Cloudbusting -- Kate Bush In Her Own Words

Music (Purpose Of Kate'S Music In Her Life)

I think maybe the reason I write songs is maybe I need to my express myself. That I need to be heard by people, maybe just to feel that I am someone for some reason. But I don't really think it matters why as long as what I'm doing has some purpose and if it, in any way, makes other people feel happy, which is all I'm into. I really hope that listen to the song will enjoy it and have fun. (1978, Self Portrait)

Music is absolutely the priority for me, and that, um, I must always keep that priority. (1980, Profiles In Rock)

It's so bloody easy to be forgotten. It's so easy to go under unless you fight. Everyone has to fight, and there are different ways of fighting.

I'm definitely trying to state my presence, I must be. It's important for me to do things on a one-man basis. I seem to work, produce, create, better as one entity, and then I involve others for feedback. That seems to be the ideal way for me to work. You see, musically, too, I feel I've only just begun. I'm not doing what I want to do musically, yet. I'm getting there, but it's nowhere near to what I actually want. I'd love to play you some of the new stuff I'm doing.

I know I'm not perfect, and it's that imperfection that keeps me wanting to do more. I think all my paranoias, all my doubts, all my vulnerabilities are what I depend on to keep my songs happening.

And make no mistake--her songs are her life.

One of the band told me last night/that music is all he's got in his life'' ("blow away'' from the new lp, never for ever.)

Is that really you, using the third person as a slender disguise?

Yeah. Well done. It is. All we ever look for - (ANOTHER TITLE, AS IT HAPPENS) - is God - in inverted commas - inasmuch as it's something you believe in. Belief is motivation, and without that you don't do anything. I mean, if your ``God'' is to have a husband and children, and you actually fulfill that... Many people don't see the thing they love and believe in as ``God'' Most of us aren't happy, really, and it's only because our God isn't complete.

And work is your god?

It is, really, yes, as everything in my life goes into my music. Everything that happens to me affects me, and it comes out in my music. If I did become perfect, and was no longer vulnerable, perhaps I wouldn't get the same shocks of emotion that make me want to write. (1981, RM)

Because with some bands it's aggravation which they get off on, with their music, but with you it really is emotion coming out. And that is the sort of plus to your music, isn't it?

Well I think all music is emotion and aggression is very strong emotion. I think every record that is made has an emotion in it and that's why people like it. Whether it's a basic pulse - it still creates an emotion in the listener and I think that is what music is. (1980, Never For Ever Debut)

I'd like to ask her what's she's going to do, eventually. Whether she's going to stay on the singing or use her ten ``o'' levels [Kate laughs] to go get a job or go into acting?

Do you want to use your ten ``o'' levels to get a job, a proper job?

[Laughs] yeah, get a proper job, yeah. Well I would like to think that I'm going to stay in the singing world because I think the thing that means a lot to me - it means more than anything, really. I think I'd rather stay writing songs and singing them then anything else and if there's any way that I can continue to do that then I would love to very much. But, I must admit, dancing is another interest that perhaps I would go off on a bit more in the future, it really depends [On] how things go for me. (1982, Dreaming debut)

I have no time for constant boy friends. I am obsessed with work. I find myself worrying about perfection in everything. My one danger is that I can run out of fuel because there is so little time to relax.

Marriage will be out for me unless I want children. It's really a heavy responsibility. (1979, Call Me Sexy)

If I could use only one word to describe your music, it would be: Psycho-analytic.

There's another fascinating observation. I'm certain that everyone who writes, all artists, are very analytical. Often, that's what expresses their most destructive side. Tony Hancock [Goon squad comedian very popular in the early 60s] is a perfect example: he was a remarkable actor, who ended up by examining himself, criticizing himself so much that he destroyed himself. It's something that exists in each one of us, but that one must succeed in mastering, otherwise one risks going mad. When writing, every time, one is really obliged to analyze the things one is talking about. That's the essence of the creative process. (1986, Guitares et Claviers)

I think some people use music as a means of expressing what they feel about things which they can't express socially. I don't really know why people think my songs are strange. Perhaps because I bathe in goat's milk!! It not something you should really ask me. My mom could probably help you more. It's probably something to do with my childhood. (1985, Melody Maker)

Who do you do it for - yourself, for family, some vague immortality...?

I'm not sure. It's very important for me that my friends and family... It's almost to say, ``I'm writing this and I want it to be as good as you'd like it to be,'' like choosing a present... The immortality of music, it's an extraordinary concept, isn't it? People say I'm a perfectionist. I insist on things being right. But I don't know that anything can be perfect. When you're making it, though, you know it's going to be like that _forever... _ SHE SAYS IT LIKE A CHILD: SIMPLE, ASTONISHED, OVERAWED. SHE HOLDS HER BREATH. (Blitz, 1985)

She says of signing to emi at sixteen. It's quite normal these days, though, surely. bands, bands are quite young, aren't they?

It really is such a relief it is finished. I know the work has arranged my life, but I'm very grateful, it's given me a lot. It's a little like living life faster.

Is it so important?

It's a very close second to my friends and family (THAT CONSTANT, ENIGMATIC PHRASE [Enigmatic?]). SHE CALLS OUT TO ONE OF THEM: Would you say I have a separate life from my work?

"Not at all,'' says the voice, ``but that's how it has to be."

Your friends are the people you work with, I don't think it's possible to have a social life... really.

She looks a touch apologetic, sounds rather vague, and the hint of uncertainty drifting over the silence distracts us both. It strikes me then that kate bush lives in a very small world, and at that moment, for no real reason, I feel rather sorry for her. (1985, Blitz)

What kind of satisfaction do you feel when the production of the album is finished?

I think the obvious kind of personal satisfaction I do feel when the album is finished is pure relief. That's a good feeling, to feel that you've actually accomplished it and finished it and hopefully, it wouldn't be finished if it wasn't something that you felt was worthwhile going out in some form or other. (1985, Open Interview)

What are your ultimate goals?

I don't think I have any achievement wishes really. I'm continuously saying to myself how lucky I am to be doing what I am. I'm happy working in my music which is what i've always wanted. In a way, there's more than that in that I have all the areas that are attached to the music like the visual enterprises. I just hope that I will be able to keep doing that. That's really my wishes. (1985, Open Interview)

I think emotion is really what music's all about. It's trying to emote to the listener, in some way that is effective, either to make them happy or sad. To me as a listener to other people's music, that's what it does for me though. There are pieces of music that just make me go ``Ohh...,'' they're just so good. They make you feel great or they make you feel very sad and nostalgic, and i think everyone has some kind of music that really makes them feel good. Does something for them. So I think that's the purpose, to emote the listener. So it's got to be about emotion, really, and expression.

Your music and lyrics do show you as a very emotional person. Like you're always thinking... There's always something churning inside of you. I would describe you as a serious person on that account. Is this correct?

I think I'm quite analytical and I think that's definitely what comes out in a lot of the songs. It's the analyzing of emotional situations. I think I"m an emotional person - I think that's what motivates me. Definitely from some writing point of view, even in political situations when people say, ``You've written this. This is quite political.'' But for me, it's the emotional content of the political situation that effects me. I think that most people that are sort of intrigued by writing or creating on some level are sensitive to the emotional side of things. That's in a way perhaps what makes them write... A kind of insecurity. (1986, Island-Ear)

Would you say that music is something religious, even holy to you?

Some of the most beautiful music ever was written for God, for a loved one, in a state of grief, sorrow, suppression - it seems to be an expression from a person on a higher level...? I'm not sure I understand it at all, but music seems to come out of people when very little else can. Some of the great composers wrote beautiful music but, as people, were monsters or maniacs. People who can't speak properly because of stutters can sing fluently. I saw a clip from a programme about a man who only had a short-term memory - he couldn't remember anything: what he'd just said, just done. He lived in a constant state of panic, because he didn't know where he was, or why he was there. It was terrifying. The only thing he could remember was he wife, and when he sat at the church organ at his local church he could sing a play complete pieces of music without any problems. It was like he'd suddenly been set free. And yet when he was shown a video recording of him doing this, he had no memory of it whatsoever. Music is a strange and beautiful thing. It means a great deal to me. I love listening to and making music. I am very lucky to be able to be involved with music - I hope I always will be.

Do you think music comes from the soul? This is what some people believe.

I don't know. I just know that music is something special, and also something very personal for people. (1987, KBC 21)

Where do you think your main strength lies; In your family or music?

I think that's a very difficult question, because my family are very important to me and have been around since I was born, whereas my music is something that came much later. But there's such a personal involvement with my music that's very much inspired by people. But it's a very private thing and it's very much a release for me. I think I've got a tremendous amount of support from my family which is very important to me. And I don't know if music supports you; it's not necessarily a comforting thing, but it's like a very close friend, I guess. (1987, MuchMusic)

Now I think I get a tremendous amount of security from my work, through being able to write songs. Though perhaps I'm very insecure except when I'm working. There again I work so much... I'll have to think about this. I'll be thinking about it all day now. What I'm looking out for is to let go of being so damned obsessive about work that I just get sucked into it. It's important for me now for there to be some kind of, er, *lightness* about it.

You know, it's only an album. That is what I keep saying to myself. (1989, Q)

I think when I was younger I really liked what I felt I was trying to do. Here was the young songwriter, ha! You know, when you're young you have that thing you're aiming for, hopefully. It might be five or six things - mine just happened to be one, namely making a record. And you can feel quite proud of yourself for achieving things like that; you set yourself a goal and achieve it.

Now, though, I think as a person I'm less obsessive, and that realisation was a terribly important step for me. Because, although once I start an album I'm still incredibly obsessive - no-one can come near me! - although I do all the work on the album, it's not everything now. And I think at some point, it was - my work was everything because it had such a sense of importance about it. That's so stupid, so blown out of proportion, and if you're not careful that spiralling effect can make you believe what you're doing is the most important thing in the world! When it's absolutely not all. (1989, RAW)

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