Re: Cloudbusting meanings

[Richard Bensam <rabensam@earthlink.net>]

At 9:16 PM -0500 on 10/24/97, heisjohn@juno.com wrote:

>>Various people have discussed different meanings to the lyrics of
>>Cloudbusting, but what I pose to you all is, what is the significance
>>of the train sounds (steam, whistle, etc) at the end of the track?
>>
>>			Bryan Dongray
>>--- end of quote ---
>>well.....isn't it obvious??   It's symbolic of somoeone
>>"coming out", of course.    ;-)
>
>YES!  And then he was, uummm... run out of town on a rail, right??
>
>Seriously though, Bryan's post made me realize something.  I've always
>considered the train sounds an integral part of the song, but until he
>mentioned it, it really never occurred to me that they just don't seem to
>fit at all!  Anybody know?

The definitive explanation of those train sounds, taken from Kate's own
account of recording the song, can be found in the entry for "Cloudbusting"
in the Gaffaweb Dictionary:

http://www.gryphon.com/gaffa/diction/c.html#cloudbusting

along with links to other entries discussing Wilhelm Reich, Peter Reich,
and the instrument used to produce the train sounds.

I realize the Dictionary is getting a bit long in the tooth and needs to be
updated...but surely this entry is still valid.


RAB
(Of course, the first time I heard the song, I assumed the bad men from the
government were taking the father off to jail in a train...)

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