FEATURE:
There’s Just One Problem
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush photographed during the making of her 1993 short film, The Line, the Cross and the Curve/PHOTO CREDIT: Guido Harari
Which Kate Bush Song Has the Most Personal Meaning to You?
__________
THE first part of the title…
IN THIS PHOTO: Lindsay Kemp looming over an asleep Kate Bush during the production of The Line, the Cross and the Curve/PHOTO CREDIT: Guido Harari
of this feature is taken from Kate Bush’s You’re the One. That is from her 1993 album, The Red Shoes. I am writing about that separately and how the album has these gems that stand out. I want to ask people which Kate Bush song has the most personal meaning. That can be because of the lyrics or when you first heard the song. In terms of tracks that I love and arrived at moments when I needed to be lifted, I have a different list to those whose lyrics have personal meaning. When it comes to memories and one of the biggest rushes of affection for her music, I think of Aerial. Mrs. Bartolozzi is a track that hits me personally. In 2005, I was in my twenties and still trying to figure things out. Something about this song and the emotion in it really hit me hard. Though it is not the one that has the biggest personal meaning, it is very important. I do think that a song having meaning to an individual does link to their age. I heard Kate Bush’s earliest music when I was young, so that was about discovery. I don’t think there are many songs from her first three or four albums that have personally significant meaning or weight. Though they are my entry into her music, so of course, they are treasured. I love Hounds of Love, and there are songs on the album that hit me hard. The Big Sky is the one that I go to if I need to be lifted. Though, in terms of lyrics, is there a track that has that special place? The one that has a personal connection? I guess the title track. Kate Bush and that idea of her being afraid of love. Running way from it. In actual fact, when you commit and jump in, it is not scary at all. I feel that song resonates with many people. Even if The Sensual World and The Red Shoes are albums not as rated as others, I do tend to find songs on there are more meaningful to me.
Perhaps this is because Bush was in her thirties when the albums came out. I am in my forties, though this time of life is transformative. I feel that she shed one part of her career and life and was entering another one. Responsibilities and priorities were starting to shift. I find, even though The Red Shoes suffers a bit from its production and how Kate Bush was burning out or facing a lot, there are tracks on there that really mean a lot. You’re the One is so intriguing. I always think it is about Bush’s past relationship with Del Palmer. They were together since the 1970s, and they broke up in the 1990s (although I am not sure the exact year they split). She married Dan McIntosh in 1992. That was the same year her mother died. She was dealing with turmoil and loss. I am sort of there at the moment. In terms of unhappiness and life being on a decline, perhaps the album connects hardest because of that. Though You’re the One is fascinating. This idea that Bush is packing up her stuff, getting in the car and staying with a friend. One that is handsome but not the same as the guy she is leaving. Was it about changing relationships and ghosts of the past? Although she did split from Del Palmer, I am not sure if he is the subject of You’re the One. Though there is something about the lyrics and that idea of packing things up and leaving. I sort of feel like that. The need to pack things up and go somewhere else. Similarly, there are moments on other songs that have meaning because of where I am in life. When speaking with Len Brown for the NME in 1989, Kate Bush said this of Never Be Mine: “It’s that whole thing of how, in some situations, it’s the dream you want, not the real thing. It was pursuing a conscious realisation that a person is really enjoying the fantasy and aware it won’t become reality”. That has some real weight in terms of my life. The dream of music journalism or living somewhere else. Loving the dream and the ideal, but not quite the reality. Is this something that a lot of us struggle with?
Bush re-recorded this track for 2011’s Director’s Cut. It may have taken on new meaning for her by then. There are songs from her earliest work that are definitely important and I play when I need to escape or feel better. Among them is Babooshka from Never for Ever. Though the track that has the greatest personal relevance and meaning. That is a tough one! Listening through The Red Shoes. Aside from all these gems that don’t get talked about, the lyrics on the album ae wonderful. I think Graeme Thomson wrote in his biography, Under the Ivy: The Life and Music of Kate Bush, how they became a bit pedestrian or boring on some tracks. I would disagree. I feel there are one or two tracks on The Sensual World that suffer this. Between a Man and a Woman. Perhaps the production lets down one or two tracks on The Red Shoes, though I feel the lyrics are brilliant. The song that has most personal meaning to me is Top of the City. I read this track as Bush discussing London. If it seems like she is talking about someone who needs to get out of the city and escape, it seems to be more about her. She has lived in London or nearby since she was born. In her mid-thirties, this idea that the city was doing her harm. Bush moved from London in 2005. She was living in Eltham. Aerial was released when Bush was living in Berkshire. Though not a complete retreat, I think the surroundings were so beneficial. Sounding much happier and contended, having this wonderful house and lots of garden space and a quieter life resulted in music that sounded so free and happier. Like Hounds of Love when Bush recorded at her family home, she had family around her. You can feel Top of the City as being about her wanting to get away from London. It would take her a while to do it, but she was tiring of the city: “I don’t know if I’m closer to Heaven but/It looks like Hell down there/These streets have never been paved with gold/Welcome to the loneliest city in the world/It’s no good for you baby/It’s no good for you now/Keep looking up for the ladder”. That idea of the loneliest city in the world. I always think that about London. How you are surrounded by people but it is lonely. I connect with a lot of the lyrics on Top of the City.
I don’t know if there is personal meaning behind some of the lyrics. “One more step to the top of the city/Put me up on the angel’s shoulders/And I don’t mind if it’s dangerous/I don’t mind if it’s raining/Take me up to the top of the city”. Is Kate Bush referring to The Shaftesbury Memorial Fountain, popularly but mistakenly known as Eros,? It is a fountain surmounted by a winged statue of Anteros. That could be the angel she is talking about. Maybe not a decrying putdown of London, I translated it as such. Or it is what it means to me. At a point where I am thinking of moving out of London. In 2005, Bush turned forty-seven. She was thirty-five when The Red Shoes was released. I am sort in the middle. I am not sure if I can cling to London for five more years. Though more and more, Top of the City creates reflection and emotion. It is a great song that Bush performed at her 2014 residency, Before the Dawn. It also featured on Director’s Cut. Rare that it was included on two albums and performed live. A song that Bush clearly has affection for. Aside from this track, there are some honourable mentions. In terms of personal relevance, I split between lyrics resonating and a particular time when I heard the song. Them Heavy People (from The Kick Inside) was one I heard when I was a child. Wild Man is also important, as that was the single from 2011’s 50 Words for Snow. I started my blog the following month, when the album was released (November). All the Love from Never for Ever is important because of those answerphone messages at the end. I regret not speaking enough to people who used to be in my life. How we text and do not really leave messages. Perhaps we don’t phone people as much as we should. I get pangs of remorse when I think about that. However, Top of the City is the one that has the deepest and most powerful personal meaning to me. If there is something romantic about the character (or Kate Bush) climbing up a statue and looking down on the city, I sort of see it as a way to get away and find solace. It hits me hard because, now more than ever, I really want to…
ESCAPE the crowds.