KB & "Devil Worship"

[harvard!jerpc.PE!topaz!jer (Eric Roskos @ Home)]

When I read the comment from Ms. X on people she knew who had
given up KB because she sounded like "a witch," "a devil
worshipper," etc., I felt compelled to expand on my previous
comments.

I agree with the observation.  If you don't listen to the words
to the song, but just to the music, several of the songs
on "The Dreaming", as well as a few on this Hounds of Love, have
a sort of "haunted house music" sound (I mean songs other than
the obvious one).

Why is this?  Well, I think the main reason is Kate Bush's
tendency to glide between notes, in a sort of wailing way.  This
(especially if it's in a minor key) tends to be very reminiscent
of "evil" songs, which tend to incorporate catlike sounds.  I
suspect there are even more exact characteristics than that
which her songs fit.  (An example, just looking at the lyric
sheet here beside me... the lines that go "watched it weeping,
but I made it stay" is one of the more obvious cases.  Parts of
"Night of the Swallow" are like that too (although I like that
song a lot, actually), e.g., "before you know I'll be over the
water like a swallow").  I think it's mostly the wailing sound,
though; wailing is generally a sound of anguish or torment.

Of course, uncivilized people, who don't say "thank you", ignore
their mail, or use answering machines, are also obviously "devil
worshippers"... and as Chuqui once said, "who shall forgive the
impenitent"?