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Date: Mon, 9 Sep 85 03:12:25 edt
From: Doug Alan <nessus>
Subject: RUTH: What's this song about, anyhow?
....
Ever hear of a philosopher named Thomas Nagel? He made himself famous by writing a philospophy paper (circa 1974) entitled "What Is It Like To Be a Bat?" I seriously doubt if Kate Bush has ever heard of Thomas Nagel, yet in "Running Up That Hill" she says in four minutes everything Nagel had to say in his paper and more! ("Do you want to feel how it feels?") And much more beautifully too!
It's all about art and how artists make their art but can't know what its like to experience it, and how fans, who experience the art, can't know what it was like to make it. Everyone is trapped forever within themselves, never knowing what it feels like to be anything or anyone else. And all this, in the song, is wrapped up in a powerful sexual metaphor.
Once someone asked Kate Bush to respond to the common comment that one can't dance to her music. She responded that it didn't bother her, because *she* could (and does) dance to it. I wonder if it's any coincidence, considering the subject matter of the song, that this is the first Kate Bush song that is "danceable"?
"You don't want to hurt me
But see how deep the bullet lies"
Doug Alan
Date: Thu, 19 Sep 85 00:34:34 edt
From: harvard!jerpc.PE!topaz!jer
(Eric Roskos @ Home)
Subject: Meaning of RUTH Lyrics
Well, today I finally got the time to sit down and reread all the previous comments on the lyrics for RUTH, and also to listen to it several times. However, after listening to it, I still can't figure out how the song is about the solipsistic nature of the art experience or something of that sort.
My mundane and superficial interpretation, which I thought of after listening to it the first time, still makes more sense than that (although a convincing argument for a better interpretation could change my mind)... that this song is about a woman jogging in the city, who runs by some construction workers, who are up in the girders of a building under construction, who begin shouting things at her the way construction workers often shout things at women. This makes her angry and hurt, and she wishes they could exchange places so that they could appreciate this. She wishes she could go out and jog "with no problems;" but she also wishes she could run up the side of the building, where the men are safely sitting, and confront them.
The lyrics puzzle me, though; is the first "it doesn't hurt me" supposed to be a denial of the reality? Since later she says, "You don't want to hurt me, but see how deep the bullet lies." Or is it supposed to reflect their mistaken sentiments, "Aw, gee, it doesn't hurt her none."
See, this line "Tell me, we both matter, don't we?" suggests the object-ification of women which such comments imply. However, I don't see how "You and me won't be unhappy" relates to this, unless it means to suggest the relative unimportance of attraction based on appearance which such comments also imply (if it meant this, it would seem to be a sort of flaw to me; since clearly people could be thus attracted and still unhappy. Or maybe it merely reflects another mistaken idea, like the "it doesn't hurt her" one.).
There aren't many other lyrics to this song, so it's hard to find much more in it, for me... but the reason I don't understand how it might relate to the isolation between the artist and the audience is that there is a sort of anger and hostility there; what does "is there so much hate for the ones we love," or the other suggestions of harm ("unaware that I'm tearing you asunder") have to do with such a concept? I would think that a song about that subject would have a sad tone; I think I could write such a song myself, but it would have phrases denoting emptiness and isolation, and tonal echoes, and so on, rather than this sort of angry sound.
Date: Wed, 9 Oct 85 05:39:24 edt
From: Doug Alan <nessus>
Subject: The meaning of RUTH
Will it help to convince you if I tell you that both Peter Morris (one of the editors of Homeground, a KB fanzine) and I independently came to the same conclusion? This is what Peter Morris says:
"It is that eternal mystery -- how can you see things from the viewpoint of another human being? Even enmeshed lovers cannot ultimately know what the other feels, though perhaps a deal with God to swap their places might solve the connundrum."
I should also point out that the promo video (not the one being shown on MTV) perfectly matches this interpretation (which I had long before seeing the video or *even* hearing the song -- I had the lyrics). There are hills and a road and a building and lovers, but no construction workers and no jogging. At the point where "Is there so much hate for the ones we love?" is sung, Kate and her partner become symbollically crucified on each other, and later Kate becomes trapped in a whole croud of Kate Bush's.
Also, Kate's newsletter just came out (I got it Friday), and Kate's explanations of all her songs are all compatible with my interpretations of all of the songs (except perhaps "The Big Sky", because even her explanation is pretty cryptic). This is what Kate says about RUTH:
"The song is very much about two people who are in love and how the power of love is almost too big for them, it leaves them very insecure and in fear of losing each other. It's also perhaps talking about some of the fundamental differences between men and woman."
I believe that all this is also a metaphor for the artist/fan relationship.
> You would have to explain these things:
> What the hill
symbolizes.
> What the road symbolizes.
> What the building
symbolizes.
> What the phrase "with no problems" means.
Okay, I'll do a line by line analysis.
It doesn't hurt me
== Don't be afraid of loving me.
Do you want to feel how it feels
Do you want to know, know that it
doesn't hurt me
== If you knew how it felt, you wouldn't be afraid.
Do you want to hear 'bout the deal
that I'm making
You, you and
me,
And if I only could I'd make a deal with God
And I'd get him to
swap our places
== If only we could know what it's like to be each other.
Be running up that road
== I want to solve the problems, to achieve my
goals, to realize perfect communication, to reach prefection.
Be running up that hill
== I want to overcome the natural obstacles.
Be running up that building
== I want to overcome the man-made
obstacles.
If I only could, oh....
== But it seems so impossible.
You don't want to hurt me
But see how deep the bullet lies
==
Difficulty with communication causes problems. Because I don't know what it is
like to be you and you don't know what it is to be me. Sometimes it does hurt a
lot.
Unaware I'm tearing you asunder
== And sometimes I hurt you by
accident, without knowing it.
Ooh there is thunder in our hearts
== This causes strife between us.
Is there so much hate for the ones we love?
= Love and hate are so
intertwined. A love relationship is always a love/hate relationship.
Tell me we both matter don't we?
== Both of us are important in the
grand scheme of things, aren't we? (Hints strongly at the artist/fan
interpretation.)
You
You and me
You and me won't be unhappy
== If we could
know what it is like to be each other, we wouldn't be unhappy.
C'mon baby c'mon darlin'
Let me steal this moment from you now
Come on angel, c'mon,c'mon darling
Let's exchange the experience oh,
== If only we could know what it's like to be each other....
If I only could
Be running up that hill
With no problems.
== I'd be on the road to perfection and have no problems.
> And, finally, why the song has an angry tone.
It's not "angry". It's frustrated. But frustration is anger at the hopeless situation of the universe, right?
"I hold a cup of wisdom
But there is nothing within"
Doug
Date: 10-JUN-1986 12:16:16
From: SSUD3%UK.AC.SUSSEX.VAX2@AC.UK
Subject: RUTH
RUTH:
Actually, I find it to be one of her most enduring songs, that gets better with each listen. (Unlike the second song!).
One really weird thing, though, is that it literally sounds to be running at a different pace every single time I listen to it!
At first I thought that the 12" and the cassette, and the CD were mastered at different speeds, but someone at the convention assured me that he counted the beats, and they are all the same. However, when I put it on this morning, it seemed to be running DOWN that hill, it was going so fast! (And it can't be the turntable 'cos I have a portable CD player). Is this an aural illusion? Has anyone else experienced the same thing?
Hugh
From: rhill@netrun.cts.com (ronald hill)
Date: Sun, 12 Jul 92 00:59:33
PDT
Subject: Running Up That Hill Revelation
The latest interview I've got contained a bit of a revelation. There was some debate on Love-hounds a few months back on exactly what the "running up that hill" section of that song has to do with the song's theme. Here's Kate's answer:
So why the phrase "running up that hill"?
"It's meant to be the positivism of going somewhere. Climbing up a mountain, going up. It might be hard but you are getting there."
Date: Mon, 20 Oct 86 23:56 PDT
From:
IED0DXM%UCLAMVS.BITNET@WISCVM.WISC.EDU
Subject: Curse of the Demon
The connection between "Hounds of Love" and "Curse of the Demon" has been noticed before, most memorably by Dave Cross, who presented a home-made video to the song at the 1985 convention which included scenes from the movie.
The really amazing thing about the quotation from the film ("It's coming...It's in the trees!") is that, despite the almost perfect likeness of Kate's version to the original, Kate's is NOT lifted from the film. John Carder Bush has said that the bit of dialogue at the beginning of "Hounds of Love" is not the original, but a re-creation.
Date: Wed, 11 Feb 87 11:51:10 PST
From:
ed191-bq%violet.Berkeley.EDU@BERKELEY.EDU (Taylor)
Subject: Hounds of Love
As far as the "fan" interpretation of Hounds of Love, although Andrew Marvick says that "there isn't a shred of evidence in the song to support" the interpretation that the pursuing hounds are her fans, I think that Doug's interpretation is really accurate. Judging from her behavior in the past, Kate consistently has been very skittish about letting her fans get too close to her, which is totally understandable, since she's a really private person and deserves to be left alone, without thousands of fans from all over the world "hounding" her down with requests for locks of hair, personal advice or what have you. So although she is too polite to come right out and say, "Lay off!" I think the song contains a really strong (even subconscious) message to her fans to give her some room to breathe.
Of course, this doens't invalidate the fact that the song can also be applied to a one-on-one relationship type of situation.
I think a good example of her fear of fans was seen in last years (first) convention in Romford/London, where she only poked her head 'round the curtain, and several hundred rabid fans rushed to the stage. I wonder what it must have looked like from the stage?
Hugh
Date: Sat, 20 May 89 14:04 PDT
From:
IED0DXM%OAC.UCLA.EDU@mitvma.mit.edu
Subject: synch playing of both
versions
> Hounds Of Love (alternate version) is WONDERFUL!
Yes, it is. What's even more wonderful is playing both the original (album) version in synch with the Alternative Hounds version. There're a couple of tricky discrepancies of bar-counts between the two versions, but once you get them straight, and providing you have some basic mixing equipment and a way to affect the speed/pitch of the two recordings, the result is stunning. (IED's version is extremely primitive, but it's not really much work, and a highly rewarding experience.)
Date: Fri, 18 Aug 89 02:21 PDT
From:
IED0DXM%OAC.UCLA.EDU@mitvma.mit.edu
Subject: synch playing
> where did you find this version of 'hounds of love'?? i haven't heard this one--it's great! all the "run run run run run run run, honey, run from the hounds of love"'s--where'd it come from???
That's the so-called "Alternative Hounds" mix of Hounds of Love, Tracy. It was on the 12" version only (never released in the U.S.). It's amazing, too.
It's IED's opinion that Kate sang most of that alternative vocal spontaneously (ad lib) while listening to the original version through headphones. He says this because he took out an evening and some two-track equipment to graft the original album-track to the "Alternative Hounds" mix once, taking care to add the extra two measures to the LP mix which crop up toward the end of the 12" mix, and the result was incredible--the two vocals (and their respective background vocals) dovetail together absolutely beautifully: they sound almost like a question-and-answer session. Also, the "Alternative Hounds" vocal often harmonizes a third away from the original vocal. Try it sometime, if you can take the time to synchronize the two mixes. It's really neat.
-- Andy
Date: Sat, 11 Nov 89 16:32 EST
From: PMANCHESTER@ccmail.sunysb.edu
Subject: HOL Singles
"Alternate Hounds of Love"
>> [Peter Manchester:] "Hounds
of Love" is one of the most important of the single releases, because the
12" (12KB 3) presented "Alternative Hounds of Love," an early
sketch of the song that goes in a different direction than the final version,
and has become my favorite.
|>oug objects:
> What makes you think that this in an "early
sketch" of the song rather than a later variation?
Fair enough--it is only a surmise, but I would say a very natural one. We know how Kate works; she works up a demo of a song, tries out various approaches to the vocal, looking for the feeling, the 'ring' of the song. "Alternate Hounds" has got the drum, strings (are they still synthesizer at this point?), and background vocals pulled together in the same arrangement as the album version, but the lyric seems rudimentary compared to the album version, all refrain in effect, and the vocal sounds to me like it is working more on feeling and expression than final design of the song, without the modulation and variation of the album version. My assumption: she released the song in its final form, but then decided she couldn't let go of the slightly different, bawdier, straight-ahead feeling of an earlier form, and shared it with us.
From: hansen@cs.wmich.edu ( Jeff Hansen)
Date: 9 Jun 89 14:39:07 GMT
Subject: Monty Python and The Big Sky
In a recent article, someone wonders why Terry Gilliam is thanked on the "Hounds of Luv" album. How timely - I was just listening to the "Meteorological Mix" of "The Big Sky," and wondering if some of the voices heard during the instrumental lull in the middle of the song belonged to any members of Monty Python. The phrases used and the way they're delivered have me practically convinced that the Pythons had something to do with it, especially these lines:
"That cloud looks like the tree at the bottom of our garden" (Palin?)
"No it doesn't" (?)
"This cloud should be removed immediately!" (Cleese?)
"That cloud looks like industrial waste" (Gilliam?)
Does anyone have any information on where these conversations came from and who's voicing them? (I don't have the EP or album handy, so...) So I bit him!
Date: Tue, 12 Jun 90 15:46 PDT
From:
IED0DXM%OAC.UCLA.EDU@mitvma.mit.edu
Subject: Cumulus castellus
> What does "Cobulus Castellus" mean in The Big Sky, and who is doing those voices?
The term is "Cumulus castellus", and is the technical meteorological name for a particular kind of great, billowing white cloud formation.
Paddy and John do many of the spoken vocals on the Big Sky 12-inch re-mix, but IED believes Del may do one or two of the lines, and Kate's father Robert, as well. No specific credits have ever been given, however, so it's hard for IED to be more positive.
-- Andrew Marvick
From: E Welsh <ecwu59@castle.ed.ac.uk>
Date: 14 Jun 90 12:28:23
GMT
Subject: Hugh Laurie?
The guy who says Cumulus castellus sounds like good old brit. comedian Hugh Laurie. I am about 90% certain that this is correct although I have absolutely no evidence. It is plausible because they are obviously well accquainted (if not friends) as he appears in the X IV video. Kate seems to have a circle of comedian friends (The Comic Strip et. al.).
Date: Tue, 24 Sep 1991 13:42:59 -0700
From: MTARR@EAGLE.WESLEYAN.EDU
Subject: Join The Big Sky Support Group :)
Hi all...
This is an invitation to join the (semi) official The Big Sky Support Group. All people who enjoy this song as much as I do (for the sheer amusement value involved) are free to sign up! :)
1. The video is Kate's most *fun*.
2. The song is the most overproduced piece of music I've ever experienced in a KaTe KomposiTion (before the advent of "L&A"). Just trying to figure out how many tracks are layered on that thing at the end can blow your sonic mind... I love it!!!
3. It is one of the relatively few KaTesongs you can seriously boogie to.
From: vjmurphy%carina.unm.edu@lynx.unm.edu ()
Date: Wed, 25 Sep 1991
12:11:00 -0700
Subject: Re: Join The Big Sky Support Group : )
> 3. It is one of the relatively few KaTesongs you can seriously boogie to.
God, I thought I was the only one. Every time I hear it, my legs just start moving.
Phred Platypus
Date: Thu, 26 Sep 1991 00:55:00 -0700
From: katefans@chinet.chi.il.us
(Chris n Vickie)
Subject: The Big Sky question
I forgot to mention that I really love the concept of "The Big Sky" er, just the act of looking up to notice the sky. People don't look up very much any more. I'll be on the bus or train, staring in wonder at a magnificent sunset, someone will see me staring and glance out, then go back to their book or newspaper. Happens all the time. I grew up on a farm and had vast expanses of sky to look at. I love it that Kate wrote a song about looking up and noticing the clouds in the sky.
Sort of related, we just saw The Fisher King (loved it!) and I laughed at the part where Jeff Bridges' character says "thank God no one ever looks up in New York" because it's so true. I love architectual details, so I'm always looking up at buildings, but very few people do.
Did anyone else notice that when Robin & Jeff's characters are in the park, Perry (Robin) says he's going to go "Cloudbusting"?
Terry & Kate are friends....hmmm....
Vickie
From: dbx@olympic.atmos.colostate.edu (Doug Burks)
Date: Fri, 27 Sep
1991 15:11:29 -0700
Subject: Re: The Big Sky question
Both Vickie and Jeff Burka mentioned enjoying looking at the sky, and I'm glad to see it. I have enjoyed it as long as I can remember, enough to make it my profession (research meteorologist). I can stand at my front room window or out in a field for a long time just enjoying the sky colors, clouds, weather, etc. The sky is also one of the prime attractions while hiking and backpacking. An organization has even been created (For Spacious Skies) to promote looking at the sky for students, both for its aesthetics (sp?) and as a lead-in for learning. As for KaTe's music, I've also loved The Big Sky just for that reason. Heck, when was the last time you looked up and said, "That cloud looks like Noah! Build me an ark!" The act and the song are tons of fun!! You can also toss in Cloudbusting as a KaTe song with strong meteorological (if pseudo-scientific) interest.
Keep looking up!
Doug Burks
Date: Fri, 27 Sep 1991 11:45:03 -0700
From: Laura Clifford <lcliffor@cc7.bbn.com>
Subject: 'Brazil' poster in Fisher King
> I got lots of stares in the theater yesterday when I saw The Fisher King 'cause I cracked up when Perry made the cloudbusting comment... (I also got some stares for laughing at the Brazil poster on the wall in one scene).
Jeff (whose kites often force people to look at the sky...;-)
My husband and I were at Gilliam's press conference for The Fisher King in Toronto and Gilliam was asked if the Brazil poster in the video shop was 'a cheap promotional plug'. Gilliam agreed that it was and said that ALL his movies' posters were hung in the video shop. I WISH I had picked up on the Cloudbusting line - didn't pick up on it or I could have ASKED...
Laura
From: stev0@sti.com (Steve Berlin)
Date: Fri, 27 Sep 1991 17:54:49
-0700
Subject: Re: Big Sky Support Group
> BTW, which state is The Big Sky state? Montana? Missouri?
Montana. Now, what's interesting is that according to Kate Bush, a Visual Documentry (IMHO the only good Kate Book), when Kate did a radio show for 1981's New Years, she closed with the song "Montana" by Frank Zappa. Do I see a connection here?
-Stev0
"Smithers, who's that man listening to Kate Bush on Level 3?" "His name is Simpson, Sir, he's one of your employees." "Obviously he has great taste. Double his salary at once!" "Right away, Mr. Burns!"
From: scott@cs.heriot-watt.ac.uk (Scott Telford)
Date: Fri, 27 Sep
1991 13:29:05 -0700
Subject: Re: Join The Big Sky Support Group : )
Count me in!
This one blows me away every time I hear it...and I have'nt even heard the Meteorological mix (yet!)
BTW, What about the chant at the end? IED's lyrics say "Rolling over like a great big cloud/ Rolling over in the Big Sky", but I hear "Rolling over like a big, big cloud/Walking out in the Big Sky". Any other interpretations?
"Dilly-de-dum-dum, da-dilly-dilly, dilly-dilly, dilly-de-dum-dum...."
Scott Telford,
Date: Sun, 29 Sep 1991 01:24:43 -0700
From: rhill@pnet01.cts.com
(Ronald Hill)
Subject: Big Sky Dance Event!!!!!
Since I've been nominated to be the spokesperson for THE BIG SKY SUPPORT GROUP (thanks Valerie) I'd like to suggest something. This Friday why don't all of us Big Sky Walkers (?) put on The Big Sky video (or song if you don't have the videos) at exactly 6pm California Time and dance around like mindless idiots! I AM ABSOLUTELY "SERIOUS" ABOUT THIS! I'm going to be doing this and I hope hundreds will join me. If not, it's not like I don't do it all the time anyway! :-)
Ron "SeaPort Village" Hill
From: amadeus@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Susan Harwood Kaczmarczik)
Date:
Sun, 29 Sep 1991 10:12:47 -0700
Subject: Re: Big Sky Dance Event!!!!!
You're on.
That cloud is nothing but trouble. :)
Hoo hoo, what fun!
--Susan Harwood Kaczmarczik
Date: Fri, 4 Oct 1991 23:00:19 -0700
From: rhill@pnet01.cts.com
(Ronald Hill)
Subject: BIG SKY DANCE EVENT!!!!!
Well, The International Big Sky Dance Event went well! I danced like an idiot and felt great! Sorry you art rock snobs couldn't join us!
Ron "Monarch" Hill
From: rhill@netrun.cts.com (ronald hill)
Date: Sat, 12 Dec 92 14:02:12
PST
Subject: the meaning of The Big Sky
Jeff speculated on the nature of the line "You never understood me, you never really tried" in The Big Sky. My feeling is that this may be "the sky" or "the clouds" saying this, saying that people don't take the time to appreciate these things any more. I don't have any real "proof" of this, but here's a quote that kind of suggests it:
"The next song is called "The Big Sky." Someone sitting looking at the sky, watching the clouds change. I used to do this a lot as a child, just watching the clouds go into different shapes. I think we forget these pleasures as adults. We don't get as much time to enjoy those kinds of things, or think about them; we feel silly about what we used to do naturally. The song is also suggesting the coming of the next flood - how perhaps the "fools on the hills" will be the wise ones." (1985, KBC 18)
From: v129j6ed@ubvmsb.cc.buffalo.edu (This is F.U.N.)
Date: Mon, 14
Dec 1992 13:15:00 GMT
Subject: Re: the meaning of The Big Sky
Actually, I always thought "the Big Sky" was a song about a hobby or an obsession. I get this vision of the movie with Clark Gable, Myrna Loy, and Spencer Tracy in a movie from 1938, about an airplane pilot called "Test Pilot". I feel this song is about a love that only very few can appriciate.
Date: Mon, 14 Dec 92 12:41:40 -0800
From: Fiona McQuarrie@sfu.ca
Subject: I'm Looking At.....
The impression I always got from "The Big Sky" was of the singer sitting on a hill, looking at the clouds, etc., and enjoying them, while thinking of the inadequacy of the people in her life. I.e. the clouds and sky were beautiful, didn't make demands on her, and were just there to be enjoyed, while people, well, "never understood..they never really tried.."
I don't think this is out of the line with the quote Ron Hill posted, but I'd sure like to know what part of the song is about things to come....
Fiona McQuarrie
From: s0499528@let.rug.nl (R. Dijkhuis)
Date: Wed, 16 Dec 1992
11:38:45 GMT
Subject: Voices in Meteorological "Big Sky"
Having rediscovered Kate recently I was playing some of my old 12" singles, and I began to wonder who the voices on the extended "meteorological" version of The Big Sky were. The one saying "this cloud should be removed immediately" (my fave quote) sounds a bit like Rik Mayall.
Any ideas, anyone?
Reinder
From: Ursula Stafford <whiskers@sans.vuw.ac.nz>
Date: Sat, 1 Apr
1995 18:35:54 +1200 (NZST)
Subject: Voices on "The Big Sky"
On Thu, 30 Mar 1995, Steve Berlin wrote:
> On The Big Sky
(Meteorological mix), who's doing the voices in the Talking part ("That
cloud looks like snow...")?
Let's see... I think Paddy did at least one line there... I think it was "That cloud looks like nothing but trouble!"
I picked out Hugh Laurie doing at least two of them, including "No it doesn't!".
> I could swear whoever's saying "This cloud should be removed immediately!" is John Cleese...
Funny, I thought it was Rick Mayall...
From: btd@carina.cray.com (Bryan Dongray)
Date: Fri, 10 Nov 1995
11:08:58 -0600 (CST)
Subject: Clouded words
This ones about "The Big Sky - met.mix" where several people talk about what they think some clouds look like. So far I have:
Man 1: That cloud looks just like the tree at the bottom of our garden.
Lady: That cloud looks like a little rounded tail. *
Man 2: That
cloud looks like Commulus Castellus. **
Man 1: That cloud is nothing but
trouble.
Lady: This cloud looks like hmmm... one of those... things
for... umm... you know <this line overlapped with>
Man 1: That
cloud looks like one of those brown shiny things.
Man 3: That cloud looks
like snow.
Man 2: No it doesn't!
Man 1: This cloud looks like rain.
<water sound>
<general "hubbub" background
speaking>
Man 4: Order! This cloud should be removed immediately!
Man 5: That cloud looks like industrial waste.
Man 1 has a "rural" accent
Man 2 has a "posh"
accent
Man 3 has a southern accent
Man 4 is a sargent major/school
teacher/speaker of the house
Man 5 has a northern accent
Although the multiple Man X's could be different men with similar accents, or all just one or two men putting on accents.
My problems are:
* This could be "That cloud looks like a little round wood potato", as the word "tail" is being pronounced like "p'tay-eel".
** Is there such a constellation as "Commulus Castellus"?
OK, fairly obsure question, as I only recently heard this mix, but can someone correct me anywhere above ... please!
"On a cloudbusting kind of day"
Bryan Dongray
From: aj796@freenet.carleton.ca (Tippi Chai)
Date: Sat, 11 Nov 1995
16:47:59 GMT
Subject: Re: Clouded words
Bryan Dongray (btd@carina.cray.com) writes:
> Man 2: That cloud
looks like Commulus Castellus. **
> ** Is there such a constellation
as "Commulus Castellus"?
Not a constellation, but a classification of clouds, probably spelt Cummulus castellus (upper and lower cases important). Any meteorologists out there?
From: Norman Buchwald <jbuchwald@huey.csun.edu>
Date: 11 Nov
1995 22:16:18 GMT
Subject: Re: Clouded words
>My problems are:
>* This could be "That cloud looks like a
little round wood potato",
I think she's saying "That cloud looks like a little brown ----(not sure of word here) potato" myself.
From: braffet@uhunix.uhcc.hawaii.edu (Elizabeth Braffet)
Date: Mon, 20
Nov 1995 20:18:30 GMT
Subject: Re: Clouded words
> I thought it was "That cloud looks like a little man with a tail."
I've always heard it as "That cloud looks like a little lamb with a tail."
From: btd@carina.cray.com (Bryan Dongray)
Date: Tue, 21 Nov 1995
00:45:53 -0600 (CST)
Subject: Re: Clouded words
PS I think that Elizabeth Braffet is right with:
"That cloud looks like a little lamb with a tail." it seems it fit perfectly as I hear it.
Relevant quote: Let me sleep ... and dream of sheep
From: kpd000@colum.edu (Keith DeWeese x5422)
Date: 21 Nov 1995
23:08:13 GMT
Subject: voices in The Big Sky
And I thought it was Hannah saying, ". . .looks like an old man with a tail."
From: Norman Buchwald <jbuchwald@huey.csun.edu>
Date: 22 Nov
1995 00:29:21 GMT
Subject: That Line Sounds Like . . .
"That line sounds like a little rounded tail."
"That
line sounds like a little round wood potato."
"That line
sounds like a little brown potato."
"That line sounds like a
little man with a tail."
"No it doesn't."
"That
line sounds like a little lamb with a tail."
"That line sounds
like a little (or real) Irish potato."
"That line sounds like
an old man with a tail."
This line is nothing but trouble!
Date: 13 Dec 85 15:36:57 PST (Fri)
From: tsung@aero
Subject:
question about "Mother Stands for Comfort"
On my nth listening to HoL, the song "Mother Stands For Comfort" again sent chills up my spine. If this is really a love song to Mother, then why does the arrangement give such a. .. haunted/chilling atmosphere to the song? For me, it conjures up an image of a huge house with an overpowering mother figure about to beat up little-girl-Kate in the corner shaking with fear. First time I heard the song (without paying attention to the rest of the lyrics), I thought Kate was being sarcastic, what with the title verse sung repeatedly aginst the background, plus that at one point she goes ". .. make me do this, make me do that. . ."
So what do you experienced KBologists think? Do I have an association problem?
Date: Sat, 14 Dec 85 01:04:25 est
From: nessus (Doug Alan)
Subject: Re: question about "Mother Stands for Comfort"
> From: tsung@aero
> If this is really a love song to Mother,
then why does the arrangement give such a. .. haunted/chilling atmosphere to
the song?
Because it's about how a mother's love for her child transcends morality. The child has done something horrible and wrong, but their mother will still love them.
> For me, it conjures up an image of a huge house with an overpowering mother figure about to beat up little-girl-Kate in the corner shaking with fear.
Gee, I dunno why you'd picture that? I always pictured a child stricken with fear going to their mother for comfort.
"Mother will hide the mad man"
Doug
written by Love-Hounds
compiled and edited
by
Wieland
Willker
Sept 1995 June 1996