The mad girl in the attic
When I first heard Kate Bush's debut single "Wuthering Heights" I had no idea what she looked like and her screechy, witchy vocal gave me a mental picture of some batty old woman who spent too much time locked up at home with her cats and frightened the local children. But then this poster started appearing around London which just goes to show how wrong you can be. Very happily wrong in this case.
But even though she turned out to be young and smoking hot Kate still had a touch of the dotty old bat about her — the polite English term for this is "eccentric" — with her peculiar songs, outside-the-box individuality and penchant for funny costumes and interpretive dance. In his book "England Is Mine" Michael Bracewell described her as "pop's equivalent of the mad girl in the attic...covering the territory of Angela Carter's A Company of Wolves in the guise of a pre-Raphaelite raised on Jackie" (if I wrote a line that good I'd retire.) But what do you expect from someone who spend her childhood dressing up like this?
Judging by these photos Kate had a rather bohemian and free-spirited childhood, growing up on an old farmhouse with a piano-playing father, folk-dancing mother, musicians and poets for brothers and lots of costumes and make-believe — it sounds like something out of Dodie Smith's "I Capture The Castle." The sort of atmosphere that would produce a girl precocious enough to write and record something as amazing as this when she was only 16.
Download: The Man With The Child In His Eyes - Kate Bush (mp3)
I had a Kate Bush poster on my bedroom wall but it wasn't because I was such a huge fan of her records (hint: she was wearing a leotard), though I loved a lot of her singles I had a hard time making it through a whole album and could only take her in small doses. She was like the sexy girl you meet at a college party who dazzles you with her passion for music, poetry, art, and theatre, but after a while her moody drama queen act, Ophelia complex, and habit of reciting Sylvia Plath poems out loud gets really annoying and you yearn for someone a bit less "interesting" — you only stayed with her as long as you did because the sex was amazing.
Still, you've got to love someone who mentions Gurdjieff in a pop song and writes one as beautifully elegiac about the old country as "Oh England My Lionheart".
Download: Them Heavy People (live) - Kate Bush (mp3)
Download: Oh England My Lionheart (live) - Kate Bush (mp3)
11 Comments:
Heh. I remember that leotard picture.
I was never a major fan; but my best mate from school was and is a huge fan. To the point that several of his girlfriends over the years have been pretty much a spitting image of Kate in her younger days. Including the "moody drama queen act, Ophelia complex, and habit of reciting Sylvia Plath poems out loud". Which is why he now is with somebody equally good looking but nothing like that. I think it drove him a little bit mad.
:)
She's a national treasure.
Hounds Of Love and Aerial stand with any art produced in England in the last 20 years, in my humble.
On a less elevated note, I always 'enjoyed' her on the cover of the 'Army Dreamers' single, in a low cut 1940s-style dress...
Must go, ahem, make a cup of tea now.
PS: those childhood pics are beautiful.
Kate seems pretty normal and level-headed in real life, I was just thinking of the persona she has on record.
The "reciting Sylvia Plath poems out loud" bit does come from personal experience, I had a fling with a girl that did that. She also once jumped into a swimming pool with all her clothes on and got pissed off when I refused to do the same.
"I had a fling with a girl that did that. She also once jumped into a swimming pool with all her clothes on and got pissed off when I refused to do the same."
(laughs slyly) Oh, man. I certainly do know the type. Spent my 20s chasing a string of similarly eccentric women, to predictable results. My favorite was the type who'd cuss out some large sociopath behaving poorly in a public place, seemingly unaware that, though she started it, you'd be the one to finish it. Charming.
The woman I married isn't at all like this - though in her estimation she probably once was - but I have this sinking sensation that at least one of my daughters might be. Which is why we've banned jerkins and Morris dancing from the house.
JC,
LOL!!
For a guy who was so not into the mainstream banality that was being force fed to me here in trhe US, Kate was a daring breath of fresh air. Though I can't say I loved everything she's done (her albums in small doses is what I do) her "Greatest Hits" remains one of the favored of mine.
Great post. Great posters too if I remember correctly!
I'm another who liked Kate's music in small (45 sized) doses. But I haven't been able to resist picking up 3 of her albums lately in charity shop trawls. Giving them a proper listen after all these years with fresh ears... I am appreciating them more...but I still prefer her in small doses. Anyway I'm glad I've got them in the collection. When I'm retired I can look forward to pulling them out again and maybe then fully embracing Kate (now there's a thought).
btw are you going to put dave edney out of his misery and tell him your a true blue or shall I?
I already told him.
Great cover of Kate Bush wuthering heights by an Aussie band called Mr Floppy - produced an independant cd in late 90's which is really hard to find -well i cant find it anyway
Kate Bush was just super talented and so sexy. the great thing musically was she just plowed her own furrow and we followed and not just because she was so hot, but be cause she had IT!
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