Why bring back a Kate Bush article from 2016 on December 20, 2019? Because Kate Bush deserves a celebration by Cool Media, LLC. Margaret Talbot’s piece, “The Enduring, Incandescent Power of Kate Bush” in today’s New Yorker was a profound inspiration. It’s the perfect moment to introduce our new readers to a deeper dive into Bush’s legacy. As we celebrate the rising stars of British pop, it’s important to honor the trailblazing singer-songwriters who paved the way. Kate Bush was the first UK artist to reach #1 with a self-penned song, “Wuthering Heights,” which drew from the Brontë novel.
Why wouldn’t you want to learn more about an artist as uniquely original as Kate Bush? Few artists have drawn inspiration from and directly quoted literary giants like Emily Brontë and James Joyce (consider the literary bookends of “Wuthering Heights” and Joyce’s Ulysses in “The Sensual World”). Listen to Kate sing—or better yet, embody—“Yes” from The Sensual World. Enough said. And to the men and boys: if you need guidance on channeling divine feminine energy, come see me in the next lifetime for a free tutorial. The era of patriarchy has failed us, and now it’s time to embrace the alchemically balanced divine feminine.
Judging by the over 3 million views for “The Sensual World” on YouTube, we Cool Media LLC writers are not alone in our admiration of this magnificent creator. Below, read what Kate Bush has to say about “The Sensual World”:
Kate Bush – The Sensual World – Official Music Video
[Verse 1]
Mmh, yes
Then I’d taken the kiss of seedcake back from his mouth
Going deep South, go down, mmh, yes
Took six big wheels and rolled our bodies
Off of Howth Head and into the flesh, mmh, yes
[Pre-Chorus 1]
He said, “I was a flower of the mountain, yes
But now I’ve powers o’er a woman’s body, yes”
[Chorus]
Stepping out of the page into the sensual world
Stepping out
[Verse 2]
To where the water and the earth caress
And the down of a peach says, “Mmh, yes”
Do I look for those millionaires Like a Machiavellian girl would
When I could wear a sunset, mmh, yes
[Pre-Chorus 2]
And how we’d wished to live in the sensual world
You don’t need words, just one kiss, then another
[Chorus]
Stepping out of the page into the sensual world
Stepping out off the page into the sensual world
[Interlude]
[Verse 3]
And then our arrows of desire rewrite the speech, mmh, yes
And then he whispered, “Would I, mmh, yes
Be safe, mmh, yes, from mountain flowers?”
And at first with the charm around him, mmh, yes
He loosened it so if it slipped between my breasts
He’d rescue it, mmh, yes
[Verse 4]
And his spark took life in my hand and, mmh, yes
I said, “Mmh, yes”, but not yet
Mmh, yes
Mmh, yes
The official music video for the single “The Sensual World” by Kate Bush. It was the title track and first single from the album of the same name, released in September 1989. The single entered and peaked at no.12 in the UK single charts. The video was co-directed by The Comic Strip co-creator Peter Richardson and Kate herself.
One year ago
The trilogy of albums she made in the mid to late 80s (The Dreaming, Hounds Of Love, and The Sensual World) are absolute pop rock masterpieces. Each one is unique yet bears all her stamp of Kate-ness: abstract, defiant, empowering, emotional, theatrical, sensual, and spiritual. She is completely original and brave, queer (in the true sense of the word), surreal, and always subversive, and yet… never less than human. She is one of the greats.
The Fog
Provided to YouTube by Sony Music Entertainment
The Fog · Kate Bush
The Sensual World
℗ 1989 Novercia Overseas Ltd.
Released on: 1989-10-16
Speaker: Dr. Bush
Guitar: Alan Murphy
Arranger: Bill Whelan
Drums: Stuart Elliot
Orchestrator: Michael Kamen
Violin: Nigel Kennedy
Cello: Jonathan Williams
Whistles: Davey Spillane
Engineer: Andrew Boland
Assistant Engineer: John Grimes
Mixing Engineer: Kevin Killen
Programmer, Recording Engineer: Del Palmer
SME (on behalf of Columbia); LatinAutor, SOLAR Music Rights Management, LatinAutor – SonyATV, LatinAutorPerf, BMI – Broadcast Music Inc., UNIAO BRASILEIRA DE EDITORAS DE MUSICA – UBEM, Sony ATV Publishing, CMRRA, and 5 Music Rights Societies
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You see, I’m all grown-up now
He said
Just put your feet down child
‘Cause you’re all grown-up now
Just like a photograph I pick you up
Just like a station on the radio
I pick you up
Just like a face in the crowd
I pick you up
Just like a feeling that you’re sending out
I pick it up
But I can’t let you go
If I let you go
You slip into the fog
This love was big enough for both of us
This love of yours
Was big enough to be frightened of
It’s deep and dark like the water was
The day I learned to swim
He said
Just put your feet down child
Just put your feet down child
The water is only waist-high
I’ll let go of you gently
Then you can swim to me
Is this love big enough to watch over me?
Big enough to let go of me?
Without hurting me
Like the day I learned to swim
‘Cause you’re all grown-up now
Just put your feet down child
The water is only waist-high
I’ll let go of you gently
Then you can swim to me
Source: LyricFind
Four years ago (edited)
Another one of Kate’s masterpieces. Beautiful from start to finish. The strings give this song such emotion, but Kate’s voice on the line “This love was big enough for the both of us” at 1:55 does it for me. Stunningly beautiful. A genius. No other word to describe her. There’s an extraordinary depth to Kate’s lyrics. It always feels as if every word comes from deep within her soul.
Rocket’s Tail (For Rocket)
Provided to YouTube by Columbia/Legacy Rocket’s Tail (For Rocket) · Kate Bush The Sensual World ℗ 1989 Novercia Overseas Ltd. Released on 1989-10-16 Vocal: Eva Georgieva Vocal: Stoyanka Boneva Arranger: Bill Whelan Guitar: David Gilmour Arranger: Dimitr Penev Drums: Stuart Elliot Associated Performer: Yanka Rupkhina Bass: John Giblin Engineer: Andrew Boland Assistant Engineer: John Grimes Assistant Engineer: Tom Header Mixing Engineer: Kevin Killen Programmer, Recording Engineer: Del Palmer
A great song from her 1989 album “The Sensual World”. The song features The Trio Bulgarka on backing vocals and David Gilmour on guitar. It’s named after Kate’s cat Rocket.
Lyrics: That November night, looking up into the sky, You said, “Hey, wish that was me up there– It’s the biggest rocket I could find, And it’s holding the night in its arms If only for a moment. I can’t see the look in its eyes, But I’m sure it must be laughing.” But it seemed to me the saddest thing I’d ever seen, And I thought you were crazy, wishing such a thing. I saw only a stick on fire, Alone on its journey Home to the quickening ground, With no one there to catch it. I put on my pointed hat And my black and silver suit, And I check my gunpowder pack And I strap the stick on my back. And, dressed as a rocket on Waterloo Bridge– Nobody seems to see me. Then, with the fuse in my hand, And now shooting into the night And still as a rocket, I land in the river. Was it me said you were crazy? I put on my cloudiest suit, Size 5 lightning boots, too. ‘Cause I am a rocket On fire. Look at me go, with my tail on fire, With my tail on fire, On fire. Hey, look at me go, look at me…
“But if there are no miracles, there are at least songs that sound like them. For “Rocket’s Tail,” Bush enlisted the help of Trio Bulgarka, who she fell in love with after hearing them on a tape Paddy gave her. The three Bulgarian women didn’t speak English and had no idea what they were singing about, but it didn’t matter. They sound more like mystics during its a capella first half. When it eventually blows up into a glammy stomper with Dave Gilmour’s electric guitar caterwauling like a Catherine wheel, their vocals still come out on top: cackling like gleeful witches, whooping like they’re watching sparks explode in the night sky. Its weird, wonderful magic offered a simple message: Life is short, so enjoy moments of pleasure before they fizzle out.”
“I wrote this for the trio, musically, in that I wanted a song to show them off. The other two songs they appear in were already structured, and in a way, they had to fit around the song’s structure to become a part of it, but in this song, they were there en masse. The whole song was based around them. And I wrote it on a synthesizer with a choir sound and just sang along.
We put John’s on, and I had no idea if their voices were going to work on it at all, really, so the whole thing hung on the fact of whether when we went out to Bulgaria, it worked or not. And the arranger we worked with out there was such a brilliant man. In some ways, I think that the fact that we didn’t speak the same language made our communication much easier because he seemed to know exactly what I wanted, and after a few hours, he was coming up with the most incredible tunes. I just had to say, “Oh yes, I like that one,” “Er, no, not too keen on that one,” and “Umm, that’s lovely!” and go away and write it out. It was incredible; I’d never worked like that before, so quickly with someone, I’d never met before. It was really exciting to find that kind of chemistry. (…)
Rocket is one of my cats, and he was the inspiration for the subject matter for the song because he’s dead cute [laughs]. And it’s a very strange subject matter because the song isn’t exactly about Rocket, it’s inspired by him and for him, but the song, it’s about anything. I guess it’s saying there’s nothing wrong with being right here at this moment and just enjoying it to its fullest, and if that’s it, that’s ok, you know. And it’s using the idea of a rocket that’s so exciting for maybe 3 seconds, and then it’s gone, you know that’s it, but so what, it had 3 seconds of absolutely wonderful… [laughs] (Roger Scott, BBC Radio 1 (UK), 14 October 1989)
Provided to YouTube by Sony Music Entertainment
Reaching Out · Kate Bush
The Sensual World
℗ 1989 Novercia Overseas Ltd.
Released on: 1989-10-16
Mandolin: Paddy Bush
Drums: Charlie Morgan
Bass, Programmer, Recording Engineer: Del Palmer
Arranger: Bill Whelan
Engineer: Andrew Boland
Assistant Engineer: John Grimes
Mixing Engineer: Kevin Killen
Arranger: Michael Nyman
Reaching Out
See how the child reaches out instinctively
To feel how the fire will feel
See how the man reaches out instinctively
For what he cannot have
The pull and the push of it all
Reaching out for the hand
Reaching out for the hand that smacked
Reaching out for that hand to hold
Reaching out for the Star
Reaching out for the Star that explodes
Reaching out for Mama
See how the flower leans instinctively Toward the light
See how the heart reaches out instinctively
For no reason but to touch
The pull and the push of it all
Reaching out for the hand
Reaching out for the hand that smacked
Reaching out for that hand to hold
Reaching out for the Star
Reaching out for the Star that explodes
Reaching out for Mama
Reaching out for Mama
Four years ago
This is one of my all-time favorite tracks. I was surprised to read in the Uncut Ultimate Kate Bush that the critic considers it the weakest track on that album. The tune and singing are fantastic, and I love the subtle, almost subliminal use of church bells. Wonderful.
Kate Bush – Documentary 1980
A documentary about Kate from 1980 with live clips from Germany and interviews.
The songs performed are:
“Room For The Life”
“Fullhouse”
“Strange Phenomena”
“Violin”
“In The Warm Room”
“Hammer Horror”
“Kite”
“Wuthering Heights”
Kate Bush – Tour Of Life – Nationwide Documentary 1979 (BEST QUALITY)
This is probably the best interview I’ve ever heard anyone get from her. People are usually so weird when approaching her but this interviewer spoke to her like she was a normal human being and it seems like she really responded well to that lol
Kate Bush BBC Radio 6 interview Nov 2016
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