for Snow, you may have your own idea regarding song rankings and which are the best. Below are my opinions when it comes to…
THE very best of the best.
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SEVEN: Snowed in At Wheeler Street
Position on the Album: 5
Track Details:
“Kate about 'Snowed In At Wheeler Street'
The idea is that there are two lovers, two souls who keep on meeting up in different periods of time. So they meet in Ancient Rome and then they meet again walking through time. But each time something happens to tear them apart. (...) It’s like two old souls that keep on meeting up. (John Doran, 'A Demon In The Drift: Kate Bush Interviewed'. The Quietus, 2011)
Credits
Featured vocal: Elton John
Drums: Steve Gadd
Bass: John Giblin
Guitars: Dan McIntosh
Piano, keyboards: Kate”
Interview Snippet:
“Now, ‘Snowed In At Wheeler Street’ features the vocal talents of Sir Elton John and I was wondering, was the track written with him in mind?
KB: Yes. Absolutely.
How long have you known him?
KB: Oooh. I’ve known him for a long time. He used to be one of my greatest musical heroes. He was such an inspiration to me when I was starting to write songs. I just adored him. I suppose at that time a lot of the well-known performers and writers were quite guitar based but he could play really hot piano. And I’ve always loved his stuff. I’ve always been a fan so I kind of wrote the song with him in mind. And I’m just blown away by his performance on it. Don’t you think it’s great?
Yeah, he really gives it his all.
KB: He sings with pure emotion.
It’s good to hear him belting it out. Back when you were 13 years old and practicing playing the organ in your parents’ house and just starting to write your own songs and lyrics, what was the Elton John album that inspired you?
KB: Well, I love them all and I worked my way through them but my absolute favourite was Madman Across The Water. I just loved that record. I loved the songs on it and the production. It’s a really beautiful album” – The Quietus
Standout Lyric: “When we got to the top of the hill we saw Rome burning/I just let you walk away/I've never forgiven myself/I saw you on the steps in Paris, you were with someone else/Couldn't you see that should've been me?/I just walked on by”
Mark Out of Ten: 7.7
SIX: Wild Man
Position on the Album: 4
Track Details:
“Formats
Despite being released as a single from the album, it was never issued on any format other than digital download. However, promotional CD-singles exist and are changing hands at the collectors market.
Music video
There was a short (2 minutes and 24 seconds) animation to accompany a segment from 'Wild Man'. It was published on 16 November 2011 as part of the promotion of the album.
Versions
There are three versions of the song: the album version and a radio edit were released in 2011, whereas a version with 'remastered shimmer' appeared on the album The Art Of Peace: Songs For Tibet II in 2015.
Kate about 'Wild Man'
Well, the first verse of the song is just quickly going through some of the terms that the Yeti is known by and one of those names is the Kangchenjunga Demon. He’s also known as Wild Man and Abominable Snowman. (...) I don’t refer to the Yeti as a man in the song. But it is meant to be an empathetic view of a creature of great mystery really. And I suppose it’s the idea really that mankind wants to grab hold of something [like the Yeti] and stick it in a cage or a box and make money out of it. And to go back to your question, I think we’re very arrogant in our separation from the animal kingdom and generally as a species we are enormously arrogant and aggressive. Look at the way we treat the planet and animals and it’s pretty terrible isn’t it? (John Doran, 'A Demon In The Drift: Kate Bush Interviewed'. The Quietus, 2011)”
Standout Lyric: “From the Sherpas of Annapurna to the Rinpoche of Qinghai/Shepherds from Mount Kailash to Himachal Pradesh found footprints in the snow”
Mark Out of Ten: 8.2
FIVE: Snowflake
Position on the Album: 1
Track Details:
“Song written by Kate Bush. Originally released on her tenth studio album 50 Words For Snow in 2011. The track details the birth of a snowflake in the clouds until it falls down onto the ground or into a person's hand. It features Kate's son Albert on lead vocals.
Credits
Lead vocals: Albert McIntosh
Chorus vocal: Kate
Drums: Steve Gadd
Bass: Del Palmer
Guitars: Dan McIntosh
Piano, basses: Kate”
Interview Snippet:
“The album’s opening track, Snowflake, sets the scene with flurries of meditative piano and sparing, hushed percussion and strings. Written from the perspective of a falling snowflake, it features a vocal from Bush’s then 13-year-old son, Albert McIntosh.
Bush told Jamie Cullum that she had always intended to have Albert sing the song. “When I wrote the song it was something that I wrote specifically for him and for his voice, and I guess there was a very strong parallel in my mind between the idea of this transient little snowflake and the fact that Bertie at this point… still has a really beautiful high, pure voice which soon he will lose… there seems to be this sort of link between the brief time that his voice will be like this and the brevity of the snowflake.
“I think his performance on this is really powerful, and obviously I’m quite biased because I’m his mother,” she continued. “But it’s interesting how many people have reacted so powerfully to his performance, it’s, you know, I think it’s really something.” Bush’s simple, soulful chorus, “The world is so loud/Keep falling/I’ll find you,” offers calm and reassurance in the blizzard” – Dig!
Standout Lyric: “We're over a forest, it's midnight at Christmas/The world is so loud, keep falling, I'll find you”
Mark Out of Ten: 8.7
FOUR: Lake Tahoe
Position on the Album: 2
Track Details:
“Music video
Kate wrote and directed a short animated video to accompany Lake Tahoe, entitled Eider Falls at Lake Tahoe. It features five minutes from the 11 minute track, and contains elegant shadow-puppetry.
Kate about 'Lake Tahoe'
It was because a friend told me about the story that goes with Lake Tahoe so it had to be set there. Apparently people occasionally see a woman who fell into the lake in the Victorian era who rises up and then disappears again. It is an incredibly cold lake so the idea, as I understand it, is that she fell in and is still kind of preserved. Do you know what I mean? (John Doran, 'A Demon In The Drift: Kate Bush Interviewed'. The Quietus, 2011)
Credits
Featured vocals: Stefan Roberts, Michael Wood
Drums: Steve Gadd
Piano: Kate
With special thanks to James”
Standout Lyric: “No-one's home/Her old dog is sleeping/His legs are frail now/But when he dreams”
Mark Out of Ten: 9.0
THREE: Among Angels
Position on the Album: 7
Track Details:
“Versions
There is only one studio version of this song.
A live version appears on the album Before The Dawn.
Performances
The song was performed live as the last encore on Kate's Before The Dawn shows in London, 2014.
Credits
Prof. Joseph Yupik: Stephen Fry
Drums: Steve Gadd
Bass: John Giblin
Guitars: Dan McIntosh
Keyboards: Kate”
In the Spotlight:
“50 Words For Snow ends with Among Angels, a spare and celestially beautiful solo performance that was the first song written for the album. Immediately ranking among the best Kate Bush songs, it’s also the only track from the record to be performed live, during encores for her 22-night Before The Dawn residency at London’s Hammersmith Apollo in 2014.
Over a decade on from its release, 50 Words For Snow is the last collection of new music we’ve heard from the pioneering singer, songwriter and producer, who remains one of the most influential female musicians of all time. There are still not enough words to describe its beauty” – Dig!
Standout Lyric: “I can see angels standing around you/They shimmer like mirrors in summer/But you don't know it”
Mark Out of Ten: 9.3
TWO: 50 Words for Snow
Position on the Album: 6
Track Details:
“Song written by Kate Bush. Originally released on her tenth studio album 50 Words For Snow in 2011. Features the voice of Stephen Fry for the 50 words for snow.
Kate about '50 Words For Snow'
Years ago I think I must have heard this idea that there were 50 words for snow in this, ah, Eskimo Land! And I just thought it was such a great idea to have so many words about one thing. It is a myth - although, as you say it may hold true in a different language - but it was just a play on the idea, that if they had that many words for snow, did we? If you start actually thinking about snow in all of its forms you can imagine that there are an awful lot of words about it. Just in our immediate language we have words like hail, slush, sleet, settling… So this was a way to try and take it into a more imaginative world. And I really wanted Stephen to read this because I wanted to have someone who had an incredibly beautiful voice but also someone with a real sense of authority when he said things. So the idea was that the words would get progressively more silly really but even when they were silly there was this idea that they would have been important, to still carry weight. And I really, really wanted him to do it and it was fantastic that he could do it. (...) I just briefly explained to him the idea of the song, more or less what I said to you really. I just said it’s our idea of 50 Words For Snow. Stephen is a lovely man but he is also an extraordinary person and an incredible actor amongst his many other talents. So really it was just trying to get the right tone which was the only thing we had to work on. He just came into the studio and we just worked through the words. And he works very quickly because he’s such an able performer. (...) I think faloop'njoompoola is one of my favourites. [laughs] (John Doran, 'A Demon In The Drift: Kate Bush Interviewed'. The Quietus, 2011)
Credits
Prof. Joseph Yupik: Stephen Fry
Drums: Steve Gadd
Bass: John Giblin
Guitars: Dan McIntosh
Keyboards: Kate”
Standout Lyric: “19 phlegm de neige/20 mountainsob/21 anklebreaker/22 erase-o-dust/23 shnamistoflopp'n”
Mark Out of Ten: 9.5
ONE: Misty
Position on the Album: 3
Track Details:
“Music video
There was a short (2 minutes and 24 seconds) animation to accompany a segment from 'Misty', entitled Mistraldespair. It was published on 25 November 2011 as part of the promotion of the album.
Kate about 'Misty'
Well, I think in that particular song obviously there is a sexual encounter going on… (John Doran, 'A Demon In The Drift: Kate Bush Interviewed'. The Quietus, 2011)
It's a silly idea. But I hope that what has happened is that there's almost a sense of tenderness. I think it's quite a dark song. And so I hope that I've made it work. But in a lot of ways it shouldn't because... It's ridiculous, isn't it, the idea of the snowman visiting this woman and climbing into bed with her.
But I took him as a purely symbolic snowman, it was about...
No John, he's REAL (laughs). (BBC4 Radio, Front Row, 2011)
Credits
Drums: Steve Gadd
Bass: Danny Thompson
Guitars: Dan McIntosh
Piano: Kate
Special thanks to Joel for his guitar”
Standout Lyric: “And his creamy skin/His snowy white arms surround me/So cold next to me/I can feel him melting in my hand”
Mark Out of Ten: 9.7