FEATURE:
Kate Bush: Them Heavy People: The Extraordinary Characters in Her Songs
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in a promotional image for Aerial in 2005/PHOTO CREDIT: Trevor Leighton
Bertie (Bertie)/Bing Crosby/Old Saint Nicholas/Mr. Wilde (December Will Be Magic Again)
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I am running…
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush shot in December 1980/PHOTO CREDIT: Patrick Lichfield
out of characters for this series. I have maybe four or five to go before I have to put it to bed. This is where I paid character’s from Kate Bush’s albums. Or B-sides and rarer songs. There is this huge difference between the songs I am focusing on here. The first one mentions Bertie. That eponymous song from Kate Bush’s 2005 double album, Aerial. I will raise some themes relating to that song soon. I will then move to a track that is seasonal. Kate Bush’s sole Christmas single, December Will Be Magic Again. I cannot wait until later in the year to discuss it. As it has quite a few diverse characters in it, it is worth exploring for this series. Let’s start with a very special person who is the focus of Bertie. There is a lot to unpick and examine. However, I will move to an interview from 2005 and that very special album. I also want to think about how people view Aerial. Also, how that affection and open love for a child in a song is quite rare still. My first conversation point relating to Bertie is the boy behind the song. Born Albert McIntosh in 1998, Bush’s only child has been the subject of more than one song. He has been a big part of her career. Bertie is the first time that we realise huge affection for her song. Think about some of the lyrics: “Here comes the sunshine/Here comes the son of mine/Here comes the everything/Here's a song and a song for him”. That idea of her young son being this immeasurable sense of joy and fulfilment. When Aerial came out in 2005, Bertie was seven. I feel that Bertie is one of the most underrated songs in Kate Bush’s catalogue.
Some reviewers felt the song was too cloying. In terms of that sentimentality and sweetness. Bush delightfully singing about sweet Bertie. Almost hymnal in its importance. “The most willful/The most beautiful/The most truly fantastic smile/I've ever seen”. Bertie (Albert) is in his twenties now. I am curious how he views this song. His mother singing with such passion about her new son. There are other moments through Aerial where her son features. Maybe not named directly, new motherhood and domestic duties seep through many of the songs. Bertie is the most naked declaration to her son. One of the most common lines in Bertie is “You bring me so much joy”. Not only is Bertie obviously about her son and how he changed her life. His birth affected how Bush recorded and conducted her career. Now, she realised that the balanced shifted and how beneficial it was. Before, she would record and work tirelessly and not have too much free time. With a young child that needed her time and energy, recording definitely did not dominate like it did before. The task of being a mother the upmost importance. In an interview to promote Aerial, this is what Kate Bush said of Bertie and her son’s impact and place:
“He’s such a big part of my life so, you know, he’s a very big part of my work. It’s such a great thing, being able to spend as much time with him as I can. And, you know, he won’t be young for very long. And already he’s starting to grow up and I wanted to make sure I didn’t miss out on that, that I spent as much time with his as I could.
So, the idea was that he would come first, and then the record would come next, which is also one reasons why it’s taken a long time (laughs). It always takes me a long time anyway, but trying to fit that in around the edges that were left over from the time that I wanted to spend with him.
It’s a wonderful thing, having such a lovely son. Really, you know with a song like that, you could never be special enough from my point of view, and I wanted to try and give it an arrangement that wasn’t terribly obvious, so I went for the sort of early music… (Ken Bruce show, BBC Radio 2, 3 November 2005)”.
It gets me thinking about artists and bringing their children directly into the music. How many others have done something similar to what Kate Bush did with Bertie?! I guess it is nothing new artists talking about their children. However, in terms of putting their name in and the way Bush was so unfiltered. So much modern music, especially Pop, is about love or themes around relationships. Parenthood is not as common in music as you’d like. I do wonder whether there is any sort of stigma or commercial barrier. An artist I wrote about fairly recently, The Anchoress, released a song called, I Had a Baby Not a Lobotomy. The Anchoress (Catherine Anne Davies) describes it as “a tongue in cheek litany of all the stupid things people said to me when I had a baby… an anthem for anyone who has ever been written off for daring to procreate”. Whereas many women talk about the highs and joys of love, the lows of break-up and are very independent and defiant, they rarely talk about children, motherhood and that desire. There are modern greats that are mothers, though I am curious whether their fans would engage with songs about their children. Would a major Pop artist release a song where they solely sing about their new child?! One of the things that makes Bertie so powerful and unusual is that it was not necessarily common to write paens to your children. Over twenty years since Aerial arrived, it is still not as routine and widespread. I will end this side by reacting to how people felt about Aerial and where it sits in Kate Bush’s cannon. However, I do want to loosely discuss Aerial and Bush talking about it. Bertie, this jewel in a spectacular double album. In 2005, Tom Doyle interviewed Kate Bush in her home. There are sections I want to highlight that discuss her new domestic routine and how she has recalibrated and focused following a very difficult period. After 1993’s The Red Shoes, she has something similar to a nervous breakdown. Bertie’s arrival giving her new lease and energy:
“You release The Red Shoes in 1993, your seventh album in a 15-year career characterised by increasingly ambitious records, ever-lengthening recording schedules and compulsive attention to detail. You are emotionally drained after the death of your mother Hannah but, against the advice of some of your friends, you throw yourself into The Line, the Cross & the Curve, a 45-minute video album released the following year that - despite its merits - you now consider to be "a load of bollocks". You take two years off to recharge your batteries, because you can. In 1996, you write a song called King of the Mountain. You have a bit of a think and take some more time off, similarly, because you can.
Two years later, while pregnant, you write a song about artistic endeavour called An Architect's Dream. You give birth to a boy, Albert, in 1998 and you and your guitarist partner Danny McIntosh find yourselves "completely shattered for a couple of years". You move house and spend months doing it up. You convert the garage into a studio, but being a full-time mother who chooses not to employ a nanny or housekeeper, it's hard to find time to actually work in there. Bit by bit, the ideas come and a notion forms in your mind to make a double album, though you have to adjust to a new working regime of stolen moments as opposed to the 14-hour days of old. Your son begins school and suddenly time opens up and though progress doesn't exactly accelerate ("That's a bit too strong a word"), two years of more concentrated effort later, the album is complete. You look up from the mixing desk and it is 2005.
If the completion of Aerial put paid to one set of anxieties for Bush, then its impending release has brought another - not least, a brace of newspaper stories keen to push the "rock's mystery recluse" angle. It seems the more she craves privacy, the more it is threatened. "For the last 12 years, I've felt really privileged to be living such a normal life," she explains. "It's so a part of who I am. It's so important to me to do the washing, do the Hoovering. Friends of mine in the business don't know how dishwashers work. For me, that's frightening. I want to be in a position where I can function as a human being. Even more so now where you've got this sort of truly silly preoccupation with celebrities. Just because somebody's been in an ad on TV, so what? Who gives a toss?"
Kate Bush begins to tidy up the plates and cups and get ready for Bertie's arrival home from school with his dad”.
I want to move on shortly. However, Kate Bush must have been nervous how the public would receive the album. Aerial this ambitious double album. It was her biggest undertaking since 1985’s Hounds of Love. Both albums affected and infused by and with family and home. Twenty years after that masterpiece, Kate Bush producing another masterpiece. It could have been a disaster. Messy. Some reviewers picked songs they felt were a bit weak, though most of the reviews were ecstatic. Kate Bush being hailed as a true great and genius. Songs like Bertie showcase her endless invention and experimentation. The instrumentation and arrangement of the song. Viols: Richard Campbell, Susan Pell. Renaissance guitar: Eligio Quinteiro. Percussion: Robin Jeffrey. Keyboards: Kate Bush. String Arrangement: Bill Dunne. The sheer scope of Aerial is staggering. I have a few more characters from the album to cover off. Songs including A Coral Room and An Architect’s Dream.
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in a promotional image for Aerial in 2005/PHOTO CREDIT: Trevor Leighton
I am now fondly moving to Kate Bush’s only Christmas single. I am not even including the unnamed lovers that are mentioned in December Will Be Magic Again. However, among the traditional and expected Christmas imagery – the snow falling and bells playing -, Kate Bush does combine some names. Bing Crosby/Old Saint Nicholas/Mr. Wilde. Bush discusses and mentions Father Christmas. That is not unexpected. However, it is beautiful that he made it into a Kate Bush song. There is something child-like about her gorgeous Christmas song. I am going to drop in lyrics that mention the brilliant characters. However, I think my favourite lines are these ones: “Ooh, dropping down in my parachute/The white city, she is so beautiful/Upon the black-soot icicled roofs”. Two of the main characters in December Will Be Magic Again are mentioned early on: “December will be magic again/Take a husky to the ice/While Bing Crosby sings White Christmas/He makes you feel nice/December will be magic again/Old Saint Nicholas up the chimney/Just a-popping up in my memory”. That choice of Bing Crosby and that Christmas classic tune. I forgot to mention that December Will Be Magic Again was released on 17th November, 1980. I will talk about critical reaction and the fascinating characters. I also want to mention Abbey Road Studios. However, the performances of December Will Be Magic Again are amazing: “Kate performed ‘December Will Be Magic Again’ on television twice: the first performance took place during the Christmas Snowtime Special, broadcast by BBC television (UK) on December 22, 1979. In it, Kate, dressed in a red suit, sits in a large wicker chair with red velvet upholstery. She uses some imitation snow to emphasize a few lines from the song. The second performance, during the Christmas Special called Kate, broadcast on December 28, 1979, features Kate on piano and Kevin McAlea on keyboards and electric piano”.
I think December Will Be Magic Again has a great cast of characters. You can imagine children and adults by the tree in the warm. Celebrating Christmas or waiting for the big day. However, Bush has this charming traditional approach in the song. The scenery and backdrop quite stereotypical, but in a good way. White Christmas as that song of choice. Perhaps an artist that has a difficult legacy – Bing Crosby accused of being a domestic abuser and assaulting his children -, when Bush wrote December Will Magic Again, that song would have been a staple. Now, White Christmas seems a bit old-fashioned. But you can feel Bing Crosby coming out of the radio. A family sitting in their living room and listening to that classic coming on. Rather than refer to him as Father Christmas or Santa, Old Saint Nicholas. That is not what you often hear in Christmas songs. Though there is evidently that child-like curiosity of this mythical (sorry!) figure. I will come to the third character in a minute. However, Bush was at a stage in her career where she was commercial successful. December Will Be Magic Again was released shortly after her third studio album, Never for Ever, went to number one in the U.K. However, Bush was still not seen as a serious artist by many in the press. Writing for NME, Andy Gill said this: “Kate is “cute”… and no doubt you’ll be force fed, as you will with turkey”. Melody Maker offered this feedback: “Lush, sentimental, extravagantly produced… destined to become a Christmas irritation; and airwave itch you won’t be able to scratch”. I have argued How December Will Be Magic Again is hugely underrated and did not deserve criticism. Sexism still in the industry. Bush being dismissed and belittled. It was not until Hounds of Love in 1985 when there was the respect that Kate Bush deserved. Still being seen as this irritating or unusual artist. I feel December Will Be Magic Again should have been celebrated and shown more love. I want to discuss the significance of Abbey Road Studios.
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush at the 1980 British Rock and Pop Awards/PHOTO CREDIT: Mirrorpix/Getty Images
I have seen articles saying the original version was recorded at AIR Studios. However, Kate Bush wrote and recorded December Will Be Magic Again at Abbey Road Studios. She recoded Never for Ever at Abbey Road Studios and AIR Studios. December Will Be Magic Again was one of the earliest songs she recorded there. Very much settling into the space, I think that the iconic nature of the studios very much infuses into the song. Abbey Road was this hallowed space where Kate Bush always wanted to record. She would do so on a number of occasions. In terms of AIR Studios set against Abbey Road Studios, I feel the latter offered her more space and options. In terms of technology and what she could do there. The history of the studios. It would have been expensive recording December Will Be Magic Again. However, it is brilliant that it was recorded there. I wonder what compelled Bush to write it. Maybe there was a feeling she needed a Christmas single. Or she may have been inspired to put pen to paper because she was thinking about Christmas. The selection of Oscar Wilde to drop into a Christmas song might seem unusual. Kate Bush sings these words: “Light the candle-lights/To conjure Mr. Wilde/Into the Silent Night/Ooh, it’s quiet inside/Here in Oscar’s mind”. I am curious that those lines mean. Is Kate Bush evoking Oscar Wilde in this Christmas fantasy? Quite intriguing lines. The emptiness inside Oscar Wilde’s mind. Why would that be? I do love the unique insertion of a playwright great in a Christmas song and why Kate Bush decided to use him. Also, how all these characters weave and interact. You envisage this very busy nighttime scene. The lovers being blanketed by snow. People in their homes listening to Bing Crosby or gathered around the tree. Old Saint Nicholas going down chimneys. Where Oscar Wilde fits in interests me the most. Why Kate Bush decided to use him. Kate Bush might have been reacting to a quote from Oscar Wilde: “I think after Christmas would be better for publication: I am hardly a Christmas present”. That sourness about the season. Using him in a song almost to kill the mood. Or someone who takes against Christmas in a scene filled with Christmas cheer.
Before wrapping up (no pun intended!), something occurred that I had not thought about. Dreams of Orgonon noted this when they wrote about December Will Be Magic Again in 2019. In terms of this single ending a particular period of Kate Bush’s career: “Yet with “December Will Be Magic Again,” we see the end of a certain kind of Bush song. It’s her last track that can be feasibly reimagined as hailing from her pre-Kick Inside years, with its relish for childhood delights and simple attributes of a domestic environment. That approach has reached a breaking point. From now on her quiet songs will be more adult and introspective. She’s going to do silly songs in the future, of course — but even the silly stuff often carries plenty of weight. Bush’s earlier work is an ambitious testament to what youthful artistry can accomplish. Few songwriters are particularly mature early in their career. With Bush, a lot of her recurring themes from across her career are already in place on her first couple albums. For all its shortcomings, “December Will Be Magic Again” signals the end of Bush as prodigy as she moves into the era of the Fairlight, global conflict, and becoming a masterful singer to rival Peter Gabriel. Farewell, last of the Phoenix tradition. You’ve carried us far”. That idea of this being the last novelty or ‘silly’ song. She would record other sillier songs, though there is a playfulness and a comedic side that she explored up until 1979/1980 that was not as common afterwards. Bush wanting to be seen as a serious artist and shed a particular image that the press had. I said how December Will Be Magic Again is child-like and has this innocence. Bush was only just in her twenties when she wrote the track, so one could appreciate why it had this slightly childish quality. Also, I feel Bush also wanted to appeal toa young demographic with a Christmas song. A day that she maybe associated more with children. But this idea of her. A sad transition. December Will Be Magic Again being one of the last songs that could be perceived as a little immature or juvenile. Her songwriting more serious and adult after that. You could say December Will Be Magic Again lacks real meat or any huge substance. I feel it light and slightness is one of its charms. It is this familiar and traditional Christmas song with some interesting edges and inclusions. That selection of characters. Oscar Wilde cropping up with Bing Crosby. From Kate Bush’s son, Bertie, in the song of the same name from Aerial to a trio of characters from a 1980 Christmas single, demonstration of her songwriting brilliance and breadth. I will bring you more examples of this in…
THE next edition.