Kate on "gaffa"

[chrisw@fciad2.bsd.uchicago.edu (Chris Williams)]

Ok, I went back to check _Cloudbusting_, Ron Hill's collection of
Kate quotes. Here's the section on Kate's explanations of
_Suspended In Gaffa_


>SUSPENDED IN GAFFA
>------------------
>   Whenever I've sung this song I've hoped that my breath would hold
>out for the first few phrases, as there is no gap to breathe in.
>   When I wrote this track the words came at the same time, and this
>is one of the few songs where the lyrics were complete at such an early
>stage.  The idea of the song is that of being given a glimpse of "God"
>- something that we dearly want - but being told that unless we work
>for it, we will never see it again, and even then, we might not be
>worthy of it.  Of course, everybody wants the reward without the toil,
>so people try to find a way out of the hard work, still hoping to claim
>the prize, but such is not the case.  The choruses are meant to express
>the feeling of entering timelessness as you become ready for the
>experience, but only when you are ready.   (1982, KBC 12)

   Ok, this was one of the earliest explanations, Kate's essay in the
first Kate Bush Club newsletter after the release of the album. This
can be described as the Purgatory, or "Catholic" explanation. 
   No mention of tape here. This is fairly early in the promotional
effort, well before the huge round of interviews.

>  I could explain some of it, if you want me to:
>"_Suspended_in_Gaffa_" is reasonably autobiographical, which most of my
>songs aren't.  It's about seeing something that you want - on any level
>- and not being able to get that thing unless you work hard and in the
>right way towards it.  When I do that I become aware of so many
>obstacles, and then I want the thing without the work.  And then when
>you achieve it you enter...a different level - everything will slightly
>change.  It's like going through a time warp which otherwise wouldn't
>have existed.
>  ...But when you explain it like this it doesn't sound like
>anything.  The idea is much more valuable within the song than it is in
>my telling you about it.  When you analyze it, it seems silly.   (1982,
>NME)

    Here Kate explains that SiG is more autobiographical than the majority
of her songs. She also seems to be having some difficulty putting it into
words.
   No mention of tape here either. This is more along the lines of a
"personal purgatory" of not being able to achieve one's goals because
of laziness and obstacles. 
   No tape here either. I'd claim this as a "mistakes and personal flaws"
explanation, or the "gaffe" explanation.

>   "Gaffa" is Gaffa Tape.  It is thick industrial tape, mainly used
>for taping down and tidying up the millions of leads, and particularly
>useful in concert situations.  "_Suspended_in_Gaffa_" is trying to
>simulate being trapped in a kind of web: everything is in slow motion,
>and the person feels like they're tied up.  They can't move.  Defeat.  
>(1984, KBC 16)

   This is *Kate's* only explanation of "gaffa" as "gaffer's tape in
_Cloudbusting_. I don't recall seeing any others.

>   "_Suspended_In_Gaffa_" is, I suppose, similar in some ways to
>"_Sat_In_Your_Lap_" - the idea of someone seeking something, wanting
>something.  I was brought up as a Roman Catholic and had the imagery of
>purgatory and of the idea that when you were taken there that you would
>be given a glimpse of God and then you wouldn't see him again until you
>were let into heaven.  And we were told that in Hell it was even worse
>because you got to see God but then you knew that you would never see
>him again.  And it's sorta using that as the parallel.  And the idea of
>seeing something incredibly beautiful, having a religious experience as
>such, but not being able to get back there.  And it was playing
>musically with the idea of the verses being sorta real time and
>someone happily jumping through life [MAKES HAPPY MOTION WITH HEAD] and
>then you hit the chorus and it like everything sorta goes into slow mo
>and they're reaching [makes slow reaching motion with arm] for that
>thing that they want and they can't get there.  [LAUGHS] (1985, MTV)

   This interview most definitely in the "Purgatory" category, and she
explicitly draws a parallel between that, and being held back from
obtaining what one wants. Nope, no tape here either. Is everyone beginning
to see the pattern here? 
  Quick and dirty explanation? Tape. 
  Real explanation, when she is in a conversational interview? A fairly
involved explanation about purgatory and not being able to achieve one's
goals.

>*  OKAY, LET'S HEAR A TRACK CALLED "_SUSPENDED_IN_GAFFA_" FROM
>_The_Dreaming_.  WHAT IS THIS ABOUT?
>   Well, it's really about people that are after something that is
>very special to them.  They've seen something that they want very
>badly, but they know that in order to get that they have to work very
>hard.  And a lot of people don't want to do the work and still want the
>thing at the end of it.  I remember when I was at school, I was always
>told about purgatory as being the place that you went to and you saw a
>glimpse of God and then he went away and you never ever saw him again
>and you were in the most tremendous pain for the rest of eternity
>because you couldn't ever see him again.  And it's a really heavy
>image, you know, especially for a child.  And I think in many ways it's
>a very similar thing, trying to get that back that thing that you
>really want to see again.   (1982, Unknown BBC interview)

    Nope, no tape here either. Odd, isn't it? The "principle meaning
of the word" and she hasn't bothered to mention it in the vast majority
of the interviews? 

>   Lyrically it's not really that dissimilar from "_Sat_In_Your_Lap_"
>in saying that you really want to work for something.  It's playing
>with the idea of hell.  At school I was always taught that if you went
>to hell you would see a glimpse of God and that was it - you never saw
>him again and you'd spend the rest of eternity pining to see him.  In a
>way it was even worse if you went to purgatory because you got the
>glimpse of God and you would see him again [??? but you] didn't know
>when.  So it was almost like you had to sit here until he decided to
>come back.
>   I suppose for me in my work, because it's such a sped up life and
>so much happens to you and you analyze yourself a lot, you see the
>potential for perhaps getting to somewhere very special on an artistic
>or a spiritual level and that excites me a lot.  And it's the idea of
>working towards that and perhaps one day, when you're ready for that
>change, it's like entering a different level of existence, where
>everything goes slow-mo... it's almost like a religious experience. 
>That's basically what the song's about.
>   ARE YOU VERY RELIGIOUS OR DO YOU SIMPLY HAVE A STRONG BELIEF IN
>YOURSELF?
>   I think I very much believe in the forces and energies that
>humans and other things which are alive can create.  I do feel that
>what you give out sincerely then karmically you should get it back.  
>(1982, Melody Maker)

   Here she clearly connects the "Catholic" and the "gaffe" explanations.
And, not to pound it into the ground, but the score is Tape=1 No Tape=5.

>   JAY: I think it's just, it's just what it means.  If you know
>what gaffa is, and in the music business "gaffa" is a very heavy duty
>tape.  It's used everywhere, sticking things down, mending things,
>makings cases.  And I think the idea is probably if you're wrapped up
>in this stuff and just [??? STUFFED] 'round, your suspended waiting for
>time.  And I think the rest of it is saying [??? INAUDIBLE] that's the
>problem.   (1985, Kate Bush Con. Paddy and Jay Interview)

    This one doesn't really count, as it's the notoriously taciturn and
obscure John Carder Bush speaking in 1985. Kate's only "Tape" explanation
occurred in 1984, after (we can assume) she was well sick of offering
involved religious explanations to thick-headed interviewers, and 
watching their eyes glaze over. 
  John was very probably just repeating the simplest, and (at the same
time) most obscuring of all explanations. 

    So...why would a explanation apparently thought up two years later
be the "correct" one? And why would *NONE* of her contemporary
explanations contain the "gaffer's tape" bit? 

   "Gaffer's tape" is *obviously* a joke by Kate, and |>oug fell for it.

BTW, I have no doubt that Swedish sound engineers may well pronounce 
"gaffer" as "gaffa." And I know from personal experience that many
English accents seem to lose "r"s at the ends of words. Our old
friend Peter D. F-M pronounces his name (to my American ears) "Pita"
(like the bread.)