FEATURE:
And This Curve, Is Your Smile…
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush with Lindsay Kemp during filming of the short film, The Line, the Cross and the Curve, in 1993
Kate Bush’s The Red Shoes at Thirty-Two
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THIS is a single and song…
that is not really discussed much or played. I have written about it before. Rather than write about the song on its own, I may also look at it in relation to what was around at the time. The Red Shoes, Kate Bush’s seventh studio album, was released in November 1993. Its title track was the fourth single released from the album. It came out on 5th November, 1994. I always want to cover Kate Bush singles on their anniversary. It is a song that Jessie Buckley recently selected as one of her Desert Island Discs. Kate Bush did not really say much about the single. I can’t find interview archives around it. However, it is interesting how critics reacted to it in 1994. I am taking from Wikipedia and their resource regarding the reception for The Red Shoes: “Chris Roberts from Melody Maker said, 'The Red Shoes' meets its jigging ambition and sticks a flag on top, making her dance till her legs fall off." Another Melody Maker editor, Peter Paphides, commented, "Only as a grown-up will I be able to fully apprehend the texture and allegorical resonance of the themes dealt with in 'The Red Shoes'. Until then, I'll content myself with Tori Amos and Edie Brickell." Alan Jones from Music Week gave it a score of four out of five, adding, "The third single from the album of the same name is not one of Bush's more commercial 45s. Although both rhythmic and literate, it is not the stuff of which Top 10 singles are made." Parry Gettelman from Orlando Sentinel wrote, "The mandola, the whistles and various curious instruments on the driving title track really recall the fever-dream quality of the 1948 ballet film The Red Shoes, the album's namesake”. There was nothing like this song or the album around in 1994. The same month the single was released, the following albums came out: Nas's Illmatic (19th April), Blur's Parklife (25th April), and Pulp's His 'n' Hers (18th April). Even though it reached twenty-one on the U.K. chart and some critical reaction was very kind, The Red Shoes would have been buried among all the heavyweight music that arrived in April 1994. The short film, The Line, the Cross and the Curve got a wider release in May 1994. The Red Shoes features wonderfully in the film. In terms of the visual representation.
It also contains the film’s title in its lyrics: “And this curve, is your smile/And this cross, is your heart/And this line, is your path”. There is so much I love about the song and that time period. How the film features, among its cast, the late Lindsay Kemp. How important he was to Kate Bush and how close they were. It must have been odd getting this new Kate Bush single at a time when the music world was shifting and so many big moments happened. On 31st March, 1994, Madonna appears on the Late Show with David Letterman, making headlines with her profanity-laced interview. On 8th April, Kurt Cobian was found dead. Not that this damaged the performance of The Red Shoes, though there was this massive shock running through the music industry. I do not remember that year too clearly. I had heard of Kate Bush, though I cannot remember The Red Shoes coming out. Jessie Buckley said of The Red Shoes’ title track was the first dance at her wedding. How there was so much life and holding of each other. In their back garden, this song created this frenzy and dance. There is this merriment and sway. Whistles and musical bows played by Paddy Bush. Valiha played by Justin Vali. Incredible and image-provoking lyrics like this “Feel your hair come tumbling down/Feel your feet start kissing the ground/Feel your arms are opening out/And see your eyes are lifted to God/With no words, with no song/I’m gonna dance the dream/And make the dream come true/I’m gonna dance the dream/And make the dream come true“. Bush re-recorded the song for 2011’s Director’s Cut. What strikes me is how brilliant the original is. Her production on the song is phenomenal. I am not sure why Bush wanted to reapproach the track. Maybe she felt unhappy about it or wanted to see it through new eyes. Though the version on Director’s Cut is great, I prefer the version on The Red Shoes. Director’s Cut turns fifteen in May, so people will hear the newer version.
In a way, The Red Shoes is like this small doll in a series of matryoshka dolls. The title track from the album of the same name. The Kate Bush album inspired by the 1948 film, The Red Shoes, directed and produced by the team of Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. The film is about a ballerina who joins an established ballet company and becomes the lead dancer in a new ballet called The Red Shoes, itself based on the fairytale, The Red Shoes, by Hans Christian Andersen. Thanks to the Kate Bush Encyclopedia for that information. The 1948 film inspired Bush’s album and title track. Also the short, The Line, the Cross and the Curve. So many things to unpack and connect together. I do think that The Red Shoes’ title track will get overlooked when it turns thirty-two on 5th April. I am surprised it was not released as a single earlier, though I feel it was held back to coincide with the release of The Line, the Cross and the Curve in May 1994. The final single from The Red Shoes, And So Is Love, came out on 31st October, 1994. It was not long after that when Bush took an extended break from music. She did not completely step away, though the somewhat negative reception to The Red Shoes and The Line, the Cross and the Curve did hit her hard. Exhaustion and personal loss contributed. Many associate The Red Shoes with bleakness and mediocrity. In terms of what Bush was capable of. Maybe why she reapproached quite a few songs from the album for Director’s Cut. However, The Red Shoes is this mesmeric and accomplished single that arrived at a time when Britpop was happening here. A U.S. Grunge icon died. It was both strange and celebration. Although The Red Shoes did not really slot in to the British mainstream and it charted outside the top twenty, I think it is one of Kate Bush’s best singles. Thirty-two after its release, it still summons up so many emotions and this unique energy. A golden track from…
A music queen.