seKreT messages, KonTinued...

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

 To: Love-Hounds
 From: Andrew Marvick (IED)
 Subject: seKreT messages, KonTinued...

   Ryan McGuire comes up with a very intriguing theory about the
secret message in _X4_. IED for one has always heard a different
sentence, but some of the sounds are very similar to those which
Ryan hears. Where Ryan's goes:

                   I think I must thank you for listening to my tune,

IED hears:
                   I bet my mum's gonna buy me a little toy instrument.

     Several of these syllables correspond closely with each other,
though of course the meaning is entirely different. What we need is
more people to have a go at deciphering the message. Any of you
interested? It can be heard in _X4_, between the line "It could
sing you to sleep" and "But that dream is your enemy". Have a go,
please!

-- Andrew Marvick

 > From: Stephen Thomas <spt1@ukc.ac.uk>
 > Subject: Background voices on Kate track
 > Date: 23 Jun 90 16:01:14 GMT
 >
 >   I was listening to _Watching You Without Me_ and something odd caught
 > my attention.  At the beginning of the track, just after the undulating
 > vocal, there seems to be some faint voices, as of people talking and
 > moving around in a large room.  The noises start with someone (a male
 > voice, I think) saying "what's that?", and then they go one for another
 > few seconds.
 >   Does anyone know what these noises are?  They seem (to me) to be a little
 > out of place, so I thought they might be studio noise, but I think this
 > highly unlikely, given Kate's reputation for being a perfectionist, so
 > I think they must be deliberate.  I am just curious.
 >
 > -- Stephen

     Yes, as a matter of fact these words have been deciphered by fans.
What is heard at the beginning of _Watching_You_Without_Me_ is what
_appears_ to be a snatch of in-studio conversation between two of
the male studio musicians (which ones IED doesn't know). One person
is trying to find the bar number, and asks "What's that?" The other
answers (two beats into the next measure, i.e. two beats late) "It's
four," then follows  with "_five_, six, seven..." this time on the first
downbeat of each measure. In other words, in terms of timing, what
you hear is this:

   "What's that?"
   "It's four, _five_................six.....................seven..."

   IED hopes he has made himself clear.
   The big question is whether this is an _actual_ bit of spontaneous
chat between musicians on the track (in which case it would mean that
the rhythm take Kate chose to keep was recorded so early on in the
sessions that the musicians weren't even sure where the _downbeat_
was), or whether Kate _deliberately_ re-inserted such a snatch of
conversation into the track, for reasons of her own. IED opts for
the former at this point, though who really knows except Kate and
Del?
   For everyone's possible amusement and interest, here are IED's
"complete" lyrics for the song _Watching_You_Without_Me_, including
all the deciphered "backwards" and otherwise disguised lyrics:

                     Watching You Without Me
                     ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

 ("What's that?")                            <This is a snatch of conversation
 ("It's four, _five_, six, seven...")         between musicians on the track.>

      You can't hear me.
      You can't hear me.
      You can't hear what I'm saying.
      You can't hear what I'm saying to you.

 You watch the clock
 Move the slow hand.
 I should have been home
 Hours ago,
 But I'm not here.
 But I'm not here.

      You can't hear me.
      You can't hear me.
      You can't feel me
      Here in the room with you now.
      You can't hear what I'm saying.
      You don't hear what I'm saying, do you?

 Can't let you know
 What's been happening.
 There's a ghost in our home,
 Just watching you without me.
 I'm not here.
      ("You don't hear me.")                 <This line heard backwards.>
 But I'm not here.
 (You can't hear me.)
 But I'm not here.
 (You don't hear what I'm saying.)

      ...___...___...___...___...            <Morse Code "SOS" signal>

 "Don't ignore, don't ignore me,
Let me in and don't be long.                 <The main "secret message", a
 "Don't ignore, don't ignore me,              strangely masked multi-track
Let me in and don't be long.                  vocal bridge; not backwards.*>
 "Don't ignore, don't ignore me,
Let me in and don't be long."

           "We see you here."
           "We see you here."
           "We see you here."                 <This section is heard backwards,
           "We see you here."                  but also sounds like real words
           "We see you here."                  ("We receive", or "We recede",
           "We see you here."                  or "Really see") when played
           "We see you here."                  forwards.>
           "We see you here."

      You don't hear me come in.
 "Help me, baby! Help me, baby! Talk to me! Listen to me,
  listen to me! Talk to me! Help--"**
      ("You can't hear me.")                  <This line is heard backwards.>
 "Listen, baby! Listen to me, baby! Help me, help me, baby!
  Talk to me! Talk to me! Please, baby, talk to me!"
      ("You can't hear me.")                  <This line is heard backwards.>
      You won't hear me leaving.


<*--"Don't ignore, don't ignore me...":
    This "mystery message" immediately follows the Morse code "S.O.S."
    signal. The subject of a years-long Kate Bush Club competition, it was
    not officially explained until late in 1989. The clues were: it is one
    sentence, twelve words long, and it begins with the word "Don't". Many
    fans considered it backwards, getting solutions which sounded a bit like:
    "Zwoh-nikh-noh, zwoh-nikh-noh nee, et-nee nong-widz-aw nee noy."
    The translation in the lyrics above is the official one, but there may
    very likely be an additional, _backwards_-directional message in this
    space which remains undeciphered.>

<**--"Listen to me, baby...", etc.: The words in this
    passage, and in one which follows later in the song are broken
    up--fractured--by some sound-treatment process known only to Kate.
    Similar to passages from _Waking_the_Witch_, these
    lines seem to contain different words when played
    backwards. Respectively, these are: "I was here before, you talked to me,
    you said that you didn't think it was too late to help me...";
    and "Talk to me, listen to me, talk to me, talk to me,
    baby..." These words apparently were recorded within the
    momentary gaps which break up the forward-directional recording.>

-- Andrew Marvick