Re: Cloudbusting

[jeffy@syrinx.umd.edu (Jeffrey C. Burka)]

In article <930517161509.20400c67@glerl.noaa.gov> you write:
>Interested people,
>
>  I think that 'Cloudbusting' has a deeper meaning then the "father gets
>taken away by the goverment because he has experimented with the
>weather." I think that she is talking about fear in general. If you
>have a talent or something that other people will try to take away
>from you don't be afraid to use it. If you don't use it, then you have
>nothing. What good is a glow in the dark yo yo if it's buried in
>the garden. none.

I've always seen "Hounds of Love" (ie the first side of _Hounds of Love_) as
a collection of songs, each about a different sort of love.  "Running Up
That Hill" is the romantic/sexual love between two partners, people
who want to experience each other to the fullest.  "Hounds of Love" is a 
young woman, afraid of falling in love.  "The Big Sky" is love of life
(yeah, I know, that may be pushing it just a tad...;-).  "Mother Stands
For Comfort" is the unparalleled love of a mother for her son (despite the
wrongs he has committed!).  And "Cloudbusting" is the love of a boy for
his father.

>it, the goverment will take him away (and does) to use his knowledge 
>(or other more devious things.)

I can see where you'd come up with this reading, but it has no basis in
reality.  Wilhelm Reich was arrested ostensibly on charges of fraud
because of the claims Reich made regarding the medicinal value of his
orgone energy accumulators.  The government had all sorts of reasons
for arresting him, or so they would claim.  I'd probably refer to him
as an intellectual prisoner.  While he was considered a brilliant 
psychoanalyst/theorist when he was younger, by the time he was 
arrested, most folks considered him a crackpot.  Was he doing any harm?  
Geez, I dunno.

>I would guess that the end of the song is simply hope that the bad
>things will not happen, or will reverse themselves. Something that isn't
>bad shouldn't have evil associated with it, her father or the yo yo.
>Something good should come of it.

I find the comparison of Reich to the yo-yo at the end rather interesting.
Is that a comparison that Peter Reich makes himself, or did KaTe
draw it herself?

(fwiw, Peter Reich, the little boy in the story, had a glow-in-the-dark
yo-yo.  His father felt that glow-in-the-dark items such as that emmitted
negative orgone energy and was therefore dangerous.  Peter hid the yo-yo
because he didn't to give it up)

Jeff
-- 
|Jeffrey C. Burka     | "When I look in the mirror, I see a little clearer/ |
|SAFH Lite [tm]       |  I am what I am and you are you too./  Do you like  |
|jeffy@syrinx.umd.edu |  what you see?  Do you like yourself?"  --N. Cherry |