# Kate Bush -- Musical Genius **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 7, 2006, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kate-bush-musical-genius/347447 "2006-03-07T23:30:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2006, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kate-bush-musical-genius/347447/81 "2006-03-10T14:04:59Z")
OK … I went and dug around [allmusic.com](http://allmusic.com)’s musical samples for Kate Bush. Turns out I very much recognized “Running Up That Hill” – I just hadn’t heard the song since it was current, and I never knew the title or artist. I like that song a lot – kick-butt percussion, super catchy. I listened to two other samples: “Babooshka” and “Cloudbusting”. Neither were my cup of tea on my first listen of the 30-second clips. These two songs gave me the impression that “Running Up That Hill” may be pretty much a _sui generis_ within her body of work – the latter two songs seemed to lack any kind of a hook. Hope I’m wrong about that, and that she’s got some more hook-driven songs. Regarding “Babooshka” and “Cloudbusting” … the comparison someone made to James Joyce’s fiction above seemed apt. I am interested enough to continue digging up her stuff – three song clips is obviously a ridiculously tiny sample. Also, I believe our local “70s & 80s” station takes requests online … I’m going to see if I can get them to play “Running Up That Hill”. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2006, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kate-bush-musical-genius/347447/82 "2006-03-10T14:11:04Z")
> [@bordelond](#): > > What’s kept from trying on her own from touring the U.S. and making a name for herself without a record company’s help? Sounds like America diehards would sell out her shows (of course … maybe she’s anti-“sold out shows”, anti-popularity … or something). > > Her fanbase – at least the impression I’ve gotten from this thread – seems to be fervent like Jimmy Buffet’s or Bruce Springsteen’s. Any insight into the question above? Does she not tour in general? Or does she only avoid the U.S.? ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2006, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kate-bush-musical-genius/347447/83 "2006-03-10T14:19:00Z")
> [@bordelond](#): > > Any insight into the question above? Does she not tour in general? Or does she only avoid the U.S.? She doesn’t tour. She’s pretty reclusive. Stage fright, and a desire to raise her kid in peace. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2006, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kate-bush-musical-genius/347447/84 "2006-03-10T15:38:32Z")
I was going to simply email **lissner** so as to not continue the hijack. (although I don’t think it is a hijack at all really, the OP questions were answered long ago, we are now in the Terri Schiavo period of the thread. It should be dead, but for some stupid reason, it’s not. > [@lissener](#): > > I didn’t question your doperhood. I pointed out that your dismissal of my opinion for purely ad hominem reasons is contrary to the standard by which discussions of this type are generally expected to play out. I was trying to gently point out that you were making the discussion about personalities–about me–rather than about the topic at hand. You continue to do that. > [@Zebra](#): > > Lissener is a perfect example of a Kate Bush fan. Very dedicated and and totally convinced that she is the goddess of music. > Now those may be his opinions but that is what they are. Opinions. I don’t think the average American has any idea who Kate Bush is, nor would they like her ‘hits’. > > The thing is, if you like her stuff, that’s fine. Don’t listen to her, just because someone told you she is the best thing ever. listen, form your own opinion and go with it. > > Who is she married to again? How is that and ad hominem attack? I’m not impressed with your debate team terms and saying something is an ad hominem attack, they way you do, _is an ad hominem attack._ I mearly told the OP to listen for themselves and form their own opinion. > [@lissner](#): > > I made no factual claims, I expressed an opinion. An opinion I have, _guess what,_ learned over the years that some people would not necessarily agree with. It’s not anything that can be “proven” one way or another, and your insistance that it’s my job to do so is nonsensical. > [@lissner from earlier in the thread](#): > > _Kate Bush is among the 15 or 20 most important musical figures of this century. Her influence, while not always direct, is nearly universal._ > [@lissner when replying to a question about above statement](#): > > No, I originally wrote “2 or 3 most important.” But then I realized I meant “avant-garde, artsy rock music.” I expanded it to 15 or 20 to make my statement more accurate. > [@linnser in another reply to the same question a few minutes later](#): > > For whatever it’s worth, I actually believe this; I’m not making some kind of hyperbolic outlandish claim out of perversity or whatever. As a lifelong music geek, I actually literally and honestly believe this to be true. > > Needless, YMMV. Here you back down for your previous\*\* statements\*\*. My first reply came later. I wasn’t asking you to back up your claims. I was just telling the OP to form their own opinions. **Snowborder** came in and challenged you and **you** took it personally. I should have dropped the request to back up your outrageous claims, but I didn’t. Sorry. > [@lissner](#): > > Despite your dogged insistance on making this personal, I will re-read \*for \*you. The fact that I saw the same 1979 SNL performance and was a fan from the start suggested no sexual context whatsoever. You continue to drive your entire participation in this thread with insultingly personal–and wrong–assumptions, and you continue to be utterly ignorant of the fact that we’re discussing opinions, and not facts. I have not made ANY personal attacks. YOU are the RABID FAN BOY here and you are suffering from PROJECTION. That is where you project your own problems on everyone else. The first mention of the SNL perfomance was about her writhing on a piano in a gold body suit with a ROOOOWR comment. YOu chimed in saying, yes, that hooked me as well. The fact that I don’t know if you gay or not doesn’t matter here. You made the comment. You didn’t say, when I _heard_ her, you came in with a story about when you first _saw_ her. Being the sort of person that judges music with my ears, that raises a red flag with me. And the fact that you are gay does not rule out a sexual attraction for a woman, no more than the fact that I am straight rule out that I can have a sexual attraction for a man. Very few people are 100% straight or gay. Now, as a RABID FAN BOY, you are a good source for information about what tracks to listen to for a person, like the OP, but as a source of unbiased opinion, you are not a good source. Just as I would be a good source on what Star Trek TOS shows to watch if you wanted to see what was so great about it, but I wouldn’t be the person to ask about the place the societal and historical importance of Star Trek because I am a RABID FAN BOY. I’m an not a ‘music geek’. I’m a trained musician. In college, I majored in music. I also have two fully function ears. In my opinion, which I have stated over and OVER, is that is all anyone needs to make up their minds. Or to form their own OPINIONS. Something you have done, now let others form theirs. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2006, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kate-bush-musical-genius/347447/85 "2006-03-10T15:43:00Z")
I was going to simply email lissner so as to not continue the hijack. (although I don’t think it is a hijack at all really, the OP questions were answered long ago, we are now in the Terri Schiavo period of the thread. It should be dead, but for some stupid reason, it’s not) but his email isn’t public. Sorry, I didn’t finish the thought. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2006, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kate-bush-musical-genius/347447/86 "2006-03-10T15:45:00Z")
> [@Zebra](#): > > I was going to simply email **lissner** so as to not continue the hijack. (although I don’t think it is a hijack at all really, the OP questions were answered long ago, we are now in the Terri Schiavo period of the thread. It should be dead, but for some stupid reason, it’s not. Disagree. There’s plenty of room for discussion even if the OP’s been answered. This is Cafe Society … not GQ. Now … the snippy hijacking may now be a dead horse … but the earnest discussion and curiosity isn’t. ---
**Author:** ![SkipMagic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skipmagic/32/20706_2.png) [@SkipMagic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkipMagic)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2006, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kate-bush-musical-genius/347447/87 "2006-03-10T15:46:39Z")
> [@SkipMagic](#): > > _::Borrows Dex’s Whistle, Can’t Get It To Work, Yells Loudly Instead::_ > > Okay, _stop_. **Zebra** , **lissener** and **Snowboarder Bo** , take your squabble(s) out of this thread, please. If you want to start a thread debating what may or may not constitute a musical influence, go ahead and start one and feel free to link to it within this thread. If you wanna tear each other’s hair out about who was dismissive of whom, do so in the Pit. > > Regardless of what you choose, stop the hijacks of this thread and get back to **ddgryphon** ’s OP. > [@Zebra](#): > > I was going to simply email lissner so as to not continue the hijack. (although I don’t think it is a hijack at all really, the OP questions were answered long ago, we are now in the Terri Schiavo period of the thread. It should be dead, but for some stupid reason, it’s not. **Zebra** , I asked you to stop with the hijack and, if need be, to take it elsewhere. My last post was a warning shot across the bow; this post, however, is an official warning. If you want to continue posting in this thread about Kate Bush, fine; but if you want to continue your argument with **lissener** , keep out of this thread. ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2006, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kate-bush-musical-genius/347447/88 "2006-03-10T15:47:53Z")
You rolled 11, go back 5 posts. ---
**Author:** ![Sean\_Factotum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Sean\_Factotum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sean_Factotum)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2006, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kate-bush-musical-genius/347447/89 "2006-03-10T15:49:45Z")
> [@Finagle](#): > > She doesn’t tour. She’s pretty reclusive. Stage fright, and a desire to raise her kid in peace. I don’t think it’s stage fright. She put on really big shows back in the day in Europe. She is a born performer. Her lack of performances in the US comes from, IIRC, an inability to fly, for either medical or psychological reasons. And she decided to spend the last decade+ trying to give her child a normal childhood away from the media, not out of any recluse or hermit tendancies. She knew that if she continued to release music, the kid would be as known to the world as Frances Bean or Lourdes. ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2006, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kate-bush-musical-genius/347447/90 "2006-03-10T19:44:02Z")
And I applaud her for it. Obviously, it is a priviledge to be able to make the choice to stop performing to raise your child. This thread has made me want to get a new CD of _Hounds of Love_, as I have no idea where my cassette tape copy went (and God knows where I would play it if I found it…). ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2006, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kate-bush-musical-genius/347447/91 "2006-03-10T19:48:53Z")
> [@Sean Factotum](#): > > I don’t think it’s stage fright. She put on really big shows back in the day in Europe. She is a born performer. > > Her lack of performances in the US comes from, IIRC, an inability to fly, for either medical or psychological reasons. > > And she decided to spend the last decade+ trying to give her child a normal childhood away from the media, not out of any recluse or hermit tendancies. She knew that if she continued to release music, the kid would be as known to the world as Frances Bean or Lourdes. Yeah, no, not stage fright. Perfectionism. One of the most visible examples of Kate’s multi-facted influence has been on the nature of stage presentation of rock shows. Her single tour, of England, was pretty revolutionary. Like a lot of acts nowadays, but almost no one before her, Kate’s show consisted of set changes, costume changes, choreography, theatrical staging, etc., for every single number. In keeping with the story-aspect of many of her songs, every number in her stage show was staged as a mini opera, with a beginning, middle, and end, a cast of supporting characters/dancers, and full costume and makeup. It’s been noted that she had to use a microphone never used in such a context before because she wanted her hands free. That’s the kind of uncompromising perfectionist she was; she would make the show be the way she wanted it; the technology was gonna hafta adapt to her, because she wasn’t gonna adapt to the technology. The video recording of that tour–Live at Hammersmith Odeon–was widely seen and widely influential on the stage shows of artists from David Bowie to Peter Gabriel to Madonna. Kate’s then-obsession with performance art and dance led her to bring a theatricality to the rock concert that had arguably never been seen before, and rarely since. This exhausted her. She never wanted to do it again. Unfortunately, perfectionist that she is, she never wanted to do anything less either. So while she has occasionally made one-off appearances at benefit concerts and the like, she’s never put on a full-fledged tour since the tour that supported her first and second albums. Also, I hear she’s afraid of flying, why she so rarely makes it over here. Only been in the US a handful of times, to my knowledge. (Just did a quick search; apparently Live at the Hammersmith Odeon is not available. I have it on an old VHS; I’m sure there are copies floating around. It’s a bit dated, being more than 25 years old, but it’s still pretty astonishing.) ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2006, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kate-bush-musical-genius/347447/92 "2006-03-10T19:56:34Z")
> [@lissener](#): > > The video recording of that tour–Live at Hammersmith Odeon–was widely seen and widely influential on the stage shows of artists from David Bowie to Peter Gabriel to Madonna. I thought the Bowie-to-Bush influence was the other way around as far as theatrical concerts go. Didn’t the Ziggy Stardust tour predate KB’s career by a good 5 years or so? ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2006, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kate-bush-musical-genius/347447/93 "2006-03-10T19:58:29Z")
> [@bordelond](#): > > I thought the Bowie-to-Bush influence was the other way around as far as theatrical concerts go. Didn’t the Ziggy Stardust tour predate KB’s career by a good 5 years or so? Yes, Bowie was a huge influence on Kate. But the scale and complexity and all-outness of the stage shows was Kate’s chance to reciprocate; Bowie has acknowledged as much in interviews. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2006, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kate-bush-musical-genius/347447/94 "2006-03-10T20:00:42Z")
To elaborate: Bowie’s fictional characters tend to be per-album; Kate’s tend to be per-song. The theatrical commitment to establishing a distinct character milieu/production for every single song was way beyond anything Bowie had ever envisioned. Bowie’s songs-as-fiction, and his general theatricality, were of course very influential to Kate, and SHE has acknowledged as much. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2006, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kate-bush-musical-genius/347447/95 "2006-03-10T20:13:46Z")
> [@bordelond](#): > > I listened to two other samples: “Babooshka” and “Cloudbusting”. Neither were my cup of tea on my first listen of the 30-second clips. These two songs gave me the impression that “Running Up That Hill” may be pretty much a _sui generis_ within her body of work – the latter two songs seemed to lack any kind of a hook. Hope I’m wrong about that, and that she’s got some more hook-driven songs. What’s hooky for one person may not be hooky for another, of course, but I think “Babooshka” has a very strong hook in the backing vocals that go “Ba-BOOOOOSH-ka!” ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2006, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kate-bush-musical-genius/347447/96 "2006-03-10T21:01:29Z")
> [@bordelond](#): > > I listened to two other samples: “Babooshka” and “Cloudbusting”. Neither were my cup of tea on my first listen of the 30-second clips. These two songs gave me the impression that “Running Up That Hill” may be pretty much a _sui generis_ within her body of work – the latter two songs seemed to lack any kind of a hook. Hope I’m wrong about that, and that she’s got some more hook-driven songs. Regarding “Babooshka” and “Cloudbusting” … the comparison someone made to James Joyce’s fiction above seemed apt. Oh yeah, I meant to respond to this too. Kate’s songwriting–again, she mostly just makes stuff up as she goes along; if a Kate song has anything conventional about it, trust that it’s intentional and specifically referential. She’s about the most non-hook style of songwriting you’ll find within the universe of pop music. One of my favorite things about Kate is that she takes pop music so seriously as an art form–the entirety of a pop song: vocals, arrangement, performance; not just songwriting–she takes it as seriously as any great composer or author. Working within the genre she addresses issues and stories as serious and universal–and as minute and personal–as any artist in any more “serious” medium. As I’ve said before, her approach is more Joycean than any other pop-artist I can think of: she uses the totality of a song to support her theme, her story. I play the recorder. I used to be pretty good; I was considering going after a career in it when I was in highschool. Needless to say, limited market; I never really pursued it. But one day, ten years after highschool, I got out my old hand carved Norwegian recorder, and started fiddling around with it again. I started trying to figure out some Kate songs on it. Man, they were hard to play; they just didn’t follow the general rules of music for recorder, which tends to be pretty simple. It’s a pretty simple instrument. Then I tried “Oh England, My Lionheart,” and viola, it flowed from my fingers like it was written for the recorder. Then I realized, the setting of the song was clearly meant to evoke the sound of old English music. The song is about England recovering from WWII, but at the same time there’s a layer of historical nostalgia about England itself. And to suggest that, here Kate had gone and written the song in a style reminiscent of an Elizabethan tune, to evoke a sense of England moving through the ages of history; to suggest that England has survived a lot of history, and it will recover from WII. [Oh! England, my Lionheart, I’m in your garden, fading fast in your arms. The soldiers soften, the war is over. The air raid shelters are blooming clover. Flapping umbrellas fill the lanes– My London Bridge in rain again. Oh! England, my Lionheart! Peter Pan steals the kids in Kensington Park. You read me Shakespeare on the rolling Thames– That old river poet that never, ever ends. Our thumping hearts hold the ravens in, And keep the tower from tumbling.]([Gaffaweb - Kate Bush - The Sensual World: The Music - The Lyrics - "Oh! England, My Lionheart"](http://gaffa.org/sensual/l_oeml.html)) Chills. And I might never had realized the aptness of the musical setting if I hadn’t tried to play a bunch of Kate songs on the recorder. Another example. Her song “The Dreaming”–the title song, not the album–is about the shameful treatment of the Aborigines at the hands of the English colonials, up to the present day. How the Aborigines used to be a proud race, and then here comes the Englishman and with his technology and booze and cruelty has left the Aborigine along the side of the road like a hit-and-run victim. [“Bang” goes another kanga On the bonnet of the van _(See the light ram through the gaps in the land)_ Many an Aborigine’s mistaken for a tree 'Til you near him on the motorway The tree begin to breathe _(See the light ram through the gaps in the land)_ Coming in with the golden light in the morning Coming in with the golden light is the New Man Coming with the golden light is my dented van ](http://gaffa.org/discog/songs/thedream.html) Now, a couple of things strike me as unusual about this. First off, it’s one of the only examples I can think of of an unreliable narrator in a pop song. It’s about the shameful treatment of the Aborigines, but it’s not written like you’d expect:“This is a song about the shameful treatment of the Aborigines!” It’s written from the point of view _of the oppressor._ He’s making his own case, uninterrupted and unrebutted, but we still see through it to the truth. Second, the way the music is arranged. The arrangement and composition are done in such a way as to be a fully realized metaphor for the message of the song. The song means the same thing as an instrumental, as it does with the lyrics. The track starts with sounds of didgeridoo and percussion. Authentic Aboriginal music being played on authentic Aboriginal instruments. Then there’s a screech of tires, a moment of violent noise, and suddenly the melody changes. Instead of playing an Aboriginal tune, we hear what, if it were sped up a bit, would sound very much like a jig or a reel; maybe a shanty, anyone know the difference? Anyway, the tune is clearly meant to evoke the culture of the colonists. It’s certainly not a modern pop tune. But it’s slowed down to where it almost sounds like a dirge. So here we have authentic Aboriginal instruments playing authentic Ab. music; a violent screech, and they’re twisted into playing a false-jovial colonial tune. Almost too explicit to count as a metaphor. Anyway, not all of her songs are productive of such deconstruction, but many are. THere’s always way more there than meets the eye. And that’s before you see the layers she adds with the imagery of her videos. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2006, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kate-bush-musical-genius/347447/97 "2006-03-10T21:17:17Z")
> [@bordelond](#): > > OK … I went and dug around [allmusic.com](http://allmusic.com)’s musical samples for Kate Bush. Did you go to the MySpace pages that were linked on the first page? There are several full-length songs on each page. Some would not be my choice as an introduction, but they are fan pages, so the people who run the page assume that only fans are going there. Here’s one. I’ll go look for the other ones. [http://www.myspace.com/ktbush](http://www.myspace.com/ktbush) > [@bordelond](#): > > I listened to two other samples: “Babooshka” and “Cloudbusting”. Neither were my cup of tea on my first listen of the 30-second clips. These two songs gave me the impression that “Running Up That Hill” may be pretty much a _sui generis_ within her body of work – the latter two songs seemed to lack any kind of a hook. “Babooshka babooshka babooshka ay yiy” doesn’t sound hooky to you?? Wow, we have very different ears. “Cloudbusting’s” hook comes from the “I just know that something good is gonna happen…” part of the song. I believe that’s the part that the Utah Saints sampled. That’s the type of song that would never be released as a single here because the hook doesn’t hit the listener over the head. It’s far from being a straight-ahead rock song. The music slowly builds throughout the song and ends up very intense at the end. [The lyrics](http://gaffa.org/sensual/l_cb.html) are telling a story from the point of view of a young boy. His father is an eccentric scientist, who makes the boy bury his glow-in-the-dark yo-yo because he fears it’s radioactive. The son digs it up and hides it in the back yard. The scientist has built, among other inventions, a machine to try and make it rain, which delights the young boy. The scientist is arrested and wrenched away from his son, who laments “I can’t hide you from the government.” The song is very sad, but seems optimistic when the son sings “I just know that something good is gonna happen.” The more you know about the story the more heartwrenching that line is, because nothing good did happen. The father died in prison and the boy was left alone. The song is based on a book called “The Book of Dreams” by Peter Reich. The book tells, from Peter as a boy’s point of view, about his father, Wilhelm Reich. Reich really did build a machine that was supposed to make it rain. They lived in a compound in Maine called Orgonon (hence the first line of the song “I still dream of Orgonon”), and Reich really was arrested by the US government, for selling another machine he built, the Orgone box, as a medical device. According to [Reich’s Wikipedia entry](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Reich), he was charged with contempt of court for violating an injunction to stop promoting it as a medical device. He was sentenced to two years in prison and died of a heart attack after one year. Much can be said about Reich, but whether anyone thinks he was a genius or a crackpot, Kate takes no stand in the matter. The song is strictly based on the book, and the book is strictly concerned with how the boy worshipped his father, loved to help him make and test inventions, and how the boy felt seeing his father taken away by men in a “big, black car” and never seeing him again. The video is extraordinary, imo. It’s a mini-movie with full production values. Donald Sutherland plays Reich in the video and Kate, with a short-haired wig and overalls, plays Peter. The rain machine was designed by H. R. Giger. The song is certainly not for everybody, and it’s true that the “hook” isn’t completely obvious, at least not on first listen when you don’t know what the heck’s going on, but it is there, and like most of Kate’s songs, the song gets more interesting and richer with multiple listens and information. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2006, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kate-bush-musical-genius/347447/98 "2006-03-10T21:23:11Z")
Kate released both the song lissener references, “The Dreaming,” and “Cloudbusting” as singles. Is it any wonder that American radio ignored her? Hooks and simplistic lyrics rule here. (Everywhere, really, but here especially) And lissener’s post? What he said (except I’ve never tried to re-create Kate’s music). ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2006, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kate-bush-musical-genius/347447/99 "2006-03-10T21:53:07Z")
> [@Equipoise](#): > > That’s the type of song that would never be released as a single here because the hook doesn’t hit the listener over the head. It’s far from being a straight-ahead rock song. The music slowly builds throughout the song and ends up very intense at the end. That’s a little unfair to much (not all) of the American listening public. “The music slowly builds throughout the song and ends up very intense at the end” is an apt description of “Stairway to Heaven” – which, admittedly, was never released as a single. > [@](#): > > Is it any wonder that American radio ignored her? Hooks and simplistic lyrics rule here. (Everywhere, really, but here especially) Simplistic lyrics rule? I don’t think it’s that cut and dried. “American Pie”, “Levon”, much of Steely Dan’s output, etc. The “hook” part is more accurate. And the hook has to grab the listener quick – if it’s subtle or requires repeated listening … can’t really call that a “hook”. … I’ll have to listen to the full songs over at myspace. I’m quite aware that the brief clips from allmusic weren’t really sufficient (although the whole of “Running Up That Hill” came flooding back into my head as I heard the sample). ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2006, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kate-bush-musical-genius/347447/100 "2006-03-10T21:53:28Z")
OOOHHHHH! On that first [MySpace page](http://www.myspace.com/ktbush) that I linked to, if you scroll down, someone links to an excerpt of _Rhythms of the World_, a documentary about the legendary Bulgarian singers The Trio Bulgarka. Kate’s worked with them several times, but the documentary was being made while Kate was working with them for the first time, on the song “Rockets Tail” from her album **The Sensual World**. The quality is dodgy but if you can watch it it’s a fascinating slice into Kate working. We haven’t had near enough of that. Also on that front page are dodgy quality videos to “The Man With The Child In His Eyes” (official video) and “The Wedding List” which isn’t an official video. That is from an hour-long Christmas Special that aired in England in December 1979. Just about every song was presented like that, with costumes and props. A couple others are just Kate at the piano. Peter Gabriel was her guest. He sang “Here Comes the Flood” alone, and together they sang Roy Harper’s “Another Day.” I have broadband and the videos are choppy, so I doubt many people will be able to see them, but they’re there. I find it helps if I start it playing, then pause to let it buffer. I haven’t yet gone to the other Comments pages to see if there are more. I’m sure there are. YouTube probably has a lot more, but I haven’t gone there either. Another MySpace page: [http://www.myspace.com/thekatebush](http://www.myspace.com/thekatebush) The “official” Kate MySpace page (in America anyway): > **[Brent Smithy (katebushofficial) on Myspace](https://myspace.com/katebushofficial)** > > Brent Smithy (katebushofficial)'s profile on Myspace, the place where people come to connect, discover, and share. That page only has one song (“King of the Mountain”) plus a crappy-looking partial version of the KOTM video. It sucks as a MySpace page, but it’s fun and worthwhile to read the comments. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kate-bush-musical-genius/347447.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/kate-bush-musical-genius/347447.md?page=6)