FEATURE:
Swap Our Places
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1985/PHOTO CREDIT: Guido Harari
The Exploration and Examination of Gender Roles in Kate Bush’s Music
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THAT might sound like…
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1978/PHOTO CREDIT: Gered Mankowitz
a vague and ambiguous title for a feature. We have not long ended the celebration of Hounds of Love. That was released on 16th September, 1985, so we marked forty years of a masterpiece. It was great seeing all of the posts and features about the album. I am going to come to it in a minute. Not only because one of its very best singles turns forty very soon. Also, in terms of how Bush discusses gender and the role it plays is hugely important. I wanted to start out with A.I.-generation information when I searched for ‘the role of gender in Kate Bush’s music’:
“Kate Bush's work explores gender roles and femininity through narrative perspectives, exploring universal experiences like the desire for mutual understanding in "Running Up That Hill" and the fear of female power in "Wuthering Heights". Her music often features metamorphoses and explorations of the monstrous or esoteric, challenging traditional notions of the self and creating space for polymorphous feminine identity. Additionally, her career itself—achieved through fiercely independent production and a focus on her artistic vision—served as an inspiration for other women in the male-dominated music industry to be strong and follow their own paths”.
There are so many different angles to explore. There have been some interesting and thought-provoking articles written about gender in Kate Bush’s music. It is complex and fascinating. How Bush is a writer who is emphatic. Sympathetic and compassionate, she definitely has this adoration of and curiosity of men. Listen to songs on The Kick of Life, her 1978 debut, and you can find examples of sympathy and longing. Wuthering Heights casting Cathy as this frightening and strange ghostly figure. Maybe showing sympathy with the Heathcliff in the song. The Man with the Child in His Eyes is about the child-like quality men possess, even in later life. Bush never coming at things like a conventional Pop artist. Not only did she have this respect and admiration for men, when many female artists were talking about heartbreak and the pains of romance, Bush was coming from a different angle.
Bush never would call herself a feminist, though she always wrote from an empowering position. Positive and strong, she was also vulnerable and open. Inspiring to so many female artists because of the extraordinary way she broke barriers and was groundbreaking. She used female voice and narratives to explore various identities and tell stories in ways that were radical for the time. Bush had this very positive view of men. It did not only extend to writing about them in a very fair and compassionate way. This was rare for any artist. Writing about the opposite sex without any anger or insult. Some might say this is naïve or lacks balance, though it is Bush’s ability to empathise and put herself in their position that stands out. Bush took this further by exploring gender roles and lowering her voice. Songs on Hounds of Love where her voice was pitched down to give this male tone. Hounds of Love a very masculine and percussion-driven album. The Dreaming is too. I think that her guttural and lower vocals were not affection. More, they were Bush giving herself a more masculine tone. Think of a song like Ran Tan Waltz. That was the B-side of 1980’s Army Dreamers (from Never for Ever). The live performance for her 1979 Christmas special is the only live outing for the song, it sees Bush dressed as a male chimney sweep. This is what Dreams of Orgonon observed about Ran Tan Waltz:
“She often writes about issues concerning women from a man’s point of view, a subgenre of Bush songs which is going to culminate in Never for Ever’s most famous single. It’s a strange pathology of hers, one that sets her as a rare woman in a tradition of masculine songwriting, but it often allows for interestingly fractured views of gender. In the case of “Mr. Mom: Kurt Weill Edition,” Bush destroys the nuclear family. The mother is a playgirl while the father stays home and takes care of the baby. This is Bush’s model of desire-from-a-distant played through a Feydeau farce: everything becomes dirty and obscene, even romantic relationships”.
In the video for Army Dreamers, from Never for Ever, Bush casts herself as a young solider in the battlefield. Maybe imagining herself as a teenager fighting in a war they are not prepared for. Maybe this was Bush being maternal. However, it was a case of Bush putting herself in a young man’s shoes. The lure of war but also the futility. When other women might have attacked war and the men in power, Bush seems to swap places and comes at it from the viewpoint of the young men who lose their lives. There are multiple examples of Bush exploring gender roles and relationships through Hounds of Love. Moments where she does pitch her voice down. Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) explores gender swap to foster empathy, as she imagined a couple exchanging roles to understand each other's perspectives better. The track is about how men and women could better understand one another if they swapped places. This was very uncommon for a female Pop artist in the 1980s. Or a male artist. That idea of rather than conflict and dividing genders, bringing them together and switching positions to explore empathy, understanding and compassion.
Bush was raised in a house with two older brothers. Her father was a very important figure. Maybe that influence was why she was fascinated with the male perspective and her adopting a masculine vocal or guise at various points. Perhaps an artist like David Bowie and his transformations influenced her too. How he blurred gender lines and how he was challenging and normalising gender nonconformity and expression outside traditional binaries. Look at the video for Cloudbusting. The video sees Kate Bush star alongside Donald Sutherland. She casts herself as Peter, the young son of Wilhelm Reich. Rather than cast an actor to play that role, she cast herself. Again, Bush maybe going against the grain. When women were expected to be feminine and sexy and dress in a certain way, playing a male role in a video would have opened eyes and shocked people. Maybe a slight diversion, I want to bring sections of this article from Leah Kardos. Her recent book for 33 1/3 of Hounds of Love is a compelling read:
“In particular, it was the commercial triumph of Hounds Of Love that cleared a path for future would-be innovators who now had less to fear from being labelled ‘eccentric’ or ‘hysterical’ by the misogynistic rock press. British songwriter and producer Imogen Heap cited Bush as being one of the reasons labels took her work seriously, saying, ‘Kate produced some truly outstanding music in an era dominated by men and gave us gals a licence to not just be “a bird who could sing and write a bit”, which was the attitude of most execs.’
Bush’s music also broke ground in the way that it created space for polymorphous feminine imagination. The gender transgression of ‘Running Up That Hill’, the animal metamorphoses in ‘Get Out of My House’ and ‘Aerial’, empathy for the monstrous in ‘Wild Man’, the esotericism of ‘Lily’ and the metaphysical ‘Jig of Life’ suggested the possibility of extending and transcending one’s experience. Author and music critic Ann Powers wrote about how Bush’s imagistic songwriting pushed the limits of what was possible to feel and be:
‘[In Kate Bush’s music] I’d discovered what every teenager immersed in music craves: a voice that spoke from what felt like the inside of my own head, but with total self-confidence … And what she sang about! Demon lovers. Spiritual raptures. Ghosts at the window. Her songs were deeply feminine high nerdery made into loud, obnoxious art rock. And the best part was, like me, she didn't want to stay in her body’”.
Cloudbusting turns forty on 14th October, so it got me thinking more about gender in Kate Bush’s music. How she played a boy in the video. Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) and Bush and her dance partner, Michael Hervieu, almost dressed the same. Hervieu underwent gender reassignment surgery and is now called Micha. This adds new weight and perspective to the song and its messages. Think too about This Woman’s Work that appears on 1989’s The Sensual World. Originally included in the film, She’s Having a Baby, in 1988, this iconic track “explores the gendered burdens of responsibility, particularly through the male perspective of a father witnessing his wife's life-threatening labor, highlighting the woman's resilience and the traditional societal confinement of "women's work”. This is what Kate Bush said in a 1989 interview about the male in This Woman’s Work: “He has no choice. There he is, he’s not a kid any more; you can see he’s in a very grown-up situation. And he starts, in his head, going back to the times they were together”. Kate Bush tackling gender roles and traditional narratives. Casting herself in male roles, feet and bodies. Maybe in a male-dominated industry, some might say this was Kate Bush trying to stand out or be heard. Others saying it is un-feminist. Bush grew up around very strong male figures. Even if Bush expresses a more feminine perspective and charge on The Sensual World, that is not to say she abandoned her ideals and sympathy and empathy for men. She stated in interviews how she identified more with male artists. Writing about them with respect, understanding rather than antagonism, she also explored gender through her lyrics and videos. I may not have done full justice regarding this subject, and there might be a book or thesis in this. So fascinating and interesting exploring men, the male voice and the importance of swapping places and sharing experiences. More and more reason to love…
THIS woman’s work.