FEATURE:
The Ballad of Houidini and Rosabel
IMAGE CREDIT: The Vermilion
A Kate Bush-Themed Charity Idea for CRISIS and War Child
__________
I have been thinking about…
doing something for charity based around Kate Bush’s music. Two particular charities that Kate Bush is close to and has raised funds for, CRISIS and War Child, are in my mind. You can donate to Crisis here. At this time of year, as we are close to Christmas, you cannot help but think about those who have no home. Those who have to live on the streets. It is such a hard time for those who do not have same luxuries as us. Things that we take for granted. Also, War Child is a very important charity. You can donate here. Kate Bush has recently raised funds for War Child. She released the video for Little Shrew (Snowflake) last year, inspired by images of children displaced asnd affected by the invasion of Ukraine. Recently, Bush has invited fifty-two artists to create art based around lyrics from 1985’s Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) for a charity auction. On several occasions, Kate Bush has been involved with CRISIS. When there was a Kate Bush pop-up shop in King’s Cross in 2018, Bush announced that £61,000 has been raised. There is charity fundraising related to Kate Bush. Earlier this month, The Sensual World – A Kate Bush Celebration raised money for Cancer vs Cabaret. It was organised by HomeGround and KateBushNews.com. I have been thinking of organising something that would raise money for a couple of charities that Bush has spoken about and raised money for. Where people could donate, though there would be this interactive element. People selecting their favourite Kate Bush song or the one most important to them. It would draw attention to that track and her work in a wider sense, then they could share the post with a link to donate to each charity. Each person who took part would donate to each charity – suggested minimum would be £10 total, though there is no upper limit.
Kate Bush’s constant charity work and commitment is inspiring. Other people starting charity events because of her. I have been thinking about CRISIS and the great work they do. How important it is to donate to them to ensure that they can help give shelter and hope to those who are experiencing homelessness. Trying to affect long-term change. War Child are crucial at a time when many children in Ukraine and Palestine have been devastated by genocide and violence. Not just those two countries. At the moment, we are seeing multiple nations affected by conflict. It is the children that are impacted the most. I think that both charities are so worthy. There would be a hashtag for the endeavour, #KateBushCrisisWarChild, and you would post a link to the Kate Bush song. In terms of words, the person would say why the song is so important to them and then paste the links to War Child and CRISIS, where people can donate. Rather than it being an organised event that is limited to a certain amount of people, the hope is that this could spread further and wider. The idea being that you think about a Kate Bush song that means a lot to you and share it with others. Many might ask what this has to do with the charities. The idea is to raise funds and awareness of them. As Kate Bush has done with her own work and compelling artists to create paintings around her lyrics, this would be a simple way of getting people involved, though with an element of creativity and thought. Although this song is not the most important Kate Bush song to me, it is my favourite. One that I have a lot of thought around. I guess, if I were to start a ball rolling and say why this is so important, I would say the following: “Kate Bush at her vocal, production and lyrical high. A peerless and hugely original song from The Dreaming, I adore Houdini”. It is brief but gives explanation as to why the song sticks in my mind.
I have written about Houidini before. I would say Wuthering Heights and Them Heavy People are more important and affecting. I have a longer relationship with those songs. However, Houidini is my favourite Kate Bush song. In 1982, Kate Bush was pushing her sound and experimentation. The Dreaming is a stunningly ambitious and layered album. Producing solo for the first time, you can hear how much effort and time she put into the album. The penultimate song on The Dreaming, Houidini is classic Kate Bush. In terms of the lyrics, it could only have come from her mind! Here, Kate Bush talks about the inspiration behind the song:
“The side most people know of Houdini is that of the escapologist, but he spent many years of his life exposing mediums and seances as frauds. His mother had died, and in trying to make contact through such spiritual people, he realized how much pain was being inflicted on people already in sorrow, people who would part with money just for the chance of a few words from a past loved one. I feel he must have believed in the possibility of contact after death, and perhaps in his own way, by weeding out the frauds, he hoped to find just one that could not be proven to be a fake. He and his wife made a decision that if one of them should die and try to make contact, the other would know it was truly them through a code that only the two of them knew.
His wife would often help him with his escapes. Before he was bound up and sealed away inside a tank or some dark box, she would give him a parting kiss, and as their lips met, she would pass him the key which he would later use to unlock the padlocks that chained him. After he died, Mrs. Houdini did visit many mediums, and tried to make contact for years, with no luck – until one day a medium called Mr. Ford informed her that Houdini had come through. She visited him and he told her that he had a message for her from Houdini, and he spoke the only words that meant for her the proof of her husband’s presence. She was so convinced that she released an official statement to the fact that he had made contact with her through the medium, Ford.
It is such a beautiful and strange story that I thought I had very little to do, other than tell it like it was. But in fact it proved to be the most difficult lyric of all the songs and the most emotionally demanding. I was so aware of trying to do justice to the beauty of the subject, and trying to understand what it must have been like to have been in love with such an extraordinary man, and to have been loved by him. I worked for two or three nights just to find one line that was right. There were so many alternatives, but only a few were right for the song. Gradually it grew and began to piece together, and I found myself wrapped up in the feelings of the song – almost pining for Houdini. Singing the lead vocal was a matter of conjuring up that feeling again and as the clock whirrs and the song flashes back in time to when she watched him through the glass, he’s on the other side under water, and she hangs on to his every breath. We both wait.
I love how, to get the mucus/gravelled vocal sound, Bush drank milk and ate chocolate to get that sort of phlegm. This is something that is not advised, though she wanted to get this almost ghostly or demonic growl. You can hear this intensified on the final track from The Dreaminmg, Get Out of My House. Bush’s vocals goes from whispered and quivering to this intense and almost frightening shout in the chorus. The imagery throughout is fascinating. So unconventional and original, few artists around Bush were writing about this sort of thing. Her production on the song is superb. The gorgeous and sweeping strings were written and arranged by Dave Lawson and Andrew Powell. We get brief vocal from Gordon Farrell, who says “Houidini”; Del Palmer says “Rosabel believe”. Standout drums from Stuart Elliott. One of the standouts from an album still underrated and misunderstood, I think few songs can match the beauty and potency of Houidini. I do want to get something together where money can be raised for CRISIS and War Child that would involve Kate Bush’s music. I do not have a tonne of followers, so I worry that it might not get that much traction. However, if the charities themselves collaborated, then it could get wider attention and awareness. Kate Bush fans getting a chance to share that standout Kate Bush and say why. For me, I would have to go with my favourite: the spectral and…
SPECTACULAR Houdini.