Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site mit-eddie.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!cmcl2!seismo!harvard!think!mit-eddie!nessus From: nessus@mit-eddie.UUCP (Doug Alan) Newsgroups: net.music Subject: Re: I am Doug! (Long, detailed discussion on "The Dreaming") Message-ID: <4847@mit-eddie.UUCP> Date: Sat, 3-Aug-85 07:19:43 EDT Article-I.D.: mit-eddi.4847 Posted: Sat Aug 3 07:19:43 1985 Date-Received: Sun, 4-Aug-85 06:29:28 EDT References: <1365@peora.UUCP> <4781@mit-eddie.UUCP> <1412@peora.UUCP> Organization: MIT, Cambridge, MA Lines: 121 Keywords: Probably of interest only to Kate Bush fans > From: jer@peora.UUCP (J. Eric Roskos) >> [Me:] She is definitely not Christian, though. > That is unfortunate. No, it's very fortunate! Now, all we have to do is get her to give up these silly beliefs about reincarnation and spirits, etc. (Not if it would cause her to lose any of her weirdness, though!) > Well, I was referring in particular to two things. The first is the > obvious one of the word "house" in referring to the body. Yes, it's very clear that in "Get Out of My House" she has somehow become the house, or equates herself with the house, but what is the biblical allusion involved? What does the Bible have to say about houses being human bodies or vice versa? > The second is the use of the word "feet". In the Bible, "feet" is > often a euphemism for "private parts". No strangers feet Will enter me I wash the panes I clean the stains away Wow! How risque! I would have never picked up on that meaning! This is not exactly the same picture she paints of sex in her early stuff (but then again, "Get Out Of My House" is a story -- not a description of the way things should be, as much of her early stuff is). > However, your other comments on Kate Bush being basically a nice > person who likes her fans, etc., goes along well with my > interpretation of the song as being related to feelings of GUILT over > not being able to give "all the love you should have given" to all her > fans. The refrain "We needed you to love us too" is rather haunting, > in a sad way, suggesting also these feelings of guilt. I certainly won't argue with this. Sounds good to me! Speaking of allusions to Kate's fans, it certainly sounds to me like the title to Kate's new album "Hounds of Love" is a definite reference to her fans! (Gee, can we start analyzing an album 41 days before we've heard it?) And it has clear conotations of both love for them and frustration with them. So maybe now the correct term for Kate Bush fans is neither "Lionhearts" or "Bushies", but "Love Hounds"! > Tell me this... in the opening lines, The first time I died Was in the arms of good friends of mine. They kiss me with tears They hadn't been near me for years Say, why do it now, when I won't be around? I'm going out. > What does "it" refer to? This is something that puzzles me, in either > interpretation. I'm not sure which "it" you mean (you had another "it" in front of the "was", but that "it" isn't actually in the lyrics), but I'm puzzled about your puzzlement -- the surface meaning seems pretty straight-forward to me. I'll give you my translation into non-poetic English: The first time I died, I did so in the arms of good friends of mine. They showed their love for me while I was dying, But they hadn't been close to me for years before. Why show your love for me now, when it's too late? I'm dying. Why didn't you do it while I was still alive, when it would have done some good? > I don't think it is hopeless, but it seems almost demented at times. Why? Like I said before, I think the perfect description for the tone of the album would be "frustrated" -- certainly not "demented"! (Well maybe "Get Out Of My House", but Kate has said that she wrote the song after reading Steven King's "The Shining", which is the only book that ever scared her, and after seeing the movie "The Alien" -- and she wanted to somehow put that fear into a song.) It also seems to me that unless you have some religious crutch to lean on, life is basically and fundamentally a futile endeavor. Which isn't the same thing as saying it's not worth doing (there's always existential protest, etc.) -- but it is a frustrating thing to realize. Just look at he title to Kate's third album "Never for Ever". This alludes to the fact, that we are completely transient beings. That everything we are, do, and achieve is only temporary. That eventually we won't exist anymore -- forever. Then again, on Lionheart, Kate says "I see myself suddenly on the piano/ As a melody/ My terrible fear of dying, no longer/ Plays with me/ For now I know that I'm needed/ For the symphony." She sure is! I just wish I was needed for the symphony too... >> But actually it is Kate Bush's high voice (not her low voice) that is her >> natural voice. > Well, it's hard to know this, but I suspect her natural voice is her > low voice, and that she just cultivated the "high" one because it was > better suited for a female lead vocalist. Well, in her early stuff, she has no problem reaching very very high notes. She does sing some low notes too, but it usually sounded like (until "The Dreaming") she was trying really hard to reach those low notes. Also, on "The Dreaming" they actually used a tape effect to make her voice lower for one part -- the part in Houdini where she screams "With your spit still on my lip -- you hit the water". (I suppose she still has problems singing very loudly at low pitches.) Speaking of "Houdini", has anyone figured out what the background vocals are singing while the foreground vocals are singing "I'd watch you breathe/ Bound and drowned/ And paler than you've ever been"? I can only pick out one word, "Houdini". (When I listen to this song, even I believe...) "Not even Eternity Can hold Houdini" Doug Alan nessus@mit-eddie.UUCP (or ARPA)