Politics (part 1)

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

Andrew Says:

I decided in this posting to see if I can initiate any discussion of social 
and political issues in Kate's songs.   Being both a Political Science 
masters student and a Katefan, this seems natural to me. 
 
Basically, how many references in Kate's songs can people find to political 
and social issues?   Although in the interview that she gives for TSW video 
she talks of her dislike of formal political processes, I can find quite a 
few
references in her songs to "informal" political issues (or "private" verses 
"public" political issues, to use the feminist terminology).     Just to 
start the ball rolling, here I some of my own interpretations: 
 
 
- "The Dreaming" is of course about racism, but what do I make of "Heads 
We're Dancing"? 

Kate says: 

        The title track [The Dreaming] concerns the abuse of Aborigines by 
so-called civilised man.  Where did that interest come from?
        That's something that's been growing for years.  It started when I 
was tiny, and my brother bought "Sun Arise".  We thought it was brilliant - 
to me, that's a classic record.  I started to become aware of the whole 
thing - that it's almost an instinctive thing in white man to wipe out a 
race that actually owns the land.  It's happening all around the world.
        Do you hope to change people's opinions by what you write?
        No.  Because I don't think a song can ever do that.  If people have 
strong opinions, then they're so deep-rooted that you'll never be able to do 
much.  Even if you can change the way a few people think, you'll never be 
able to change the situation anyway.
        I don't ever write politically, because I know nothing about 
politics.  To me they seem more destructive than helpful.  I think I write 
from an emotional point of view, because even though a situation may be 
political, there's always some emotional element, and that's what gets to 
me.   (1982, Kerrang!)

        I found it really funny, bit strange in a way...
        That's a very dark song, not funny at all!
        "It was '39, before the music started."  Did you write it to tie in 
with the war anniversary?
        No, purely coincidental.  I wrote the song two years ago, and in 
lots of ways I wouldn't write a song like it now.  I'd really hate it if 
people were offended by this...But it was all started by a family friend, 
years ago, who'd been to dinner and sat next to this guy who was really 
fascinating, so charming.  They sat all night chatting and joking.  And next 
day he found out it was Oppenheimer.  And this friend was horrified because 
he really despised what the guy stood for.
        I understood the reaction, but I felt a bit sorry for Oppenheimer.  
He tried to live with what he'd done, and actually, I think, committed 
suicide.
        But I was so intrigued by this idea of my friend being so taken by 
this person until they knew who they were, and then it completely changing 
their attitude.
        So I was thinking, what if you met the Devil? The Ultimate One: 
charming, elegant, well spoken.
        Then it turned into this whole idea of a girl being at a dance and 
this guy coming up, cocky and charming, and she dances with him.  Then a 
couple of days later she sees in the paper that it was Hitler.  Complete 
horror: she was that close, perhaps could've changed history.
        Hitler was very attractive to women because he was such a powerful 
figure, yet such an evil guy.  I'd hate to feel I was glorifying the 
situation, but I do know that whereas in a piece of film it would be quite 
acceptable, in a song it's a little bit sensitive.   (1989, NME)


Andrew says:
 
- "Army Dreamers", "Experiment IV", and "Pull out the Pin" are obviously  
anti-military songs.   How about the second verse of "Oh England, My 
Lionheart"? 

Kate says:

*       No, it's not personal.  It's just a mother grieving and observing 
the waste.  A boy with no O-levels, say, who might have [??? LINE MISSING!]  
whatever.  But he's nothing to do, no way to express himself.  So he joins 
the army.  He's trapped.  So many die, often in accidents.  I'm not slagging 
off the army, because it's good for certain people.  But there are a lot of 
people in it who shouldn't be.   (1980, Sunday Times)

        ...a nightmare vision of the future where music is harnessed by evil 
scientists as a weapon of destruction.  (1986, Experiment IV press release, 
from Homeground 43)

        I've been noticing a theme of science in the last few songs you had 
out.  "Cloudbusting" was an experiment that went very well, but "Experiment 
IV" was one that want wrong.  But in both cases the scientists were 
sympathetic characters, but they were frustrated and manipulated.  Is that 
what you think about scientists?
        I don't think it's always what I think about scientists, but I think 
they are fascinating in that so often they're trying to create something 
that they consider positive, productive and very much something that would 
help mankind, but so often along the way those good intentions end up being 
used, particularly by other people, for completely the opposite reasons.  
Particularly experiments that end up being used by the military, things like 
the atom bomb.  I can see that perhaps when the guy was originally playing 
with that idea, he had no idea where he'd end up, and that I'm sure that he 
wouldn't have the evil intentions in his head initially.  He was so caught 
up, so obsessed with the pure level of the science that he didn't actually 
realize how it could be used.
        What do you think about scientific experimentation?  Are there 
limits to the things that people should be working on?
        I think that's very much part of the fascination, is that people 
have to do that, that's what human beings are about - discovering things, 
and perhaps the problem is that they're normally always connected by forces 
that do not have that same kind of creative curiosity.  The consequences, 
that's the problem; the consequences are quite often hindsight, rather than 
on the way.
        I consider music a really positive force, it's something that is 
there to help people, to make them happy, to make them think.  So many 
wonderful things, music therapy...It's a very positive energy and there's 
something incredibly beautiful about music.  And the thought of people using 
sound in such a negative way - and there are definitely sonic experiments 
that go on, that are used by the military - it's so obscene.  The irony of 
using something that's so beautiful, in a way, to actually kill people 
rather than help them, I find fascinating.  (1987, MuchMusic)

        I saw this incredible documentary by this Australian cameraman who 
went on the front line in Vietnam, filming from the Vietnamese point of 
view, so it was very biased against the Americans.  He said it really 
changed him, because until you live on their level like that, when it's 
complete survival, you don't know what it's about.  He's never been the same 
since, because it's so devastating, people dying all the time.
        The way he portrayed the Vietnamese was as this really crafted, 
beautiful race.  The Americans were these big, fat, pink, smelly things who 
the Vietnamese could smell coming for miles because of the tobacco and 
cologne.  It was devastating, because you got the impression that the 
Americans were so heavy and awkward, and the Vietnamese were so beautiful 
and all getting wiped out.  They wore a little silver Buddha on a chain 
around their neck and when they went into action they'd pop it into their 
mouth, so if they died they'd have Buddha on their lips.  I wanted to write 
a song that could somehow convey the whole thing, so we set it in the jungle 
and had helicopters, crickets and little Balinese frogs.   (1982, ZigZag)

 
- From what I remember, "Room for the Life" seems quite feminist in tone, 
although I'm not quite sure what to make of "This Women's Work".   The last 
verse of "Suspended in Gaffa" may also be trying to make some sort of point 
about the position of women.   Also I remember reading somewhere that "Get 
Out of My House" is a song about rape, and the same seems to apply to "Leave 
it 
Open" on the same album. 
 
Kate says:

*       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? 
        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.   (1979, Personal Call)

        John Hughes, the American director, was doing a film called "She's 
Having a Baby" - a great film, very nice and comic.  And he had this scene 
which he wanted me to write a song for where it gets very heavy.  The film's 
about this guy who gets married and he likes being a kid, really - very much 
up in the clouds - and she gets pregnant and they go into hospital, and 
she's rushed off becuase the baby's in the breach position.
        And suddenly there he is, just left in the waiting room by himself.  
It's probably the first time in his life he's had to grow up.  (1989, Melody 
Maker)

        GET OUT OF MY HOUSE: The Shining is the only book I've read that has 
frightened me.  While reading it I swamped[???] around in its snowy imagery 
and avoided visiting certain floors of the big, cold hotel, empty for the 
winter. As in Alien, the central characters are isolated, miles (or light 
years) away from anyone or anything, but there is something in the place 
with them.  They're not sure what, but it isn't very nice.
        The setting for this song continues the theme - the house which is 
really a human being, has been shut up - locked and bolted, to stop any 
outside forces from entering.  The person has been hurt and has decided to 
keep everybody out.  They plant a "concierge" at the front door to stop any 
determined callers from passing, but the thing has got into the house 
upstairs.  It's descending in the lift, and now it approaches the door of 
the room that you're hiding in.  You're cornered, there's no way out, so you 
turn into a bird and fly away, but the thing changes shape, too.  You 
change, it changes; you can't escape, so you turn around and face it, scare 
it away.
        "Hee Haw"
        "Hee Haw"
        "Hee Haw"   (1982, KBC 12)

        "Leave It Open" is the idea of human beings being like cups - like 
receptive vessels.  We open and shut ourselves at different times.  It's 
very easy to let you ego go "nag nag nag" when you should shut it.  Or when 
you're very narrow-minded and you should be open.  Finally you should be 
able to control your levels of receptivity to a productive end.   (1982, 
NME)

Andrew Says:

- "Kaska from Bagdad" is obviously a song about male homosexuality, but is 
"Wow"?  I remember reading somewhere that it is a song about a gay actor who 

can't get work because he is discriminated against due to his sexuality.  
Is this true? 

Kate says:

*       Well, "Kashka From Baghdad" that actually came from a very strange 
American Detective series that I caught a couple of years ago, and there was 
a musical theme that they kept putting in.  And they had an old house, in 
this particular thing, and it was just a very moody, pretty awful serious 
thing.  And it just inspired the idea of this old house somewhere in Canada 
or America with two people in it that no-one knew anything about.  And being 
a sorta small town, everybody wanted to know what everybody what else was up 
to.  And these particular people in this house had a very private thing 
happening.   (1979, Personal Call)

*       WOW: I am playing the part of a movie star and I suppose this lady 
is quite sexy.  But I don't think it is shocking. 
        The record is a bit of a send-up of a lot of things in showbiz.
        There are an awful lot of homosexuals in the business.  But that is 
just an observation, not a criticism.   (1980, Wow)

--                    
 rhill@netlink.cts.com (Ron Hill)  
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