Touch the Past 1: Kate's letter to Frances Byrne, 1975

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

 To: Love-Hounds
 From: Andrew Marvick (IED)
 Subject: Touch the Past 1: Kate's letter to Frances Byrne, 1975

     This is the first in what should turn into an ongoing series of
retrospective Kate Bush-related articles, interviews and lists which
every serious Kate fan will want to read. These texts have all appeared
in Love-Hounds in the past, but in most cases they have not been seen
in this forum for at least a year--some texts were posted as long ago
as 1986.
     It's IED's hope that the reappearance of these texts will stimulate
further discussion and involvement among Love-Hounds readers. Enjoy!

            A Letter from Kate Bush to Frances Byrne, 1975

   <The following is a letter which Kate wrote to a former schoolmate,
sometime between April and July 1975. At that time Kate, not yet 17, had
already left school, and had all but finalized her contract with EMI. But
recording sessions for _The_Kick_Inside_ had not yet begun. By this time,
however, Kate had already composed some two hundred polished songs, most
of them created in secret, without her friends' knowledge.>

Dear Fran,
    Thanks for your letter--it was really, really nice to hear
from you, but not a total surprise--it was strange because you
appeared for a split second in my dream last night and your letter was
at my parents' this morning. It's good to hear you're so well
and coping with your life--Well Done--it gets _really_ hard sometimes,
dun it?
     I gather you hear I've left school?  Well, I left during last
year's summer holidays--before they all went back for the autumn
term. I've only been back once since, and that was an extremely
brief visit, but that's how it goes...! I now go to an open dance
college in London. It's called the Dance Centre, and it's OK.
It _is_ expensive and my life is, at the moment, revolving around
the money that's left over from the lessons, but that's enough
for me to have fun and buy cigarettes. (I am afraid to say that I'm
still smoking quite a lot but I think I've got it under control?)
     I haven't heard from you for so long that it's difficult to
know where to start. I guess you know that I have set myself a definite
ambition as a career. I want to sing, write songs and mime. I've
got a contract actually being drawn up by a record company at last,
but it has taken four years (approximately) to get this far--but
I think it is going to get more progressive--I hope so. I'm
working quite hard on my voice and on songs (and dancing too
I suppose) but I seem to spend most of my time waiting for it
all to happen. Last summer I took mime lessons with Lindsay Kemp.
He is an _amazing_ person and I met a lot of nice friends through
the classes. The more people I meet now, the older and stranger
they seem to get--it's funny...
     I've had my two front teeth straightened at the dentist. The
appointment was 2 1/2 hours long, and he's put temporary crowns in
at the moment, but they're nice--it's just that I'm a bit
paranoid about the fact that they're held in by glue--I really
hope they don't fall out! I also failed my driving test in March,
but I'll take it again in August.
     I've got your phone number. It would be really
nice to see you again...one night, for old times'
sake, huh? I'm in Lewisham now in a very beautiful flat,
above my brothers--I'm very free and very happy. Anyway, Fran,
I'll give you a ring in the next month or two (I say that
far away because I know how inefficient I am at getting things
like that together, but this, I will, eventually, honest).
     Lots of love,
     Kate

P.S.: No, I don't really see people from school much, but I
find it _so_ strange when I do--I feel so, so, different, very
far away from them.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

-- Andrew Marvick