Submitted For Your Approval: "Moving" Annotations

[nrc@cbema.att.com (Neal R Caldwell, Ii)]

My draft of annotations to the song "Moving" will follow.  Please let
me know what you think.  The remarks in brackets indicate specific
places where I'd like suggestions or further information.  

This idea hasn't gone over terribly well.  Jenn Turney has been the
only person to offer information so far (thanks Jenn).  Fortunately 
Jenn dug some interesting information from the archives and I found 
some interesting stuff in my own files.  

==================================

MOVING

HISTORY

    _Moving_ appeared for the first time on _The Kick 
    Inside_, Kate's first release.  It later appeared as the
    B side to the second single from that album, _The Man 
    With the Child in His Eyes_. 

    The Kick Inside.....................EMC 3223......02/17/78
    The Kick Inside (picture disc).....EMPC 3223......02/17/78
    The Man With the Child in His Eyes/
                               Moving...EMI 2806......05/28/78

BACKGROUND

        "_Moving_ is a tribute to Lindsay Kemp, the dance and
        mime performer whose highly influential show, 
        _Flowers_ (based on texts of Jean Genet), Kate 
        attended when she was 15 or 16.  Kemp's use of 
        gesture without sound -- what Kate calls "expressive" 
        mime, as opposed to the Marcel Marceau-tradition's 
        "mime of illusion" -- made a profound impression on 
        her, and within another few months she had begun 
        studying under Kemp.  After Kemp left for Australia 
        Kate went on to work with several other dance 
        instructors at the Dance Centre in Covent Garden, but
        she has always referred to Kemp as the first and 
        foremost influence on her use of movement as an 
        expressive vehicle in her musical performances."  
        
                            - Andrew Marvick 

        "[Lindsay Kemp] taught me that you can express with
        your body -- and when your body is awake so is your
        mind.  He'd put you into emotional situations, some 
        of them very heavy.  Like he'd say, 'Right, you're 
        all now going to become sailors drowning, and there 
        are waves curling up around you.' And everyone would 
        just start screaming."   

                            - Kate 
                              March 1978 
                              Interview by Steve Clarke.

    It has been speculated by some that Kate had a "crush"
    on Kemp, though there is no evidence of this beyond the
    song's lyrics.  In any case, Kemp has been a tremendous
    influence on Kate throughout her career.  

    In the thirteenth issue of the Kate Bush Club newsletter
    (summer of 1983) Kate writes about visiting Kemp while
    traveling to promote _The Dreaming_:  

        "It was a very interesting trip -- we went to Rome,
        and as Lindsay Kemp was visiting at the time, we got
        a chance to see Lindsay, and we had a lovely 
        evening.  He cooked us a meal, and after we were so
        full that we could hardly move, he got out boxes of
        his old photos and we fingered each one with magical
        memories:  shots of _Flowers_ from The Collegiate 
        Theatre, the first time I saw Lindsay perform.  
        Lindsay dressed as Mr.Punch, leaping for joy.  I 
        remember the theatre being full of adults rather 
        than children, and all of us shouting "Look behind
        you!"  and "Oh, no, you don't!"  Adults transported 
        to childhood in a matter of moments -- but that's the
        craft of Lindsay's magic.  Fond memories spread 
        across the floor -- the passionate and dramatic, 
        Lindsay's shows in photo form.  We carefully put 
        them all back in their boxes, a farewell dance and
        a big kiss goodbye." 

    This is all particularly appropriate since Kate had by 
    this time begun a shift from performance-style videos, 
    which clearly bore the mark of Kemp's inspiration, 
    towards more film-inspired videos.

        "My videos are more film-influenced now.  When I 
        first started making videos, I was so obviously 
        theatrically and dance-influenced.  A lot of that 
        was from Lindsay Kemp and dance teachers with whom
        I had been working.  Gradually the more involved I
        got in video, the process of making films, the more
        I've swung around to filmmaking.  It's a beautiful
        discipline, dance, and it can be lovely, but I guess
        I'm getting for more into filmmaking now." 

                            - Kate 
                              Option (March 1990)
                              _The Insights and Sounds of 
                               Kate Bush_
                               by Maria Montgomery Sarnoff

    [Am I going too far afield here?]
    
    [Hasn't there been some recent speculation that _Wow_ 
    might also be inspired by Kemp?] 

ANNOTATIONS

        MOVING 

        Words and Music By Kate Bush

    The sounds heard during the beginning and end of the song 
    are "whale song", the sounds made by whales underwater.  
    [Does anyone know _why_ Kate put this in there?] 
    
        Moving stranger, does it really matter?
        As long as you're not afraid to feel 
        Touch me, hold me, how my open arms ache 
        Try to fall for me 

    [What does she mean?  Is she asking Kemp to try to 
    "fall" for her in spite of his homosexuality?] 

        (Chorus)
        How I'm moved, how you move me
        With your beauty's potency
        You give me life, please don't let me go
        You crush the lily in my soul

    The lily has long been considered a symbol of purity, 
    innocence or more specifically the Virgin Mary (ref.  
    Barbara Walker's _The Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and
    Secrets_ and Stephen Friar's _A Dictionary of 
    Heraldry_).  From this we can conclude that she is at
    least saying, "You stir passion in me."  

    Some might take the metaphor further and say that this is
    her first experience with this sort of passion -- the 
    deflowering of her soul, if you will.  The passion found 
    in songs known to have been written well before _Moving_, 
    _Passing Through Air_ for example, would seem to refute 
    this.

        Moving liquid, yes, you are just as water
        You flow around all that comes in your way
        Don't think it over, it always takes you over
        And sets your spirit dancing
   
    [What does she mean?  "You flow around all that comes 
    in your way"?  What is she saying about Kemp here?]
       
        (Chorus)
        How I'm moved, how you move me
        With your beauty's potency
        You give me life, please don't let me go
        You crush the lily in my soul

PERFORMERS
    
    Drums: Stuart Elliot
    Bass: David Paton
    Guitars: Ian Bairnson
    Electric Piano: Duncan MacKay

SOURCES
    
    Dave Armstrong
    Richard Caldwell
    Jenn Turney

    Doug Alan*
    Keith Patrick DeWeese*
    Andrew Marvick*
  
    * Author of material from archive 

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"Don't drive too slowly."                 Richard Caldwell
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