Cloudbusting -- Kate Bush In Her Own Words

Love and Anger

Well ``Love and Anger", of all the songs on the album, is really the one I know the least about. I don't really know what it's about - it's had so many different faces. But it was one of the first songs to be written, but one of the last songs to be finished. And I think all the songs on this album are about relationships. (1989, VH-1)

This song! This bloody song!

It was one of the most difficult to put together, yet the first to be written. I came back to it 18 months later and pieced it together. It doesn't really have a story. It's just me trying to write a song, ha-ha.

Obviously the imagery you get as a child is very strong. This is about who you can or cannot confide in when there's something you can't talk about. ``If you can't tell your sister, If you can't tell a priest...'' Who did I have in the lyrics? Was it sister or mother? I can't remember. (1989, NME)

Most of these people can make handsome livings anywhere and wouldn't keep coming back for more if they didn't enjoy the work and know they're appreciated. They're very good for unblocking the pipes, she says, then laughs at the indelicate image. But the creative plumbing does get clogged on every album, including the sensual world. there's a song called ``love and anger,'' which I started two years ago and kept on shelving because it was rubbish. Paddy and dave gilmour, who put overdubs on it, had so much trouble with it. They kept on asking, ``what's it about?'' and all I could say was, ``I dunno but, uh, doesn't it feel, uh, cohesive to you?'' well, I started bringing musicians in to see if they could bring it to life and john giblin, the bass player, just said, ``this is great!'' and came up with something fresh right away. It was so nice having someone put all this enthusiasm into a song I'd almost given up on. (1989, Q)

It's one of the most difficult songs I think I've ever written. It was so elusive, and even today I don't like to talk about it, because I never really felt it let me know what it's about. It's just kind of a song that pulled itself together, and with a tremendous amount of encouragement from people around me. There were so many times I thought it would never get on the album. But I'm really pleased it did now. (1989, KFNX)

"Love and anger'' (choral. Love isn't completely lovely?)

Relationships revolve around love and anger. Being in love makes you very angry sometimes and there's two sides to everything. I must be honest though, I'm not really sure what I'm trying to say here. (1989, Tracks)

"Love and anger'' was a track we did early on, but I got fed up with it and must've left it for two years. And then I thought; ``well, maybe I'll go back to it.'' so I dug the song out, but still it nearly didn't go on the album because I wasn't happy at all. The tune was there, I just couldn't get any lyrics or work out what to do with the instruments. I just didn't know what I wanted to say. Really, it was a bugger, that song. And in some ways I still don't know what I'm wanting to say. But what the hell...

She trails off, still doubtful. But as for the message contained on the album she is more sure: If I'm saying anything, it's that if people are having a hard time and things look really dark and it seems like you can't get out, then try not to worry too much. It'll be alright, someone will come and help. (1989, Raw)

I couldn't get the lyrics. They were one of the last things to do. I just couldn't find out what the song was about, though the tune was there. The first verse was always there, and that was the problem, because I'd already set some form of direction, but I couldn't follow through. I didn't know what I wanted to say at all. I guess I was just tying to make a song that was comforting, up tempo, and about how when things get really bad, it's alright really - ``Don't worry old bean. Someone will come and help you out.

The song started with a piano, and Del put a straight rhythm down. Then we got the drummer, and it stayed like that for at least a year and a half. Then I thought maybe it could be okay, so we got Dave Gilmour in. This is actually one of the more difficult songs - everyone I asked to try and play something on this track had problems. It was one of those awful tracks where either everything would sound ordinary, really MOR, or people just couldn't come to terms with it. They'd ask me what it was about, but I didn't know because I hadn't written the lyrics. Dave was great - I think he gave me a bit of a foothold there, really. At least there was a guitar that made some sense. And John [Giblin] putting the bass on - that was very important. He was one of the few people brave enough to say that he actually liked the song.

Do you give your musicians quite a free hand?

When I don't know what's happening, yes. But that song was just so bizarre. In some ways it's a very ordinary structure compared to the other songs. I think putting the Valiha on was very important. It's a beautiful sounding instrument - it looks a bit like a Zither, and it's from Madagascar. It sounds like sunshine - it has this really happy, bubbly sound. I think that really helped to give the song a different perspective. It's a very straightforward treatment - drums, bass, guitar, piano - and I think for me it's one of the more straightforward songs on the album. A chirpy little number. (1989, International Musician)

True, she doesn't sing in the high-pitched girl-child's voice anymore, although she and paddy do a good approximation of a children's chorus on ``love and anger.'' ah, well, paddy wore some very tight trousers and I stood in a bucket, she laughs mischievously. (1990, Musician)

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