Kate-echism I.x.4, Revelations, and Apologia

[IED0DXM%UCLAMVS.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU]

Well, it looks like IED finally got a rise out of you
(T.) Gristle-heads. Notice that although IED is considered
the unreasonable party on this issue, his is the ONLY
entry re-printed below which contains any substantive
argument. When considered as a group, the responses (which
follow afterward for the Love-Hounds' collective edification)
are messy, ill-written, blindly emotional, and foul-mouthed.

First, you will recall, IED's original plea to reason:

>Frankly, this kind of flippant, ill-considered
>denigration of Kate's recent work on the dubious grounds that it is
>somehow "easier" or less avant-garde is getting harder to take.
>If those who insist that this is so could just ONCE produce
>some concrete evidence for the notion, perhaps it might gain
>some respect as an idea. Having gravitated strongly
>toward the last LP, this writer is presently of the opinion that
>"Hounds of Love/The Ninth Wave" is a BETTER album than "The Dreaming".
>What it lacks in shock value and the "inaccessibility" which
>you folks seem to covet so blindly, it more than compensates for
>in depth of meaning and musical complexity. Although "The Dreaming"
>was without doubt the best record released since "Abbey Road",
>even it has nearly been eclipsed by the shadow of "The Ninth Wave"
>-- which latter recording is certainly the greatest piece
>of popular music ever produced.


Next, your devastatingly eloquent rejoinders:


>Andy,
>Better than the Dreaming?????  I'm going to assume that I somehow
>misread your posting. (In case I didn't, will someone take his temp.?))

>Mark Kat(e)souros

A perfect example of the kind of sloppy debating techniques which
have come to characterize most of the Bush-related discourse
in Love-Hounds. Mark, work that brain: try to explain WHY it is so
silly of me to argue that Hounds of Love is better than The Dreaming.

>Please don't tempt IED into another Dreaming vs. Hounds of Love debate!
>We've already been through this several months ago. Heck, I'll even
>suggest a bunch of new topics so we can flame each other to crisps:
>Instead of "Which is better, The Dreaming or Hounds of Love?" try...

>Bill Hsu

Sorry, Bill, but no dice. The alternatives you offer just don't hold a
candle to the HoL vs. The Dreaming debate.
However, IED would be willing to drop this subject for the time being
in favor of one of the following topics, provided you folks made a
serious effort to support your opinions with comprehensible reasons:

1.) Which is better, Kate Bush or anything else?
2.) What is the first object of music, to entertain or to enlighten?
3.) What is the first object of Love-Hounds, to enlighten or to make
    churlish and contemptibly sexist slaggings?
    (This in reference to postings like the following:)

>>Please don't tempt IED into another Dreaming vs. Hounds of Love debate!
>>We've already been through this several months ago. Heck, I'll even
>>suggest a bunch of new topics so we can flame each other to crisps:

>and why not ??  what I really want dude is someone who can fill my
>mailbox with complete and utter nonsense, and still have people believe
>in it.   I can safely say that IED feels that Kate shreds his face AND
>cums in his mouth....how about that.

>wank

IED may be a minority of one in the HoL/Dreaming debate,
but surely he is not alone in deploring "Wank"'s brand of gutter-brained
slop?

>> Please don't tempt IED into another Dreaming vs. Hounds of Love
>> debate!!!

>But I just won't settle for such heresy!!!!!  I WON'T.  This is not a
>matter of debate.  This is a matter of undeniable religious FACT!
>*The Dreaming* is the greatest album that ever was and that ever will
>be.  Those who take *The Dreaming* as their personal saviour will
>achieve eternal life.  Those who don't are doomed to eternal damnation
>with a tape loop of "Dress You Up in My Love" playing!!!  Death to
>heathen unbelievers!  Praise Kate!  Amen!  Amen!

>-- Doug

A sterling example of the kind of hysterically defensive response
referred to above. Once more, IED begs, EXPLAIN WHY -- GIVE A REASON!

>Thought this deserved a second posting.  I couldn't have said it better
>myself.

>Mark Kat(e)souros

That fact, Mark, with all due respect, is abundantly clear.

>I agree that we shouldn't drag through the debate again...
>However, to settle it once and for all, I would suggest
>taking a poll to see which album is the favorite among Love-Hounds.

>I definitely cast my vote for *The Dreaming* !!! (I agree with
>Doug -- the greatest album there ever was or ever will be...)

>-Dan Stewart

This is pointless. IED is perfectly aware that the majority of L-Hs
prefer The Dreaming to Hounds of Love. One of the reasons that
Love-Hounds was founded, however, was to demonstrate that
the majority's musical preference is not always well-founded.

Now that you have all been duly admonished and are busily
tugging at your forelocks in shame and contrition, IED
announces an important new Bushological discovery:

HE HAS IDENTIFIED THE ORIGINAL SOURCE OF THE MEN'S CHORAL PASSAGE
FROM "HELLO EARTH".

Let him take this opportunity to retract and apologize for his
earlier vague reference to some Czech folk group named Zinzcaro
in relation to the passage in question. This was quite false,
and frankly IED is ashamed to say that he can't for the life of
him explain how he came up with this false reference. He thought
he had read it in the credits of Nosferatu, but in this it seems
he was completely mistaken. IED will have the original score
and the text (WHICH IS NOT IN CZECH OR RUSSIAN AT ALL), together
with an English translation, within one month. Until then, let
him confine himself to the simple statement that the passage,
as Kate herself has said, is indeed "HOLY".

Welcome Carlo Samson, whose questions are all
challenging and interesting:

>So now I play the cassette almost every day. And as you would
>expect from a first-time Kate-listener, I've a few questions.
>(These have probably been answered before,
>but as I said I'm new here).

>1.) What does the aborigine say?

Doug, what DOES the aborigine say? "Or-eh-mee-kah-ee-nah" or
something like that. What's it mean?

>2.) Exactly where does "The Dreaming" end and "Night of
>the Swallow" begin?

Do you mean, what are the precise timings of the tracks?
The best way would be to time the single version of "The Dreaming"
which fades out completely without the "Swallow" being mixed in
with it. But then, Kate originally wanted to release "The Dreaming"
as a twelve-inch single, which would probably have been a mix
of the a- and b-sides of the seven-inch, so who really knows?

>3.) What or where is "Gaffa?"?

Gaffa does sound like a place-name in the song, which is
intended, since Kate purposely re-spelled the word to which
it refers in order to make it seem like a place. The word
it seems to have been taken from is "gaffer", which refers
to "gaffer's tape", a heavy tape used to secure cables on
stage and in film work. Kate apparently means to conjure up
the image (more or less as illustrated in the film version)
of the character in the song hanging in some void, helpless
to escape from her station in both the physical and metaphysical
worlds.

>4.) Why is knowledge "something sat in your lap"?

It's not, but "They say" that it is. The song is more or less about
the character's impatience with the difficulty of absorbing knowledge.
The expression "to be sat in (one's lap)" is part of English ideom,
meaning "to be sitting in". The distinction is a subtle one
created by the shift from the active to the passive mode.