A Kate trivia question -- THE ANSWER!

[ed@das.llnl.gov (Edward Suranyi)]

Last week, I asked some questions about the following poem,
written by Kate a few years ago:

What could be worse than losing someone you love?
They are both losing each other,
Both trying to make it easier for each other.
A mother and daughter with so much courage and love,
It hurts just to read it.
But you should.
                                 -- Kate Bush

It appears on the back of a book below quotes from M. Scott Peck,
Jim Henson, and two others.  The book is _Give Me One Wish_, by
Jacquie Gordon.  Yes, the title of the book does come from
"Oh England My Lionheart".  Here's the story:

Christine Gordon, the daughter of Jacquie, was a typical American
girl except that she had cystic fibrosis.  The book is about Chris's
struggle for life, and her eventual succumbence to the disease.  Chris
was an alternative music fan, and according to _Homeground_, her mother
said Kate was a great inspiration to Chris, keeping her alive longer than
she otherwise would have been.

Here's the passage in the book in which Kate is mentioned.  Chris had
long had the nickname of "the Lionhearted", by the way.  It's from
pp. 313-314, for those interested:

     A little later Chris asked me if I had time to pick up some new
tapes for her.  The new Split Enz, _Time and Tide_, and the Marshall
Crenshaw album.  She asked me to stay first and listen to a song from
her new Kate Bush album, _Lionheart_.  I asked, "Is Kate Bush popular?
I don't know her at all."
     She thought a minute.  "She's English.  She has a small cult 
following here, but she's better known in England."
     I studied the back of the album cover while I listened.  All the
lyrics were there, but Kate Bush had written out the lyrics to this
song in her own longhand.  I read along as I listened to her haunting
soprano.
     [The lyrics from "Oh England My Lionheart" appear here.]
     My face was still but my mind grabbed at the words and life
tore apart inside me.  Was she telling me at last?  I had been waiting
for her to speak.  She had, but with such delicacy, I wasn't sure.
     "It's a beautiful song.  I love the way she sighs the chorus, 'Oh
England.' Could you play it again?"
     "Okay."
     "Chris, do you remember when you were little I used to call you 
Christine the Lionhearted?"
     "Yes."  She sat on the sofa close to me as we listened again.  There
was no mistake.  There were those words -- "the war is over. . .my funeral
barge, give me one kiss. . .give me one wish. . .my shepherd who'll
bring me home. . .I don't want to go."
     I was numb and wordless.  I had no answer, no poetry of my own.
Years of pain felt no different from this moment of pain.  It was all 
the same.  I couldn't imagine what she must feel.  I was hollow and
an empty wind blew through me.

The book was published in 1987, I think.  Kate was nice enough to write
the poem that went on its back cover, basically as a blurb for the book!



Ed Suranyi             | "I couldn't hope to do it anywhere near as well
ed@das.llnl.gov        |  as Kate Bush because she is a Goddess."
(415) 447-3405         |                 -- Sinead O'Connor