_TKI_ and _obsKuriTies_

[IED0DXM%OAC.UCLA.EDU@mitvma.mit.edu]

 To: Love-Hounds
 Really to: Steve Jacquot
 From: Andrew Marvick
 Subject: _TKI_ and _obsKuriTies_

     This was a personal e-mail note to Steve, but IED couldn't
get through to him directly. It may also be of mild interest to other
L-Hs, so here it is.

 > Date: Mon, 22 May 89 12:05:46 EDT
 > From: Steve Jacquot <saj@LUCIFER.PSYC.VIRGINIA.EDU>
 > To: ied0dxm
 > Subject: obsKuriTies
 >
 >     I have just received my copy of the tape from John Bankert, and it
 >was certainly worth waiting for.  Thanks for your effort in putting
 >it together and distributing it.
 >     A couple of points:
 >     In  your transcription of the lyrics of _The_Kick_Inside_, you give
 >the lines "Your sister I was born.  Lose me.  /You must lose me like an
 >arrow."   To my ear this is "loose me like an arrow."  The meaning is
 >very different.  "Lose me" implies carelessness.  "Loose me" implies
 >purposefulness.  If this point has been debated to death in Love-Hounds
 >I apologize, I haven't been reading it for very long.
 >  Do you have any idea what Lizzy Wan's story is?
 >  I hope you will consider putting out additional volumes of obsKuriTies,
 >possibly through a commercial duplication service.  If you run out of
 >songs, I would be happy to listen to tapes of interviews.  (Before
 >obsKuriTies, I had never heard Kate's speaking voice; I admit to being
 >charmed.)
 >
 >-- Steve Jacquot

 To: Steve Jacquot <saj@LUCIFER.PSYC.VIRGINIA.EDU>
 From: Andrew Marvick (IED)
 Subject: Re: your note

     Thanks for your note of appreciation, Steve.
     I was extremely intrigued by your suggestion about the line
"lose me like an arrow" from _The_Kick_Inside_. I feel a little
stupid that the parallel with "loose an arrow" had not occurred to
me in all my eleven years of familiarity with this song. Of course you're
right that Kate had "loose" in mind!
     The spelling in all the official editions of the lyrics has always
been "lose". Two explanations are possible: first, that she meant "loose"
and just didn't know how to spell it; second, that she meant to evoke the
image of "loosing an arrow" while sticking to the storyline, in which
the brother must "lose" her sister. While admitting the possibility that
the former explanation is correct, I can't help feeling that Kate was
deliberately spelling "lose" but using it in such a way as to _recall_
"loose"--she has often used puns and other plays on words in her
lyrics, and this would be just like her. But you're certainly right
that it looks as though, one way or another, she did have the expression
"loose an arrow" in mind. Thanks again.
     Lizzie (or Lizzy or Lucy) Wan is the heroine of an old Irish
traditional song called _The_Ballad_of_L._W._. Kate has cited the
song several times as an influence on _The_Kick_Inside_ in interviews.
So it wasn't entirely a surprise to find that new line in the early
version of her song. The original ballad is about a young maiden who
has an incestuous relationship with her brother and finally kills herself
in order to avoid the shame of a pregnancy. (Perhaps a connection
with _The_Handsome_Cabin_Boy_, too?) I've never heard a recording of
the ballad, but I've read the sheet-music and judging from it, I could
find no musical connection between the ballad and Kate's song. But the
story is very similar, obviously, and Kate uses a line from the original
lyrics of the old ballad: "I will not return until/The sun and moon meet
on yonder hill."
     There will probably be a second obsKuriTies tape, but there may
be a delay. I think we should wait a while, because we anticipate
more of the _Cathy_Demos_ bootleg EPs coming out soon. The second
volume of three or four songs is due any day now on the bootleg
market, and I was told a while ago that the bootleggers had about
twenty tracks all told, which means perhaps as many as five EPs
are intended for the complete series. Anyway, aside from the EPs,
the first volume of obsKuriTies contained most of the "crucial" non-LP
music. The main omissions were the various guest-vocals Kate has
done over the years for other artists--_You_ for Roy Harper, _Sing,
_Children,_Sing_ for Leslie Duncan (Kate is scarcely identifiable),
_Flowers_ for Zaine Griff, _The_Man_With_the_Child_in_His_Eyes_
for Ray Shell (I've still never heard this one), _The_Seer_ for
Big Country, _The_King_is_Dead_ for Go West, _Sister_and_Brother_
for Midge Ure, _Do_Bears_Sh..._in_the_Woods?_ with Rowan Atkinson,
and _No_Self_Control_, _Games_Without_Frontiers_ and _Don't_Give_Up_
for Peter Gabriel; plus her performance of the Maurice Jarre/Paul
Webster song _The_Magician_, which is only barely audible in the
background of the Alan Arkin movie, _The_Magician_of_Lublin_.
     Aside from those tracks, and the many, many live performances
(most of which are only known from poor-quality in-audience bootleg
recordings), there are only the interviews. Now the audio (and
video) interviews amount to hours and hours, so we'd have to decide
which ones would be of most interest. Probably the Tony Myatt
interview for Capital Radio in 1985, which is forty-five minutes
long and has stunningly clear sound, would be one. Perhaps contrast
that with one very early interview, to show how radically Kate's
public manner of speaking and representing herself has changed over
the years.
     When we do get around to making the future tape(s), we will almost
certainly use a pro duping service, though that will mean Love-Hounds
will have to send in some actual money in advance to the organizer.
Anyway, it'll probably be a couple of months or so. Look out in L-Hs
for news.

-- Andy