Mystery interview

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

Unidentified "Saturday Night?" Interview 
-----------------------------------------
Circa 1982

        This interview, done in front of an audience, is from an unknown
source.  The theme music goes "Saturday Night, Saturday Night" something. 
Apparently the interview was during the making of, or right after the release
of, The Dreaming.  Any further information is appreciated.

[Transcribed by Ron Hill.  Thanks to IED for the tape.]

[Applause]

        I: I always find watching you sing -  because you do more than listen
to you, you watch very much as well when you're performing - I always find I
feel like a mouse confronted with a cobra because there's something hypnotic
about it, it's very strange.  Can you explain it?  It's some sort of curious
lilt you get into your voice which is almost like an incantation.  Where did
it come from? 
        K: [Laughs] Well "ssssss" is the obvious way, isn't it?  I don't know,
it's very strange because I think a lot of influences have been responsible
for the way I am and I think that's the same with everyone, really.  That you
are, in many ways, the things that you like, and you try to be those things
that you like.  And I've always been incredibly fond of music, I've always
tried to aspire to the people that I admire.  And the same with dancing, I've
always had a basic interest in it, I think mainly because of the expression
that you can get, you know, through singing and dancing.
        I: But was there anything... I mean it's such an unusual style, I
think it's what's so extraordinary.  So many pop singers do sound the same,
but you sound absolutely different from all the rest.  [Kate Laughs]  What
possible influence.... 'cause you didn't have a very unusual childhood, did
you? 
        K: No, not particularly. 
        I: Where did you live, for example? 
        K: I was brought up in Kent.  A very sort of normal upbringing.  I
think the music, again, that I was hearing at a very early age influenced me
tremendously because before I was going to school, before I was reading, I was
singing along to songs, to traditional music.  And in a way I think that got
my soul before the education even got near me.  And I think really when you
are that young, in a way I think the sparks of what you really want to do are
there somewhere. 
        I: But the voice... where, where, ... were you singing like that then,
this strange voice that rises up so high? 
        K: No, when I first started singing I had an incredibly plain voice, I
mean I could sing in tune but that was about it, I mean I really wasn't that
good.  And really all I did was sing every day, because I was writing songs, I
would sing them.  And I was concentrating much more on my writing and
therefore my voice came through that.  And every day I'd be at the piano for
hours, so really it was just a gradual progression from something that
started...
        I: Do you like your own voice? 
        K: No, I don't, and I think this is a problem that a awful lot of
artists have, they can't actually enjoy what they do, or their voice, or
whatever it is, to the fullest because they are themselves.  And it's very
painful for me to listen to my voice sometimes as it is for other people who
don't like it.  [Laughter from audience]  But it's something that you have to
try to accept, that you have limitations.  And that's what you go for.  
        I: You have some very exotic body language to, where did that come
from?  Did you have special training for that? 
        K: Yes, I did train.  But when I left school, I knew that I wanted to
do music, but I also knew that their was something missing from the
expression.  And I was very lucky just to see an add in a paper.  I went to
see a show, and it was Lindsay Kemp, and really I'd never seen anything like
it before.  And what he was doing was he was using movement without any sound
at all, something I'd never experienced, and he was expressing so much,
probably more most people would express with their mouths.  And it suddenly
dawned on me that there was a whole new world of expression that I'd hadn't
even realized.  And so..
        I: Do you still do a lot of mime? 
        K: Yes, I try to, yes. 
        I: You still train at it, do you? 
        K: It's very hard to get the time, that's the main problem, because I
find I'm in the studio or writing most of the time.  So fitting everything in
is in fact the biggest problem and it's very frustrating sometimes because
there's so many things that you want to do, but because of limitations you
can't fit it all in. 
        I: Yet, [??? inaudible] and everything, you've got a reputation of
doing absolutely everything for your shows, how many jobs do you do when you
go on the road with your show?
        K: Well, I think I try and do everything that I think I can handle and
because I'm writing the music and singing and performing, a lot of things come
from that which I don't think would otherwise.  For instance, I don't think
I'd be able to choreograph if I didn't write the music, because in many ways I
know the music so inside out, and like backwards sometimes, that I already
have ideas for steps and choreography that I wouldn't have otherwise.  And in
many ways it just goes from the song, the song just takes off, then a video
needs to be made, and then a stage show.  So, it's like the development of the
songs, in many ways.  It seems like a natural procedure.  
        I: 'Cause you're your own producer, I think, aren't you?  You produce
it all yourself, the whole thing. 
        K: Yes, I've only just managed to get there though.  I mean this album
is the first one that I'm producing.  And it's incredible, I mean there really
is so much you have to do, and it is very hard. 
        I: Hard work, is it? 
        K: Yes, especially also when you're the artist that you're doing the
album of.  I mean sometimes I keep thinking, "who's album is this," you know. 
And then I think it's mine and I think "well," you know, "I've got to keep
working."  I think I wouldn't be able to if I didn't feel that the songs need
to be presented to people.
        I: The strange thing about you is you introduced a very original
style, it didn't grow slowly it was there, Boommp!  The first time I saw you,
I said in 1978, "there it was."  How do you see it developing?  K: Well, I see
it developing especially on stage, I think that's where I found something. 
When I did the tour I'd never realized how much you can in fact do on a live
stage.  I think there's a lot that's used in video and film that has never
really explored in a live sense and I think that there's a lot that you could
do there that I would like to try and do, yes. 
        I: Apart from yourself, where do you think pop music is going at the
moment?  I sometimes get the feeling that apart individualist performers like
yourself, a lot of it is beginning to sound, maybe I'm getting old, but it
sounds all the same to me now, alot of it on Top Of The Pops.  
        K: I have that problem, too.  I watch Top Of The Pops, you know, some
weeks and I really find it very, very hard to identify with some of the music
that people are making.  And yet obviously the young people of today really do
enjoy it. 
        I: Yes, but I think it's so marvelous that we have, in this country,
produced another original performer.  One of the most unusual singers I've
ever heard.  I certainly, unlike you, I enjoy your voice very much indeed. 
        K: Thank you. 
        I: Ladies and gentleman, Kate Bush! 
        K: Thank you. 

[Applause]

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