SUSPENDED IN GAFFA KATE QUOTES

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

SUSPENDED IN GAFFA 
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     Whenever I've sung this song I've hoped that my breath would hold out for
the first few phrases, as there is no gap to breathe in.
      When I wrote this track the words came at the same time, and this
is one of the few songs where the lyrics were complete at such an early stage.
The idea of the song is that of being given a glimpse of "God"--something that
we dearly want--but being told that unless we work for it, we will never see
it again, and even then, we might not be worthy of it. Of course, everybody
wants the reward without the toil, so people try to find a way out of the hard
work, still hoping to claim the prize, but such is not the case. The choruses
are meant to express the feeling of entering timelessness as you become ready
for the experience, but only when you are ready.  (1982, KBC 12)

        I could explain some of it, if you want me to:  "Suspended in Gaffa"
is reasonably autobiographical, which most of my songs aren't.  It's about
seeing something that you want--on any level--and not being able to get that
thing unless you work hard and in the right way towards it. When I do that I
become aware of so many obstacles, and then I want the thing without the work.
 And then when you achieve it you enter...a different level--everything will
slightly change.  It's like going through a time warp which otherwise wouldn't
have existed.
        ...But when you explain it like this it doesn't sound like anything. 
The idea is much more valuable within the song than it is in my telling you
about it. When you analyze it, it seems silly.  (1982, NME)

     "Gaffa" is Gaffa Tape. It is thick industrial tape, mainly used for
taping down and tidying up the millions of leads, and particularly useful in
concert situations. Suspended in Gaffa is trying to simulate being trapped in
a kind of web: everything is in slow motion, and the person feels like they're
tied up. They can't move. Defeat  (1984, KBC 16)

        Suspended In Gaffa is I suppose similar in some ways to Sat In Your
Lap - the idea of someone seeking something, wanting something.  I was brought
up as a Roman Catholic and had the imagery of purgatory and of the idea that
when you were taken there that you would be given a glimpse of God and then
you wouldn't see him again until you were let into heaven.  And we were told
that in Hell it was even worse because you got to see God but then you knew
that you would never see him again.  And it's sorta using that as the
parallel.  And the idea of seeing something incredibly beautiful, having a
religious experience as such, but not being able to get back there.  And it
was playing musically with the idea of the verses being sorta real time and
someone happily jumping through life [MAKES HAPPY MOTION WITH HEAD] and then
you hit the chorus and it like everything sorta goes into slow mo and they're
reaching [makes slow reaching motion with arm] for that thing that they want
and they can't get there.  [LAUGHS]
        AND IS LIKE THE VIDEO A DANCE INTERPRETATION OF THAT? 
        Well, that video and the one that went with There Goes A Tenner, quite
honestly, were rushed.  There was very little time to do them.  I had to do
three videos in something like two months and I don't really think that if
we'd had more time that we would have done that.   (1985, MTV)



SUSPENDED IN GAFFA
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        Okay, let's hear a track called Suspended In Gaffa from The Dreaming. 
What is this about?
        Well, it's really about people that are after something that is very
special to them.  They've seen something that they want very badly, but they
know that in order to get that they have to work very hard.  And a lot of
people don't want to do the work and still want the thing at the end of it.  I
remember when I was at school, I was always told about purgatory as being the
place that you went to and you saw a glimpse of God and then he went away and
you never ever saw him again and you were in the most tremendous pain for the
rest of eternity because you couldn't ever see him again.  And it's a really
heavy image, you know, especially for a child.  And I think in many ways it's
a very similar thing, trying to get that back that thing that you really want
to see again.  (1982, Unknown BBC interview)

        JAY: I think it's just, it's just what it means.  If you know what
gaffa is, and in the music business "gaffa" is a very heavy duty tape.  It's
used everywhere, sticking things down, mending things, makings cases.  And I
think the idea is probably if you're wrapped up in this stuff and just [???
stuffed] 'round, your suspended waiting for time.  And I think the rest of it
is saying [??? inaudible] that's the problem.  (1985, Kate Bush Con. Paddy and
Jay Interview)
 .s
 
Ron "Ohio" Hill

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