politics 2

[rhill@netlink.cts.com (Ron Hill)]

Andrew Says:
 
- Oh, and I just remembered the anti-nuclear sentiments of "Breathing". 
 
Kate says:

        "Breathing" and "Army Dreamers" are social comment songs, which you 
ain't really done before, have you?
        No.  I've thought a lot about the political aspect - this is when 
people label them as Political Songs.  But it's only because the political 
motivations move me emotionally.  If they hadn't, it wouldn't have gotten to 
me.  It went through the emotional centre - when I thought: "Ah...OW!" And 
that made me write.
        The nuclear situation is such a real danger, the fact that buttons 
have been pushed and planes have gone into action.  It's something to be 
scared of, it really is.  None of us wants it to happen.  We're the 
innocents.  Saying something about it from the heart is not going to change 
the world or anything, but at least people can think more about it.
        It's good that you've got a big following among very young kids and 
are doing this, cos they'll have to know more than just Janet and John books 
and Tiswas soon...  [Tiswas was a British television programme which was 
ostensibly made for children, but which eventually attracted a large adult 
audience, as well.  -  IED]
        So many of them knew, you know.  They hear a lot more than the media 
generally give them.  They really understand the song, and I don't think it 
frightens them, but it really upsets a lot of them.  That's good - it's not 
nice but it's good that that actually got through to them.
        When I wrote the song, it was from such a personal viewpoint.  It 
was just through having heard a thing for years without it ever having got 
through to me.  'Til the moment it hit me, I hadn't really been moved.  Then 
I suddenly realised the whole devastation and disgusting arrogance of it 
all.  Trying to destroy something that we've not created - the earth.  The 
only thing we are is a breathing mechanism: everything is breathing.  
Without it we're just nothing.  All we've got is our lives, and I was 
worried that when people heard it they were going to think, "She's 
exploiting commercially this terribly real thing." I was very worried that 
people weren't going to take me from my emotional standpoint rather than the 
commercial one.  But they did, which is great.  I was worried that people 
wouldn't want to worry about it because it's so real.  I was also worried 
that it was too negative, but I do feel that there is hope in the whole 
thing, just for the fact that it's a message from the future.  It's not from 
now, it's from a spirit that may exist in the future, a non-existent 
spiritual embryo who sees all and who's been round time and time again so 
they know what the world's all about.  This time they don't want to come 
out, because they know they're not going to live.  It's almost like the 
mother's stomach is a big window that's like a cinema screen, and they're 
seeing all this terrible chaos.   (1980, Zigzag)
 
Andrew says:

So are these interpretations correct?   Have I missed any out?   What has 
Kate said in recorded interviews about political and social issues? 

I says:

        Kate usually echos the above sentiments of not being a politcally 
oriented, occasionally though, she has been pushed into talking about 
specific issues:

Kate says:
 

        Your song "Breathing" seems to be written from the point of view of 
a fetus about to be born into a post-holocaust world.  One might think from 
this and from your being a vegetarian, that you would be opposed to 
abortion.  What are your feelings on the morality and legality of abortion?
        I think that is a very difficult subject and something that's far 
too easy to generalize about.  But I think that life is something that 
should be respected and honored even in a few hours of its conception.
        Do you think that abortion should be illegal?
        I don't feel that I want to comment on that.
        Okay.   (1985, Love-Hounds)
 
        If you look at it from the point of view of somebody who is 
unemployed or finding it hard to make ends meet, writing an album on that 
kind of abstract theme could seem like an indulgent exercise.  How would you 
respond to that particular criticism?
        I would say, is it right to put this kind of limitation on art?  I 
think very visually, when I write things, and I particularly saw this piece 
as a visual thing.  Also, I think perhaps it would be more hypocritical of 
me to write about a situation that concerns those kind of people.  I don't 
think I could understand it enough to make something worthwhile from it. 
It's very difficult; I always remember the criticisms of someone like Elton 
John - How can someone that rich sing about being poor when they don't 
understand it?  Margaret Thatcher, how can she understand it?  When you're 
dealing with contemporary situations, you have to be terribly careful not to 
insult rather than do what you want to do, which is "Yeah! Come on, let's do 
it!" [gestures]
        So tell me, how would you vote in an election, if there was one in 
the next week or two?
        That's something I wouldn't want to say.  I think it's a very
personal thing, voting.  I also think it's a crazy situation we are in, 
where there is not much choice. You look at the people who are up there, who 
we have to choose between - Is that really a solution?  I don't think it is 
at all, is it?
        So what's your opinion of Margaret Thatcher, then?
        I don't feel I am a political thinker at all. I don't really
understand politics.
        On the other hand, you must have opinions about her.
        About her. I don't know, I don't know what I think of her,
or any of them.  I think it's incredible, really, don't you, the people we 
have to choose between?
        I think that there is a shocking limitation in what they aspire to.
        Also, there's the big fib that everyone has, that they do aspire to 
these things - but it's just a promotional thing, to get them to number one! 
 And even if someone in that position wanted to help, could they?  Could 
they?  Because they are so tied in by the whole bureaucracy of the thing, 
it's like a big game that's much deeper than it looks, really.
        But Margaret Thatcher - she has basically attempted to dismantle the 
social welfare system.
        That's horrific, that's really terrible, the hospitals...
But I don't know if there is anyone besides her at the moment who
would really do it better, would they?  I don't know, I wish there
was, it would be good.  It would be great to stop National Health going down 
the drain - It's disgusting to think of people having to die because they 
don't have the facilities to care for some people.  But the unemployment 
thing is - I don't know.  I don't like what governments do, but I can't talk 
about individuals because I don't know enough about them.  I really don't.  
I'm ignorant.   (1985, Hot Press)

--                    
 rhill@netlink.cts.com (Ron Hill)  
NetLink Online Communications * Public Access in San Diego, CA (619) 435-6181