///// Cloudbusting Annotated Lyrics PART III (Orgonon?) ////////

[rhill@netrun.cts.com (ronald hill)]

ORGANON?

        "Orgonon" was the name used by Wilhelm Reich when he named his 
estate. He mixed together the word "organon", which is a word one might 
use to describe Reich's body of work if one were foolish enough to 
think of Reich's work as scientific or philosophic, with the word 
"Orgone",which is a nonexistent form of energy that Reich claimed was 
responsible for rain, orgasms, and all sorts of other things.  

        In the lyrics to the song say "Organon" and Kate's 12 inch 
version of the song was sub-titled "The Organon Remix."  Which was 
incorrect since Reich's ranch in Maine was called "Orgonon," based on 
"Orgone" energy, with an o.  This error was corrected in the lyrics 
(but not music) section of the book Kate Bush Complete.  Tracing 
whether or not this was intentional has lead to much research on the 
subject. 
        Kate was asked by love-hound Doug Alan the day after he 
interviewed her, while she was signing records at Tower Records.  "She 
gave my a look of amusement that said 'my fans sure are cute coming up 
with all these ridiculous questions' and said that no, the mispelling 
was not intentional at all."
        However, John Carder Bush, when later asked directly about the 
spelling, replied, "It could be intentional."
        Andrew Marvick came up with these (apparently tongue-in-cheek) 
explaination in a 1986 paper on _HoL_:

  ...new implications arise from the re-spelling of the name Orgonon
  itself within the song. It has not been determined yet whether
  or not this re-spelling was originally a deliberate one. It is
  arguable, however, that, by the time the twelve-inch "Organon
  Mix" was released, the emphasis on this spelling reflected Kate's
  intentions. If this is so, then the word "organon" may
  be seen as a reference not only by pun to Reich's
  once-controversial sexual theories, but also directly to
  the term "organon", used by Aristotle in reference to
  several of his logical treatises, and again by Sir Francis
  Bacon in some of his philosophical writings. Suggestions
  have been made, as well, that the misspelling may be a
  reference to a character from the long-running British
  television series "Dr. Who", although this seems a remote
  possibility, since it is unlikely that Kate is certain of the
  correct spelling of that character's name.
  The most likely reference is to the British pharmaceutical
  product Organon, a common sleeping aid: such a connotation
  is not wildly arcane; nor is it unrelated to the theme of the
  song. It is not inappropriate, however,
  that the term seems also to rationalize her single known vice
  by referring to Walter Rumsey's "Organon Salutis", an obscure
  document of 1659 subtitled, "Divers New Experiments of Tobacco
  and Coffee: how Much they conduce to preserve Humane Health."


        The issue of whether or not it was intentional was finally put 
to rest by Peter Manchester: 

        ... in correspondence between me and Kate.  
The relevant paragraph of my letter to her of May 18, 1986 ran 
like this:

              "I am a 43 year old professor of philosophy and 
       speculative theology, which I believe I can verify by my 
       first remark, which is to complain pedantically that Peter 
       Reich follows his father Dr. Reich's practice of spelling 
       'Orgonon' as I have just written it, with an 'o', from 
       'orgone' energy, whereas your song title and lyrics for 
       "Cloudbusting" write 'Organon'.   Organon  was originally 
       the title given to the five logical treatises of Aristotle       
 by his editor of record, Andronicus of Rhodes.  It has 
       thereafter had some currency among philosophers as a title       
 for a general methodological tractate, or an 'instrument of 
       thought' in the sense of a fundamental logical mechanism.        
 I would not put it past you to be aware of this fact, at 
       least subliminally, and to have perpetrated a deliberate 
       pun.  But I rather suspect I have caught you in a spelling       
 error.
              "Of course maybe you have a whole thing with A and 
       O, Alpha and Omega":  my ears hear the lyric in "Not This 
       Time" as
              To the A, to the O
              To the A, to the O
              To the O that's bursting
              To keep me going and to keep the shit away.
       And certainly you're right that we all sin!"

In her reply (undated, but immediate), Kate writes:
              "I'm afraid the Orgonon mis-spelling IS a mistake 
       and we were aware of this as soon as we saw the 'copy'. It
       is very difficult to correct everything and this one 
       slipped through my hands but I find it a wonderful 
       experience when errors of this kind give birth to such 
       fascinating theories!"

        [I am nervous about transcribing private correspondence, but 
this one issue seems to have come to her and the family from several 
angles, so I place this much of our exchange on the record.]

       In Greek 'organon' simply means 'tool'.  So an 'organ' is a tool 
(of life), an 'organism' is a system of tools.  In designating the 
logical treatises of Aristotle as an Organon, Andronicus of Rhodes 
interpreted them as a fundamental set of 'tools' for philosophical 
thinking (which may not have been Aristotle's view at all).  By the 
Middle Ages this view of logic as a 'primer' became official and 
finally officious, provoking the Englishman Francis Bacon to publish a 
"Novum Organum" (1620) rejecting medieval philosophy and instigating 
the tradition of critical empiricism that evolved into what today is 
called 'scientific method'.  Bacon wrote in Latin, where the form is 
'organum', but in English translation his work is entitled "New 
Organon."
       Two years ago someone speculated that the revisionist and 
anti-traditional aspect of Bacon's work might underlie the spelling in 
Kate's lyrics and titles for CB.  I doubt it.  I do still suppose that 
some sort of subliminal awareness of the term 'organon' on Kate's part 
generated the initial misspelling, but given her Catholic schooling, it 
is far more likely to have been Aristotle than Bacon.
       It is interesting that the word 'orgasm' does NOT derive from 
the same root, but instead from a different Indo-European root that 
means 'to swell'. Wilhelm Reich may well have wanted on good scholarly 
grounds to emphasize the difference by the innovative spelling 'orgone' 
for his postulated hyper-
Freudian life-energy.  The name he gave his ranch in Maine, Orgonon, is 
based on that eccentric spelling, and violates the regular linguistic 
laws of formation for the particular Greek root, though once again with 
the advantage that it makes clear that he is NOT talking about an 
'organon'.
       To throw in one last twist, it could be that the Reichian 
spelling of orgone/Orgonon is behind the video's placement of the ranch 
with the cloudbusters in Oregon (instead of Maine).  In which case we 
have a NEW slip/pun to take up with Kate.

---
rhill@netrun.cts.com (ronald hill)
NetRunner's Paradise BBS, San Diego CA