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From: nrc@cbema.att.com (Neal R Caldwell, Ii)
Date: Tue, 13 Mar 90 14:58:17 EST
Subject: Complete Annotations To _Moving_
Below you will find the completed version of my annotations to _Moving_. Thanks to everyone who contributed. Please keep an eye out for my next annotations request (should be sometime this week). You may still send comments or suggestions to me for _Moving_ but I'll only be doing further revisions to this after I've finished all the lyrics to _The Kick Inside_. =================================== 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 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. It's not clear whether Kate had any particular reason for including these sounds. 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 It could be that here Kate is asking Kemp to try to "fall" for her in spite of his homosexuality. She seems to say that his sexual preference shouldn't really matter as long as he's not afraid to have feelings for her. (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 Here Kate seems to compare both Kemp's movements and personality with water. Not only are his movements fluid but apparently Kemp has a certain grace and charm, perhaps a tao-like non-resistance. (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 CONTRIBUTORS Dave Armstrong Jorn Barger Richard Caldwell David Kay Jenn Turney Doug Alan* Keith Patrick DeWeese* Andrew Marvick* * Author of material from archive COMPILATION Compiled and edited by N. Richard Caldwell, March 13, 1990 Please send your comments, suggestions and annotations to nrc@cbnews or att!cbnews!nrc