00:00:04
for those people who don't know who kate bush is
00:00:07
and completely forgotten who she may
have been she is the um the waif-like
00:00:10
singer and songwriter who had an enormous hit
with her first eerie single wuthering heights
00:00:23
she was an original a rarity in the
pop world where so many performers
00:00:27
look and sound much the same
00:00:36
is it a bird is it a plane is it a tree no no no
it's a bush yeah ladies and gentlemen kate bush
00:00:55
it's just like fire you know it's
all just like coming out of her mouth
00:01:03
she has made her performances into something
of an art form mingling dance and lime and all
00:01:08
kinds of theater i mean they're not normal
songs none of her songs have been normal
00:01:17
she's just who she is she's unique she's
a mystery she's the most beautiful mystery
00:01:23
there were moments of like hairbrush in the
mirror you know it's like running up that hill and
00:01:28
dancing around the lounge
00:01:32
i mean the music speaks for itself but
liking her makes you feel a bit clever
00:01:39
hours have been in my room by myself
through good times and bad times
00:01:43
and listened to on headphones and
are taking me away from my stress
00:01:58
let me tell you a story when i had my civil
partnership um nine years ago in 2005 and kate
00:02:04
we invited kate we didn't think she came but she
didn't came with her husband danny and there were
00:02:08
a lot of very famous people in that room there
was like 600 people and all anybody wanted to
00:02:14
meet was kate bush i mean musician anybody they
couldn't believe kate bush was there she's kind
00:02:19
of an enigma i don't think she's ever particularly
wanted to play the game actually but i think when
00:02:24
you when you've done great work like she's done
and then you retract from the public people almost
00:02:34
have to make up their own version of you don't
they you can hear one note of a kate bush song
00:02:40
or one note of her voice even and and know
immediately what it is and that is the biggest
00:02:48
feat of any artist especially when you consider
you know all the roads that she's gone down
00:03:07
when kate bush came along sort of 78 i was in the
slits and i remember i sitting in a van outside
00:03:14
our singer's house waiting to go and do a gig and
mothering heights came on the radio and i was like
00:03:19
well what's this and i kept waiting for the melody
to repeat because you know at that time pop music
00:03:25
was very much radio one you know was repeating
melodies very quickly and this melody was
00:03:30
meandered on in this high-pitched voice warbling
and dropping but i was absolutely spellbound
00:03:38
when i first heard it i thought that
was extremely challenging the vocal
00:03:43
it was almost hysterical and so up
there that the register but it was
00:03:49
absolutely fascinating and i know at the
time a lot of my friends couldn't bear it
00:03:54
i just thought that was just too much
but that's exactly what drew me in
00:04:10
walk through the heights he's look i can
see weathering lights well i saw a series
00:04:18
on the television about 10 years ago and
it was on very late at night and i caught
00:04:23
literally the last five minutes of the series
where she was at the window trying to get in
00:04:34
i've come home and it just really struck
me it was so strong and i read the book
00:04:42
you remember your other book later yeah i read
the book before i write the song because i needed
00:04:46
to get the mood properly i'd never heard
anything like it before it was like banshee music
00:04:56
this absolute otherworldly
voice singing about a book
00:05:08
and as a bookish kid i was always fascinated
by anything any music that seems to be about
00:05:15
or inspired by books for that to have come out
of someone's brain period is a remarkable feat
00:05:23
for that to have come out of someone's brain at
17 years old this incredible song incredible song
00:05:40
there aren't that many amazing pop songs that
have two or three key changes in them and i'm
00:05:45
not talking like modulations i'm talking like okay
now we're in the key of q you know it's like what
00:05:53
which but it's so brilliant it's so memorable
i always karaoke that song if i drink enough
00:06:06
bothering heights was not your normal type song
um but that's why it was so brilliant it was
00:06:11
great to hear something out of the norm you know
when things like that come along they don't come
00:06:14
along very often i mean when is the next kate bush
come along after kate bush there hasn't been one
00:06:29
now let's get back to the beginnings
you're 19 now 20 and you're from kent yeah
00:06:35
and uh is kate bush your own name yes too no your
father's a doctor yes is it a musical family uh my
00:06:41
brothers are very musical yeah they were really
responsible for turning me onto it in the first
00:06:46
place they were always playing music when i was a
kid her brothers were a big part of it they were
00:06:52
very much in the in her early days their formative
years particularly people like paddy i mean he was
00:06:58
he was having all these musical
ideas coming in he had all these
00:07:02
strange musical things that he was into you
know lots of strange musical instruments and
00:07:07
various forms of music and he would run those
past her and lots of it would stick you know
00:07:14
what do you call it it's called uh astromento de
porco that's it's it's real name you're kate's
00:07:20
brother aren't you afraid so is it sort
of a bit of a family business really oh
00:07:25
well yes no i mean like kathy and i have been
making music together for years and years
00:07:30
on different levels you know but i mean
there's always been music in our family
00:07:35
well when i was young it was really the music
that my brothers played and i'd pick out the
00:07:41
stuff that i liked to listen to it with them
and what kind of movies they played they were
00:07:45
into king crimson at that time and pink floyd and
blind face flicked with match that sort of thing
00:07:55
when you went to visit the family house you know
east wickham you know it was a it sort of reminded
00:08:01
me of my parents house in some ways it was a
comfortable middle class doctor's house with a
00:08:07
nice garden yet out of that had grown this strange
creature that uh was doing wonderful things when
00:08:14
did you start writing songs i must have been 11 or
12. well when did the music men come to hear about
00:08:21
you and how that was quite a gradual process when
i was about 14 there was a friend of my brothers
00:08:29
called ricky hopper who was in the business
and he knew a lot of people and he acted as a
00:08:35
friend to try and get the tapes across to people
and after some trying there was no response and
00:08:41
he knew dave gilmour from the pink floyd and dave
came along to hear me because at that time he was
00:08:49
scouting that struggling artist i had a listen i
was intrigued by this strange voice i went to her
00:09:00
house met her parents down in kent and she played
me god i mean it must have been 40 or 50 songs
00:09:10
um on tape and i thought i
should try and do something
00:09:34
dave gilmore put up the money for me to make
a proper demo with arrangements and selected
00:09:40
songs and we took it to the company we were
making um pink floyd that is we're making the
00:09:46
wish you hear album and i think we had the record
company people down at abbey road in number three
00:09:55
and um i said to them do you
want to hear something i've got
00:10:00
and they said sure so you found another room and i
played it to them the man of the child in his eyes
00:10:05
and they said yep thank you
we'll have it he's here again
00:10:22
you know man with the child in his
eyes is still one of those things that
00:10:26
right from the get-go you know has
a has its own life because it's just
00:10:31
a great song and she has you know for all the
time that she or i or anyone spend decorating
00:10:38
and creating moods it's actually the key element
of what you're saying the melody and the chords
00:10:47
and the rhythm that still speak louder
than all the stuff around on a great song
00:10:57
it is absolutely beautiful isn't it
00:11:01
and it's uh it's sort of over two years before
any of the other recordings she did that is her
00:11:06
singing at the age of 16 and having written those
extraordinary lyrics about whatever they're about
00:11:23
the thing with with me i only like extreme
talent as anything i can listen to and i
00:11:28
like originators where does kate bush come from
you can't hear her influences you know it's like
00:11:33
um billy olidy when i first heard billy olody i
never had anything like that in my life the same
00:11:38
with kate bush i can't figure out musically
artistically who her mother and father is
00:11:56
somebody told me that she was at this 73 gigatsigi
00:12:00
i'm like are you sure everybody seems
to be in that game yeah we were there
00:12:07
great gig he's one of those people
that have had an influence on her
00:12:11
in a weird sort of way you know it's
not obvious but you know people do
00:12:19
she was aware of roxy music brian
you know people like that you know
00:12:24
she was aware of a lot of people a
lot of people had an influence on her
00:12:40
kate having seen me probably
well you're the first time
00:12:43
working with bowie i mean she wants to be a
performer like that i'm not saying like like bowie
00:12:49
but to move like light like that and of course
she had seen flowers as did everyone at that time
00:13:03
i went to see a show and it was lindsey kemp
00:13:07
and really i'd never seen anything like
it before and what he was doing was he
00:13:11
was using movement without any sound
at all something i'd never experienced
00:13:15
and he was expressing so much probably more than
most people would express with their mouths and it
00:13:21
suddenly dawned on me that there was a whole new
world of expression that i hadn't even realized
00:13:34
i was teaching at the dance center in covent
garden kate turned up dressed very properly in
00:13:39
her belly tights and things and her hair scraped
back looking very very professional indeed very
00:13:45
very serious student but as timid as hell and of
course she took a place at the back of the class
00:13:52
you know i had to coax her forward i mean she was
extremely shy extremely timid and of course the
00:13:58
first thing i had to do was you know bring
her out of herself give her courage i have
00:14:05
to say that uh that once kate actually started
dancing she was a wild thing i mean she was wild
00:14:19
one day some months after knowing her i got back
to my my home in battersea and there was an lp
00:14:29
pushed under the door the kick inside and there
dedicated to me was this beautiful song moving
00:14:55
i didn't know uh she had any aspirations to
being a singer she never talked about herself
00:15:12
i met her for the first
time in in the spring of 77
00:15:16
and we went around to her brother's house
uh to meet her because we were put we wanted
00:15:20
to get a band together to do some pubs
and the idea was we'd get his sister to
00:15:24
sing because we might be able to get a few
more gigs if you had a girl singer you know
00:15:32
and so we you know we got that band
together we had a few rehearsals
00:15:35
we did lots of covers but we did
things like james and the cold gun
00:15:38
heavy people all that kind of stuff
we did embryonic versions of those
00:15:48
the first time you sung in public do you remember
that yeah that was about two years ago in a pub in
00:15:54
new orleans and i was so scared i really was and i
knew from day one i knew that she there was no way
00:16:01
this girl was not going to make it she's going
to be a huge success you know there's no way
00:16:06
because she was she was so driven for it and an
enthusiasm for it all it was infectious you know
00:16:13
now we have a young person basil bush's sister
who as you know was responsible for that
00:16:21
great tit uh withering tights
kate bush and the bushwackers
00:16:33
the early vocal style is really acrobatic
doesn't it it's kind of like it's very
00:16:38
almost sort of vocal gymnastics isn't
it jumping around all over the place
00:16:42
she's almost still finding her finding her
style a little bit it's quite kooky and strange
00:16:54
when i first started singing i had
an incredibly plain voice i mean i
00:16:57
could sing in tune but that was about
it i mean i really wasn't that good
00:17:02
and really all i did was uh sing every
day because i was writing songs i would
00:17:06
sing them and i was concentrating much more on my
writing and therefore my voice came through that
00:17:15
you can sort of understand
the experimentation of her
00:17:17
music through thinking about
what she does with her voice
00:17:20
and she uses it as a kind of fabric to sort of
pull and push and almost tear apart and she's
00:17:28
sort of stretching the fabric not just of her
voice but of the whole kind of pop form i think
00:17:44
there are lots of layers to that song but what
she's doing with her voice is just going wow
00:17:49
wow wow it's very hypnotic it's it's a bit like a
siren and then you know she it whoops up to a very
00:17:58
high register it's like a child it's it's like
a kind of just reveling in what her voice can do
00:18:12
it's all about her own
melodrama isn't it about the
00:18:15
about the actor about the
sort of the sadness of vanity
00:18:28
um i mean so listening to this on record player
in suburbia and you're taking you know it's like
00:18:35
she takes you by the hand and you fly off to
the sky like the snowman or christmas carol
00:18:46
he's too busy hitting the vaseline i don't
know that's a gay reference it's a bit
00:18:54
rude give me a part my love
but you'd have to play before
00:19:21
of course is a gift for satirists of course it's
easy because dole artists especially in pop music
00:19:28
are very difficult to satirise it was
all there on a place really wasn't it
00:19:50
rolling the ball it's about misinterpreting
what you meant you know it's me or kathy um
00:19:55
kathy i've come home now so carl let me into your
window and i think he goes let me into your window
00:20:04
as if it's about it's sort of cheeky and
sexy and not about you know the angst of love
00:20:17
it was fun to do people laughed and uh kate bush
came to the last night of my show to see it for me
00:20:23
to perform to the west end she said it's so nice
to hear all those songs again that's what she said
00:20:39
in early january this year k bush had never
performed before an important live audience
00:20:44
in a sense she was a media singer
when she took the decision to go
00:20:48
on tour no one doubted how important
it could prove to her career
00:21:03
her early shows were so sensational the
ones she did at the palladium for example
00:21:07
were the benchmark for
people's shows in the future
00:21:14
orally she was who she was but visually
she created a new standard for people
00:21:23
did you enjoy the show did you you're really happy
i'm not sure i can't believe they're audiences
00:21:31
lord it has worked so well i gather you're a
little bit worried beforehand that it would all
00:21:35
be okay now that it has proved to be so successful
do you think we might do a more extensive tour
00:21:39
later in the year that really depends um
so much depends on energies yeah because
00:21:44
it can become very tiring with the travelling
um i don't know we have to wait and see
00:21:56
coach doesn't mind me saying this but i i um i
was about 14 years ago i had a long long phone
00:22:01
call with her was i wanted her to do something and
she wouldn't she wouldn't do something live with
00:22:06
me or do some song with me and she rang me to tell
me why and it turned into a long long conversation
00:22:12
about performing on stage and how terrifying
it can be and how she hadn't done it for a long
00:22:22
long time and she felt a little bit just a bit
scared by the prospects of going out there again
00:22:38
i think her early stuff was her kind of
still finding her way i don't think that she
00:22:41
quite found herself you know lots
of artists need to find their way
00:22:45
and all of that early stuff
with her dancing around leotard
00:22:54
i don't know it was all a little
bit a little bit amarant wasn't it
00:22:58
some people would have thought um you know
it looks like she's come straight out of
00:23:03
drama school and she's learned how to kind
of wave scarves around and that sort of thing
00:23:08
but to me it wasn't really about that it was
kind of about the whole package and the sound
00:23:13
coming out of her it was just so incredible that
kind of blew every other um you know problem if
00:23:22
you like away people didn't really care if she
looked a bit naughty she just sounded amazing
00:23:40
breathing is a fetal song it's a song of a
reincarnated fetus coming around again terrified
00:23:46
of a nuclear war terrified of the radioactivity
outside terrified of the idea that we won't be
00:23:52
able to breathe nobody writes songs like that it's
it's utterly political and it's utterly female
00:24:15
it's almost like a reminder how important
women are i've had a funny thing you know
00:24:20
my mother committed suicide and my whole
career has been based around my mother
00:24:24
all around my mother because i didn't know her and
you know just like um keep breathing breathing my
00:24:29
mother in that that lyric there could be my whole
career and that's what i mean i'm a kid from a
00:24:34
council flat i'm a mixed race guy who grew up in
a white girl totally different life to kate bush
00:24:42
but that lyric keep breathing my mother
in my whole career is based on that
00:24:56
it was like a little symphony it was it had
the male choir like this calling response what
00:25:02
are we going to do and that she's
like breathing the way she's singing
00:25:07
i was just like oh my god what's this woman on
00:25:15
this is a whole universe i can dive into and for
me it was very avant-garde and expressive and
00:25:24
kind of um from a complete different planet to
everything else that you see from the eighties
00:25:29
like you say duran duran you know on a boat in rio
it's like she was definitely out there on her own
00:25:38
it's funny nobody ever applies the term
progressive rock to kate bush but to me it's prog
00:25:45
you know it's everything that i love about the
best prog it's like the really sort of brash stuff
00:25:50
which is about people showing technical ability
i have no interest in but the experimental dreamy
00:25:56
stuff that sort of came from lots of different
places at once you know i sit her stuff next to
00:26:02
well next to genesis the obvious comparison
as well because of her story of peter gabriel
00:26:21
one two three four
00:26:27
gabriel used a computerized instrument called a
fair light any sound can be fed into it stored
00:26:33
and played back on its keyboard what was
so exciting was you could take any sound in
00:26:40
and then manipulate it see if i pick
up this mic for an example and uh
00:26:47
press s for sample we can put in the sound i hope
over here we have the waveform and it should be
00:26:55
up on the keyboard every kid can do that with
their phone nowadays but at the time it was
00:27:02
absolutely unique and suddenly opened up these
whole sort of continents of new sound texture
00:27:26
well she did give me a credit on
one record for opening her windows
00:27:29
i'd actually cleaned the windows but i
i'm very happy to get any acknowledgement
00:28:00
the video is so kind of classic kate bush because
she does this thing whenever she's performing
00:28:08
which is that she's one version of herself
and then often when the chorus kicks in
00:28:19
she becomes this other version which is a
kind of crazier version and her eyes get
00:28:23
very wide and you know the camera zooms in
and she's sort of performing this kind of
00:28:29
crazy unhinged woman and that's clearly
inside her that she brings out in these
00:28:43
one of those songs you just can't
get out of your head can you
00:28:46
you know how she is able to take a word and
then you start seeing images and pictures
00:28:53
to a word that maybe you haven't used it's
not as if you're saying um jetem it's babushka
00:29:01
and how she's turned that into though an emotion
that's just how she's able to use um a combination
00:29:08
of a word and a combination of a melody and the
rhythm of that and it creates a new language
00:29:21
the first song i heard was babushka
and like you know with the base
00:29:26
and this amazing relationship she had with
that base no one had done anything like
00:29:32
that before and like this the dance moves that
she were doing were not things that you would
00:29:38
learn in a dance academy and like the music
was not something you'd learn in a kind of
00:29:44
rock school or a conservatoire of music academy
what i love about her music is that it's so innate
00:29:51
the talent she has is so innate
but perfect fully formed music
00:29:59
i read an interview with her
one time where she was asked
00:30:04
something along the lines of why do you write
from the perspective of a lot of characters
00:30:09
and she said very simply and eloquently
because they're more interesting than i am
00:30:24
she seems to have an endless kind of ability
to put herself in and empathize with different
00:30:30
characters and viewpoints army dreamers is
a maternal point of view it's it's you know
00:30:41
you've got this song about young squaddies dying
and the person singing it you know somewhere
00:30:48
understands what it's like to
be a mother and to lose a son
00:30:59
byron once said of keats keats
writes about what he imagines
00:31:06
i write about what i live and most rock and roll
people write about their lives in some way and
00:31:18
kate bush is more like keats in that
she writes about what she imagines
00:31:44
my favorite album by her is i've been the
dreaming and i think she produced that one herself
00:31:49
that got a lot of criticism but i loved it
it was overloaded with textures and tones and
00:31:56
all manner of things it's a record that i still
complain to this day and still hear new things
00:32:01
and then obviously it's not number one on the
dance floor but then all music shouldn't be
00:32:14
well seemingly it's you holding on to some
lok's ears there's something in your mouth
00:32:19
it looks like a is it a key yeah it's
a key well if you listen to the album
00:32:25
and especially to the song houdini
then you'll know all about it
00:32:35
was with the kiss i'd pass the key do you
know who the man is that she's kissing it's me
00:32:42
you can only see my my right ear but then
again he wants to see me kate has spent
00:32:48
the last 14 months holed up in various
studios recording her new lp the dreaming
00:32:52
and the resultant noises include helicopter rotor
blades didgeridoos and a chorus of fake sheep
00:33:07
but on that track you employed i think
percy edwards to supply the kind of
00:33:11
synthesized jungle backing yes well um i
know that in the choruses we wanted to create
00:33:18
a feeling of the landscape and obviously
there are a lot of australian animals and
00:33:22
the sounds are very reminiscent of the
environment and of course percy could
00:33:26
come along and give us a selection of
at least 10 different australian animals
00:33:33
i'm not sure which song is the one where she's
like donkey braying there's one that she's like
00:33:54
when i first heard it i almost had to bend my ears
00:33:57
around to be able to understand
the sounds that were coming at me
00:34:02
and i found it really again i was like 11
or 12 so i found some of it really scary
00:34:14
the direction i'm going in with my
art is the way i want to go because
00:34:18
for me it's it's a little bit deeper it's
got more meaning it's um it's not so poppy i
00:34:23
suppose but of course um maybe that won't be so
widely accepted especially in the singles chart
00:34:45
she came out with this record that people
were just like what you know they couldn't
00:34:49
grasp it and but the greatest thing that
happened was after that the hands of love
00:34:54
i think which is one of her most complete
works was created and i think only through
00:34:59
pushing through those boundaries and exploring
the deepest recesses of production could she can
00:35:06
then come through and create something like the
hands of love you went away on your own terms
00:35:10
to make this lp didn't you yes i wanted to make
sure that uh we got our own studio together that
00:35:15
was the next move really i spent a lot of time
on the last album moving from studio to studio
00:35:21
and now we've got our own place and everything
is brilliant it makes such a difference
00:35:26
when we set up the the mastering studio for hounds
of love i i think that really did get rid of the
00:35:32
last of the change that she had that she felt
she had and it did set a free in a lot of ways
00:35:40
although a timely burst from a lady who
hasn't graced the turntables with a new
00:35:44
record for two years it's nice to have her back
00:35:50
i just remember pulling aside i was driving and i
heard it on the radio in the states and she didn't
00:35:56
get played a lot on the radio in the states
until that song that really got played a lot
00:36:13
i remember i had to pull over and listen to
it because i never heard anything like it
00:36:28
i think the choreography the fact that there was
suddenly a kate bush who was completely owning
00:36:33
you know the the aspect of of dance even not
singing even not you know she wasn't even
00:36:39
lip-syncing she was just dancing on top
of that it was a way of dancing that was
00:36:43
at the time uh not at all popular it wasn't
the type of dancing that you would have from
00:36:50
i don't know artists like michael jackson or
janet jackson or madonna you had somebody who
00:36:54
was bringing in a style of dancing that was
like a marginal way of moving a modern dance
00:37:03
this is like one of my all-time favorite songs
00:37:07
music is supposed to evoke emotion you know
what i'm saying it makes you feel a certain
00:37:10
way you know just that's that's what the
vibrations are this is it's not stagnant
00:37:15
it's not just plain or whatever every time you
listen to it it just touches you strikes a chord
00:37:28
i was introduced to the music by my
uncle russell he's kind of like a weirdo
00:37:32
like a family you know it was a skateboarder
and all kinds of things so i was like you know
00:37:36
sixth seventh grade and i used to ride my bike
to school and just listen to it and then i just
00:37:40
got deeper and deeper into it that's you know
one of my biggest musical influences i love it
00:37:52
if you look at her work from the kick inside
00:37:56
and how it evolves through things like
never forever and stuff like that into
00:38:01
you know the zenith which is hounds of love for
me you know it's just it's a beautiful evolution
00:38:07
and the the songs are kind of kind of becoming
more sophisticated even though they've always
00:38:11
been sophisticated even from the start they're
kind of they're just developing a kind of a kind
00:38:16
of calm sophistication and i think she just always
kept people guessing now here with the title track
00:38:21
of her best-selling lp in the studio at number 18
k bush with the hounds of love in the trees it's
00:38:41
she starts the song with the quote from night
of the demon and it's a little bit scary
00:39:00
it's like this repressed sexuality so sensual and
sexual and it's so honest as well i'm a coward and
00:39:08
i'm frightened you know to state i'm a coward
in a song it's quite brave thing to do actually
00:39:19
it is like she's on a leash it's like
the whole song's on the leash and
00:39:22
you're tugging it back but you know it's
just gonna escape and burst and run free
00:39:33
i'm convinced that as great as that record sounds
00:39:36
if you had anyone else sing it you know anyone
else try to kind of weave and and and and make it
00:39:44
kind of do that thing where it burns like wildfire
and it comes alive no one else could do it
00:39:54
it's incredible the way she brings
this kind of cold arctic atmosphere
00:40:00
it's just like fire you know it's
all just like coming out of her mouth
00:40:10
everything's doubling up now you've got twice
the amount of cellos everything's doubled
00:40:19
fairlight synthesizer there's the wash
which is what she wrote the song with
00:40:24
what we've done is we've set up a and set up a
pattern in the fairlight page put that to tape
00:40:30
so she had that pattern to play along with and
then she used the orchestra 5 sound as a wash
00:40:35
to actually write the song with which is what you
hear all the way through it's that kind of washy
00:40:40
uh synthesizer sound that's underneath it all and
then all the cellos just dance over the top of it
00:40:48
virtually no backing vocals at all i
think that's the strength of the song
00:40:52
is the fact that it's very little
to get in the way of that lead vocal
00:40:57
i know i'm playing the song in my head she's like
00:41:00
do you know what i really need
do you know what i really need
00:41:14
i find it really hard to to separate
images from the music once you know the
00:41:18
music's brilliant and of course i associate
this image with some of my favorite songs
00:41:26
that i know in my life
00:41:35
the second half of the hounds of love is
that's really where the magic is for me
00:41:39
when the first half is a collection
of the singles almost isn't it
00:41:43
but the second half is a incredible sort of series
of songs and dream of sheep which is so beautiful
00:42:01
i tune into some friendly voices talking
about stupid things i can't be left to
00:42:05
my imagination let me weak let me be
asleep let me sleep and dream of sheep
00:42:13
i love that larry
00:42:23
the way it kind of goes into other
with the stranger songs like waking
00:42:27
the witch and things like that where it's
just it's just it's just these odd little
00:42:32
uncomfortable little musical moments
00:42:38
i think the ninth wave was the piece of
music that affected me the most when i
00:42:41
was little because it terrified me it's
about witches and being stuck under ice
00:42:47
and you know floating adrift in a sea of
nothingness and all those kind of dream
00:42:52
elements subconscious themes and very
kind of english ancient storytelling
00:43:02
it seems like on that piece of music she
captured that moment between waking and sleeping
00:43:11
i've spent many many many hours listening to that
00:43:15
that 30 minutes of music it's an incredible
piece of music and i advise anyone that
00:43:20
has never heard it to go and listen to it
because it's one of the great pieces of music
00:43:27
creativity comes from the freedom to fail
and the freedom to fail comes from you know
00:43:33
experimentation and that's what gives something
its individuality and you know i think her courage
00:43:40
and um which is the positive way of interpreting
it or bloody mindedness which is the negative
00:43:47
is part of what gives her real value as an artist
00:43:52
in this proud land we grew up
strong we were wanted all along i
00:44:01
was extraordinary what that song has
been useful but i think a lot of people
00:44:11
that have got into trouble have attached
themselves to that song and i think a lot
00:44:15
of it is that kate's you know wonderful voice
is there in a sort of reassuring and loving way
00:44:22
and just makes them think that perhaps there's
going to be that type of love out there for them
00:44:43
the record she did with peter gabriel was
one record that saved my life that record
00:44:48
helped me get sober um so she played a big
part in my actual downfall and kind of um
00:44:56
rebirth as it were that record helped me so much
so much um i never told her that but it didn't
00:45:14
one of the things that i love about kate bush
is her absolute ability to take things to pluck
00:45:24
things that you would never expect to see on a
rock album and put them there and make them work
00:45:38
james joyce's ulysses one of the the greatest
passages in all of english or anglo-irish
00:45:46
literature um is molly bloom's glorious
soliloquy ending in a sequence of yeses
00:45:57
yes he said i was a flower of the mountain
yes so we're all flowers a woman's body yes
00:46:13
it's about embracing the world of the senses
00:46:16
embracing yourself embracing sex embracing love
embracing the future embracing all possibility
00:46:27
and it goes all the way back for me to wuthering
heights this is somebody who's not afraid of books
00:46:33
this is somebody who's not afraid of
reading somebody who's not afraid of writers
00:46:37
and who's not afraid of translating
being an intermediary being a door
00:46:44
between the world of books and the world of
rock i still remember going to the cd store
00:46:50
and buying central world when i was 16 and
the cover and there's a rose in front of her
00:46:57
mouth that has bloomed she's got big wide
eyes and i remember you know putting it in
00:47:04
the shitty car stereo on the way home and
you know and my life was forever changed
00:47:22
i really thank kate because these touchstones
like this woman's work that kind of song
00:47:28
is um it's celebrating everything that's so
wonderful about being a woman and being nurturing
00:47:36
and intuitive and emotional and gentle
and sensual and just like really intimate
00:47:48
people don't put their hearts on the
line in that vulnerable way very much
00:47:51
and it's really as an artist myself
it's helped me to not be frightened
00:47:56
to show all as much of my vulnerability as
a woman as i can and in that be powerful
00:48:18
it's as if within her voice there's there's
everything every possible facet of human
00:48:24
experience is there under her surface and her
work as a writer is to constantly draw that out
00:48:30
not not just the particularity of
her experience as a female body
00:48:35
but her experience as a person which is to
be prey to all kinds of forces and sensations
00:48:49
what about lyrics yours are very passionate and
provocative and do you get inspiration anywhere um
00:48:56
i think it is elusive stuff but i think
really the biggest inspiration is people
00:49:00
i think people are just so inspiring they're
fascinating and wonderful and i think you know
00:49:08
that nearly every idea that a person has had is
probably at some point come from another person
00:49:14
i think the red shoes without going into too
much detail it's a very personal album you know
00:49:19
there was there's a lot of very personal stuff
happening at that time and i think it shows in
00:49:25
the music i mean that basically a lot of the music
on the album is about breakup of relationships you
00:49:29
know i'll come around when you're not in and i'll
pick up all my things you know that kind of stuff
00:49:47
it's such a it's such a desperate song i mean
she really finds a way to to convey despair the
00:49:54
despair of uh you know missing the person or a
breakup that that you know will never come back
00:50:00
together again i don't quite know how to put
this but obviously you know you you've had a
00:50:04
professional and personal relationship with kate
for a long time um and that was and the red shoes
00:50:10
was an expression of of some of the things that
may have been happening between the two of you and
00:50:16
yet you were still working together that's exactly
it well because the working relationship is
00:50:22
never a problem you know we always work together
reasonably well you know we always argue we always
00:50:28
have and always will you know i guess i've i've
i've always argued with kate she's always argued
00:50:32
with me but i guess that's that's the way it is
you know so i i feel i'm emotionally involved
00:50:38
with it all to a great extent you know much more
so than most people would imagine you know not
00:50:44
only did we have a personal relationship and i
work with her i really love her music i really do
00:50:49
you know to the point where i've virtually worked
with nobody else because nobody else comes closer
00:51:19
somewhere i was just really sad that
suddenly someone who who was making work that
00:51:27
that was accessible to me suddenly became
unaccessible because you know because of
00:51:31
circumstances personal choices or
whatever but but i always blame the
00:51:49
great critics
00:51:58
every old truck meets an
00:52:00
ocean the fact that she took time off to
raise her child and disappear and and give
00:52:09
bertie a wonderful life the humanity in her is so
great and she wasn't interested in anything except
00:52:16
you know raising her child and being happy
00:52:20
and i don't think what kate bush did was
like a weird thing at all to kind of withdraw
00:52:26
uh to bring up a child if if that's indeed why she
did withdraw maybe she just withdrew because she
00:52:32
was sick of the whole bloody lot of them wanted to
know about her life i could really understand that
00:52:40
for me to to get into that creative process i
have to have a sort of quiet place that i work
00:52:46
from and if i was living the life of an you know
somebody in the industry as a pop star or whatever
00:52:53
it's too distracting it's too to do with
other people's perceptions of who you are
00:52:58
and what's important to me is to be a human being
00:53:02
who has a soul and who hopefully has a sense of
who they are not who everybody else thinks you
00:53:12
looking like a are man
00:53:32
john harris has been some anticipation over this
someone even wrote a novel called waiting for kate
00:53:36
bush um about the long wait uh has it been worth
it well i think there's probably less anticipation
00:53:41
in the real world in quote marks than there is
in certain circles of the media i think people
00:53:44
get themselves in a right tis about this record
is there still an element of we are not worthy
00:53:48
about kate bush but deeply eccentrically well
it's not it's not actually that's the point it's
00:53:52
not eccentric and you can tell this is this is
someone who's not been near the music business
00:53:56
for 12 years and it sounds like the sort of thing
that would blast from shopping malls in about
00:53:59
1989 there's a bit of kind of tears for fears
about it what i like is it's not self-conscious
00:54:03
eccentricity i think she's making this record
for herself she's pleasing herself with her music
00:54:12
the um aerial album my favorite on that
album is actually that song called prelude
00:54:17
it's just the sound of some cuckoos
and the sound of a child's voice and
00:54:23
she just manages to combine these very very
prosaic pure elements and turn them into magic
00:54:33
she's always been able to find
let's say the language of nature
00:54:38
she would be able to to make you hear words
within uh you know the the the sounds that
00:54:45
birds would make you would actually hear that
they're saying something kate bush makes a record
00:54:55
then you don't hear from her and you play the
stuff that she's made already and you listen to it
00:55:01
and one day you are surprised and she brings out
something else and she's been quietly working
00:55:06
away on it for however long she wanted to work
on it and i love that i love the willingness
00:55:12
to be quiet until it's time to speak which
is something that she does over and over
00:55:28
or a big brown bear
00:55:42
50 words for snow my favorite track on
that is where her little son he sings hi
00:55:48
i'm skye you know that amazing like coral boy
pure voice was like it's just so lovely to hear
00:55:58
the generations coming through and that
they're making music together i am scared
00:56:10
i was called by my agent who said would
you like to record a track with kate bush
00:56:16
to which there is only ever one possible answer
as long as it's not me singing i said she doesn't
00:56:21
know i can't think she's no no it would be
voicing um but saying saying words for snow oh
00:56:31
i just still can't quite believe it
says cave voice stroke stephen fry
00:56:40
wonderful atmospheric isn't
it just something about it
00:56:53
twisting
00:57:04
these phrases and epithets are hers and they're
not some of them obviously exist like white out
00:57:11
and some of them are just sort of poetic force
versus almost like what anglo-saxon poetry is
00:57:16
known as a kenny when you just um put things
together she has a very intense poetic mind
00:57:30
that's what makes it that voice that comes in
the intention is to tell a story to create a
00:57:44
sonic world for us a sonic painting first to
walk into without having to um see her she's
00:57:53
transcending that she's choosing to transcend
that and that's very powerful thing to do
00:58:06
you don't ever get the sense that she is
making music to pander to anyone i think you
00:58:12
always get her absolute best attempt at her
true vision whenever you get a kate bush record
00:58:20
the words coming to my mind is national
treasure but that means like kind of like
00:58:24
an almost dead person doesn't it or something
00:58:27
she's become a legend not just because she's
been absent but because she's important to
00:58:33
musicians as much as she's important to the
british public she's one of those people that
00:58:39
has got the muse over their head she's got this
special way to tap in to the energy and reality of
00:58:48
music she takes you somewhere else you know
there are other artists they're of a genre and
00:58:54
you can sort of jump between them i don't think
you can do that with her i think you have to
00:58:59
fully submerge yourself in i was going
to say the bush but i i better not
00:59:34
you
