In Defense of "Wuthering Heights"

[MTARR@EAGLE.WESLEYAN.EDU]

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Hi...

I've tried to post this thing not one, not two, but FIVE TIMES.  Please get
rid of any extra headings on the top of this, and PLEASE let me know why
I could post something to .gaffa five minutes ago, but not now, when I did
the exact same thing!!!  Thank you.

					Meredith
Date: Tue, 6 Mar 90 16:16 EST
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Date: 6-MAR-1990 16:15:44.87
From: MTARR@EAGLE.WESLEYAN.EDU
Subject: In Defense of Wuthering Heights
To: LOVEHOUNDS@GAFFA.MIT.EDU

Greetings...

I hate to add more fuel to the fire of the Flame War, but I feel I must say
something in defense of the later vocal version of "Wuthering Heights".

The first song I ever heard by Kate Bush (once I knew to whom that incredible
voice belonged) was "Wuthering Heights", from the recently-released _The Whole
Story_, my junior year in high school.  I thought I was going to die- never
mind the awesome subject matter, but that VOICE!!!  True, I'd never read the
book, (but I have now) and I thought it was a great song.  I ran out and bought
TWS, and vowed to own every album on the discography within the year (I almost
made it- I still haven't been able to snag a copy of _The Single File_, but I'm
sure that's because I haven't tried hard enough).  

Anyway, I bought TKI to hear the original version of the song, and there was
one major thing missing: when listening to the TKI version, I just sat there. 
I didn't find myself moving all over the room, silently singing along to myself
and simply unable to sit still.  I just didn't do it for me.  I realize that
the TKI version brilliantly portrays Cathy's waifiness and ghostliness and all
that, and for that it is a wonderful song.

The TWS version, however, is stronger in that Kate, eight years and four albums
later, had had time to mature.  That version brings out Kate's vocal strength
where the original brought out Cathy's innocence: The TWS version portrays the
strength of Cathy's love for Heathcliff, a love so strong it goes even beyond
the grave. And the strength of that love, as Kate herself has said, is what
inspired her to write the song in the first place.

If you put the two versions in context, they make sense: innocent Cathy,
innocent Kate, stronger Cathy (in love, anyway), stronger Kate.  I think of
them as two separate songs.  I don't care about the pronunication of "Cathy" in
the TWS version (which I think was intentional, by the way- give the woman some
credit).  And I also like the TWS version better because it was The Song That
Got Me Into Kate; I can therefore understand why those people whose
introduction to KT was the TKI version would like that better.  It's a matter
of sentiment, really.

Meredith Tarr      		"Looking for a moment that'll never happen
mtarr@eagle.wesleyan.edu         Living in the gap between past and future"
Wesleyan University                                               -KT