Back to Moments 1.0.
[For more comments on Moments of Pleasure, see "The Songs" Section]
From: P D Fitzgerald-Morris <s0pdfm@exnet.co.uk>
Date: Tue, 8
Jun 1993 22:32:48 GMT
Subject: HOMEGROUND NEWSFLASH
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Kate will appear on the UK ITV networked programme "Aspel and Company" on the evening of 20th June. The programme begins at 10.30 pm.
It is anticipated that she will present a track from the new album, due in September, but probably not the first single.
From: P D Fitzgerald-Morris <s0pdfm@exnet.co.uk>
Date: Tue, 15
Jun 1993 17:46:48 GMT
Subject: Aspel Newsflash
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We have just heard that the song Kate will be performing on the Aspel programme is called "Moments of Pleasure". It is apparently about all the people Kate has loved and lost, from Al Murphy to her mother.
This will not be the lead single.
From: Flump <D.M.Woodhead@loughborough.ac.uk>
Date: Mon, 21 Jun
93 8:20:22 BST
Subject: Aspel Interview Transcribed
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The Aspel Kate Bush Interview
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Introduction
Michael Aspel introduces Victoria Wood, a British Comedienne who, as one of her characters, wears a raincoat and a beret (it is relevant later!). She is also well known for her comedy songs. They chat, he then introduces KaTe.
MA: It is time for some more company you see, and taking over the warm seat from the Wood bottie is a singer whose first record in 1978 astonished listeners with it's originality, and her own extraordinary style made her an instant favourite with T.V. impersonators. She is in the habit of vanishing from time to time but the Garbo of pop has emerged from the shadows. Welcome, to Kate Bush.
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Applause
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MA: Kate, I've not seen you for a while but when we first met you were still a teenager and then you got this Garbo label. Did you shun publicity and the spotlight deliberately?
KB: Erm, I think... On some levels, yes I did, but the main thing was I wanted to spend a lot more time working rather than spending a lot of time promoting the work, it all seems to be, becoming more promotion than the work I was doing.
MA: So you decided work was more important, and have you now been now, beavering away in the potting shed for your next project?
KB: Yes I have. We've been working for about two to three years on this album that's coming out, probably, middle of september... and it's taking a long time, it's very intense work really, being sort of shut away in a studio.
MA: And this is The Red Shoes?
KB: Yes, it's called The Red Shoes, yeah.
MA: Is it based on the film, the ballet film?
KB: Well it is very much connected with the film erm, I was lucky enough to meet Michael Powel, the director of The Red Shoes before he died and erm, he was such a sweet man, he was really sweet, I thought one of Britain's best directors and erm, he had a very strong effect on me, he was a very sweet man and er, he seems to have popped up in two or three of the songs that are on the album.
MA: Was he dead by that time?
KB: By the time I was writing the songs, yeah.
MA: Posthumous recognition...
KB: Yes.
MA: 'Cos your first number one in '78 was inspired by a classic of course: Wuthering Heights, and we talked about that on a little program called 'Ask Aspel'...
Cut to old footage from 'Ask Aspel'. Part of the Wuthering Heights studio video is played. Cut to KaTe and Michael as they were then, in late '70 attire. The audience laugh. The interview went..
MA: That was Kate Bush with her first hit. What was the inspiration for Wuthering Heights, simply the story?
KB: Well I hadn't read the book, that wasn't what inspired it erm, it was a television series they had years ago and I just managed to catch the very last few minutes where there was a hand coming through the window and blood everywhere and glass, and I just didn't know what was going on, and someone explained the story, and it was just hanging around for years, so I read the book in order to get the research right and, wrote the song.
MA: And then it just stuck in your mind all those years?
KB: Yeah, it seemed so strong.
Cut back to present interview. Applause
MA: Well...
KB: Your little brother and my little sister!
MA: Yeeees, I think it was very cruel of the audience to laugh at you like that! (They laugh.) You haven't changed at all. Are you sick of references to that number?
KB: I think I am now. I think at the time it was fine, it was a lot of fun but, it was fifteen years ago and I think erm, although its nice that people er, remember it and remember me, it is nice to feel that when you're working on something, that you considered to be a contemporary artist I suppose, rather than going back to something such a long time ago.
MA: Well it was so different, so astonishing. Victoria, what was your first impression of Kate, and that .
VW: Well, when I first saw it, and I was not at a very good time in my career, I, well, first I though she was mad, probably, a mad woman had slipped onto the airwaves, and then really, I thought that it was very, very good, but I didn't want to acknowledge that it was very good 'cos I was feeling very insecure at the time, and then I read a review by Clive James and he said 'This woman is either a genius or she's barking mad!'. (laughter) Well it probably falls somewhere between the two!
MA: Yes. (to Kate) Do you think that's a fair assessment?
KB: Yes I do, I think I prob'ly am truly mad.
VW: That's allright!
MA: Oh that's nice (They all laugh). The theatrics of course were some... we all, all admired [How do you type a stutter?], now and, of course you've been a pin-up since you started doing this, er, this week we had a lot of letters in the office when they knew you were coming and (to Victoria), I can't imagine what your... (cut off)
VW: Did you have any letters about me?
MA: Not one oddly enough (Laughter)
KB: Have they been sending berets?
VW: Kate needs a beret
MA: Not berets no. (Talking about Kate again) Just nice letters. But do you still enjoy being a male fantasy.
KB: Erm, well I not sure if I've ever really enjoyed it!
MA: Horrible question
KB: Yes it is, its a horrible question
MA: (to Victoria jokingly) Do you enjoy being a male fantasy Victoria.
VW: I love it (Laughter)
MA: Fine. And so do I, so there we are! Now, you did just the one tour in 1979 and it was a terrific extravaganza, and you did things that Madonna is really just coming round to thinking of isn't she, I mean, that telephonist's headset. Was that your idea as well.
KB: Well, as far as I know, it's the first time it was used live, erm, 'cos I wanted to be able to move around and dance and use my hands and erm, at the time, the engineer, the sound engineer that we were working with, came up with the idea of actually, adapting a coat hanger, he actually used a coat hanger, and opened it out and put it into the shape, so, that was the prototype.
VW: Madonna wouldn't use a coat hanger, that's probably the difference, she would insist it was done properly.
MA: Except for opening a car with probably. But, why haven't you repeated all this and done another tour?
KB: Well, I did enjoy it. I think a lot people think I didn't actually have fun, but I did, it was great. But I think I found it erm, a bit overwhelming as well as, it being very hard work physically I think it was a bit rough for me being so exposed publicly, I found that a bit rough. And then I suppose I wanted to just retreat and work.
MA: It did all come with a rush didn't it of course at the beginning.
KB: Yeah, those first few years were very intense yeah. It was quite overwhelming really.
MA: What about the image of this vulnerable, pre-Raphaelite girl. Is this a pure invention?
KB: Erm, well I think er, I think everyone's vulnerable, on some level. But pre-Raphaelite, I suppose that's erm, probably a lot to do with Wuthering Heights, I think a lot of people...
MA: I mean... Do you live in a gothic mansion with candelabra
KB: Er, no, not at the moment, no
MA: You mean you have ! (they laugh)
KB: (Jokingly, I think) I'm planning to. (Giggles)
MA: Oh that's nice. (To Victoria) Can I ask, what's your style in decor Victoria
VW: (jokingly) Oh it's like Kate's, I live next door to her, semi- detached. (laughter)
MA: Yeeees, right, (back to Kate) what is a typical day for you?
KB: Well, I do spend a lot of time working so I s'pose erm, a typical day would be, being in the studio, you know, just working on erm, some ideas for a song and stuff. Pretty boring really.
VW: What do you do, sit at, at what? A keyboard or what?
KB: Yeah, yeah, a keyboard and we tend to put stuff straight onto tape so I'm actually working onto tape and then I'll play the tape back, and, you know, work to the stuff that's on there so...
MA: What about lyrics, 'cos, I'll ask you both about lyrics. (to Kate) Your's are very passionate and provocative erm, do you get inspiration, anywhere?
KB: Erm, I think it is illusive stuff, but I think really the biggest inspiration is people, I think, people are just so inspiring, they're fascinating and wonderful and, I think, you know, that nearly every idea that a person has had has probably at some point, come from another person.
VW: (To Victoria, jokingly) And I can't think of you giving a different reply, to all that.
VW: No, I'm not going to, no. I'll going to give the same reply. (laughter)
MA: Really?
VW: Absolutely! (pauses) Errm, things do come from people, what else is there really, if you're going to talk about any sort of human relationship: comedy, or whatever it has, it has to be based in life, so it has to be based on people.
MA: (To Victoria) But, do you always do the housework first, and put off writing - I've read you do that.
VW: I don't, no, I don't put off , I mean, I do, I do you know, I do, deal with poo, first. That's always the priority with babies.
MA: (jokingly) A baby poo, Kate, you understand.
VW: Do the poo, and then do the writing. I do like Kate, in an office, all day, just doing, you know, just trying stuff out.
MA: I do it the other way round, I write and then have a poo. (Big laugh). I'm sorry about that, its time for a... (cut off)
VW: (jokingly) That's why you're not a male fantasy, if a might say so!
MA: We're going to have a break now, err, Kate will be singing for her warm glass of white wine later, but in a few moments we will have Lenny Henry.
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Applause
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Fade to commercials
When the next half of the show resumes, Lenny Henry joins the party. His interview commences, with many additions from Victoria. Kate meanwhile sits and listens, smiling and laughing occasionaly. Every so often she is brought into the conversation...
On the subject of Funk...
MA: Kate, do you enjoy Funk?
KB: Yeah, very much, yeah
MA: I mean, I didn't know how to phrase that question but I'm glad I asked it. (Kate giggles)
They (everyone except Kate) are talking about the '70s, and how crap the clothes were, Lenny is leading the conversation ...
MA: what about you Kate, you know, you're very simply dressed now, but you... (cut off)
LH: (Sarcastically) Gorgeously dressed I think you'll find, Michael.
MA: Simple elegance, that's what I was groping for (laughter). So what about the seventies stuff, do you go for that?
KB: No, I agree with Lenny, I mean, why go back to it when it was so awful the first time?
LH: Yeah it was, a lot a people say the '70s was the decade that taste forgot, but I think we had taste... but it was just shite! (Big laugh and applause)
This conversation moves to talk of Lenny's musical career...
MA: To bring it up to date, I mean, as an expert Kate, you think he's got what it takes don't you, as a singer?
KB: I think Lenny's a really good singer - he's done some singing on the new album, it's really good.
MA: Yes, (to Lenny) you are on Kate's new album.
LH: Yeah.
MA: Doing what?
LH: Singing (laughter). (Sarcastically) My elephant impression Michael. (He does an elephant impression!). (loads of laughter) It's a biggy!
MA: I thought you might have had the odd solo in the middle of it.
LH: No, I get to sing a bit, and it er, was very exciting. Kate was incredibly patient, and made egg sandwiches (laughter), saying (Cockney accent) 'Go on son, give it some'! (more laughter) So I did!
At the end of the show...
MA: (Interrupts Lenny) Well, I've just been told, miss Bush, that they are going to be ready for your song, so erm, thank you very much for being with us and perhaps you'd like to (cut off)...
KB: Thank you
MA: (continues) ...prepare your young body.
MA: (says goodbye to Victoria, Lenny and us) And here is Kate Bush with some 'Moments of Pleasure.
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Moments of Pleasure
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Cast : Kate (lip-syncing) Piano Strings (not on set)
A pair of red ballet shoes are on her piano.
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There you go, hot (ok, slightly warm) off the presses.
From: P D Fitzgerald-Morris <s0pdfm@exnet.co.uk>
Date: Mon, 21
Jun 1993 07:11:50 GMT
Subject: Homeground (Late) Newsflash
I have just got back from the London Weekend Television Studios, where with Dave and Krys we were in the audience for "Aspel and Co."
I'm knackered, but I just wanted to share with you my first reactions. Think of "This Woman's Work" and step up the emotional power by a factor of ten. This song is emotion incarnate. It is power incarnate. It is indeed a roll call of those people Kate has loved and lost. If this is a pointer to the album, then we shall be overwhelmed.
More when I'm conscious.
Date: Mon, 21 Jun 93 10:40:26 BST
From: nbc@inf.rl.ac.uk
Subject: Moments of Pleasure - first impressions
Just a few initial thoughts on the Aspel & Co. appearance. The interview itself did not shed much new light (and other kind soles have already posted transcriptions) but it was interesting to discover that it was actually meeting Michael Powell that inspired Kate as much as the film itself.
During the group interview sections of the programme I felt that Kate was a bit overwhelmed by being surrounded by Leeny Henry and Victoria Wood who can both talk the hind legs of a donkey. Aspel tried to get her back into the conversation but without much success.
As for the song well my opinion is that if it is indicative of the album as a whole then it means The Sensual World Part II. The song Moments of Pleasure reminded be very much of a cross between This Woman's Work and Reaching Out but it may be that the orchestration on the track on the TV show was not the album version. Besides the strings and piano there were some seagull noises! Lyrically the song was clearly very emotional and powerful (reflecting the subject matter that Peter described last week) with some fascinating insights into Kate's personal world. Examples such as an old saying her mother used to tell her ("an old sock always finds an old shoe) and that Al Murphy was known to her as Smurf. There were enough rhythmic changes in the song to give Kate's vocal range a good working out and she sounded on good form.
I think we are in for an even more personal album then the TSW - which is perhaps inevitable after Kate's loss of her mother and others close to her. It will be very interesting to discover what kinds of songs will be chosen as singles and the album itself will I am sure be full of surprises.
Neil Calton
From: Scott Telford <s.telford@ed.ac.uk>
Date: Mon, 21 Jun 1993
10:48:49 GMT
Subject: "Moments of Pleasure"
First impressions: a slow ballad with piano and great strings arrangement. I felt there was a drum track missing somewhere, but maybe thats just me 8-) Not awfully original, musically, but emotionally powerful. Very sentimental lyrics - references to Ma, Al Murphy ("Smurf"), Bill Duffield, "Teddy at Abbey Road" (who?) etc. Reminiscent of Tori Amos, but without so much histrionics 8-)
As promised, we've made a couple of audio files from a cassette dub of Evan's video recording of the Aspel show and I've just put them up for anon FTP from ftp.epcc.ed.ac.uk in pub/local/audio/kate. At the moment we have two Sun/NeXT-format 8kHz 8-bit mono u-law files: "moments3.au" is 1.4Mb (to fit on an HD floppy) and comprises the first 3 mins; "moments5.au" is 2.5Mb and has the full 5m20s song. Might be one or two jumps due to disk thrashes while we were recording it on our Indigo, but sounds reasonable to me. If anybody wants 16-bit AIFC format, we have that too, but they're twice as big and we're running short of disk...
Thanks to Flump for the transcription - my typing just isn't up to it...
KaTe looked great; blue-grey trouser suit, beige blouse. Slimmed down a bit since "Rocket Man". Seemed a little nervous.
Can't wait to hear Lenny Henry on the album...8-)
-- Scott Telford
From: Mike Quinn <mike@abekrd.co.uk>
Date: Tue, 22 Jun 1993
09:04:33 +0100 (BST)
Subject: Moments of Pleasure (Lyrics)
"Moments of Pleasure"
by Kate Bush
(performed on the Aspel Show 20th June 1993 (lip-snyc'ed) duration 5:16.)
Some moments that I've had
Some moments of pleasure
I think
about us lying
Lying on a beach somewhere
I think about us diving
Diving off a rock into another moment
The case of Judge the wipe (???)
Oh God I can't stop laughing
This sense of humour of mine
Isn't funny at all
But we sit up all
night
Talking about it
Just being alive
It can reall hurt
These moments given
Are
a gift from Time
On a balcony in New York
It's just started to snow
He meets us
at the lift
Like Douglas Fairbanks
Waving his walking stick
But he isn't well at all
The buildings of New York
Look just like
mountains through the snow
Just being alive
It can reall hurt
These moments given
Are
a gift from Time
Just let us try
To give these moments back
To those we love
To those who will survive
And I can hear my mother saying
Every old sock meets an old shoe
Ain't that a great saying
Every old sock meets an old shoe
Here come
the hills of time
Hey there morning (?)
Hey there brother
Dancing down the aisle
of a plane
'S Murph playing his guitar refrain
Hey there Teddy
Spinning in a chair at Abbey Road
Hey there Michael
Do you really
love me
Hey there Bill
'D you turn the lights up
From: Scott Telford <s.telford@ed.ac.uk>
Date: Tue, 22 Jun 1993
15:21:23 GMT
Subject: Re: Moments of Pleasure (Lyrics)
Mike Quinn writes:
> The case of Judge the wipe (???)
I think this is "The case of <something> wine", but I dunno what the <something> is - sounds like "judgement"...
> Hey there morning (?)
"Hey there, Mother", I think.
Date: Thu, 24 Jun 93 13:25:37 PDT
From: lester@gandalf.etdesg.TRW.COM
(Jeff Lester)
Subject: Moments Lyrics
>The case [outjoys] the wine [of judgement? endures?]
It almost sounds to me like the name George, like "The case of George Norwide," like maybe there's same court case that's been in the news and it's not really something funny but she still laughs at it.
Does the name "George Norwide" ring a bell with anyone?
-Jeff Lester
Date: Fri, 25 Jun 93 01:39:31 EDT
From: vickie@pilot.njin.net (Vickie
Mapes)
Subject: This wonderful song...
...is beautiful, simple, and moving. "Moments of Pleasure" will take it's place alongside "This Woman's Work" and "Reaching Out" in my heart. This song is from one of the many, *many* Kates I know and love.
From the beauty and power of "Reaching Out" to the awesome magnificence of "Breathing" to the simple vulnerability of "In Search of Peter Pan" to the terrible anger of "Get Out of My House" to the sly comedy of "Coffee Homeground" to the passionate sexuality of "Feel It" to the passionate sensuality of "The Sensual World" to the cinematic brilliance of "Night of the Swallow" to the spooky terror of "Hammer Horror" to the confusion and yearning of "Running Up That Hill" to the powerful strength of "Not This Time" to the pure love of homeland in "Oh England My Lionheart" to the tension of "Pull Out the Pin" to the comical frustration of "Ran-Tan Waltz" to the unaffected cheerfulness of "The Big Sky" to the searching chaos of "Sat In Your Lap" to the carefree silliness of "Kite" to the intrigue and larceny of "There Goes A Tenner" to the genuine gift of "Under the Ivy" to frightful horror of "Waking the Witch" to the lazy vacation of "Warm and Soothing" to the ghostly pining of "Wuthering Heights" to the exotic eccentricity of "Egypt" to vengeful violence of "The Wedding List" to the sardonic sanctuary of "Leave It Open" to the reluctant curiousity of "Rocket's Tail" to the worldly seduction of "In the Warm Room" to the graceful elegance of "Delius" to the cool deception of "Babooshka" to the puzzling labyrinth of "Suspended In Gaffa" to the serene trust of "The Fog" to the precarious honesty of "Love and Anger" to the extraordinary and alien "The Dreaming" and on and on and on and on.
All these songs and more came from the Kate *I* know and love. The pensive Kate. The private Kate. The bizarre Kate. The insecure Kate. The bold Kate. The flashy Kate. The sexy Kate. The motherly Kate. The loyal Kate. The loving Kate. The sad Kate. The happy Kate. The serious Kate. The lazy Kate. The hardworking Kate. The smart Kate. The brilliant Kate. The human Kate. The how-did-she-*do*-that Kate. The peaceful Kate. The overwhelmed Kate. The creative Kate. The morbid Kate. The fibbing Kate. The Cathy Kate. The public Kate. The Kate nobody knows. The Kate everybody knows. Kate the artist. Kate the musician. Kate the lyricist. Kate the poet. Kate the experimentor. Kate the storyteller. Kate the trouper. Kate the survivor. The innocent Kate. The cynical Kate. The beautiful Kate. The bad-hair-day Kate. The Kate who introduced a song of hers by saying "yeah, here it is" and the Kate who presented her songs as a 3-act "play" and the Kate who thinks we're all mad and the Kate who repeats herself endlessly and the Kate who would really rather not say anything at all about her songs and the Kate who loves her family and friends and Del and unusual musical instruments and her garden and her cats and her privacy. Lots and lots of Kates. The Kate who gave us 6 albums and a bunch of b-sides and remixes and who is about to give us another album.
So many Kates. So little time...
I already love "Moments of Pleasure" and it has been floating through my brain all day long. I played it on my radio show last night.
She really *IS*
Vickie
"How I'm moved, how you move me, with your beauty's potency" KB
On
to Moments 1.4. - Tower Records, NYC 12/93
Written by Love-Hounds
compiled and edited
by
Wieland Willker
August 1995