Cloudbusting -- Kate Bush In Her Own Words

Ireland

If you had to live in another country, where would you choose?

If I had to, I think it would be Ireland. (1984, KBC 17)

What's your reaction to ireland?

It's beautiful, totally beautiful. There are so many different kinds of landscapes and beauty. It's so wonderful just hanging around the coast and watching it change. It's always dramatic, stepping back into the last century. It has a real sense of magic. And the people are so fantastic, so warm, so wistful. I really do like Ireland a lot. It's one of the few places apart from England where I'd ever think of living.

Were you ever north of the border?

No, never.

Would you like to go?

Yes, I would.

You've no reservations about it?

I think everybody that's English has hesitations. You can't help but be conditioned. It happens everywhere, and I would very much like to go over, and certainly without having experienced - to understand the reality of it and not the illusion that's created by people.

Was your mother republican in her attitudes?

I don't think that's something I want to talk about. You should ask my mother that.

I just wondered what kind of an impression of the relationship between the north and the south, the english and the irish you'd been given.

Totally by media, and by the IRA - that's what the English person thinks of as soon as you mention Northern Ireland. Definitely, people being bombed and shot, and a very military kind of scene with lots of repression and perhaps the English not being too welcome there. This is the impression that we have.

As a child, were you aware of the border? Were you aware of the tensions that existed between the english and the irish historically?

My mother's picture of Ireland was of her home, and no further than that - literally. And that is where her heart is. And all her memories and the things she says of home are just beautiful. I think it has definitely affected my attitude toward Ireland. That's why I feel so at home, why I love it so much. I can feel my mother everywhere there. (1985, Hot Press)

I read somewhere before that you were into irish music. Is it traditional stuff, or what?

Yes, it is that. I just love Irish music. It's so emotional, and passionate. It's very, very happy, and it can be very, very sad. It just does something to me. I guess it's because it's in my blood, as well. My mother's Irish, and as soon as I hear the pipes, you know, I feel my blood surging through my veins. And I think the Bulgarian music has... it moves you. The sense of melody and everything. It feels like very old music, stuff we're not in touch with any more. Probably when music was music, and men were men [Laughing], and the women were very lonely! (1989, Greater London)

Traditional irish instruments are featured throughout the album, giving it a more pronounced celtic flavor - more so than any previous kate bush record. Kate attributes this influence to her family.

I guess I've always been very intrigued by Irish music. Since I was a little girl it's always been played in our house. My mother's Irish, and my family are very musical. And I think that's probably been the strongest musical influence on me for a start. I love Irish music, and although I think it was never really obvious until the third, fourth album, it's kind of always been in my blood.

It was in the background, but now it seems more in the foreground. Yeah. And we love to actually go to ireland when we can, to record them there, because obviously, it's just so much fun being in the country with those people. We love the irish.

It has to add to the atmosphere, too.

I think so, yes, absolutely. (1989, KFNX)

Irish music holds so much potential for feeling and I really like it the more I get into recording the stuff. The idea of using space is interesting to me. Space and silence, because that's what makes sounds work. (????, AVD)

With my mother being Irish, Irish music has a real hold on me. Since I was very little, there was always that type of music being played, so it had a big influence on me. When I was tiny both my brothers used to be playing it all the time at home. When I go to Ireland I feel the blood surge through my veins! We go there quite alot and work with musicians there, so I think the Irish connection is probably the strongest influence. But the other colors come very much from the instruments my brother has, or something heard that was played to me. (1990, Option)

Gaffaweb / Cloudbusting / Subjects / Ireland