Re: Kate Bushopathy

[nessus (Doug Alan)]

> From: J. Peter Alfke <alfke@csvax.caltech.edu>

>    IT'S ONLY ROCK & ROLL!!  IT'S ONLY ROCK & ROLL!!  IT'S ONLY ROCK& ROLL!!

(Kate hasn't done much "Rock & Roll".  Much of her stuff could
probably safely be called "Rock" or "Pop", however.)

Mr. Alfke, I wouldn't expect someone who thinks that Madonna has merit
to agree with the statement that pop music can be *real* literature.
But I see no reason for you to spoil the fun of those who were forced
to write lots of unenjoyable papers in high school on symbolism in
*Hamlet* and *The Great Gatsby* and the collected works of Keats, and
who have finally found something that they can apply all of this
previously wasted education on and *enjoy*.

You might also speculate on the the fact that Kate refuses to talk
about how she does her two-way messages or the contents of them, even
though she *does* admit reluctantly that they are there, and how
this strange attitude of hers might bear on her unwillingness to talk
about symbolism in her words.

You might also speculate on the fact that when I asked John Carder
Bush similar questions about his lyrics to those I asked Kate, he said
that I was right.  Consider that Kate has said on several occasions
that John is one of her biggest influences.

Your parody of my interview is I feel not very appropriate.  This
would be much more accurate:

	DOUG:	In the song "The Dreaming" you sing "The Pull of the
		Bush" to mention the attraction of the Aborigine in
		Australia to the unspoiled land.  But you are also
		making a pun on your own name.  Did you have any special
		intention in doing this, other than in being a bit
		humorous?

	KATE:	Pun on my name?  I'm not sure what you mean.

	DOUG:	"Bush" occurs in "Pull of the Bush".

	KATE:	So?

	DOUG:	That's your name.

	KATE:	I had nothing of the sort in mind when I wrote the
		song.

	DOUG:	But why is "Bush" capitalized on the lyric sheet?

	KATE:	It wasn't intentional.

	DOUG:	And in the video, the two male dancers pull on you from
		either side when you sing that line.

	KATE:	How people interpret your art really has nothing to do
		with you anyway.  But it's great if people get as much out
		of it as they can.

	DOUG:	But surely...

	KATE:	Excuse me for a moment -- I have to use the bathroom.

In any case, I just got a letter from John Carder Bush (and a pile of
his poetry) that some might find somewhat interesting:

	Dear Doug,

	Thanks for your interesting letter; it's nice to meet someone
	these days who gets excited about words.

	[Two pages of stuff...]

	Entendres are, indeed, interesting things.  Over the years I
	have evolved a sort of personal understanding of this planet /
	God / life in terms  of rhyme.  If you can see the Supreme
	Being as merely a harmonizing force, then coincidence,
	synchronicity are easily explained; as the poet makes his
	rhymes, the pattern of life makes its rhymes.  And in double,
	tripple, or whatever, entendres, the poet exercises a god-like
	technique.

	Keeping this in mind, I feel that  for someone working in an
	artistic medium, and thence becoming "godlike", by imitation,
	there must come a series of levels of progress, each level
	preceded by intense periods of obsession and worry  with the
	creation  -- late nights, wrong food, ill health, etc. -- and
	at each level something crystallises, and an energy vortex
	with a consciousness of its own starts going.

	Once it is able to generate its own creative direction, it
	needs to be fed and looked after like any machine, but it can
	be relied on to offer up an image, a line, in which the levels
	are all there, up and down, and can be understood depending on
	the level of the receiver.  Sufi strories, Zen stories, Greek
	myths all have this spiralling mult-interpretation power, as
	do all the great written works of religion.  You can keep
	coming back to them and finding the next level confirmed as
	you grow.

	So I am sure you are right when you find these meanings in
	Kate's music, but whether it was conscious or unconscious is
	not important if you accept that she is a vehicle for the
	Great Rhymer.  Kate's subject matter for her lyrics has always
	been extraordinary, which I think comes  from an ability to
	empathise with life forms that is unusually sensitive.

	So, I hope you enjoy these poems and watch out for Big Sky,
	soon to be released over here and the video is the best so far.

	All that's good,

	John

-Doug