Cloudbusting -- Kate Bush In Her Own Words

Dreams

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)

At this moment it is difficult to see how such a placid, genteel, and downright normal musician could ever produce songs like ``get out of my house'' and `` sat in your lap'' Perhaps some strange transformation takes place over when she is asleep!

Yes, I have very strange dreams you know. Over the years I've collected the most incredible star cast of them. Very famous people come and visit me.''

Curiouser and curiouser...

Peter O'Toole came round to dinner last week and my mum met him and thought he was wonderful. Keith Moon often comes round for tea as well. I have a lot of vivid dreams, most of which I can't mention. The images I get from them sometimes bleed into my songs.

Most of Kate's heroes like Oscar Wilde, the Pythons, Roxy Music, Billie Holiday and Hitchcock have all visited her, but her mum didn't like Hitchcock - maybe she was just frightened by him?

Hitchcock was definitely a genius. His dreams must have been extraordinary. He must have plucked his ideas out of the sky, or had a private line to Mars. (1985, Melody Maker)

[Untranslated, perhaps something like ``how do you respond to the charge that you don't have a strong sense of reality???]

I think that's how human beings are, though, I don't think anyone has a real sense of reality. Everything we see is how we experience it in our heads and I think along with that goes an awful lot of dreams and illusions and so I think it's quite a real thing. (1985, Rockline)

Do you rely on dreams a lot for inspiration for your songs?

It's strange, a few people have started asking me that question recently, and I would so no, that I can't actually think of any song that a dream has directly inspired. No.

Are you a keeper of a dream diary or something like that?

No I'm not, no.

I've experimented with that sort of thing and it's interesting - there's a surrealistic quality to some of your songs that might lead one to think that, [Kate makes polite expression] but not the case?

No, not consciously but... (1985, MuchMusic)

Gaffaweb / Cloudbusting / Subjects / Dreams