FEATURE:
Overcoming the Cringe
Why Kate Bush’s Lyrics Could Never Be Embarrassing
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WHEN looking around…
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1979
for any Kate Bush updates or seeing what people were writing, I cam across a recent feature from Louder. Looking through the interview archive, they came across a moment when Kate Bush reflected on some of those early lyrics. One song in particular, Oh England My Lionheart, came under fire. One that she cringed at. Felt embarrassed about. I think that the first couple of albums, as I have explored before, she seems to push away. One might say that there are some albums where the lyrics are not at her peak. However, as I will write, Kate Bush should never disown songs or feel her lyrics were naff or something to feel shame about:
“One of England's most original and widely-admires musical artists, Kate Bush is a true national treasure. But, in a 1993 interview with Britain's [now defunct] Q magazine, the then-35-year-old singer admitted that one of her most poetic songs about her homeland made her cringe with embarrassment.
Oh England My Lionheart is the closing song on side one of Bush's second album, Lionheart, released on November 10, 1978, less than nine months on from the release of her million-selling debut album, The Kick Inside. Featuring lyrics such as "Peter Pan steals the kids in Kensington Park / You read me Shakespeare on the rolling Thames", the song was described by Bush as "a sort of poetical play, if you like, on the romantic visuals of England, and the second World War."
"It’s only got acoustic instruments on it and it’s done … almost madrigally, you know," she told Melody Maker's Harry Doherty in November '78. "I dare say a lot of people will think that it’s just a load of old slush but it’s just an area that I think it’s good to cover. Everything I do is very English and I think that’s one reason I’ve broken through to a lot of countries."
Ffifteen years on, however, Bush was rather less enamoured of the song. When Q writer (now BBC 6Music presenter) Stuart Maconie mentioned it to Bush, the singer-songwriter gasped, "Do you like that one? It makes me just want to die. It's such an old song."
When Maconie enquired as to which other old songs made Bush wince, she responded, "My God, loads. Absolutely loads."
"Either the lyric's not thought out properly or it's just crap or the performances weren't well executed," she continued. "But you have to get it in context. You were doing it at the time and it was the best you could do then. You've got to live with it. Some of those early songs though, you think, What was I thinking about? Did I write that?.
"There's not just one," she admitted. "There's too many to mention. But I was very young, so I can be gentle on myself for that. Having said that, I think some of my lyrics were just, well, mad really. And why not! You've got to be prepared to fail and get a bit hurt or bruised along the way”.
It is not unusual for Kate Bush to say something like that about her music. She has said how some songs she didn’t like and how there were moments that she does not think about with fond memories. However, when it comes to her lyrics, I don’t think that she should ever feel bad about them. Those early albums, 1978’s The Kick Inside and Lionheart, are filled with incredible visions and lines. I really like Oh England My Lionheart. Even if the song could be interpreted by some as nationalistic and patriotic – in the sense right-wing British people could see it as a call to get the country back to its roots (in an anti-woke and racist sense) -, it is a beautiful number. Even if the production (by Andrew Powell) is not perfect, the song is a lot stronger than Bush gives it credit for. Dreams of Orgonon discussed the song in 2019:
“The title track “Oh England My Lionheart” engages with this British tradition. It is a classical song in a fair few regards. Unlike most of Bush’s music, the song is played features acoustic instruments exclusively, including Richard Harvey’s recorder and Francis Monkman’s harpsichord. If reading that you thought “huh, this sounds like a Renaissance song,” you would be correct. Bush described the song as being done “madrigally.” It’s not difficult to imagine “Oh England My Lionheart” being used in a classicist production of Twelfth Night. “Lionheart” sounds like a folk song, with its fixed structure of repeated chords, its descending melody, and its lengthy descriptions of scenery. This isn’t the first time Bush has interacted with folk music, of course. Bush often imbues antiquated styles with her own vision of strange things. With “Oh England My Lionheart” she takes the folk ballad and takes it on a tour through England, from the Thames to London Bridge to Kensington Park. Yet for its breadth, “Oh England My Lionheart” is dreary, positively crawling through its three minutes and twelve seconds. Bush is outright crooning in this song, doing little heavy lifting on lyrics like “give me one wish/and I’d be wassailing.” It’s an uncharacteristically mellow performance with an iffy production. Few songs could get over these hurdles, and “Oh England My Lionheart” is put to the test by them.
The production does the song a disservice, as it makes “Oh England My Lionheart” sound more conservative than it actually is. It’s easy to read the song as a nationalist ballad, but “Lionheart” is more nuanced than that. The song narrowly treads a line with its war-inflected imagery, but let’s look at exactly what Bush explores here. She’s living in a postwar England where “the air raid shelters are blooming clover.” “Dropped from my black Spitfire to my funeral barge,” Bush sings as if the country is going to land on her. Pastoral England is growing over wartime England. The country is a romantic lead here, giving solitude to those in it. “Oh England My Lionheart” is a return to Bush songs about spying on an inaccessible love. Bush cries “I don’t want to go” in the outro, desperate for her country to stay with her. Without England, there is no Kate Bush, and she knows it”.
There are so many examples of Kate Bush’s brilliance on her earliest albums. Maybe she felt that they did not reflect her career and sound years later. Something a bit naïve perhaps. However, they are hugely original and evocative songs that should be celebrated. I think that all of her lyrics are distinct and deserve to be highlighted. Maybe there is an issue later down the road when we get to albums like The Red Shoes (1993). Lyrics of love and regret that might tip into commercial or cliché. Not as distinct and extraordinary as other Kate Bush lyrics. However, Kate Bush should never feel like these lyrics should be excused or pushed aside. One of the finest songwriters ever, we need to realise just how extraordinary her words are! Her lyrics book, How to Be Invisible , is filled with brilliance and examples of her genius. These were selected by Kate Bush as particular standouts. I think there is a place and call for another volume. Maybe she would not include Oh England My Lionheart, though I do think she should reconsider a few of those earlier songs that did not make the cut. We all do it. Things were wrote or said when we were younger seem embarrassing when we grow older. That is human nature. However, I always feel like Kate Bush does not have huge appreciation for her earliest albums. Songs she wrote when she was very young; feeling like she did not hit her stride until she reached albums like The Dreaming (1982) and Hounds of Love (1985). That article that highlighted Oh England My Lionheart got me thinking. Why Kate Bush should never cringe at her songs. Feel proud about what she created! These songs have endured and I feel hold immense power now. The images she summons. Even if there is a touch of inexperience or some misguided lines, these early song showcase a keen and imaginative songwriter who was not doing what her peers did regarding writing about love and going through the motions to an extend. These are wonderful songs that we need to talk more about. They demonstrate that Kate Bush was and is…
A true visionary.