Cloudbusting -- Kate Bush In Her Own Words

Cloudbusting

The last song is called ``Cloudbusting,'' and this was inspired by a book that I first found on a shelf nearly nine years ago. It was just calling me from the shelf, and when I read it I was very moved by the magic of it. It's about a special relationship between a young son and his father. The book was written from a child's point of view. His father is everything to him; he is the magic in his life, and he teaches him everything, teaching him to be open-minded and not to build up barriers. His father has built a machine that can make it rain, a ``cloudbuster"; and the son and his father go out together cloudbusting. They point big pipes up into the sky, and they make it rain. The song is very much taking a comparison with a yo-yo that glowed in the dark and which was given to the boy by a best friend. It was really special to him; he loved it. But his father believed in things having positive and negative energy, and that fluorescent light was a very negative energy - as was the material they used to make glow-in-the-dark toys then - and his father told him he had to get rid of it, he wasn't allowed to keep it. But the boy, rather than throwing it away, buried it in the garden, so that he would placate his father but could also go and dig it up occasionally and play with it. It's a parallel in some ways between how much he loved the yo-yo - how special it was - and yet how dangerous it was considered to be. He loved his father (who was perhaps considered dangerous by some people); and he loved how he could bury his yo-yo and retrieve it whenever he wanted to play with it. But there's nothing he can do about his father being taken away, he is completely helpless. But it's very much more to do with how the son does begin to cope with the whole loneliness and pain of being without his father. It is the magic moments of a relationship through a child's eyes, but told by a sad adult. (1985, KBC 18)

All of us tend to live in our heads. In ``Cloudbusting,'' the idea was of starting this song with a person waking up from this dream, ``I wake up crying.'' It's like setting a scene that immediately suggests to you that this person is no longer with someone they dearly love.

It puts a pungent note on the song. Life is a loss, isn't it? It's learning to cope with loss. I think in a lot of ways, that's what all of us have to cope with. (1989, AP)

It's a song with a very American inspiration, which draws its subject from A Book of Dreams by Peter Reich. The book was written as if by a child who was telling of his strange and unique relationship with his father. They lived in a place called Organon, where the father, a respected psycho-analyst, had some very advanced theories on Vital Energy; furthermore, he owned a rain-making machine, the Cloudbuster. His son and he loved to use it to make it rain. Unfortunately, the father was imprisoned because of his ideas. In fact, in America, in that period, it was safer not to stick out. Sadly, the father dies in prison. From that point on, his son becomes unable to put up with an orthodox lifestyle, to adapt himself. The song evokes the days of happiness when the little boy was making it rain with his father.

Dreams form an important part of your preoccupations, at first glance.

There exists only a very fine barrier between them and reality.

With this difference, that one's dreams rarely make the headlines of newspapers!

It doesn't go that far, you're right. But dreams are essential to humanity. (1985, Guitares et Claviers)

"Cloudbusting'' is a track that was very much inspired by a book called A Book Of Dreams. This book is written through a child's eyes, looking at his father and how much his father means to him in his world - he's everything. his father has a machine that can make it rain, amongst many other things, and there's a wonderful sense of magic as he and his father make it rain together on this machine. The book is full of imagery of an innocent child and yet it's being written by a sad adult, which gives it a strange kind of personal intimacy and magic that is quite extraordinary. The song is really about how much that father meant to the son and how much he misses him now he's gone. (1985, Open Interview)

I found a book, nearly ten years ago now, on a shelf. I didn't know anything about the writer. I just pulled it off the shelf, it looked interesting, and it was an incredible story. It's written by Peter Reich, and it's called A Book of Dreams. It's about himself as a child, through his eyes as a child, looking at his father and their relationship. It's incredibly beautiful, it's very, very emotive, and very innocent because it's through a child's eyes. His father was a very respected psychoanalyst, and besides this, something that features in the book, he made machines called ``cloudbusters'' that could make it rain, and him and his father used to go out together and make it rain; they used to go ``cloudbusting.'' And, unfortunately, the peak in the book is where his father is arrested, taken away from him; he was considered a threat. So, suddenly, his father is gone, so it's a very sad book as well. (1985, Picture Disk)

And were there any such role-playings on the new album?

Um...yes. I think ``Cloudbusting'' was quite like that. It must have been nearly ten years ago, when I used to go up to the Dance Center in London, that I went into Watkins' occult bookshop for a look, and there was this book and it said, A Book of Dreams, by Peter Reich. I'd never heard of his father, Wilhelm Reich, but I just thought it was going ``Hello, Hello,'' so I just picked up the book and read it and couldn't believe that I'd just found this book on the shelf. I mean it was so inspirational, very magical, with that energy there. So when I wrote and recorded the song, although it was about nine years later, I was nevertheless psyched up by the book, the image of the boy's father being taken away and locked up by the government just for building a machine to try to make rain. It was such a beautiful book! (1985, Musician)

I picked up this book nine years ago in a bookshop I used to go into and look around in. There was this book staring at me, so I pulled it off the shelf. I've never done that before. It was A Book of Dreams by Peter Reich. It was incredible. It's through his eyes as a young boy, and his life with his father, who was everything to him. The book has an incredible sense of intimacy and magic. Do you know about Wilhelm Reich?

Erm...(blush).

He was quite a well-respected psycho-analyst, and he had a machine, according to his son, that could make it rain. They'd go out together and point the machine at the sky and make it rain. The book was so sad, because the whole thing is through the child's eye about his father. But it's been written, fairly obviously, by a sad adult who, I think, had a great deal of trouble coping with his father going - he was arrested by the F.D.A., and put in prison, and he died shortly after that. The loss to his son must have been incredible. His father always warned him that this would probably happen, but his life revolved around everything his father did.

I rang up the guy and sent him a copy of the song. I thought it'd be really rude not to do that before it came out. He liked it, which is great, because I was really worried. I don't know what I would have done if he hadn't liked it. (1985, ZigZag)

Well ``Cloudbusting'' was inspired by a book that I found in a shop about nine years ago, it's out of print now. Written by a guy called Peter Reich, and it's called A Book Of Dreams. And it's very unusual, beautiful book, written by this man through the eyes of himself when he was a child, looking at his father, and the relationship between them. Very special relationship, his father meant so much to him. His father was a psychoanalyst, very respected, but he also had a machine that could make it rain, and the two of them would go out together and they would make it rain. And in the book there was such a sense of magic, that it a way the rain was almost a presence of his father. Unfortunately, its a very sad book in that the peak of it is where his father was arrested, taken away from him, because of his beliefs he's considered a threat. And it's how the child has to cope from that point onwards without his father. And the song is really using the rain as something the reminds the son of his father. Every time it rains instead of it being very sad and lonely, it's a very happy moment for him, it's like his father is with him again. (1985, MTV)

And the song was inspired a book that's all about a very special relationship between the guy that wrote the book, as a child and his father. His father was a very respected psychoanalyst, psychiatrist, and had lots of theories on life energy, and also had this machine called a cloudbuster that could make it rain. And together they'd go out into the dry desert and make it rain and this was a very magical moment for the child.

What book is that?

It's called A Book Of Dreams, and the man that wrote it is called Peter Reich. And unfortunately the peak of the book is that his fathers arrested, his beliefs were considered outrageous, people afraid of things that they didn't know - especially at that time. And it was very, very hard for the child to cope without his father. And in some ways the connection with rain, for him every time it rains he thinks of his father, so its a positive of him coping without him. (1985, MuchMusic)

Very much inspired by a book, which I found, must be nine years ago now, on a bookshelf. I just picked it off the shelf and read it. It's quite an extraordinary book. It's very sad and moving. and it's written by the man, his name is Peter Reich, about when he was a child, it was the relationship between himself as a child and his father. And it's written very much through the eyes of the child. so it has an incredible sense of innocence and intimacy between him and this great big man who's his father and meat everything to him. Peter Reich's father was a very respected psychoanalyst who did a lot of work. And one thing that's mentioned in the book, that's quite aside from his theoretical work was that he had a machine that could make it rain. And the two of them would go out together and make it rain. This was really where the video came in, to explain all this. It really is an extraordinary book and everyone that I gave it to to read said it was the saddest book they ever read. (1985, Profile 6)

This was very special to me because it was all inspired by a book that I found years ago. And I went into a bookshop I used to go into regularly and just saw this... I liked the title, it said A Book of Dreams, and took the book off the shelf, I never done it before, an unknown book. And it was this beautiful story by this guy called Peter Reich. And it's all about his view of his father, but through the eyes of a child, so it was all about his childhood and how he saw his father as this incredibly magical figure. And his father was Wilhelm Reich and he was a very respected Psychoanalyst, I believe, but his work became very controversial and he eventually arrested and died in prison. But one of the things that features in the book is how he used to go with his father cloudbusting. And his father had this machine that when you pointed it up to the sky you could make the clouds disperse or you could gather them together, and if you gathered them together it would rain. And the machine is all based on Orgone energy, which is one of the bases of Reich's teachings. And the book is just extraordinary. It's so said, but it's also got this beautiful kind of happy innocence that goes with childhood. And as the guy grows up in the book, in does get sadder and sadder as you can feel him hanging onto his childhood. And the book really touched me, and the song is really trying to tell that story. (1991, Classic Albums)

That did all fall apart over a period of about ten bars. And everything just started falling apart, 'cause it didn't end properly, and, you know, the drummer would stop and then the strings would just sorta start wiggling around and talking. And I felt it needed an ending, and I didn't really know what to do. And then I thought maybe decoy tactics were the way, and we covered the whole thing over with the sound of a steam engine slowing down so that you had the sense of the journey coming to an end. And it worked, it covered up all the falling apart and actually made it sound very complete in a way. And we had terrible trouble getting a sound effect of steam train so we actually made up the sound effect out of various sounds, and Del was the steam. [Laughs] And we got a whistle on the Fairlight for the ``poo poop.'' (1991, Classic Albums)

Wilhelm reich... Held that sexual energy could be transformed into what he called ``orgone'' energy. Yes?

If I've got this right,he believed that sexual energy was positive, usable energy that he tied in with his concept of orgone energy. He upset a lot of people selling orgone boxes, saying they could cure cancer and stuff. He ended up being arrested and put in prison. I knew nothing about Wilhelm when I read the book,which was his son's experience of all this, written from a child's point of view with a tremendous innocence and sadness. Years ago, I just went into a shop and picked it off the shelf, and really liked the title and the picture on the front. I'd never bought a book before which I hadn't known anything about;I just felt I'd found something really special. And nine, 10 years later, I re-read it and it turned into a song. When it was finished, I wrote a letter to Peter Reich saying what I'd done. It was important to me in some way to have a sense of his blessing because his book really moved me. He sent me back such a lovely letter. It was an incredible feeling of returning something he'd given to me. (1990, Q Special)

Did the writer of the book get to hear the song and see the video?

Yes. These were worrying moments for me - what if he didn't like it? If I'd got it wrong? But he said he found them very emotional and that I'd captured the situation. This was the ultimate reward for me

Do you stay in contact?

Yes, we write to each other, and I enjoy the contact very much. Many people have tried to get this book, many have read it since and adore it. The trouble is, the book is out of print, and I think it's such a shame that it's unavailable for those that would love to read it. It's very difficult to find copies of it, though I understand that some libraries still carry it. (1987, KBC 21)

"Cloudbusting'' is, again, lyrically very obscure. I think the idea is easy to grasp, but the story behind it is very involved, and in a way the video that accompanies it is equally so, but I've spoken to several people who have felt very moved by the song or the video or both, and they all say they feel this really personal relationship between the child and his father, how real it seems, how sad it is. For me, that is wonderful - the book that originally inspired the song and video moved me so much! It's so sad, and it's also a true story, and somehow even if people don't understand the story, they pick up on the feelings, the emotions - this is a very rewarding experience for me. (1987, KBC 21)

I read an article in number one magazine and they said something very unusual happened during the shooting of it. Is that all rumors?

[Laughs] yes, I can't think of anything!

They talked about ghosts and all sorts of things, so...

Did they?

Do you want to straightened out any of those rumors for us?

Well as far as I know there were no ghosts present, but there were lots of human beings. And a particularly good actor called Donald Sutherland.

Of course, a well known canadian actor as well.

Absolutely, yes.

So tell us about the video, what were you trying to accomplish?

I really wanted it to be a short piece of film. I didn't want it to be seen as a promotional clip or even a video, but as a film. And part of that idea was having an actor, hopefully a great actor, that would play the part of the father, and myself playing the part of the young boy. (1985, MuchMusic)

"Cloudbusting'' is about Wilhelm Reich, who...was...kind of remembered for work he did on ``orgone energy'' and he had this thing called a Cloudbuster, which was all tied in with orgone energy, but... he could make it rain.

When we were thinking about someone to play the part of the father, we just sort of instantly came up with Donald Sutherland, and everyone laughed, because it's like, you know, he's one of the greatest actors in the world, really, and we jokingly thought ``yeah, yeah wouldn't it be great."

So we did actually approach his agent, who immediately said no, he couldn't because he's just too busy. But a friend of ours knew a friend of his, who asked him, and he gave us three days of his time in between shooting two other films. And I still can't believe he did it. It was a wonderful thing for him to do, give us that time. Made it a very, very special thing for me. (1989, VH-1)

We were very lucky. We had a friend who made the contact for us. We sent him the script and I talked to him and he was very interested, which was fantastic [Kind of giggling-with a hint of awe or ``what incredible luck!'' in her voice] and just happened to have the four days that we needed to shoot the video in. He was free for that time. It all seemed to come together so well and so quickly.

But why donald sutherland?

He was our first choice. I'm a big fan of him as an actor. And he really was perfect for the part. There couldn't have been anyone better - he looked so right. (1985, Picture Disk)

I still can't get over the fact that he did it! It was great! It means alot to people that someone who is supposedly so famous and inaccessible makes the effort to make themselves accessible for such a little project. I was extremely moved by the fact that he did it; it meant a tremendous amount to me. And to work with him - Jesus, I thought I would never have the luck. I was his co-star! Ridiculous! (1990, Q Special)

You mentioned earlier that one of your favorite movies was _don'tlook now, which stars donald sutherland. Is that the reason you picked him for your new video?

I don't know if it's the reason. I mean _Don'tLook Now is a totally brilliant film and everyone in it was wonderful. but, this was a very different piece. and it was quite coincidental, I suppose, that we thought of Donald. and I think at that time the only references to _Don'tLook Now that there couldn't have been anyone better and we were so lucky because he was our first choice. and through a friend we managed to find a way of contacting him. and um, it was quite incredible really to think that he did it. I still find it hard to believe.

He's been quite a fan of your for years, hasn't he?

Um. well, if he was, I certainly didn't know that. I don't, I don't think so. (1985, Profile 6)

Really lucky. The brief, really from the start, was that I wanted a great actor to play the father. I wanted it to be a piece of film rather than a video promotional clip. I wanted it to be a short piece of film that would hopefully do justice to the original book. And let people understand the story that couldn't really be explained in the song. So we wanted a great actor. We though of Donald Sutherland and though ``well, chances are we won't get him, but why not try?'' So we found a contact and explained the story and sent the script to him, and he was interested in doing it. And just happened to have the days free when we were shooting. So, um, pretty incredible really!

So what was he like?

Fantastic! Really professional, really patient, and an incredible help to me. In my debut acting role I had a pretty good actor opposite me. And he was so encouraging and made it so easy for me. I mean, whenever we were acting, he was my father. I just had to react to him like child. He made it very easy. (1985, MTV)

Well, I think I'm very lucky, really. He was the first choice. He was perfect, he couldn't have been better, really, to play the part; and it was a matter of finding out how to contact him. And through a very nice man called Barry Richardson I managed to make contact with Donald, and then asked him and he said yes, he was interested. And it all went from there, and it all happened very quickly. I must have contacted him ten days to two weeks before we actually started shooting, and it just happened to co-incide perfectly with a few days that he had off in a very busy schedule. And, uh...it was just brilliant!

You'd never met him before?

No, it was a complete privilege to work with him.

Why did you want him in particular? Was it because of the way he looked, or because of the fact that, you know, he's a great actor and he would do a good...job?

Yes, he is a great actor, and having watched actually how he worked in our situation I just have to reiterate that. He's just incredible, so professional, and so patient, and he helped me incredibly, because I'd never really acted as such, and I just had to react to him. He was wonderful.

Kate, I remember the first time I saw that video was on, uh... the old grey whistle test, and I looked at it and I thought, ``hang on a minute - that's donald sutherland!'' and then I saw this little girl running around and I thought, ``who's that?'' you see, I didn't recognise you at the start, because of the hair being much shorter and everything. Now, you say donald sutherland helped you in making the video. You mean acting advice?

No, not even advice, his pure presence. He puts out such an energy of sensitivity to the situation that I just had to re-act to him. He was - As far as I was concerned, whenever we were shooting, he was my dad. He's wonderful.

What about the - because it's almost like a short film, that video.

That's exactly what we wanted. I felt that it was based on the song, which was inspired by a book, and it is a genuine sense of magic, emotion, sadness that came initially from that book, that it was so important for us to do justice to it. We all worked very hard to try and create that.

What was the book?

It's called A Book of Dreams, and it's written by Peter Reich. Unfortunately it's out of print, so I suggest that lots of people write to the publishers and [Imitates indignant mp] demand that it be put back into print immediately!

What about the rain machine? Was it your idea, the way the video actually turned out?

It was very much my idea, but a lot of ideas came from Terry Gilliam, who - really together we wrote the story board, and the director Julian Doyle put an awful lot of work into it, and it was fantastic to work with them. Everyone was just so inspired by the story really, and everyone was moved by it, which - In a way it was one of the most important things, that, you know, everyone that was involved in it should be... And it was just a fantastic experience.

How long did it take to do it?

To shoot it took four to five days, to prepare it took about four weeks, and all in all including a lot of editing time that Julian spent, I suppose about eight weeks, which is a very long time for a video.

I'm not going to ask for a figure, but I know that videos cost a hell of a lot of money to make nowadays. This must have been very expensive?

It was no more expensive than the first one we made.

Which leaves me totally in the dark!

I think honestly if people knew how much it cost and what we got out of that...It's phenomenal, what we got for the budget.

Is this something you want to get more into, videos?

Absolutely. Um...I'm starting to get a bit uncomfortable with the word ``video'' now, in that I feel that film is actually the medium that really attracts me, and video was something that was great, but was really convenient rather than ideal, and I hope very much to be able only to work in film in the future. (1985, Homeground)

I find it difficult to separate song from video. Sitting on Cloudbuster with the sun going down and working with Donald Sutherland are two experiences I will never forget. (C.1986, AVD)

"Cloudbusting'' was really exciting to make. I really wanted it to be like a short film. The song was inspired by the book A Book of Dreams by Peter Reich, which was such a strong, magical story that the plot was there and the most difficult areas were trying to do the story and the characters justice, and deciding how to ``distill'' all the information.

I worked with Julian Doyle as director. He was suggested to me by Terry Gilliam. Terry is one of my favourite film-makers, and I was so honoured that he got involved; and we worked very hard for about five-six weeks. It seemed to make sense to treat it like a film and cast actors, and I had this initial crazy idea of using a very tall actor who would play the father, and myself to appear as the small boy. It continually astounds me that I have the nerve to publicly announce these crazes, and I'm even more surprised when they work. It seems to be connected to a kind of faith?

The first move was to check that I'd be able to look boy-like or tom-boyish, so we pulled ``The Team'' together. This consists of Tina Earnshaw on make-up - she set about with foundation and stick-on freckles; Anthony Yacomine, who designed and cut a short wig which my hair was bundled up inside of; and Pamela Keats, who had brought a variety of dungarees, cardigans and wellies [Rubber rainboots] that completed the character; and Del gave options. I looked a bit like Coco the clown, and someone mentioned Harpo, but we all felt with fine adjustments we could get away with it, especially when we took a polaroid with Anthony standing on the chair to look tall next to me.

We were all trying to think of a tall actor who would be perfect for the part, and who else, really? We thought Donald Sutherland would be superb, and it's still hard to believe that he actually said ``Yes."

"Cloudbusting'' is one of the few videos we've made that has the right visual content within the subject matter. It is a story, and could easily be treated as such.

One of the things that needed a lot of work was the Cloudbuster machine. It came out of our heads, based on vague information from the book. It had to look larger than life - elegant, strange, aimed at the sky. And when I went to see it in its early stages I really wondered: four cardboard tubes on wheels - eek!! But by the last stages it looked great, and on screen it looked superb.

Another thing that needed a lot of work was the weather. We needed so much luck to complete the shoot. We had only three days, and we demanded the weather to change for different scenes; and somehow - we still don't know how - it did; even to the moment when it began to rain just as the light and the film in the camera was running out. (1986, KBC 19)

Can I just take you back to the song ``cloudbusting?'' the thing that really impressed me with the song, and the way in which it was tied in with the video was the rhythm track - it always seemed to fit so beautifully. When you were planning the video, obviously that was running through your mind?

You mean visuals to music?

Yes.

One thing that was interesting was that we had so much to say in the story visually that we extended the audio track to allow a little more room for things to be said. And I think that the story is very strong. And in a way it's just, um...creating images both visually and audially that say the same thing. And I felt we did. As I said earlier, everyone involved in that video worked very hard, and I think they were fantastic. (1985, Homeground)

I think it's the most interesting thing we've tried yet. I wanted to create a short film that told the story and looked like a feature film. There was so much to be said in the story that we had to extend the track. I hope people understand the story and get the sense of emotion from it. It certainly inspired me originally to write the song from the book. It's the film of the song of the book!

What's nice about these last two videos is that I really feel I've worked with people who are receptive to my ideas, and we actually work together. It was frustrating on some of the other videos, because I felt I was going further away from what I should have been going towards. But you spend so much time and money on these videos, and they'll probably only show two minutes! (1985, ZigZag)

"Cloudbusting,'' the current single, which is - where is it in the uk?

Uh, twenty.

Right. ``top of the pops'' and things like that - would you go onto that?

It's something you consider, I mean, it's really the choice of can you perform it well, and would it really help the record. I mean, you do; it does help to have a successful record, it helps the album and it helps future projects, to finance them, et cetera. I mean, I do depend on the success of each record to be able to do the next one. But I think with some songs it's very difficult to perform them on television and make them look good and to really do justice to, performing. I think it's something there should always be a lot of thought behind. And, when you put such a lot of work in to a video, which a lot of people do nowadays, it's sad that you can't get that shown more, and that you have to go on and perform. There is no choice; it's a shame. (1985, Picture Disk)

And in the video, was it easy for you to portray a child?

I think it's something I'd obviously worried about. When you're not a child there are lots of things that could be a problem. Like I could look old and not young. And we were also [Coughs] - excuse me - trying to take away the feminine edge so that in a way I could be a tomboy rather than a little girl. Trying to keep the thing as innocent as possible. And I think rather than being that worried about playing a child, I was just worried about the whole process of acting, because it's something I've not really done, in a true sense. I've preformed in lots of ways, but not really acted. And it was something that I was wary of and I was actually surprised at how much I enjoyed it. (1985, MTV)

Who directed the video and where was it shot? I think the setting of its really beautiful.

It is a beautiful place. It's the Veil of The White Horse, in England. And the director was Julien Doyle.

And tell us more about julien doyle.

I'm a big fan of Terry Gilliam, I don't know if you know him, suburb director. And I was interested in working with him and he put me in touch will Julien, who works with Terry on his movies. He's a cameraman and this was really his first role as director. Terry was involved with the storyboard as well, and this is how I met Julien.

We spent a lot of time on this video and what was nice was the way that everyone became so concerned with the story and also concerned with giving justice to it. You know everyone wanted it to be something special.

Why is it set in the fifties?

It's because A Book Of Dreams, that it's based on, was actually at that time, in the fifties, that his father was taken from him. He was about twelve.

And that's really it, you just took the exact time from the book?

Yes, I think also it made it more interesting. It's not totally accurate to the fifties and I think that in itself is important. We wanted to create a sense of - no certain time. I think it's more interesting in way when it could be any time. But also by not making it contemporary time you get a big sense of nostalgia, of something that has happened in the past. So I think visually it was a very good combination.

How did you make that machine?

Well the book very little details of what the actual machine looked like. But from what I could gather the reality of the machine wouldn't look right. On screen it's got to be exaggerated. So it was trying to design something that would look powerful and possible of doing it but that wouldn't be comical, because we didn't people to laugh at it, we wanted people to be astounded by the machine. So it was really designing something that was a cross between an Ack-Ack gun and a pipe organ. I just felt that it had to have these huge funnels that would reach to the sky and could be moved around. And the whole thing should be rotatable. And so we worked with some designers that worked on the Alien and I think it looked pretty good.

It looks great. Is this the first video where you're not dancing?

No, but it's quite a departure. I have done a couple of others that again we were trying to treat like piece of film, but we were using lip sync or something like that. And we were working on video as well, which makes it quite different. (1985, MTV)

We got so many tapes of steam trains, and they don't sound anything like what you'd expect steam trains to sound like. They sounded so pathetic. So we had to build up all this steam sound and big wheels and brakes, you know, coming to a halt and everything. We had to totally exaggerate what the real thing sounded like, so that people would realize what we meant. (1985, BAM)

You see the book in the video if you're clever.

Yes! Don't blink or you'll miss it. [Both laugh] (1985, The Old Grey Whistle Test)

Rather obviously, donald sutherland! How did you get him to be in your video?

Well, we rang him up and said ``would you be interested'' and he said yes!

And what was he... What was he like to work with? I think that is the question.

[Laughs] I think that is the question. He was brilliant, absolutely brilliant. And he was such a help to me as well. Fantastic! A real honour to work with him.

And that's the new single as well, isn't it.

Yes, it is. (1985, The Old Grey Whistle Test)

The machine that features in the video - what's become of that now?

Well, it's at the moment resting in a garage not far from here. [Laughs] (1985, Picture Disk)

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