Re: What's this song about, anyhow?

[Doug Alan <nessus>]

> From: Eric Roskos
> Subject: What's this song about, anyhow?

> Well, I've been hearing Doug say how "Running Up that Hill" is
> "perfect" and a great song and all, but hadn't heard it yet, so this
> weekend I went down to the Belz Factory Outlet Mall and bought a copy
> of this "12-inch single" (when & why did they start making those?) to
> listen to myself.

I never said RUTH was perfect!!!  I said, in fact, that I was
dissapointed with the music.  I did say the lyrics are perfect, though!
Also, I said "Under The Ivy" (the B-side to RUTH) is perfect.  It is!

They make 12-inch singles because they can charge a lot more for them!
Also, they are much better fidelity.  The 7-inch version of RUTH is
nearly unlistenable in comparison to the 12-inch version!  You can't get
any bass response on a 7-inch.

> Now, what is this song about, anyhow?  Is it about how women have to endure
> sexual harassment whereas men don't?

Not at all!  At the end of this message, I've included a whole bunch of
stuff I wrote about RUTH.  In there somewhere is my (absolutely
correct!) interpretation of the lyrics.

> Or is it some more general thing?  Who is this person she wants to
> swap places with, God, or a male person?

A lover.  A fan.  Anyone.

> Also... why does the song run over to the other side?  I mean, they
> could have made it fit all on one side, so why doesn't it?

I'm confused!  What are you talking about?  The whole song *is* on one
side.  The B-side contains an instrumental version of RUTH and the song
"Under The Ivy".  UTI is the *real* reason to buy the single, because it
is *so* great (one of Kate's very very best songs!!!) and isn't on the
album.

> Finally, some trivia... this bow she is holding here on the front and
> back isn't a "crossbow", as someone said earlier; it's not even a
> compound bow.

I don't remember anyone saying anything about a crossbow.  I said
"longbow", and discussed how it represented a love/hate relationship
because it is symbolic of both cupid's bow and a means of killing
someone.

> Also, where is the "KT" on this album cover?

This isn't an album cover -- it's just the cover of the single.  She
doesn't hide the KT logo on her single covers.

			"That cloud
			 That cloud -- it looks like ivy!"

			 Doug

P.S.  Here is all the cruft about RUTH that I promised:

> From Valerie

> I really like the new song. I think the heavy rhythm is appealing, and
> quite different from her work before.

I like "Running Up That Hill" a lot too.  But I'm somewhat disappointed
-- it's definitely a move towards being more commercial, which I'm not
so wild about.  It's the first song of hers I've ever heard with a
catchy melody, or with any type of real "hook" in it.  Also, it's
simpler than anything on "The Dreaming" and I'm really fond of the rich
layered complexity of "The Dreaming".  The lyrics for "Running Up That
Hill" I find stunningly good though.

The B-side, "Under The Ivy", is very simple, but I think it's really
great!  It's very very sad, and powerfully emotional musically and
lyrically.  The lyrics are perfect.  The whole song is just about as
good as anything Kate's ever done.  My only complaint is that it is so
short.

....

From: nessus@mit-eddie.UUCP (Doug Alan)
Newsgroups: net.music
Subject: Re: Kate Bush's "Running Up That Hill"
Posted: Sat Aug 17 14:14:32 1985

> From: bottom@katadn.DEC (Dave Bottom)

> However, I heard "Running up the hill" the other night on the radio.
> Nice song, but I guess I'm not cut out to be a Kate Bush fanatic. 

I agree!  Nice song!  But not the sort of stuff that Kate Bush
fanatacism is based on.  Also nothing by Kate Bush is done justice going
through a radio.  There all always all sorts of subtleties that are
completely lost.

> I have no specific criticisms of what I heard and it's probably not
> representative of her total musical output.

No it isn't!  Kate's music is constantly changing, and "Running Up That
Hill" is totally unlike any other song she's ever done.  It's the only
song she's ever done with a dance beat.  The only song she's ever done
with a catchy melody.  The only song she's ever done with a "hook".
It's clearly a move towards commercialism, and I'm not so wild about
that.  I guess she needs to pay some bills, but I'm sure the rest of the
new album won't be so commercial, though. (I hope!) [Editorial note --
it turns out that about 40% of it is quite commercial, but the other 60%
is *so* awesome you're all going to wet your pants when you hear it!]

> Seems to me it is just another synthed up song with a female singer.
> (I have nothing against synths, I own one) Have I missed something
> important? Please be honest, flames and sarcasm are not constructive.

Well, like I said, "Running Up That Hill" wouldn't have converted me.  I
do like it, but I also am somewhat disappointed.

....

From: nessus@mit-eddie.UUCP (Doug Alan)
Newsgroups: net.music
Subject: Kate Bush gone Disco?!?
Keywords: Review of "Running Up That Hill"
Posted: Thu Aug  8 18:05:12 1985

["It wouldn't take me long to tell you how to find it"]

I managed to get a tape this morning of the 12-inch single version of
Kate Bush's "Running Up That Hill" from a great guy (thanks!).  The
following is a review of this single.  I'm told the 12-inch version is
somewhat different from the 7-inch version (the 12-inch is longer and
there are some lyrics missing), and that the 12-inch is not being
released in the U.S., except to radio staions, so what I describe may
not be exactly what you will hear.

I had already received yesterday via net mail from Hugh Maher the lyrics
to "Running Up That Hill" and thought they were just incredibly great.
The lyrics appear to be about wanting to know what it's like to be other
people and experience their experiences, among other things, and the
lyrics also have strong sexual overtones presented as metaphor (for
music?  Art?  Life?  Whatever?).  I was really psyched to hear the song.

Well, only moments after I was handed the tape, I rushed to my stereo to
play the tape, and as soon as the song was over I was filled with
complete despair!  What I heard was a dance song with a somewhat
interesting but monotonous and overbearing drum machine beat that droned
unvaryingly throughout the whole song and an obnoxious four note
synthesizer hook.  "This can't be the same Kate Bush that did
'The Dreaming'!"  I thought to myself in panic!

How could she have sold out so?!?  The drum machine and Fairlight that
were used so perfectly on "The Dreaming" were now totally abused!  I
wanted to fly to England at that moment and take Kate's drum machine and
Fairlight away from her and break them into little tiny pieces.

But I wasn't going to do anything rash until I had listened to the song
several more times and let it sink in.  And sink in it did!  By the
fifth or sixth listen the monotonous overbearing drum machine beat and
synthesizer hook had faded into the background and all sorts of
interesting things were revealed!  What had appeared before to be an
overbearing monotonous beat, now appeared to be more of a
silence-substitute -- a textured background upon which to hang the
interesting things.

Now I think the song is just great!  And am looking forward to the album
"Hounds of Love" with renewed vigour.  The song probably has lots of
commercial potential, because those cretins who like nothing but
monotonous dance beats, will probably be able to ignore the interesting
stuff.  And people who like interesting stuff will probably be able to
see the great artistry, if they give it a bit of a chance.

I don't think the fact that it took me a little while to get used the
song a particular minus, because I have never liked a song by Kate Bush
before the fifth or sixth listen anyway.  This time I was just a lot
more worried than before.

One of the very few other musical artists I have ever heard who is able
to combine superb artistry with "commerciality" in the singles market is
Peter Gabriel.  His two songs "Games Without Frontiers" and "Shock The
Monkey" were very commercial yet artistically superb too.  ("Shock The
Monkey" even made it to number one on the Boston disco radio staion --
and perhaps on the "Kick Ass Rock 'N Roll" station too (but I'm not sure
about that...))  They're not my favorite of his songs but they are still
excellent.

I think that Kate Bush has done at least as good a job encorporating
artistic success into something with commercial potential in the singles
market, and though I despise the forces that have caused Kate Bush to
feel she has to move back into a more commercial direction, I won't
complain too loudly if it still results in something this good, and as
long as this style only occupies a reasonable portion of her album.

The B-side to the single is a simple, but very emotionally moving and
sad piano ballad called "Under The Ivy".  It's quite uncommercial, and
incredibly good, especially because of the lyrics, which are intensely
powerful.  They seem to allude to the desire to obtain the lost
innocence of youth and they talk about some dark secret which is never
explicitly described, but might be the contemplation of suicide.

			"Do you want to feel how it feels?"

			 Doug Alan
			  nessus@mit-eddie.UUCP (or ARPA)


....

I saw the lyrics to "Running Up That Hill" long before I heard the song,
and they just blew me away.  They're perfect.  I'm actually somewhat
disappointed by the music to "Running Up That Hill" -- it's really good,
but it doesn't stand up to the standards Kate set on "The Dreaming".  It
doesn't have the rich complexity and infinitely layered detail that
characterizes "The Dreaming".  This is probably the fault of The British
music press which called "The Dreaming" over-produced, incomprehensible,
and too complicated.  How could all this rejection not have an effect on
Kate's work?

....

From: Doug Alan <nessus>
Newsgroups: net.music
Subject: No, I won't shut up!  And re net review of Kate Bush's single

["It wouldn't take me long to tell you how to find it"]

....

> From: wayne@utflis.UUCP (Wayne Young)
> Newsgroups: net.music
> Subject: Kate Bush's new 12"single: a review, sort of.
> Keywords: Kate Bush, Pat Benatar, bleah.

> [crunch, crunch, lurch my lunch]

> After listening to Kate Bush's newest single, "Running Up That Hill",
> some 20 to 30 times, I can't help but feel that she did a cover version
> of one of Pat Benatar's unreleased songs. I figure that Pat gave it to
> Kate as part of a contractual agreement for "Wuthering Heights".

>      "Come on baby, come on angel
>       You don't want to hurt me"

> Did Kate really write that? I refuse to believe it. Yuck, splutter,
> ack, BLEAH.

>                        - Hermetically Sealed -
>                            (but you can call me Hermey)

Hey Wayne!  You're a Kate Bush fan, so you must be a be a great guy, but
really!  The lyrics for "Running Up That Hill" are great!  They're
perfect.  The music in "Running Up That Hill" could be better (comparing
it Pat Benetar would make me ill, though) -- it's a bit too commercial,
but the lyrics are as deep as anything Kate's done.  They blew me away
totally when I first saw them, which was several days before I heard the
music.

I mean, I can't really believe you paid too much attention to the
lyrics.  Your reaction strikes me as similar to those who say that "The
Infant Kiss" is promoting pedophilia or that "Egypt" is just a
throw-away song about how romantic the pyramids in Egypt are.  ("I
cannot stop to comfort them -- I'm busy chasing up my daemon") It's
missing the whole point!  You can't just take a couple lyrics out of
place and expect them to necessarily have deep significance by
themselves.  Seen as part of the whole, all the lyrics are important and
fit in perfectly.  Also, the lyrics aren't in the song as you quote
them.  ("C'mon baby c'mon darlin'/ Let me steal this moment from you
now")

Ever hear of a philosopher named Thomas Nagel?  He made himself famous
by writing a philospophy paper (circa 1974) entitled "What Is It Like To
Be a Bat?"  I seriously doubt if Kate Bush has ever heard of Thomas
Nagel, yet in "Running Up That Hill" she says in four minutes everything
Nagel had to say in his paper and more!  ("Do you want to feel how it
feels?")  And much more beautifully too!

It's all about art and how artists make their art but can't know what
its like to experience it, and how fans, who experience the art, can't
know what it was like to make it.  Everyone is trapped forever within
themselves, never knowing what it feels like to be anything or anyone
else.  And all this, in the song, is wrapped up in a powerful sexual
metaphor.

Once someone asked Kate Bush to respond to the common comment that one
can't dance to her music.  She responded that it didn't bother her,
because *she* could (and does) dance to it.  I wonder if it's any
coincidence, considering the subject matter of the song, that this is
the first Kate Bush song that is "danceable"?

			"You don't want to hurt me
			 But see how deep the bullet lies"

			 Doug Alan
			  nessus@mit-eddie.UUCP (or ARPA)

....