FEATURE:
Kate Bush: Something Like a Song
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1985/PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush
Under the Ivy
__________
I am selecting a few songs…
from Best of the Other Sides for this series, as they are ones that may not be widely known. Kate Bush fans will recognise the tracks. However, there are some gems that do not get discussed enough. One example is a song I have covered a few times before but I want to return to. When Bush recently posted her Christmas message, she did reflect on that compilation and its success. Working on it, she listened to The Meteorological Mix of The Big Sky and marvelled. With the voices of her parents and brother, Paddy, in the mix, Bush was reflecting at Christmas about family. It is amazing that Best of the Other Sides came out and was so popular. We got to hear all of these rare tracks. The one I am spotlighting today is Under the Ivy. The B-side of Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) in 1985, this is the undeniably queen of Kate Bush B-sides. Rather than repeat what I have done before, I am going to bring in something new. When describing some of the tracks from Best of the Other Sides, this is what Kate Bush says about Under the Ivy:
“I needed a track to put on the B-Side of the single Running Up That Hill so I wrote this song really quickly. As it was just a simple piano/vocal, it was easy to record.
I performed a version of the song that was filmed at Abbey Rd Studios for a TV show which was popular at the time, called The Tube. It was hosted by Jools Holland and Paula Yates. I find Paula’s introduction to the song very touching.
It was filmed in Studio One at Abbey Rd. An enormous room used for recording large orchestras, choirs, film scores, etc. It has a vertiginously high ceiling and sometimes when I was working in Studio Two, a technician, who was a good friend, would take me up above the ceiling of Studio One. We had to climb through a hatch onto the catwalk where we would then crawl across and watch the orchestras working away, completely unaware of the couple of devils hovering in the clouds, way above their heads! I used to love doing this - the acoustics were heavenly at that scary height. We used to toy with the idea of bungee jumping from the hatch”.
As the performance of Under the Ivy was broadcast for the 100th episode of The Tube on 19th March, 198i6, we mark its fortieth anniversary very soon. I do hope that people pick up on this song and listen to it. It was written too late to be considered for inclusion on Hounds of Love, though it did bolster the Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) single – not that it needed it! I do wonder whether Bush considered releasing a double A-side, as it would have been great to have a video for Under the Ivy. Like her version of The Beatles’ Strawberry Fields Forever/Penny Lane, this was a monumental release. Under the Ivy too good to be a B-side. I think that it should have perhaps been a standalone single, as it would have done well on the charts. However, it is getting a new lease of life, in part thanks to the release of Best of the Other Sides. Before moving on, let’s bring in part of an interview form 1985 where Bush talked about Under the Ivy:
“It’s very much a song about someone who is sneaking away from a party to meet someone elusively, secretly, and to possibly make love with them, or just to communicate, but it’s secret, and it’s something they used to do and that they won’t be able to do again. It’s about a nostalgic, revisited moment. (…) I think it’s sad because it’s about someone who is recalling a moment when perhaps they used to do it when they were innocent and when they were children, and it’s something that they’re having to sneak away to do privately now as adults.
It is no surprise that Under the Ivy has been covered quite a bit. It is this song that seems personal, yet it can really be interpreted by anyone. I do think that there is a little of Kate Bush reflecting on fame and pressure. Not being allowed space or privacy, that yearning to escape from it all and go somewhere secluded and safe: “It wouldn’t take me long/To tell you how to find it/To tell you where we’ll meet/This little girl inside me/Is retreating to her favourite place”. Bush singing “Away from the party/Go right to the rose/Go right to the white rose/(For me.)”. Less about love and more about embracing something peaceful and safe, there are some fascinating lines. That key use of the white rose. I think that is symbolic. Rather than the red rose of romance, Bush goes down the garden and under the ivy to the white rose. A white rose symbolises purity, innocence, new beginnings, and reverence. The lyrics talk about colour and nature. It is a song that you can vividly imagine and almost smell. There is this sense of being in a packed and adult environment and then running to a childhood spot. The family garden at East Wickham Farm perhaps. It is a very romantic song, yet I always feel Under the Ivy is more about going back to the past. Fame perhaps creeping in and Bush being in this situation that is dizzying and stressful. Breaking away, you can picture her opening the garden door and getting away from the party. Maybe raining outside, she seeks shelter under the ivy: “I sit here in the thunder/The green on the grey/I feel it all around me/And it’s not easy for me/To give away a secret/It’s not safe”. That clash of the brilliant and bold green against the dreary and wetness of the weather. I wondered what that secret is. Whether it is something personal she is telling a lover or something else, it is impossible not to scrutinise that line. It is all about coming to that particular point. A spot in the garden – “It wouldn’t take me long/To tell you how to find it” – where she can meet with someone.
There is a feature that I want to bring in that argues why we cannot sleep on Under the Ivy. Many people are discovering the song for the first time. Back in September, Music Radar wrote about a lost classic. At the time this was written – September 2025 -, Under the Ivy was not available on streaming. It is now. Even if Bush says the song is about meeting someone for a passionate moment, I never see the song like that. I see it more of breaking away from intrusion and suffocation. It is great that there are these different interpretations and possibilities:
“But - we’re going to go out on a limb here - and assert that it’s actually that song’s original B-side, oddly currently unavailable on most streaming platforms, that we’d boldly suggest is better than Running Up That Hill (gasp!).
Controversial words maybe, but Under the Ivy is a truly special song. It's not just a curate's egg, it's frequently cited by many a Bush aficionado as their top pick in the pantheon of Bush's highest tier of tracks.
Its delicately-performed evocation of lost childhood innocence, secret meetings and the alluring magic of a lush, otherworldly garden make it a comforting, richly rewarding listen. It’s the very definition of a lost gem.
Despite the song's popularity in Bush-geek circles, the song is unfortunately, (scandalously!) unavailable to stream on many of the major streaming platforms, including Spotify and Apple Music. Meaning if you want to hear Under the Ivy, you really have to look for it.
Its lyrical tone of child-like naivety and the ethereal, floating quality of its spacious production shared a spiritual through-line with The Man With the Child in His Eyes, that scintillating early example of her burgeoning brilliance, written when Bush was just 13 years old. Our piece on that song can be read here.
Like that foundational song, Bush kept things simple with Under the Ivy. Built around her intricate piano playing and a vocal performance that evolved gradually from tender and warmly nostalgic to more overtly emotive by the song's end.
It feels like this reminiscence is in some way difficult for Bush. A lost, timeless age of fairytale wonder that she is desperate to recapture.
Bush's lyrics paint, watercolour-like, a narrative of a besotted young girl, giving directions to her (what we can assume to be) lover, inviting him to meet her at an enchanting location. A secret spot for a secret liaison. Hidden deep within a verdant garden.
Go into the garden
Go under the ivy
Under the leaves
Away from the party
Go right to the rose
Go right to the white rose
“It’s very much a song about someone who is sneaking away from a party to meet someone elusively, secretly, and to possibly make love with them, or just to communicate, but it’s secret, and it’s something they used to do and that they won’t be able to do again,” Bush revealed to prominent fan and Gaffaweb Mailing List moderator, Doug Alan back in 1985.
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1985/PHOTO CREDIT: Guido Harari
“It’s about a nostalgic, revisited moment. I think it’s sad because it’s about someone who is recalling a moment when perhaps they used to do it when they were innocent and when they were children, and it’s something that they’re having to sneak away to do privately now as adults,” Bush further explained.
This melancholic subtext that Bush alludes to here is underscored on the track by her expressive vocal performance, which rises and falls with underlying anguish, before seemingly cracking with emotion near its end.
The chiming, stately piano movement frames the narrative with clock-like inevitability (particularly the emotive chorus in G minor). Another feature of the studio version is the vast natural reverb, spotlighting Bush as a lonely figure, lamenting the ghosts of yesterday.
It's an utterly sublime piece of work.
Under The Ivy, then, is THE lost Bush masterpiece. It’s a magic spell of a song, encapsulating Bush’s ability to blend wonder and innocence with adult feelings of longing, passion and regret.
The song's cherished status is further borne out by the aforementioned YouTube video of the song’s comments, which lay bare the level of adoration Under the Ivy has from Bush’s fans. The comments also reveals how new fans are continually bowled over upon first hearing it.
“I cannot believe that I have just heard this beautiful song for the first time,” wrote one user. “It has restored my faith that special music and honest songwriters are out there, even if they are seldom seen and heard.”
Another states, “The singularly most beautiful song ever written. I remember hearing this for the first time and knowing my life had changed in that moment. Exquisite.”
So, if you’ve not spent any time Under the Ivy before, then why not follow Kate out into the garden, and embrace your new favourite Kate Bush song”.
If you have not heard the song and are unfamiliar with it, then do go and listen to it. Though I don’t think it is better than Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God), I can understand why some people would argue that it is. This beautiful and majestic song that transports you away from the party, down the garden and to the white rose, the gorgeous Under the Ivy is a masterpiece. Almost forty years since it was broadcast for The Tube, we now can stream this 1985-released track. It is clear that it will…
NEVER lose its brilliance.