The Bush Calls

Someone remarked to me today that The Cardigans are one of their favorite female-centered bands and I sat in silence shocked.  Bound by confusion, disdain and an urge to be both supportive yet separate.  At least they're trying, right?  No.  There are just too many female led bands that I believe would fit this person's aesthetic... I'm not sure I can sit quietly and just let this pass. 

Kate Bush is absolutely fucking fundamental and though I could have started with SO MANY bands and albums [UM you guys Cat Power's Moon Pix for a killer cry/masturbation session if nothing else], tonight I'm plowing through Hounds of Love with a bottle of wine and hopefully the stamina to finish.  I've elected to skip the money makers; though beyond impressive and super personally powerful, we'll leave behind Running Up That Hill and Hounds Of Love because I'm going to trust you already know and love those tunes if you're perusing this odd space.  If you don't, do the world a favor keep that fact to yourself and RUN to listen then share with someone you love.

As anthemic as Big Sky is [and you'll see this track posted very soon], I actually prefer the pounce and pull of Cloudbusting.  The child-like climax is so anticlimatic and that speaks volumes.
 

You're like my yo-yo
That glowed in the dark.
What made it special
Made it dangerous,
So I bury it
And forget.

But every time it rains,
You're here in my head,
Like the sun coming out

And Dream of Sheep is the only song that could possibly follow such an anticlimatic song with its quiet thunderous bass/soprano murmurs.  Do you hear that delicious snowy pull??  Breathtaking.


I tune in to some friendly voices
Talking 'bout stupid things.
I can't be left to my imagination.

Let me be weak,
Let me sleep
And dream of sheep.

Waking the Witch is already slotted for my Winter Mix this year - such an incredible delicious aural tale of what feels like Little Innocent Red Riding Hood meets Dark Devil.  It ends ominously and sonically with no conclusion... so wicked.  Watching You Without Me brings an element of quiet organic insect-like warmth with its Indian seagull sway to what I've always felt was a relatively cold album and makes me want use it as a cushion in a mix I have in mind.  It speaks of loss, nostalgia and something... something I can't put into words.

Watching You Without Me



Can't let you know
What's been happening.
There's a ghost in our home,
Just watching you without me.
I'm not here.

Jig of Life is what I believe to be the album's roots and joy.  Listening to John Carder Bush's narration... holy shit!  I can't help but think of My Mary when I feel this tune and hear the lyrics.  And then follows Holy Earth... holy moly.. it's not for everyone but for some it's pure magic.  It's my magic.

Jig of Life


Hello, old lady.
I know your face well.
I know it well.

She says,
"Ooh-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na!
I'll be sitting in your mirror.
Now is the place where the crossroads meet.
Will you look into the future?

"Never, never say goodbye
To my part of your life.

"Let me live!"
She said.
"C'mon and let me live, girl!"

Can't you see where memories are kept bright?
Tripping on the water like a laughing girl.
Time in her eyes is spawning past life,
One with the ocean and the woman unfurled,
Holding all the love that waits for you here.
Catch us now for I am your future.
A kiss on the wind and we'll make the land.
Come over here to where When lingers,
Waiting in this empty world,
Waiting for Then, when the lifespray cools.
For Now does ride in on the curl of the wave,
And you will dance with me in the sunlit pools.
We are of the going water and the gone.
We are of water in the holy land of water
And all that's to come runs in
With the thrust on the strand."

I picked a hard album, I realize now.  Picking just a few songs to showcase is proving impossible, Kate Bush is working her spells and that's a good thing.  I've already decided that some people have to come to her in their own time and if they only touch upon her but once they're lucky.  If you let her wash over you in one sitting, you're likely to melt into the stream and become one with her enchantments.  At this point, one bottle in, I'm okay with that.