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Waking The Witch
A song from The Ninth Wave on the album Hounds Of Love.
This song is also listed in the Discography section.
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Walk Straight Down The Middle
A song included on the CD version of the album The Sensual World as a bonus track. At Kate's request, the song is preceeded by a greater than usual period of silence, to communicate the idea that the album proper had already ended (with the song This Woman's Work) and what followed was something extra.
This song is also listed in the Discography section.
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Walker, Nigel
Assistant engineer on mixes of the album Lionheart, engineer on the album Hounds Of Love.
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Wall, The
This concept album by Pink Floyd provided helicopter sounds for the song Waking The Witch.
Kate on The Wall, ca. 1982:
"I've been very much influenced by The Wall because I like the way that the Floyd get right into that emotional area and work with sounds as pictures. I think the problem with the film, though, is that although as a piece of art it is devastating, it isn't real enough. The whole film is negatively based. Not once during Pink's life is there a moment of happiness, which I know in every human's life there is. Even if you have the shittiest life of all, there is always one little moment where you smile for a second or you fall in love with someone and feel happy -- maybe only for ten minutes. In The Wall there is no compassion and no objectivity at all, and I actually think that certain areas of that are destructive."
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Waltz Growing Old, A
Also known as Feeling Like A Waltz or A Rose Growing Old or It Hurts Me. This is a provisional title given to a demo version of a song which was never released. It is available only on bootleg recordings; see the Phoenix section for more information.
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Warchild
A charity project organized by Brian Eno for which Kate has donated a variety of fund-raising artwork. In addition to designing a series of Christmas cards, Kate created the sculpture Strange Fruit in tribute to Billie Holiday as part of an exhibit of musicians' art based on their own musical idols. Other participating celebrities included Eno, Luciano Pavarotti, Gary Barlow, Lou Reed and Yoko Ono. The works were exhibited to the general public at the Economist Plaza in St. James Street, London, and went to auction on 4 February 1997.
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Warm And Soothing
A song released as the b-side of the single December Will Be Magic Again.
This song is also listed in the Discography section.
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Watching You Without Me
A song from The Ninth Wave song-cycle on the album Hounds Of Love. Kate once described The Ninth Wave as "all my own personal nightmares put into song," and gave this track as one example, in which the heroine visits her own home as a ghostly figure and is unable to make anyone aware of her presence.
This song is also listed in the Discography section.
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Weber, Eberhard
A jazz artist recording on the ECM label. Weber plays bass on the songs Houdini, Mother Stands For Comfort, Hello Earth, Never Be Mine, and Walk Straight Down The Middle. Kate has listed Weber's record Fluid Rustle as one of her Desert Island Discs, and played a selection from that album during a December 1980 radio appearance with Paul Gambaccini.
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Wedding List, The
A song on the album Never For Ever, inspired by the film La Mariee Etait En Noir.
This song is also listed in the Discography section.
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Whelan, Bill
A former member of Planxty who has won awards and acclaim for his score to the fiendishly successful stage show Riverdance, Whelan wrote and arranged pipes and strings for the song Night of the Swallow, and later handled all Irish arrangements on the albums Hounds Of Love and The Sensual World.
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Where Are The Lionhearts?
This is a provisional title given to a demo version of a song which was never released. It is available only on bootleg recordings; see the Phoenix section for more information.
This song is also listed in the Discography section.
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While Davy Dozed
Not the same song as Davy. This is a provisional title given to a demo version of a song which was never released. It is available only on bootleg recordings; see the Phoenix section for more information.
This song is also listed in the Discography section.
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Whips
A wooden percussion instrument used in an orchestra to simulate the sound of a whip crack. Two slabs of wood, connected by a hinge, are brought together quickly to produce a loud slap. What did you expect?
Paddy Bush is credited with playing this instrument on the song The Sensual World, but this is a mistake; he is in fact swinging a pair of large fishing rods back and forth, creating the whooshing sound heard on the track.
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Whole Story, The (album)
A kind of "greatest hits" collection released in 1986 which includes a number of Kate's best known songs from Wuthering Heights on, plus a new song called Experiment IV.
This album is also listed in the Discography section.
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Whole Story, The (video)
A video collection serving as a counterpart to the album The Whole Story, released in 1986.
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Why Should I Love You?
A song on the album The Red Shoes. Although sometimes referred to as a collaboration between Kate Bush and Prince (or "The Artist Formerly Known As Prince") this song was entirely written by Kate, who sent a tape of the song to Prince for arrangement. When the results proved to be somewhat different from Kate's original intention, she reworked the song to bring it back in line with her vision, recruiting British comedian Lenny Henry, also a talented singer, to provide additional vocals.
This song is also listed in the Discography section.
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Wild Turkey
A Comic Strip film for which Kate composed the theme song Home For Christmas.
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Wilde, Oscar
(b. Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde, 1854 - 1900) An Irish poet, dramatist, essayist and author. In addition to the novel The Picture Of Dorian Gray, Wilde wrote several books of children's stories, as well as plays such as Lady Windermere's Fan and The Importance Of Being Earnest. A hugely popular public figure at one time, and one of the primary influences on the art world before the turn of the century, he fell into disgrace in 1895 when he was sentenced to two years of imprisonment after his unsuccessful lawsuit against the Marquis of Queensbury. As a result of this experience he subsequently wrote The Ballad Of Reading Gaol. Wilde died in exile in Paris.
Kate has cited Wilde as an influence and favorite author on many occasions, singling out his story The Happy Prince as a special favorite. Wilde is named in the song December Will Be Magic Again:
"Light the candle lights
to conjure Mister Wilde
into the Silent Night
Ooh, it's quiet inside
here in Oscar's mind."
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Williams, John
Formerly a member of the group Sky -- and not to be confused with the famous composer of film scores -- Williams has enjoyed a long and successful career as a classical guitarist, and plays classical guitar on the song The Morning Fog.
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Williams, Johnathan
Williams plays cello on the songs Hounds Of Love, The Fog, Heads We're Dancing, and Between A Man And A Woman.
"He's actually the only player that I've ever written out music for. They're lucky if they get chord charts normally."
Kate Bush
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Windmill Lane Studios
A recording studio in Dublin where portions of the albums Hounds Of Love and The Sensual World were recorded.
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Winter Snowtime Special, The
Following her appearance on the Abba Easter Special, Kate was a guest on this second holiday-themed special which aired on 21 December 1979. Kate had originally recorded a version of Wuthering Heights standing barefoot on the Swiss Alps, but this footage was not used, and a hastily prepared version of December Will Be Magic Again was aired instead. The following week, she performed the song again on her own television special Kate; a studio version of the song was not released until nearly a year later.
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Wiseman, Brian
Director of the videos for the songs Sat In Your Lap and Suspended In Gaffa.
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Wogan
A BBC television program hosted by Terry Wogan. Kate appeared on this program several times, on each occasion presenting an elaborate and carefully worked out performance. In August 1985 she presented the song Running Up That Hill, in a performance later shown on MTV in America in place of the actual video. In October 1986 she performed the song Experiment IV with a guest appearance by Nigel Kennedy. In 1990 she performed the song This Woman's Work.
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Woman With The Child In Her Eyes, The
A cross-gendered reworking of the song The Man With The Child In His Eyes, sung by Steve Harley and Peter Gabriel at the Bill Duffield memorial concert at the Hammersmith Odeon on 12 May 1979.
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Woman's World
In November 1980, this British magazine published an article on vegetarianism by Kate entitled "How Can You Eat Dead Animals?" The article was derived from an essay Kate wrote on the subject for the Kate Bush Club Newsletter.
See also Delia Smith's Cookery for another public display of vegetarianism.
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Wooliscroft, Peter
Performed digital editing for the album The Dreaming.
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Worzel Gummidge
A British children's television show starring Jon Pertwee (former star of Doctor Who) as the title character, a talking scarecrow. Kate was once offered the role of the Wicked Witch in this series, but turned it down.
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Wow
A song on the album Lionheart.
"See the diamond glitter through the rock."
Kate Bush,
The Best Of Kate Bush
This song is also listed in the Discography section.
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Wuthering Heights
The debut single by Kate Bush, from the album The Kick Inside.
This song is also listed in the Discography section.