To mark the publication, we spoke to the new generation of artists who have been inspired by inimitable Kate Bush to find out why she has had such a lasting impact and the lyrics that hold special meaning for them. One paradox about her is that while her lyrics are avowedly idiosyncratic, those same lyrics evoke emotions and sensations that feel universal.” “She is a creator of musical companions that travel with you through life.
LYRICS HOUNDS OF LOVE KATE BUSH HOW TO
“For millions around the world Kate is way more than another singer-songwriter,” writes novelist David Mitchell in the introduction to a new cloth-bound book of her lyrics, How to Be Invisible. There are few gatherings with my female friends that don’t end with a mime-infused interpretative dance-off to the refrain, “Heathcliff, it’s me, I’m Cathy/I’ve come home, I’m so cold/Let me in through your window.” I cannot fail to be moved by the lines, “I know you’ve got a little life in you yet/I know you’ve got a lot of strength left,” on 1989’s “This Woman’s Work”, when life all seems too much. Her songs, each with their own story to tell, their own characters, their own unique soundscape have seeped into our consciousness and form important touchstones in the lives of those who come into contact with them. Kate Bush pictured at her family’s home in East Wickham, London in 1978 – the same year she released Wuthering Heights (Photo by Chris Moorhouse/Evening Standard/Hulton Archive/Getty Images) In 2002, she won the Ivor Novello Award for Outstanding Contribution to British Music. She has since had 25 UK Top 40 singles, from “Babooshka” to “Running Up That Hill”, and 10 UK Top 10 studio albums, including Never for Ever (1980) and Hounds of Love (1985). She began aged 11 and topped the charts with her first single, the Brontë-inspired “Wuthering Heights”, when she was 19. In particular, her talent for songwriting sets her apart. She represents for many a force of uninhibited originality and feminine energy that somehow cut through the marketing machine of pop music to set and break her own rules as her creative whims saw fit, retaining ownership of her output across the writing and production process in a way that remains impressive by contemporary standards. The timeless appeal of her songs means, at 60, she has touched multiple generations, stretching from her explosion onto the scene in 1978 through to today: you can’t move for gig reviews or artist interviews that cite Bush as a reference point or influence, whether for style of vocal, aesthetic or lyrical sensibility.
Kate Bush is a singular artist whose impact, not only on music but on our culture more broadly, is so pervasive, it’s hard to see its sides.
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