Re: Hounds of Love

[James Smith <munnari!cc.nu.oz.au!CCJS@uunet.UU.NET>]

Path: cc!ccjs
From: CCJS@cc.nu.oz (James Smith)
Newsgroups: rec.music.gaffa
Subject: Re: Hounds of Love
Date: 20 Sep 89 09:40:11 EST
References: <8909162341.AA07674@GAFFA.MIT.EDU> <8909190016.AA00815@GAFFA.MIT.EDU>
Organization: University of Newcastle
Lines: 29

Doug Alan writes:

> Mr. Marvick is again being completely ridiculous.  The image of
> running through water to avoid hounds is so completely ingrained into
> American and British culture that Kate would have to be brain-dead or
> a complete hermit to refer to walking through water in a song about
> being chased by hounds, and not be refering to trying to shake their
> trail.  Since we know that Kate is neither brain-dead, nor a complete
> hermit, she *must* be (in part) refering to avoiding the hounds.
> However, contrary to Mr. Marvick's myopic interpretation, shaking off
> the hounds does not necessarily mean that Kate has forsaken love.  It
> may very well refer to her shaking off the fear of love (the hounds),
> without shaking off love itself.

I've always thought that _Hounds of Love_ was a song about the
conflicting emotions of a young woman who has never experienced
love: she fears the experience and yet still wants to try it.
In that context, "two steps on the water" could mean both an
attempt to evade the experience, and a positive advance towards it.
The conflict of meaning would be very Katian.

In other words, I think you're both right. :-)

Jim

-- 
James Smith, Computing Centre, University of Newcastle, ccjs@cc.nu.oz.au
The bluebird of happiness having been absent from his life for many
years, David is visited by the chicken of depression.