KaTe is God... "Catherine" is not.

[mandorallen@st1.vuw.ac.nz]

...or, how I learned to stop worrying and love The Sensual World

by Anthony Hobbs, the Bard.

In article <9108201713.AA11645@aristotle.ils.nwu.edu>, Jorn Barger wrote a
nice little article containing his analysis of KaTe's changes in musical style
over the years, which the conclusion that "she is undergoing another 
metamorphosis, into a _grown-up woman_, whom we might rename Catherine Bush."
This, of course, implies that the Goddess - sorry, woman who wrote _The_
Dreaming_, _Hounds_of_Love_ and _The_Ninth_Wave is soon to be no more -
swallowed up by her older, "wiser" self. Does this remind you of anything,
Love-Hounds? I refer, of course, to "Jig of Life", where the protagonist's
future self demands that she stay alive that she, the future self, might be
born. Is it, then, Jorn's feeling that KaTe is no more - that she is about
to be this "Catherine"?
	This may or may not be the case. Even Jorn has the perspecacity to note
that KaTe is not yet dead, giving the example of "Rocket's Tail". But I think
he may be missing the point. For me, and maybe for thousands of Kate-fans
everywhere, "Rocket's Tail" was the high point of _The_Sensual_World_. A real
work of genius, worthy of the author of _The_Ninth_Wave_. But under Jorn's
theorem, the woman who wrote this is soon to be no more, swallowed up by the
woman who wrote "Walk Straight Down The Middle"
	I know full well I will be flamed to hell and back for this, but in
my opinion fully half of the songs on TSW are BORING, middle-of-the-road
technopop. This is more than made up for by the other half, of course - but if
"maturity" means "Catherine" will be writing songs like "Reaching Out" for the
rest of her life, I'm not sure I want to know about it.
	What is my point, you ask? Hooray if KaTe is becoming a mature woman, I
say. But if maturity means she loses that which elevated her to Goddess-status
in so many eyes, then I fear I will have to say a fond farewell to this new
"Catherine", quietly withdraw from the First Church of Love-Hounds and silently
slip away, like Puff the Magic Dragon, and cherish my memories of KaTe. "Love-
Hounds live for ever, but not so their Goddess" - is this the shape of things?
Do not get me wrong. Catherine is a great songwriter. But what makes her diff-
erent from the hordes of other Mature Female Artists? Maybe, just maybe, it 
would have been better if Catherine had not been born.

	I think my subject line says it best.
	KaTe is God. Catherine is not.
-- 
This was the Bard, Anthony Hobbs... mandorallen@st1.vuw.ac.nz, and proud of it.
"Namarie! Nai hiruvalye Valimar... nai elye hiruva" - Galadriel, Third Age 3019
DISCLAIMER: Actually, VUW agree with every little thing I say. :-)