Re: Cloudbusting - The book, the song, the controversy!!!! :-)

[ag@sics.se (Anders G|ransson)]

In article <9306060257.AA00433@syrinx.umd.edu> 
jeffy@syrinx.umd.edu (Jeffrey C. Burka) writes:

   In article <AG.93Jun5112432@anhur.sics.se> Anders writes:

   >Well, it's not that the lyrics don't give all the facts of the
   >matter the makes it less important than the music. No, my idea
   >was perhaps even more dubious: If the song (music&lyrics) gives
   >an emotional impression this is to be credited to the music
   >since the lyrics are (*as I see this*) so weak. Now, one of the
   >weaknesses of the lyrics is that it is so fragmental as to be
   >more or less meaningless to a listener unaware of the
   >background to the lyrics.

   I'll have to strongly disagree here.  
   I loved "Cloudbusting" *and* understood
   the import of its lyrics long before I knew the story of Peter Reich.
 
I note 'the import of'. If you had written that you understood
the lyrics I'd have had to ask you of your understanding of
such things as what "Organon" stands for, what the yo-yo
signifies e t c.

   The song is *not* a biographical piece on Peter Reich and his father.
   It is, I am convinced, a commentary on the nature of the love of a young
   boy for his father, _despite_ the confusion resulting from bad things the
   boy must associate with his father (first, the banning of his beloved
   yo-yo, secondly, the abduction of his father by the government)

A don't agree with this, it is certainly a biographical piece.
That this biographical story sheds light "on the nature of
love..." is not incompatible with this.


   >This might well be untrue! Maybe it has! It stopped me from
   >loving the song.

   Do you also dislike the other fragmentary songs on _Hounds of Love_?
   "Under Ice" and "Waking the Witch" are rather difficult to comprehend
   outside of the context set by the plot of the suite in which they
   appear.  

Why, having established such a theme, thus keeping the set of
songs selfcontained in this respect, it is beautiful to use this
theme and variations as Kate does.
The Ninth Wave is her 'claim to fame'. Yes, yes, yes, yes *in my
opinion*.


   >If Kate could write some lyrics in this fashion, it's sad when
   >the explanation of a poem is so much better than the poem itself.

   Does this mean you get no emotional punch out of "Come here with me now"
   or any of the other wonderful "soundbites" at the beginning of
   "Waking the Witch"?   Gack.  What a pity.  Why do you bother to listen to
   Kate at all?

The "come here with me now" is on "And Dream of Sheep!
Why do I bother to listen to Kate at all?


   >You might say she cuts herself loose in her lyrics and hoovers 
   >some ten inches above the ground (befitting a divinity) but we
   >who walks on the earth need some friction to get forward and 
   >are not much helped by Kate Bush's lyrics.

   Your sarcasm here implies that you find your inability to parse Kate's
   lyrics and retrieve the inherent emotions she strives (and in my and
   many others' opinions) to implant therein to be a fault in Kate and not 
   yourself.  


Well, well I have been constantly aware of the fact that
everything I write about Kate's lyrics is my own opinion and as
a result of this awareness I have inserted the qualification "*in
my opinion*, *as I see this* frequently. So also after the above
quoted passage (this got deleted in your quote from my article).
Now having said this I frankly assert that *in my opinion* Kate's
lyrics is not always up on par with her music. 
As always *in my opinion*.

as always Anders

--


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