Getting Into The Sensual World

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

 To: Love-Hounds
 From: Andrew Marvick (IED)
 Subject: Getting Into The Sensual World

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     Finally! IED got hold of the new single today at last, in
12" and CD-5" formats. (7" and cassette singles are expected soon,
though the latter is going to be very scarce.) Incidentally, Los
Angeles's Kate maniacs have been coming out in force to get copies:
The shopkeepers said the new single would arrive at 6 p.m. this
evening, not before. IED arrived at 6:01, and already all _8_ copies
of the CD single had been bought or set aside (for people who had
placed large deposits in advance). IED was _10_seconds_ from being
too late to get the last CD-single, for another fan was _right_
on his heels into the shop! And everyone wanted _multiple_copies_,
too! The woman behind the counter said something like "Jeez, you
Kate Bush fans are _really_ obsessive!" IED assured her earnestly
that there was a simple reason for that: KATE BUSH IS GOD. She wasn't
converted, however.
     The a-side is simply the album cut of _TSW_: just under 4 minutes.
The b-side has the instrumental version (exactly the same as the a-side
but without the lead vocal); and _Walk_Straight_Down_the_Middle_. The
CD-single has the exact same contents as the 12".
     The cover of both is the same: a black-and-white photograph
(printed in John Carder Bush's lush purplish-brownish-black "duo-tone"
colour) of Kate on the front, with the title, in spindly sans-serif
type along the right side, reading from top to bottom: THE SENSUAL
WORLD  KATE BUSH. The back side is in plain black with all writing
in gold letters. The production credits are interesting: all tracks
were produced by Kate Bush. But _TSW_ was "recorded by" Del Palmer;
while _WSDTM_ was "engineered" by Del Palmer. A rather mysterious
distinction, no?
     The labels of the 12" are standard EMI black, but the CD-single
has a special black label-side with the _TSW_-style gold lettering on
it--extremely cool-looking!
     The photograph itself is _gorgeous_. It's just a very simple,
straightforward half-length portrait shot of Kate in a black, sleeveless
dance leotard top, hair loose and copious. She faces the camera nearly
head-on, but is looking off slightly to the right. Her arms are held out
in front of her, loosely clasped together at the wrist. Behind her is an
unseen back-light, and there is a kind of mist in the blackness beyond.
     IED earlier described a very similar shot which was printed in
NME's news announcement last issue. In that photo, from the same session,
everything is more or less the same except that Kate is looking
directly into the camera, and in her right hand is--a peach.
     In the photograph on the cover of the new single the peach has
become--dust, slipping through her fingers. ("Vanity, vanity, all is
vanity.") Typically exKuisiTe, purely Katian _implication_ and _sug-
gestion_, rather than direct statement: for if one had not seen the NME
photo, one would not know The Whole Story behind the image.
     IED has had a stab at transcribing the lyrics of _The_Sensual_
_World_, too. By the way, this record has got to be the most
inaccessible piece of _songwriting_ Kate has ever done--yet it's also
one of her most immediately memorable and accessible _records_ she's
ever done. There's _never_ been anything like _The_Sensual_World_.
     IED does not for the life of him know what the specific subject
of the song is, but he'd be willing to bet there's some very
particular literary source for it. So many crucial words are hard to
decipher, however, that IED can make no guess as to what that source
might be--a fairy tale, perhaps?
     IED has _no_ confidence in his own version of the lyrics. "----"
marks equal total failure; all the other words are tentative at best.
IED has never had so much difficulty hearing the words Kate is singing
than he has in this case. It's as though Kate had been inspired to
create one of the most infectious, stylistically eclectic pop records,
yet had decided to record the vocal so _only_she_could_really_hear_it_!
It's like she made this record _literally_ for herself! It's...oh, words
just fail IED--he's "stepping out off the page, into the sensual world"!
     Thanks to Graham for starting the ball rolling. IED reproduces
Graham's version line by line, with IED's below each one. In many cases
Graham and IED hear the same words, but (as is to be expected with a
vocal like this one, sung in such an uncompromisingly _private_ way)
in many other cases there are discrepancies--though again IED is not
at all sure which version, if either, is "correct".


                       The Sensual World
                       -----------------

 >Mmmmm Yes - Then I've taken the kiss of seed cake that foam his mouth
  Mmm...yes!  When I've taken the kiss of seed cake back from his mouth
 >Going deep south go down
  Goin' deep south -------
 >Mmmmm Yes - To the six big wheels and work damn hard
  Mmm...yes!  Took six big wheels, erode our bodies (?)
 >He's up off of his head and into the flesh
  Up --------- head and into the flesh
 >Mmmmm Yes - He said I was the flower of the mountain yes
  Mmm...yes!  He said I was the flower of the mountain mist (?)
 >But now I've powers ?o'er ernos? body
  But now I've powers of a woman's body
 >Yes
  ---

 >Slippin out of the page into the sensual world
  Steppin'out off the page into the sensual world
 >Slippin out...
  Steppin' out...

 >To where the water and the earth caress and down on the peach says
  To where the water and the earth caress and the down on the peach says
 >Mmmmm Yes - do I look for those millionaires
  Mmm...yes!  Do I look for those millionaires
 >Like a mad ?Coralean? girl
  Like a Mycoralian (?) girl
 >When I could wear
  When I could wear
 >The sunset
  The sunset.

 >Mmmmm Yes - And how we'd wished to live in the sensual world
  Mmm...yes!  And how we'd wish to live in the sensual world
 >It don't need words - just one kiss in another
  It don't need words. Just one kiss, then another.

 >Steppin out of the page into the sensual world
  Steppin' out of the page, into the sensual world.
 >Steppin out of the page into the sensual world
  Steppin' out of the page, into the sensual world.

 >Then the arrows of desire (remind) the speech
  And then the arrows of desire rewrite the speech.
 >Mmmmm Yes - Then he whispered would I
  Mmm...yes!  And then he whispered, would I--
 >Mmmmm Yes - Be safe
  Mmm...yes!  --be safe--
 >Mmmmm Yes - From mountain flowers
  Mmm...yes!  -- from mountain flowers?

 >And at first with a charm around him
  And at first with the charm around him
 >Mmmmm Yes - He loosened it so if
  Mmm...yes!  He loosened it so if
 >It slipped - between my breasts
  It slipped between my breasts,
 >He'd rescue it
  He'd rescue it.

 >Mmmm Yes -- And his spark took life in my hand
  Mmm...yes!  And his spark took life in my hand, and

 >And mmmm Yes -- I said, oooh yes
  Mmm...yes! I said "Mmm...yes!
 >Not yet
  But not yet."

 >Mmmmm Yes
  Mmm...yes!

 >Mmmmm Yes
  Mmm...yes!

 >Yes
  Yes!

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-- Andrew Marvick