Kate Bush is a unique figure in British pop music, pioneering art-rock in the pop charts, with dance and video performances and a wide range of artistic and cultural references. Her most active and popular phase was 1978 to 1985, but she also was very productive around 1990 and in the late 2000s. This note looks at two of her most eminent songs. Wuthering Heights (1978)
This was Kate Bush’s first single and it became her biggest hit and her signature song. It’s one of the great classics of pop music.
What it’s like: Very original and unusual, mainly because of Bush’s vocals swooping around several octaves and the ‘high literature’ content. The background instrumentation is fairly conventional with guitars and drums, but the exotic vocals and piano lines tend to take the listener’s attention. The verses are quite tremulous and uncertain, moving into bold pleading in the chorus, which eventually transforms into a mood of triumph and finally a calming resolved sense of homecoming.
What it’s about: The song depicts a scene from the classic novel ‘Wuthering Heights’ (1847) by Emily Bronte, where the ghost of Catherine Earnshaw appears on the moor outside the window, pleading to speak to Heathcliff: they had loved each other in life but were not able to be a couple because of their differing social status.
Commercial success: It was a major hit, at No 1 for four weeks in early 1978. However, it took a while to catch on, because Kate Bush was a new artist: it entered the charts at No 42, then rose to No 29. At that point, Kate Bush performed it on Top of the Pops and it came to wider attention, fairly rapidly moving to the top of the chart. The video: The main video made depicted Kate Bush in a white dress with a dark background, amid mist and a glowing light. The intention was for her to look like a ghost, like Catherine Earnshaw. Effectively, she is playing the part of Cathy. This also introduced the public to Kate Bush’s very artistic approach to dance and her unusual facial expressions. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-1pMMIe4hb4 Another video was made for the US market, with very different content: Kate in a red dress in a green forest background. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fk-4lXLM34g Did you know 1 ?: Kate Bush recorded the vocal for Wuthering Heights in one take. This is very unusual in top-level recording. She had obviously thought through what was needed and was able to deliver it readily. In short, she was highly talented. History/background: Kate Bush was 19 when the song was No 1 and she wrote it a year earlier in 1977 when she was 18. She first became interested in Wuthering Heights when she saw half an hour of a tv adaptation; and then went on to read the novel. The song was written in a few hours one evening. The song is one of thirteen tracks on her debut album The Kick Inside (1978). Her record company EMI wanted another song ‘James and the Cold Gun’ to be the first single, but Kate campaigned strongly for the first to be Wuthering Heights and her judgement was vindicated. Talking point/Controversy Kate Bush’s unusual singing style made the song a major talking point in the UK. Opinion was strongly divided between those who loved the song and thought it was brilliant; and those who thought it was weird and gimmicky. Because the song is now so familiar and established, and Kate Bush is recognised as a great major creative, it’s difficult for us to appreciate how surprising and novel her style was when she first appeared. Art-Rock What people perhaps didn’t fully take on board to begin with was the depth of artistry in Kate Bush’s work: a highly original songwriter, she drew on high art and other cultures and integrated serious dance, costume and video into her performances. However, after a few singles and videos, people realised the full breadth of her work. It’s very surprising that Kate Bush managed to be very unusual and high-art yet also enjoyed popular chart success with a string of hit singles. She clearly had hit on a special formula: she didn’t push the artiness too far, but she drew out the striking artiness which had pop appeal. It’s surprising that her record company EMI allowed her to record such music, but possibly the early success of Wuthering Heights reassured them it could sell well. Wiki about the song: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wuthering_Heights_(song) What is Wuthering Heights and who was Emily Bronte ?: The Bronte sisters were three daughters of a vicar who lived on the edge of the Yorkshire Moors in the mid-1800s. Although they led sheltered, quiet lives, they had vivid and passionate imaginations, possibly inspired by the wildness of the moors. All three wrote novels; and two of them became all-time classics: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte and Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte, both published in 1847. Wuthering Heights has a complex plot over two generations, centred on a house called Wuthering Heights, with main characters, Heathcliff, a wild stormy character (like the moors) and Catherine Earnshaw. It is the character Catherine (or Cathy) who is singing in the Kate Bush song Wuthering Heights. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wuthering_Heights It’s interesting to note that the novel, like the poem, polarised opinion initially: the subject matter and its depiction was quite extreme for its time.
Did you know 2 ?: Kate Bush and Emily Bronte share the same birthday, 30 July.
Did you now 3 ?: In 2018, four stones were set up in Yorkshire in memory of Emily Bronte in Yorkshire, each with a poem by women writers: two poets, a novelist and Kate Bush. https://www.theguardian.com/music/2018/jul/08/bush-sings-new-praises-to-literary-heroine
Great debut single: Wuthering Heights is one of the great debut singles. It’s amazing that Kate Bush struck gold with her very first single: it set out her artistic style with great commercial success and became her signature song. In a list of ‘Great Debut Singles of All Time’, the website Consequence of Sound put it as the third greatest of all time. https://consequenceofsound.net/2017/10/the-100-greatest-debut-singles-of-all-time/10/
However, it’s not that uncommon for debut singles to be excellent and successful, and express the essence of an artist: Hey Joe by The Jimi Hendrix Experience, I Want You Back by The Jackson Five, Brown Eyed Girl by Van Morrison, Suzanne by Leonard Cohen, Blitzkrieg Bop by The Ramones, In The Air Tonight by Phil Collins, West End Girls by Pet Shop Boys, Fast Car by Tracy Chapman, Wannabe by The Spice Girls, Just Dance by Lady Gaga.
Running Up That Hill (1985)
This was Kate Bush’s second most successful single in the UK, reaching No 3. It was also the first single from her album The Hounds of Love which many regard as her masterpiece.
What it’s like: A very unusual song, in both sound and structure. An initial ringing siren sound gives way to a big throbbing beat with wincing synthesizer notes in the foreground, and soon Kate’s vocal appear in the middle.
What it’s about: The content is also unusually serious for a pop song. It is about the difficulty of two people (particularly in a couple) understanding each other’s position, and also the complexities of relationship where we can be annoyed with those we love and can unwittingly hurt them. The song suggests it would be good if people could swap places and experience life from another’s viewpoint – the song suggests making a deal with God to this effect.
Public response: It was a strong seller and returned Kate Bush to high standing in the pop charts after some time away. Perhaps surprisingly, it was also very popular on dance floors and in the dance charts. It’s not clear if Kate Bush envisaged it as a dance song during its creation. The video: As ever, the visual presentation of the song was important to Kate Bush. At the time, she was dissatisfied with the fragmented nature of dance in pop music (ie short bursts of dance in performances). So, the video for Running Up That Hill was centred round a long classical dance of two people, partly inside a room and partly in a tunnel and on a hill, symbolising togetherness and misunderstanding. It was also, as ever, a bit unusual and avant garde. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wp43OdtAAkM Kate’s comeback: This was an important single in Kate Bush’s career because it re-established her as a major star. After a string of hit singles from 1978 to 1980, her fourth album The Dreaming (1982), which was more obscure, only yielded one top 20 hit. By 1985 it had been three years since Kate Bush had been in the charts. Part of the delay was caused by the construction of her own recording studio, and then Kate Bush’s steady, methodical approach to work. By 1985, people were beginning to wonder what had happened to Kate Bush. Famously, the NME published a piece in summer 1985 declaring her career over – then a few days later she appeared on national prime time tv and performed ‘Running Up That Hill’.
Controversy: Kate Bush’s original title for the song was ‘Deal with God’ and she still regards that as its proper title. However, record companies in certain countries (UK, Ireland, Australia, New Zealand) recommended not using this title as it might cause religious controversy, so instead it was given the title ‘Running Up That Hill’. However, on the album The Hounds of Love, it was titled: ‘Running Up That Hill (Deal With God)’. Wiki on the song: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Running_Up_That_Hill
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