Re: "What is Gaffa?" web page

[chrisw@wwa.com (Chris Williams)]

In rec.music.gaffa |>oug writes:

>In article <m0tM7Sg-000YJLC@miso.wwa.com> chrisw@wwa.com (Chris
>Williams) writes:

>> When Kate was asked soon after the album, she explained that it was
>> being held back by little things (personally I believe that "gaffa"
>> is a pluralization of "gaffe".)

>> Several years later, she had obviously tired of answering the question.
>> She then answered with a joke about "gaffer's tape," and being "suspended"
>> in it.

>Chris repeatedly fails to acknowledge, however, that it *could* be the
>case that the song *is* about being held back by little things (which
>it is) *and* that the image of being stuck in gaffer's tape could be a
>metaphor for this.  He further fails to acknowledge that Kate's words
>were not some flip reply to an annoying interviewer, but rather
>carefully composed words that she put into her own Kate Bush Club
>newsletter with no indication at all that this was intended to be a
>joke, or funny in any manner.  Here are Kate's words, and you can
>judge for yourself whether it is meant to be a joke:

>     "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 the same place where Kate replied, to the question:

   "What sort of makeup do you use?"

    with

   "I don't use makeup anymore! I use latex."

>The above words seem pretty serious to me.  And if this is a "joke"
>Kate doesn't seem to have the same flair for humor that she usually
>exhibits: (1) It isn't funny.  (2) It would be quite jarring to
>transition so abruptly from a joke to a serious explanation of the
>song, as the latter half of the paragraph clearly is.

   Kate is a musician, singer and songwriter. She would be a miserable
comedian. Her joke telling ability is right up there with the Prince
Charles. *Many* of her jokes are not especially funny, and the ones
are tend to be fairly obscure (like the US _Rubberband Girl_ and
_Love and Anger_. videos.) 

>>  Several people chose to ignore this,

>Ignore what?

    The fact that the "gaffa tape" explanation appeared long after
the far more involved "purgatory" explanation. Coupled with the *many*
perfectly reasonable puns that exist on the word "gaff." 

    Apparently discussion is no longer encouraged on rec.music.gaffa.

>>  choosing instead to make asinine cracks (including one who asked
>>  Kate to her face if "Night of the Swallow" was about fellatio. No,
>>  I'm *not* kidding.)

>Cool.  Who did this?  And what was Kate's response?

   Teach me to write while swigging cough syrup. 

   Sorry, |>oug. No, you did not ask Kate if "Night of the Swallow"
was about fellatio. No, instead you misinterpeted Kate saying "Night
of the Swallow" as "...nice to swallow..." and defending this very
vocally in love-hounds. You also, as I recall, insisted that Kate
was using some word related to feces, rather than her own invention
"audiully." 

   A combination of "Martian Death Flu", drugs and the fact that I
only read the interview in question once combined to cause the error.

   My apologies.

>|>oug
-- 
Chris Williams of
Chris'n'Vickie of Chicago
chrisw@miso.wwa.com (his)
vickie@miso.wwa.com (hers)