Personal Call Interview, Part 1.

[rhill@pnet01.cts.com (Ronald Hill)]

Personal Call 
-------------
BBC Radio 1.  1979? Phone in show. 

        K: Kate 
        ED: Ed Stewart 
        SUE: Sue Cook 

[Transcribed by Ron Hill.  Thanks to IED for providing me with the tape.  I am
sure some of the names are not spelled correctly!]
        
        
        ED: Thank you Kid, and welcome everybody.  Yes, this is Personal Call,
your first chance on Radio 1 to give us a call with your questions and views
to our guests of the week.  Well the number to jot down, if you got a pencil
or paper handy is 580-0011 and 01 if you live outside of London, 4411. 
Helping me in the studio is Sue Cook who will be introducing the topic for our
first program. 
        SUE: And our guest being a rather mysterious kind of lady, the topic's
going to be mysterious to - strange phenomena, unexplained mysteries, and in
particular, reincarnation.  So share any weird experiences you may have had...
your views on physic happenings... do you think you may have had any past
lives?  And our guest is Kate Bush. 
[Wuthering Heights is played]

        ED: Yes, Wuthering Heights.  And I'm sorry Kate but we have to fade
that, cause it's such a lovely song.  [Kate Laughs]  But welcome our first
guest on Personal Call.  And our first caller is on the line, so lets get
straight ahead to you, Mark Willcot from Rochestor, your question? 
        Mark: Hello? 
        Ed: Hello, Mark. 
        Mark: I'd like to ask Kate, some time ago in an interview, I think it
was with Mark Latshow, she said that she preferred songwriting to singing.  I
was wondering if there was any danger to give up singing to concentrate more
on her songwriting?
        K: Ah, no I don't think so, because I love songwriting, but I love
singing even more, sometimes, you know.  It's just such a pleasure to be able
to open your mouth and just let it all out, it's fantastic.  I don't think I
could ever stop doing that. 
        Mark: Oh, I'm very glad about that. 
        K: [Laughs] Thank you.  
        Ed: Alright, thank you Mark.  
        K: So long, Mark.
        Mark: Bye. 
        Ed: Bye.  Jenny Reed. 
        Jenny: Hello. 
        Ed: Hello. 
        Jenny: Hello, Kate.  I'd just like to ask you - how long does it
usually take to write your songs, you know, on average. 
        K:  Ah, well that depends.  It depends if I've got a strong enough
idea.  I've always have to have some kind of idea of a subject matter before I
start writing.  And sometimes it will just come out, and sometimes it will
take me days, weeks, whatever.  It's very, very unpredictable and I just have
to go with it, you know? 
        Jenny: Yeah.  Do you write the lyrics first or the music or do they
come together?
        K:  Well if I've got a strong idea, I'll often have a couple of lyric
lines that I just fit music to and work the rest in.  But normally the music
comes first. 
        Jenny:  Yeah, and also, you know your tour? 
        K: Yeah. 
        Jenny: I hope you come to Britan, cause if you are I'll be in the
front row, Kate. 
        K: Oh great, I'll wave to you. 
        Ed: Thank you Jenny.  Well actually Kate has very kindly brought us in
a tape of a piece of music you recorded... how old were you with this one
Kate? 
        K: Oh, I was about fifteen. 
        Ed: Do you mind if we play it for everybody? 
        K: [Laughs] I'll shut my ears, OK? 
        Ed: Will you, OK.  Would you like to introduce it? 
        K: Yeah, here it is! [Both laugh]

[A portion of the unreleased song Maybe is played]

        Ed: Kate had a very wistful look on her face.  Why was that? 
        K: I was waiting for the flat note in the middle.  [Laughs]
        Ed: Ah, you mean we faded it just in time! 
        K: No, you caught it actually, I'm sure...
        Ed: I never noticed it. 
        K: Yeah. 
        Ed: But how soon after that was it that EMI found you and signed you
up? 
        K: Um, it was about a year, year and a half after that.  
        Ed: Was it on the strength of that tape?  
        K: No, it wasn't.  It was on the strength of the tape that came after
that.  But that song was actually on the tape that got me there. 
        Ed: So did you compose Wuthering Heights after you joined EMI? 
        K: Oh yeah.  That was just before I made the first album, Wuthering
Heights. 
        Ed: OK.  Well in the program to, in Personal Call, we'll be playing
some of the musical choices of our guests, so we'll play your first one in
just a second.  But we have John King from Rochstail on the line.  Good
evening, John.  
        John: Good evening.  
        K: Hello, John! 
        John: Good evening, Kate. 
        K: Hello.  
        John: I'd like to ask you, who has influenced you most on your music,
in the early part of your career?
        K: Ooo.  Well, that's a lot to do with traditional music, because when
I was a kid that was always around me.  But people like Bryan Ferry and David
Bowie, they were very strong influences, because they were so new when they
came out.  They were such strong talents, you know, I really liked a lot of
their stuff. 
        John: Also, what is your favorite song that you've recorded? 
        K: That I've recorded?  Oh, I don't know.  I guess I'm pretty pleased
with Strange Phenomena, actually.  And I'm not just saying that cause that's
on the show tonight.  
        Sue: We've got that lined up in a minute 'cause that's going to be
quite relevant [Kate Laughs].  You'll find out.  We've got another caller
thought, just before we go into that.  There's Marteen Leroy on the phone. 
Hello Marteen.
        Marteen: Hello. 
        Sue: Hello.  Good evening, what would you like to ask Kate? 
        Marteen: Where do you get the ideas for your songs from? 
        K: Mainly from people, actually.  People are just full of songs, you
know?  If you just sit down and talk to someone, they come out with about four
novels.  [Laughs]  Yeah, they're full of them.  
        Marteen: Like, James and The Cold Gun. 
        K: Yeah, I think most of my songs have been inspired by people and
things that people think about, you know? 
        Ed: Alright, Marteen? 
        Marteen: Alright, thank you.  
        Kate: Thank you. 
        Ed: Thank you.  Actually Kate you seem very advanced in your years
[Kate laughs] with some of the titles.  I mean, for your first album you call
it The Kick Inside.  The Kick Inside and then Man With The Child In His Eyes,
I mean these titles, they just come to you like that?  A flash of inspiration
or did you think about titles like that?
        Kate: Well The Man With The Child In His Eyes just happened.  And I
think it had something to do with one of my nephew's books.  I don't remember
how, but that line just happened.  And sometimes they just sorta get
contrively written, you know what I mean?  Sometimes they just happen.  
        Sue: Did you write a lot of poetry when you were young? 
        Kate: When I was at school, yeah that was my thing.  And then I got
into songs so I forgot about that then.  It was much more exciting.     Sue:
It's interesting that your first favorite record is a Beatles number.  Why do
you like that so much? 
        Kate: Well that particular song I think is an absolute classic.  I
think it's brilliant.  And the particular cover version, Bryan Ferry, I think
is one of the best cover versions I've ever heard.  Because so often it's just
nowhere as good as the original song and I think it's brilliant. 
        Sue: We should play it.  It's She's Leaving Home. 

[She's Leaving Home is played]

        Ed: Yeah, it's a beautiful song isn't it?
        K: Incredible, I think. 
        Ed: Has it any personal sorta meaning to you?  You haven't left home
have you? 
        K: [Laughs]  No, no.  It's nothing personal, it's just whenever... I
mean that whole album Sergeant Pepper is just a phenomena.  It's an absolute
classic and all the songs on it are so beautiful.  And it's just good to hear
a very, very excellent cover version because often they lack something.  I
think he's captured George Martin, The Beatles, everything.  I think it's very
clever.
        Ed: Good.  Yeah, it is a lovely track [Kate goes "UMM"].  We've got
four or five of your tracks, your favorites in this evening, which I'm glad to
say.  Here on Personal Call, you're listening to Radio 1.  It's just came in
to eleven minutes past seven.  Kate Bush is our guest and 580-44-11 is the
number.  01 if you live outside of London.  To have a chat with Kate.  And we
have somebody on the line, now.  Susan Binding from SaintAlbums.  Good evening
Susan. 
        Susan: Hello. 
        K: Hello, Susan. 
        Susan: Hello.  I'd like to ask you what you do when you're not writing
and recording songs. 
        K: Sleeping.  [Laughs]  Yeah, that's normally what I do.  Cook a meal,
sit and watch telly.  I don't get much time off so when I get it I just like
to relax.  
        Susan: Uh, huh. 
        K: Yeah.
        Ed: What do you cook? 
        K: Ah, vegetable pies.  Curries.  Burnt curries, actually.  [Both
Laugh]
        Ed: Well, they've got to be hot, someway. 
        K: Yeah. 
        Ed: Are you domesticated?
        K: I try to be, yeah.  I really like doing housework, I think it's
very therapeutic, you know? 
        Ed: Yeah? 
        K: Yeah. 
        Ed: You'll be a good wife? 
        K: Oh, I don't know about that.  [Laughs]  It's just I think housework
is an amazing craft, it's very creative. 
        Ed: So you enjoy keeping house for yourself. 
        K: Yeah. 
        Ed: Yeah, good.  Alright, thank you Susan. 
        Susan: Thanks so much.  
        Ed: Up to Scotland to Aberdeen.  Collin Gardner, good evening. 
        Collin: Hello? 
        K: Hello, Collin. 
        Collin: Hello, Kate.  I would like to ask you how you're going to
convey your music on stage?  Will it be more theatrical then more [??? sex???]
or..
        K: Ahah.  [Laughs]  Well I can't really tell you much about that
because if I do you won't bother to come and see it. [Everybody Laughs]
        Collin: Oh, of course I will. 
        K: But I hope that you'll enjoy it, we're try to get something a bit
special.  But I really can't say much about it. 
        Collin: Ah, sure.  I understand. 
        K: Great. 
        Ed: Will you be going to watch?
        Collin: Oh, of course I will! 
        K: Give us a wave. 
        Collin: Yeah?
        K: Yeah! 
        Collin: Oh, alright I'll give you a wave. 
        K: Oh, terrific. 
        Susan: We'll take another call.  It's Adel Almascalty, I think, from
Hull.  Hello, Adel. 
        Adel: Hello? 
        K: Hello. 
        Adel: Hello, Kate. 
        K: Hi. 
        Adel: Yeah, I just wanted to ask you... Before I ask you I would like
to say, it's really good to talk to you on the phone this evening. 
        K: Oh, it's really nice to talk to you. 
        Adel: I'd like to ask you - what made you think of starting your
moving/dancing? 
        K: What, moving and dancing while I'm singing? 
        Adel: Yeah. 
        K: Well that was really inspired by a person called Lindsay Kemp, who
I saw a few years ago in an amazing stage show and I'd just never seen
anything like it.  This guy was moving without saying anything, and the whole
audience were just completely lost, they were just mad over him.  And I'd
never seen anything so inspiring, and I thought that maybe if I could move and
sing at the same time, maybe I'd be able to get across that sort of emotion. 
It's just something I'm trying.  [Laughs].
        Adel: [??? Inaudible].
        K: I'm sorry? 
        Adel: Did you [??? Inaudible] school or anything? 
        K: Ah, yeah.  I trained for a couple of years at a dance school, after
that.  But it wasn't really mime, it was more modern dance.  But I learned an
awful lot from that, I really did. 
        Adel: Oh.  I'd like to ask you some more questions.  You know, if I
want to start, going to movement lessons, where would I start from? 
        K: Well the best thing to do is have a look in theatrical papers like
Time Out and that.  They do a lot of good courses that are pretty cheap. 
Places in London and all over the country, I think.  Where you can just go
along with students.  There are some good schools, but you need qualifications
for a lot of them.  So personally, I'd go for the courses, cause they're more
inspiring anyway. 
        Adel: Oh, I see. 
        Ed: Thank you caller, what did you say your name was again?
        Adel: Adel. 
        Ed: From Hull?
        Adel: Yeah, that's right. 
        Ed: Oh, I thought you sounded like a Scotsman for a moment. 
[Everybody Laughs] 
        Susan: Kate, you feel that physical discipline is very important,
don't you, why do you think? 
        K: Ah, it's very important, because our bodies are what we live in. 
And we keep our homes clean, so we should keep our bodies clean.  And I think
exercise wakes you up.  I mean, if I don't do any exercise my brain is asleep
for most of the day.  And if you just do a few sorta you know one, two, three
[makes push up sounds and laughs] you feel much better, it's really wonderful.
 
        Susan: So that's another thing you do, besides writing songs and going
to sleep.  
        K: Yeah.  [Laughs]
        Ed: Well, what sort of diet do you keep?  Are you anything special? 
        K: Ah, well I'm vegetarian.  But I'm not very good about what I eat,
actually.   I'm not that disciplined.  I like chocolate and rubbish.  But I
love vegistables.  
        Ed: But why are you a vegetarian? 
        K: Because I don't believe in eating life.  I try to avoid eating life
as much as I can.  I mean there are things that I eat that probably have fat
in them, and that.  And, to a certain extent, I wear certain leather things. 
But I just don't believe in us considering ourselves so superior that we just
go around killing everything and eating it.
        Ed: Were you brought up this way? 
        K: No, no.  None of my family are really vegetarian.  But it's just
something I feel strongly about.
        Ed: You don't think it's just a phase. 
        K: [Laughs] Aye! [Laughs and pauses.]
        Ed: Ah, well we won't go on about that.  It's music time and we've got
another.. Well before we have another of your choice, lets have one more
question from Rochstail, another one from Rochstail.  John Wilkonson, good
evening. 
        John: Good evening.  
        K: Hello, John! 
        John: I just wondered, do you like listen to your own records?
        K: No, I don't actually.  The only times I listen to them is when I've
got a routine to work out.  If I'm doing a TV or something, then I have to
listen through it to work out the routine.  But that's the only time. 
        John: And are there any plans for a northwest concert? 
        K: For a what concert? 
        John: A northwest. 
        K: Northwest.  Well, they should be sorta publicized pretty soon where
we're going, but we're covering most of England so I'm sure we'll get to you. 
        John: Great. 
        K: Great. [Laughs]
        John: And do you mind if I just say hello to a few people?
        Ed: Well I'm afraid it's not one of those programs, John.  [Kate
really laughs]
        John: OK.
        Ed: I'm sorry mate.  But it's not a request program like that.  Ha,
ha.  No, I'll tell you what, we'll have another one of your choices Kate and
something you like from Steely Dan.
        K: Hmm, terrific. 
        Ed: Would you tell us what it is? 
        K: It's called Peg.  
        Ed: And why this one?  Is it in the name or what is it? 
        K: It's a brilliant song, they're wonderful musicians. 
        Ed: OK let's have a listen to them, Steely Dan and Peg. 

[Peg is played]

        Ed: Alright, there we go with Steely Dan and Peg.  And you're
listening to Personal Call and Kate Bush is our guest.  And I notice from your
long list of records that you gave us Kate, and unfortunately we won't be able
to play all them.  But there are one or two with quite a deep jazz influence
in them, like there's one with Billy Holliday.  We've got another one latter
on which we'll find that is the same.  How heavily were your influenced by
Jazz. 
        K: I think Billy Holiday hit me very strongly when I first heard her. 
I just couldn't believe her voice, I mean it just made me want to cry, it was
just amazing.  And she's very strongly Jazz and Blues, but there is something
about it that I love.  Maybe it's the indulgence.  [Laughs]
        Ed: Right, well that's the right of every composer, would you say, to
be slightly self-indulgent at times? 
        K: Oh, yeah. I think thats unanimous, yeah. 
        Ed: Ok, we've got David Martin from Devin, and Tivintan in Devin. 
Good evening, David. 
        David: Hello? 
        Ed: Off you go.
        David: Hello, Kate. 
        K: Hello, Dave. 
        David: How did you pick the name of Lionheart for your latest album? 
        K: Well that was really from the title track called Oh England, My
Lionheart.  And I just think it's a great word, it sorta means hero, and I
think hero is a very cliched word, so I thought Lionheart would be a bit
different. 
        David: Kate, I think all the songs on there are brilliant. 
        K: Oh, thank you.  Great, thanks.  Bye.
        Sue: You're not a Leo by any chance are you? 
        K: Ah, yeah. 
        Sue: Could that be something to do with it to? 
        K: Yes, it could indeed, yeah. 
        Sue: We've got another caller on the line now, Wendy Pantis.  Hello
Wendy in Hiwickam. 
        Wendy: Hello? 
        K: Hello, Wendy.
        Wendy: Hello, Kate.  Both your albums seem to me to be very woman
orientated like Room For The Life and In The Warm Room.  Would you say that
you are for or against woman's lib? 
        K: I'm always getting accused of being a feminist.  Really I do write
a lot of my songs for men, actually.  In fact, "In The Warm Room" is written
for men because there are so many songs for women about wonderful men that
come up and chat you up when you're in the disco and I thought it would be
nice to write a song for men about this amazing female.  And I think that I am
probably female-oriented with my songs because I'm a female and have very
female emotions but I do try to aim a lot of the psychology, if you like, at
men.
        Wendy: That's very good. [Kate laughs]  Thank you.
        K: Thank you. 
        Wendy: Kate, where do you get your hair done? 
        K: My hair?  I don't get it done anywhere, it does itself I'm afraid. 

        Wendy: Oh, lovely.  I think it's terrific. 
        K: Oh, thanks.  
        Ed: Thank you.  Susan Tracy from Harrold Hill, good evening. 
        Susan T.: Hello?        
        K: Hello.
        Susan T.: I just wondered what your middle name was? 
        K: My middle name? 
        Susan T: Yeah. 
        K: I haven't got one actually.  I've got a conformation name but
that's not really an official name and that's Mary. 
        Susan T: Oh, same as mine.  [Both Laugh]
        Ed: Alright, Susan. 
        K: Thank you. 
        Ed: Marcus Wally from Lester is there. 
        Marcus: Hello? 
        K: Hello, Marcus. 
        Marcus: Hello, Kate.  I would like to ask you if the record Strange
Phenomena on The Kick Inside was prompted by any outside experience, in fact. 
 
        K: Yeah, It's all about coincidences.  And there's in fact a school of
thought about that called, well it's Synchronicity.  And it's about all the
things that happen that are very similar and how one day all these really
strange coincidences will happen to you.  And alot of these happen to me. 
Like I'll be talking about something to someone and I'll go home and someone
will ring me up about the same thing.  And I think it's one of our phenomenas,
I must admit, yeah.
        Susan: You do believe that mental vibrations can be transmitted from
one person to another.
        K: I think by what you think and how you are you attract things to
you.  I think if you are a negative unhappy person a lot of negative unhappy
things could happen to you.  I really believe in that, yeah. 
        Susan: Marcos, what do you think? 
        Marcos: Well, I sometimes believe in it.  And then again there are
alot of people who are [??? inaubible] and don't believe it at all. 
        Susan: The difficult thing is that scientific data just can't proof
it, can it?  I think we ought to here the song, actually.  Strange Phenomena. 

[Strange Phenomena is played.]

        Susan: Alright, Strange Phenomena.  It's interesting words: 

Soon it will be the phase of the moon
When people tune in.
Every girl knows about the punctual blues,
But who's to know the power behind our moves?

A day of coincidence with the radio,
And a word that won't go away.
We know what they're all going to say.
"G" arrives--"Funny, had a feeling he was on his way!"

        Marcos, have you have any strange coincidences happen to you like
that? 
        Marcos: Well, there's one that happened this afternoon.  We were
discussing it our RV [???] lession about ghosts and various strange things. 
And when I heard this program was on, I thought I'd ask this question about
the phenomena and I'd didn't realize that you'd be discussing it.  So that's
kinda a coincidence already. 
        Sue: Kate, you remember any memorable coincidences like that? 
        K: Oh, dear.  Well they do happen alot, like just being places and
someone you haven't seen for years will turn up.  Reading a book and seeing it
in a shop and then seeing it on a bus.  They happen all the time, and it
happens to everyone.  I mean people are full of these little things that
happen to them. 
        Sue: It would to be able to explain it, but I suppose it would spoil
it to some extent, wouldn't it, if you could explain it. 
        K: I think so, yes.  I think you just have to accept it. 
        

[End of first part of transcription, second part Real Soon Now]

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