re: many an aborigine's mistaken for a tree

[scasterg@waltham.columbus.oh.us (Stuart Castergine)]

Love that subject Line!

> Hi all!
> I think I have finally figured out how to post (Thanks Liam:) ), and now that
> this glorious day has come, I have many questions for you gaffans....
> Does anyone know how Tori or Kate feel about the comparisons that have been
> drawn between them?

I've never seen any comment by Kate on the matter. Tori likes Kate, but
seems to be wearily tolerant of the comparison. A bunch of us were at
the Caldwells' (KateFans, nay, KateManiacs, and publishers of the
"really deep thoughts" fanzine -- tell your friends!) watching some
video footage, part of which was a Tori interview. And we could all
just tell when he was about to ask "the question." We were all yelling
"No, no, don't say it!" But, of course, he said it. I think it showed
in her face: "Oh, not *that* again."

> A KaTefan I know once told me that Kate was a Druid priestess (!!) -- has
> anyone else heard that?

Well, she played a Druid priestess on the Wogan show during a
performance of "Running up that Hill," but I have a hunch she's not
officially a practitioner of any pagan religion. She's taken with many
pagan elements and ideas, but I don't think it goes much beyond being
"an interest." Of course, I may be wrong. I'm only a KateFan(TM), not a
Fucking Kate Bush Maniac(TM), but I have aspirations. :-)

> "Night of the Swallow" is probably my all time favorite Kate song, but I've 
> not a clue what it's about -- what do you think this situation is that she's
> describing?  Don't you love the line, "wings fill the window, and they beat
> and bleed".....

Yes, I've always loved that line immensely. One of my favorite songs,
and by the recent poll results, a favorite of many gaffans/love-hounds.

My muddy unofficial interpretation:

There are two voices in the song, a man who is involved in smuggling
people (political dissidents, criminals, or something, it never
really says), and a woman -- his wife or lover -- who doesn't want him
doing it. The song bounces back and forth between the man's confidence
in his ability to evade the authorities

"though pigs can fly they'll never find us posing as the night, and I'm
home before the morning."

and
the woman's fear and arguments to stop him

"if you go, I'll let the law know and they'll head you off when you
touch the ground. Oh, please don't go through with this, I don't like
the sound of it."

the line you like so much might be indicating that he gets caught, I'm
never sure. It goes

"In Malta, catch a swallow for all the guilty -- to set them free. Wings
fill the window and they beat and bleed."

Since the man is the "swallow" in the story, this might be an indication
that he's caught, but it may also be a reference to those he's
liberating. I dunno.

One of my favorite sections is his final pleas to her:

		"Give me a break!
		Ooh, let me try!
		Give me something to show
		For my miserable life!
		Give me something to take!
		Would you break even my wings,
		Just like a swallow?

And at thge very end of the song, very drawn out, and almost inaudible
are the woman's last words:

But you're not a swallow!

Good song.

---
scasterg@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu -- Stuart M. Castergine     ---
                I  still dream of Orgonon.                      |/
                                                                |\