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the Reaching Out (Interviews) Table of Contents
Date: Fri, 2 Aug 1991 22:42:10 -0800
From: rhill@pnet01.cts.com
(Ronald Hill)
Subject: BBC Radio 1 Personal Call Interview w. Ed Stewart +
Sue Cook , 1979
Personal Call
BBC Radio 1. 1979? Phone in show.
K: Kate
ED: Ed Stewart
SUE: Sue Cook
[Transcribed by Ron Hill. Thanks to IED for providing me with the tape. I am sure some of the names are not spelled correctly!]
ED: Thank you Kid, and welcome everybody. Yes, this is Personal Call, your first chance on Radio 1 to give us a call with your questions and views to our guests of the week. Well the number to jot down, if you got a pencil or paper handy is 580-0011 and 01 if you live outside of London, 4411. Helping me in the studio is Sue Cook who will be introducing the topic for our first program.
SUE: And our guest being a rather mysterious kind of lady, the topic's going to be mysterious too - strange phenomena, unexplained mysteries, and in particular, reincarnation. So share any weird experiences you may have had... your views on physic happenings... do you think you may have had any past lives? And our guest is Kate Bush.
[Wuthering Heights is played]
ED: Yes, Wuthering Heights. And I'm sorry Kate but we have to fade that, cause it's such a lovely song. [Kate Laughs] But welcome our first guest on Personal Call. And our first caller is on the line, so lets get straight ahead to you, Mark Willcot from Rochestor, your question?
Mark: Hello?
Ed: Hello, Mark.
Mark: I'd like to ask Kate, some time ago in an interview, I think it was with Mark Latshow, she said that she preferred songwriting to singing. I was wondering if there was any danger to give up singing to concentrate more on her songwriting?
K: Ah, no I don't think so, because I love songwriting, but I love singing even more, sometimes, you know. It's just such a pleasure to be able to open your mouth and just let it all out, it's fantastic. I don't think I could ever stop doing that.
Mark: Oh, I'm very glad about that.
K: [Laughs] Thank you.
Ed: Alright, thank you Mark.
K: So long, Mark.
Mark: Bye.
Ed: Bye. Jenny Reed.
Jenny: Hello.
Ed: Hello.
Jenny: Hello, Kate. I'd just like to ask you - how long does it usually take to write your songs, you know, on average.
K: Ah, well that depends. It depends if I've got a strong enough idea. I've always have to have some kind of idea of a subject matter before I start writing. And sometimes it will just come out, and sometimes it will take me days, weeks, whatever. It's very, very unpredictable and I just have to go with it, you know?
Jenny: Yeah. Do you write the lyrics first or the music or do they come together?
K: Well if I've got a strong idea, I'll often have a couple of lyric lines that I just fit music to and work the rest in. But normally the music comes first.
Jenny: Yeah, and also, you know your tour?
K: Yeah.
Jenny: I hope you come to Britan, cause if you are I'll be in the front row, Kate.
K: Oh great, I'll wave to you.
Ed: Thank you Jenny. Well actually Kate has very kindly brought us in a tape of a piece of music you recorded... how old were you with this one Kate?
K: Oh, I was about fifteen.
Ed: Do you mind if we play it for everybody?
K: [Laughs] I'll shut my ears, OK?
Ed: Will you, OK. Would you like to introduce it?
K: Yeah, 'ere it is! [Both laugh]
[A portion of the unreleased song Maybe is played]
Ed: Kate had a very wistful look on her face. Why was that?
K: I was waiting for the flat note in the middle. [Laughs]
Ed: Ah, you mean we faded it just in time!
K: No, you caught it actually, I'm sure...
Ed: I never noticed it.
K: Yeah.
Ed: But how soon after that was it that EMI found you and signed you up?
K: Um, it was about a year, year and a half after that.
Ed: Was it on the strength of that tape?
K: No, it wasn't. It was on the strength of the tape that came after that. But that song was actually on the tape that got me there.
Ed: So did you compose Wuthering Heights after you joined EMI?
K: Oh yeah. That was just before I made the first album, Wuthering Heights.
Ed: OK. Well in the program to, in Personal Call, we'll be playing some of the musical choices of our guests, so we'll play your first one in just a second. But we have John King from Rochstail on the line. Good evening, John.
John: Good evening.
K: Hello, John!
John: Good evening, Kate.
K: Hello.
John: I'd like to ask you, who has influenced you most on your music, in the early part of your career?
K: Ooo. Well, that's a lot to do with traditional music, because when I was a kid that was always around me. But people like Bryan Ferry and David Bowie, they were very strong influences, because they were so new when they came out. They were such strong talents, you know, I really liked a lot of their stuff.
John: Also, what is your favorite song that you've recorded?
K: That I've recorded? Oh, I don't know. I guess I'm pretty pleased with Strange Phenomena, actually. And I'm not just saying that cause that's on the show tonight.
Sue: We've got that lined up in a minute 'cause that's going to be quite relevant [Kate Laughs]. You'll find out. We've got another caller thought, just before we go into that. There's Marteen Leroy on the phone. Hello Marteen.
Marteen: Hello.
Sue: Hello. Good evening, what would you like to ask Kate?
Marteen: Where do you get the ideas for your songs from?
K: Mainly from people, actually. People are just full of songs, you know? If you just sit down and talk to someone, they come out with about four novels. [Laughs] Yeah, they're full of them.
Marteen: Like, James and The Cold Gun.
K: Yeah, I think most of my songs have been inspired by people and things that people think about, you know?
Ed: Alright, Marteen?
Marteen: Alright, thank you.
Kate: Thank you.
Ed: Thank you. Actually Kate you seem very advanced in your years [Kate laughs] with some of the titles. I mean, for your first album you call it The Kick Inside. The Kick Inside and then Man With The Child In His Eyes, I mean these titles, they just come to you like that? A flash of inspiration or did you think about titles like that?
Kate: Well The Man With The Child In His Eyes just happened. And I think it had something to do with one of my nephew's books. I don't remember how, but that line just happened. And sometimes they just sorta get contrively written, you know what I mean? Sometimes they just happen.
Sue: Did you write a lot of poetry when you were young?
Kate: When I was at school, yeah that was my thing. And then I got into songs so I forgot about that then. It was much more exciting. Sue: It's interesting that your first favorite record is a Beatles number. Why do you like that so much?
Kate: Well that particular song I think is an absolute classic. I think it's brilliant. And the particular cover version, Bryan Ferry, I think is one of the best cover versions I've ever heard. Because so often it's just nowhere as good as the original song and I think it's brilliant.
Sue: We should play it. It's She's Leaving Home.
[She's Leaving Home is played]
Ed: Yeah, it's a beautiful song isn't it?
K: Incredible, I think.
Ed: Has it any personal sorta meaning to you? You haven't left home have you?
K: [Laughs] No, no. It's nothing personal, it's just whenever... I mean that whole album Sergeant Pepper is just a phenomena. It's an absolute classic and all the songs on it are so beautiful. And it's just good to hear a very, very excellent cover version because often they lack something. I think he's captured George Martin, The Beatles, everything. I think it's very clever.
Ed: Good. Yeah, it is a lovely track [Kate goes "UMM"]. We've got four or five of your tracks, your favorites in this evening, which I'm glad to say. Here on Personal Call, you're listening to Radio 1. It's just came in to eleven minutes past seven. Kate Bush is our guest and 580-44-11 is the number. 01 if you live outside of London. To have a chat with Kate. And we have somebody on the line, now. Susan Binding from SaintAlbums. Good evening Susan.
Susan: Hello.
K: Hello, Susan.
Susan: Hello. I'd like to ask you what you do when you're not writing and recording songs.
K: Sleeping. [Laughs] Yeah, that's normally what I do. Cook a meal, sit and watch telly. I don't get much time off so when I get it I just like to relax.
Susan: Uh, huh.
K: Yeah.
Ed: What do you cook?
K: Ah, vegetable pies. Curries. Burnt curries, actually. [Both Laugh]
Ed: Well, they've got to be hot, someway.
K: Yeah.
Ed: Are you domesticated?
K: I try to be, yeah. I really like doing housework, I think it's very therapeutic, you know?
Ed: Yeah?
K: Yeah.
Ed: You'll be a good wife?
K: Oh, I don't know about that. [Laughs] It's just I think housework is an amazing craft, it's very creative.
Ed: So you enjoy keeping house for yourself.
K: Yeah.
Ed: Yeah, good. Alright, thank you Susan.
Susan: Thanks so much.
Ed: Up to Scotland to Aberdeen. Collin Gardner, good evening.
Collin: Hello?
K: Hello, Collin.
Collin: Hello, Kate. I would like to ask you how you're going to convey your music on stage? Will it be more theatrical then more [??? sex???] or..
K: Ahah. [Laughs] Well I can't really tell you much about that because if I do you won't bother to come and see it. [Everybody Laughs]
Collin: Oh, of course I will.
K: But I hope that you'll enjoy it, we're try to get something a bit special. But I really can't say much about it.
Collin: Ah, sure. I understand.
K: Great.
Ed: Will you be going to watch?
Collin: Oh, of course I will!
K: Give us a wave.
Collin: Yeah?
K: Yeah!
Collin: Oh, alright I'll give you a wave.
K: Oh, terrific.
Susan: We'll take another call. It's Adel Almascalty, I think, from Hull. Hello, Adel.
Adel: Hello?
K: Hello.
Adel: Hello, Kate.
K: Hi.
Adel: Yeah, I just wanted to ask you... Before I ask you I would like to say, it's really good to talk to you on the phone this evening.
K: Oh, it's really nice to talk to you.
Adel: I'd like to ask you - what made you think of starting your moving/dancing?
K: What, moving and dancing while I'm singing?
Adel: Yeah.
K: Well that was really inspired by a person called Lindsay Kemp, who I saw a few years ago in an amazing stage show and I'd just never seen anything like it. This guy was moving without saying anything, and the whole audience were just completely lost, they were just mad over him. And I'd never seen anything so inspiring, and I thought that maybe if I could move and sing at the same time, maybe I'd be able to get across that sort of emotion. It's just something I'm trying. [Laughs].
Adel: [??? Inaudible].
K: I'm sorry?
Adel: Did you [??? Inaudible] school or anything?
K: Ah, yeah. I trained for a couple of years at a dance school, after that. But it wasn't really mime, it was more modern dance. But I learned an awful lot from that, I really did.
Adel: Oh. I'd like to ask you some more questions. You know, if I want to start, going to movement lessons, where would I start from?
K: Well the best thing to do is have a look in theatrical papers like Time Out and that. They do a lot of good courses that are pretty cheap. Places in London and all over the country, I think. Where you can just go along with students. There are some good schools, but you need qualifications for a lot of them. So personally, I'd go for the courses, cause they're more inspiring anyway.
Adel: Oh, I see.
Ed: Thank you caller, what did you say your name was again?
Adel: Adel.
Ed: From Hull?
Adel: Yeah, that's right.
Ed: Oh, I thought you sounded like a Scotsman for a moment. [Everybody Laughs]
Susan: Kate, you feel that physical discipline is very important, don't you, why do you think?
K: Ah, it's very important, because our bodies are what we live in. And we keep our homes clean, so we should keep our bodies clean. And I think exercise wakes you up. I mean, if I don't do any exercise my brain is asleep for most of the day. And if you just do a few sorta you know one, two, three [makes push up sounds and laughs] you feel much better, it's really wonderful.
Susan: So that's another thing you do, besides writing songs and going to sleep.
K: Yeah. [Laughs]
Ed: Well, what sort of diet do you keep? Are you anything special?
K: Ah, well I'm vegetarian. But I'm not very good about what I eat, actually. I'm not that disciplined. I like chocolate and rubbish. But I love vegtables.
Ed: But why are you a vegetarian?
K: Because I don't believe in eating life. I try to avoid eating life as much as I can. I mean there are things that I eat that probably have fat in them, and that. And, to a certain extent, I wear certain leather things. But I just don't believe in us considering ourselves so superior that we just go around killing everything and eating it.
Ed: Were you brought up this way?
K: No, no. None of my family are really vegetarian. But it's just something I feel strongly about.
Ed: You don't think it's just a phase.
K: [Laughs] Aye! [Laughs and pauses.]
Ed: Ah, well we won't go on about that. It's music time and we've got another.. Well before we have another of your choice, lets have one more question from Rochstail, another one from Rochstail. John Wilkonson, good evening.
John: Good evening.
K: Hello, John!
John: I just wondered, do you like listen to your own records?
K: No, I don't actually. The only times I listen to them is when I've got a routine to work out. If I'm doing a TV or something, then I have to listen through it to work out the routine. But that's the only time.
John: And are there any plans for a northwest concert?
K: For a what concert?
John: A northwest.
K: Northwest. Well, they should be sorta publicized pretty soon where we're going, but we're covering most of England so I'm sure we'll get to you.
John: Great.
K: Great. [Laughs]
John: And do you mind if I just say hello to a few people?
Ed: Well I'm afraid it's not one of those programs, John. [Kate really laughs]
John: OK.
Ed: I'm sorry mate. But it's not a request program like that. Ha, ha. No, I'll tell you what, we'll have another one of your choices Kate and something you like from Steely Dan.
K: Hmm, terrific.
Ed: Would you tell us what it is?
K: It's called Peg.
Ed: And why this one? Is it in the name or what is it?
K: It's a brilliant song, they're wonderful musicians.
Ed: OK let's have a listen to them, Steely Dan and Peg.
[Peg is played]
Ed: Alright, there we go with Steely Dan and Peg. And you're listening to Personal Call and Kate Bush is our guest. And I notice from your long list of records that you gave us Kate, and unfortunately we won't be able to play all them. But there are one or two with quite a deep jazz influence in them, like there's one with Billie Holiday. We've got another one latter on which we'll find that is the same. How heavily were your influenced by Jazz.
K: I think Billie Holiday hit me very strongly when I first heard her. I just couldn't believe her voice, I mean it just made me want to cry, it was just amazing. And she's very strongly Jazz and Blues, but there is something about it that I love. Maybe it's the indulgence. [Laughs]
Ed: Right, well that's the right of every composer, would you say, to be slightly self-indulgent at times?
K: Oh, yeah. I think thats unanimous, yeah.
Ed: Ok, we've got David Martin from Devin, and Tivintan in Devin. Good evening, David.
David: Hello?
Ed: Off you go.
David: Hello, Kate.
K: Hello, Dave.
David: How did you pick the name of Lionheart for your latest album?
K: Well that was really from the title track called Oh England, My Lionheart. And I just think it's a great word, it sorta means hero, and I think hero is a very cliched word, so I thought Lionheart would be a bit different.
David: Kate, I think all the songs on there are brilliant.
K: Oh, thank you. Great, thanks. Bye.
Sue: You're not a Leo by any chance are you?
K: Ah, yeah.
Sue: Could that be something to do with it to?
K: Yes, it could indeed, yeah.
Sue: We've got another caller on the line now, Wendy Pantis. Hello Wendy in Hiwickam.
Wendy: Hello?
K: Hello, Wendy.
Wendy: Hello, Kate. Both your albums seem to me to be very woman orientated like Room For The Life and In The Warm Room. Would you say that you are for or against woman's lib?
K: I'm always getting accused of being a feminist. Really I do write a lot of my songs for men, actually. In fact, "In The Warm Room" is written for men because there are so many songs for women about wonderful men that come up and chat you up when you're in the disco and I thought it would be nice to write a song for men about this amazing female. And I think that I am probably female-oriented with my songs because I'm a female and have very female emotions but I do try to aim a lot of the psychology, if you like, at men.
Wendy: That's very good. [Kate laughs] Thank you.
K: Thank you.
Wendy: Kate, where do you get your hair done?
K: My hair? I don't get it done anywhere, it does itself I'm afraid.
Wendy: Oh, lovely. I think it's terrific.
K: Oh, thanks.
Ed: Thank you. Susan Tracy from Harrold Hill, good evening.
Susan T.: Hello?
K: Hello.
Susan T.: I just wondered what your middle name was?
K: My middle name?
Susan T: Yeah.
K: I haven't got one actually. I've got a confermation name but that's not really an official name and that's Mary.
Susan T: Oh, same as mine. [Both Laugh]
Ed: Alright, Susan.
K: Thank you.
Ed: Marcus Wally from Lester is there.
Marcus: Hello?
K: Hello, Marcus.
Marcus: Hello, Kate. I would like to ask you if the record Strange Phenomena on The Kick Inside was prompted by any outside experience, in fact.
K: Yeah, It's all about coincidences. And there's in fact a school of thought about that called, well it's Synchronicity. And it's about all the things that happen that are very similar and how one day all these really strange coincidences will happen to you. And alot of these happen to me. Like I'll be talking about something to someone and I'll go home and someone will ring me up about the same thing. And I think it's one of our phenomenas, I must admit, yeah.
Susan: You do believe that mental vibrations can be transmitted from one person to another.
K: I think by what you think and how you are you attract things to you. I think if you are a negative unhappy person a lot of negative unhappy things could happen to you. I really believe in that, yeah.
Susan: Marcos, what do you think?
Marcos: Well, I sometimes believe in it. And then again there are alot of people who are [??? inaubible] and don't believe it at all.
Susan: The difficult thing is that scientific data just can't prove it, can it? I think we ought to hear the song, actually. Strange Phenomena.
[Strange Phenomena is played.]
Susan: Alright, Strange Phenomena. It's interesting words:
Soon it will be the phase of the moon
When people tune in.
Every
girl knows about the punctual blues,
But who's to know the power behind
our moves?
A day of coincidence with the radio,
And a word that
won't go away.
We know what they're all going to say.
"G"
arrives--"Funny, had a feeling he was on his way!"
Marcos, have you have any strange coincidences happen to you like that?
Marcos: Well, there's one that happened this afternoon. We were discussing it our RV [???] lession about ghosts and various strange things. And when I heard this program was on, I thought I'd ask this question about the phenomena and I'd didn't realize that you'd be discussing it. So that's kinda a coincidence already.
Sue: Kate, you remember any memorable coincidences like that?
K: Oh, dear. Well they do happen alot, like just being places and someone you haven't seen for years will turn up. Reading a book and seeing it in a shop and then seeing it on a bus. They happen all the time, and it happens to everyone. I mean people are full of these little things that happen to them.
Sue: It would to be able to explain it, but I suppose it would spoil it to some extent, wouldn't it, if you could explain it.
K: I think so, yes. I think you just have to accept it.
[Second part of Personal Call transcription. Part of this tape is nearly inaudible, so if anyone has a better copy or transcription, let me know]
Sue: We've got another caller on the line, maybe the same kinda subject. Barbara Clay of Hallifax. Hello, Barbara.
Barbara: Hello.
Sue: Is this the same kinda subject you're phoning about?
Barbara: Well, in a way, yes it is. I want to talk to Kate. If you could tell me what "OM MANI PADME HUM" means.
K: Well, it's a buddist chant actually, and I couldn't actually tell you what it means because unfortunately I don't practice buddhism. But it's a passion mantra, and it's really just a mediative - blah - chant that people use when they're in a state of higher being.
Barbara: They're something else I wanted to ask while I was on the phone. I wanted to wish you all the best in the British pop and rock world...
Kate: Oh!
Barbara: Because I think you're creative [??? inaudible]
Kate: Oh!
Barbara: I wondered if you be doing Totmatin at all?
Kate: Ah, well I... again ... would be going around England quite a lot and I think Ed going to be give out some dates in a minute.
Barbara: No, I don't mean that. I mean did you ever live in Totmatin?
Kate: Oh, no. No I'm sorry.
Barbara: And they're something else I'd like to say. I'm really sorry Don't Push You Foot On The Heartbrake didn't make it. Cause I thought it was fantastic.
Kate: Oh, great.
Barbara: Were you upset about that at all?
Kate: What, you mean as a single?
Barbara: Yes.
Kate: Well that wasn't actually the single. It was Hammer Horror that was the single.
Barbara: Oh, I see.
Kate: Yeah.
Barbara: Well, that didn't really get off the ground, did it?
Kate: No, it didn't no.
Barbara: I'm sorry, because I think all your music real fantastic, you know.
Kate: Oh, thank you very much.
Barbara: Thank you very much, bye.
Kate: Thanks, bye
Ed: Thank you, caller. Actually Kate, that brings me on to a question for you. How much say do you have in what is released by your record company.
Kate: Quite a lot actually. Probably more then than I am entitled to. But we discuss it. I mean, it's not really me saying "I want this" and them going "We want this." We do come to a compromise in a discussion, it's quite human.
Ed: Quite amicable.
Kate: Yeah.
Ed: OK. By the way, those tour dates of yours, I've got a list of them in front of me. But I'm sure there's one or two people listening that would like to have a moment to go and get a pencil and paper so in about five minutes time. It's now exactly half past seven, so about twenty five minutes to I'll give a list of Kate's tour dates in April, OK. So if you you're interested, get pen and paper, we'll be ready for those. Now, we've had Barbara Clay from Hallifax and we've got Silvia from North London. Haven't we Silvia?
Silvia: Yes. I was wondering would you have liked to live in a different time. Because you tend to mention re-incarnation quite a lot.
K: Yes. No, because I'm very happy in this particular lifetime, thank you. And I think all lifetimes have their own ups and downs and I'm really happy to be here. I think it's a good time.
Sue: Do you think you might have lived before, then. Had some kind of previous life?
K: I don't know, it's very possible. But it's not the sort of thing you'd remember. And I just believe that soulless [???] entities and people that work on themselves will come back in some form. All that energy just can't go, it's gotta go somewhere.
Ed: Have you had a feeling though that ever you might have been born before?
K: I get feeling that I've done things before, and whether it was a past life or a future life or just something, I don't know. I get a lot of feelings thought that when I'm doing something for the first time that it's happened before.
Ed: I've had those feelings, I wish I could give them up sometimes.
Sue: [Laughs] You thought you'd been one. [Everyone laughs] Anyway, I thought I'd do a little bit of investigation from what you'd gathered by now, into reincarnation. And started with a man called Dr. Len Wilder, and he's written a book called lives to remember. He's actually a dentist, who uses hynosis to treat his patients. But he's also for several years now been hypnotising people for a different purpose, taking them gradually back through their lives, back through their childhood, right back to the time they were born, and then further back then that. And he's discovered that many people go back to what would seem to be previous lives. And often with a complete change of voice, a change of accent, sometimes even a change of sex. And the first time he did this, some time ago, was with a London housewife called Peggy Baily, who, in fact, when he took her back, further back in time, she actually produced three previous lives. She was first of all a young woman called Sally Frasier.
Len: As Sally Frasier she spoke with a deep Depen burr [???] and this was a young girl who live round about the early part of the eighteenth century, in Depen. She marries a man called Sam Bond, she has children, they're a farming family. He dies, and then when she's in her late sixties, she dies from old age. Now the interesting thing is that although I used modern words like doctor, when I say to her when she's ill and dying in bed, I said "does the doctor come and see you" she says to me in her deep Depen burr, "well I don't know what you mean," she says, "but the popcuri [???] comes." And then I said, "Does he give you a prescription for medicine." "I don't know what you're talking about," she said, "he gives me potions and such like, but they don't seem to do I no good." She dies and then she is re-born round about the early part of the nineteenth century as a Cockney fowling [???]. And she marries a man who is in the fruit business, she doesn't have a very healthy life, and when she's in her early forties she dies actually of angina. She is then reborn again in the latter part of the nineteenth century as Lady Alice Browning, and she's a spastic. She lives twenty years and then dies. And she has a very secluded, very confined life. This is all very exiting because Peggy Baily in the present life is a very ordinary person and it's quite remarkable that somebody like this could have produced all these things.
Sue: Do you think, Kate, if you were hypnotised, I mean what do you think you might, perhaps, sorta life you might go back to.
Kate: [Laughs] I'd give away a lot of secrets, that's for sure. I don't know. I think that's a very, very interesting to do. And there have been a few books written by people who have gone through this regression. I don't know if it is very healthy actually, I personally wouldn't do it. I think it's very interesting thought. And I can't say about my past lives or whatever, I don't know.
Sue: Cause it's the very foundation of the Buddhist religion, for example. They believe that the soul was never ever born. It just is, it's eternal, it was never born, it will never die. It will go on reliving and reliving until eventually it finds a resting place and ultimately finds a nirvana, where it doesn't have to be reborn anymore.
K: Hmm. I think that beautiful. I think that's such a beautiful...
Ed: Yeah, but at the same time they never swat a fly because it might be granny. [Both laugh]
[More re-incarnation talk without Kate, I haven't transcribed it]
Sue: Right, well we'll take another call now. Steven Chandland on the line from Hardfield. Hello, Steven.
Steven: Hello?
Sue: Have you had any Psychic experiences?
Steven: No, but sometimes I do things - feel as if I've done it before. I don't know if it's [??? inaudible] or what? [Kate laughs] Before, you know?
K: Yeah.
Sue: So it's the same kind that your songs written about, de'javu?
K: Yeah, that particular song is really about coincidences rather than de'javu. But de'javu is fascinating, it really is.
Sue: Does it worry you Steven that you have these experiences?
Steven: No, not really.
Sue: You're not afraid of ghost or spirits or anything?
Steven: No, I find them interesting.
K: [Laughs] That's the way.
Sue: When I was doing all this work, actually, I suddenly realized that in a way, although I'd love to prove it true, if it actually was proved true I'd be terrified, in fact I went to bed with a light on through my work. Who's next on call?
Ed: Yes, I think Francesca O'salvin is there in Buckingtra.
Fransesca: Yes.
Ed: Hello, Fransesca.
Fransesca: Hello. I'd just to say first of all, to Kate, that I do a lot of writing myself and while I'm writing I play her records and they really do influence me.
K: Really!
Fransesca: And I don't know, some of the tracks and one in particular, Kashka From Baghdad. I'd like to ask you where you got it from?
K: What the idea?
Fransesca: Yes.
K: Are you a songwriter, or a...
Fransesca: I write stories actually, but they give me... the songs give me lots of moods.
K: Oh, that's fantastic!
Fransesca: I sit there with the headphones on...
K: Oh!
Fransesca: ... and my book in front of me.
K: Oh, how lovely. Well, Kashka From Baghdad that actually came from a very strange American Detective series that I caught a couple of years ago, and there was a musical theme that they kept putting in. And they had an old house, in this particular thing, and it was just a very moody, pretty awful serious thing. And it just inspired the idea of this old house somewhere in Canada or America with two people in it that no-one knew anything about. And being a sorta small town, everybody wanted to know what everybody what else was up to. And these particular people in this house had a very private thing happening.
Fransesca: That's really interesting. Brilliant. Anyway, another thing, in the first album there are a couple of songs that I thought are about having a baby. Is that true?
K: Um, yes. Not actually having a baby. But... Yeah, the Kick Inside is about a lady who is pregnant who is going to do herself in. [Laughs]
Fransesca: Does it mean much to you, I mean the idea of having a baby?
K: I think that is one of the most incredible phenomenas of the world, the fact that two people can produce another person. I think it's just incredible. And I think a lot of people don't respect that amazing thing enough, I think to many people treat it in a selfish way.
Fransesca: I think that really comes through on these songs.
K: Oh, great!
Ed: Are you married Fransesca?
Fransesca: No, I'm not. No, I'm only nineteen. I've got a long time yet. Thank you.
K: Thank you, bye.
Ed: Right, Philip Preston is in Canterbury. Hello Philip.
Philip: Hello?
Ed: Yes.
Philip: Can I ask Kate something?
Ed: Sure, go ahead. That's what we're here for. [Kate Laughs]
Philip: What was your most eerie experience Kate?
K: My most what?
Philip: Eerie.
K: Eerie experience. Oo, I don't know, a lot of things happen. Sometimes in the recording studio, when you're out there alone, with all the lights dim, you sorta feel very strange things sometimes. That can be quite eerie. You sometimes feel that maybe there's someone in the room with you, that sorta thing. But I haven't really had anything extremely eerie or horrible happen to me. I've had a really quite nice life, actually. I couldn't think of anything at the moment, I wish I could for you.
Ed: What about you Philip, anything eerie happen to you?
Philip: No, not yet.
Ed: Not yet, how old are you?
Philip: Thirteen.
Ed: Oh, you've got plenty of time. Ha ha. Thank you for the call, bye bye.
Philip: Bye.
Ed: Bye, bye. Right it's nineteen and a half before eight o'clock. I promised those tour dates and here they come now. [Gives tour dates] We're going back to calls now, and Jeff Woodfields in Crick. Good evening Jeff.
Jeff: Hello.
K: Hello!
Jeff: Hi, on all the tracks of yours that I've listened to, I've detected an element of the supernatural. I wondered if you've considered yourself to be a little psychic.
K: Um, I don't think I'm psychic, but I think I have a slight advantage being a female to start with, because I think females are, I'm not saying they're more sensitive, but they just seem to be more open to certain areas like that. And I do get very strong feeling sometimes that do turn out to be true, just feelings about friends, relatives, that sorta thing. But I think everyone gets them.
Jeff: Right, in your dreams?
K: Sometimes in dreams, yeah. But sometimes just feelings, when you're sitting down and you suddenly think about someone. Something wrong, and you give them a ring and there it is.
Jeff: I wish I could do that.
K: It doesn't happen much, but I think it happens to everyone. Everyone I know has had very similar experiences.
Sue: I think it's something mothers often feel about their children, isn't it?
K: Oh, yeah. I mean they're part of them. Isn't it really? Yeah.
Jeff: OK, thank a lot.
Ed: Thank you Jeff, thanks for your call. From Crick in North Hamptinsure. Mark Shephfort is up there in Burmingham. Good evening, Mark.
Mark: Good evening, Ed. Hi, Kate.
K: Hello, Mark!
Mark: Do you believe in astrology?
K: Um, I think there's a lot in astrology. I think it's a very ancient, well mathatically planned out thing that a lot of people boo-hoo. And I think it's very unfair, because there's a lot of very strong, scientific knowledge in there. I think it's been commercialized a lot, which is why people become so cynical. But I think the fact that people are born at a certain time, on a certain day, with stars in certain position is bound to to have some effect on that person because we are ruled by everything around us.
Mark: So, every morning when your morning paper comes you grab it and sorta leap through to your horoscope and see what your days going to be like?
K: Oh, no. I don't believe those, I think they're rubbish. They're just someone who's made a generalized, commercial thing for the people to entertain themselves with. I think real astrology, there is something in it, yeah.
Mark: Um, just another question. Originally your Hippodrome date was supposed for March the 4th and it was put back a month, why was that?
K: Well that was because of our rehearsal time, and in fact none of these dates should have got out. That was due to someone who was a bit naughty along the line. But we're coming out in April.
Ed: Alright Mark. Thank you very much for calling. Do you lead your life by any sort of set rules or set standards.
K: Oh, yeah. I have what I call my own religion. I think everyone's got their own religion. They are various certain things I stick by.
Ed: Such as?
K: Such as not eating meat. Such as trying to be aware of people around me and doing my work and trying to be positive about it. I think being positive is very important.
Ed: Good. I wonder if Jim Belhouse is positive up there in Inbakeyhee. [Kate Laughs]
Jim: Very Positive! [Kate laughs]
Ed: Very positive, are you Jim?
Jim: Ah, yes. Hello Kate!
K: Hello.
Jim: There's just one thing I'd like to say just before I start talking to Kate. I'd like to, on behalf of myself and my family, thank Radio 1 for making it possible that we are able to speak to Kate tonight. And I praise God, you know, because there is only one and He's in charge of all of us. [Kate Laughs] And I'd like to thank all the BBC and the trouble that they've gone to in putting on this program.
Ed: Thank you. You're not the head of Radio Scotland are you? [Kate laughs]
Jim: Ah, well you've heard of Brother Jim?
Ed: [Laughs] Anyway Jim. Thanks for your call. Was there anything you wanted to ask Kate?
Jim: Well, I would like to ask Kate... Well I believe I already have the answer... I would like to ask Kate if she believes in God?
K: Believe in God? Well I think there are a lot of Gods and I certainly believe in my God, but I wonder if it's the same God as yours.
Jim: Well, I believe that it is. Do you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ?
K: I believe in him, but he's not the one I live my life by, I must admit.
Jim: We, as Christians, we do believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and I know for a fact that if you believe in God and he has it written that the only way to him is through the Lord Jesus Christ then I believe that your God is the same as mine.
K: So do I. I believe if you believe in anything... I mean if God is really... I hate to say this because it sounds blasphemous, but God is in fact some kind of label for people to put all their belief and love into. And I think that if people put all their belief and love into other people and what they're doing, then I think you do find it, I think you do reach an aim.
Ed: Alright, Kate. Thank you Jim for your call!
Jim: Well, um...
Ed: No, um we've got loads of calls on the line so I'll have to cut your short there. But that you very much for your interest.
K: Thanks, Jim!
Ed: There he goes, alright back to you Sue.
Sue: Of course everybody has the different doctrines. [Sputters] We're talking about reincarnation again. Christians, of course, believe that this is the life which, depending on how you live it, is the only life which determines whether you're going to heaven or hell, which precludes immediately any sort of reincarnation. Which kind of direction would you tend towards?
K: Well, I think certainly this life at the moment is all we're living, but I think its... I don't see how anyone can really say what happens when our body dies. I mean there's no way of proving where the energy goes. I hope one day they'll be able to tap it.
Ed: Yes, but the best of people, we're glad to say are left behind. And the very best, if I may but it here Sue, to say that. Because we have a piece of music which is a favorite of yours, from the late Buddy Holly.
K: Oh, he'll always live.
Ed: He'll always live, won't he.
K: Yeah, always.
Ed: Especially with this one.
[Every Day is played]
Ed: Lovely stuff. Thank you for that one, Kate.
K: Thank you.
Ed: Kate Bush is with us on Personal Call. It's eleven minutes before eight o'clock. We're going down to Britan on the South Coast to say good evening to Malcum Cootah.
Malcum: Hello Kate.
K: Hello, Malc! [Everybody laughs]
Malcum: Hello. I have two questions for you actually.
K: Yeah.
Malcum: The first one is: are you really as mysterious as you seem on the telly?
K: [Makes funny voice] Who me? Me, mate? Mysterious? No, I'm not mysterious.
Malcum: So that's really just for the act, is it?
K: Well, when I'm performing I become [??? a node???] and that [??? node] is not really me because if I did what I did normally it would be really boring. So I become a particular personality like [??? cartoons] and that's why it's all [??? mysterious] or whatever. But I'm really normal.
Malcum: You're really normal.
K: Yeah.
Sue: [Inaudible]
K: I think I must be a terrible exhibitionist. [Inaudible]
Ed: Over to you, Jackie Andrews in Rochester.
Jackie: Hello, Kate.
K: Hello, Jackie.
Jackie: Do you ever go wrong on stage?
K: Do I go wrong. Well, I've yet to find out, actually because this is my first tour and I'm [??? might mess up and lose an eye??? Laughs]. I don't know, but things do go wrong occasionally, even on TV and all you can do is cope with it. And it's real good, it's real good for you to try and cope with it.
Jackie: [Inaudible]
Kate: [Inaudible]
Ed: [Inaudible] ...on the end of the phone, and we'll do that for you. Alright, Jackie.
Jackie: Yes.
Ed: Alright, then. Over to you, Lesley in Cardiff.
Lesley: Hello, Kate?
K: Hello, Lesley. I'm [Inaudible]
Lesley: Oh, great. Thanks [Inaudible]
K: Oh, thanks.
Lesley: I was reading in the Guardian, [Inaudible] and it said [??? sex ????] voyeurs.
K: I don't know, it's a bit heavy. I don't know. I guess, well I think that really very flattering. And maybe I do, maybe I do. I'm probably quite calculating behind my creativity, yeah.
Lesley: But if you did, do you think it's fair?
K: Is anything fair? I mean when I write a song [inaudible] particular audience. When I write I write the song. And I'm involved in it and I don't think commercially or anything. But you do sort of aim [inaudible]
Lesley: That's very nice [Inaudible] in the Guardian.
K: Yeah, I didn't read that. [Laughs]
Lesley: [Inaudible] Who's your favorite author, or books, and why?
K: Well, one of my favorite authors is Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. I think he's amazing. And the reason I love him is that it's science fiction and I think his writing style is amazing because [inaudible]
[Inaudible]
Mike: All I want to ask you is how does it feel to be a sex symbol overnight?
K: Ooo! I don't know. Tell me. [Both Laugh]
Mike: [Inaudible] Do you feel that you are a sex symbol?
K: No, I don't at all. In fact now I feel a lot more worried about how I look then I ever have done, because of all this emphasis on the way I look. Because I'm performing I do have a very different way of looking when I'm quite normal.
Mike:You must agree that certain of your tracks are a little bit, should we say, erotic?
K: Ooo! Shall we? [Laughs] Yeah, I guess so but what's wrong with that?
Mike: I wondered if you felt that you were a sex symbol.
K: If people want to label me that way, there's nothing I can do about it. I'm not a sex symbol. It's very flattering for me to think that people even consider that but I obviously I have errowssements and emotions as other people do and I just happen to put them in my songs.
Mike: I see.
Ed: Alright Mike. I assure you sitting here that she is sexy. [Kate laughs] Alright. I'm one up on you, there.
Mike: May I talk about phenomena as well.
Ed: Well, we've got a few more calls and I want to play another of Kate's choice of music as well. So if you don't mind.
Mike: Thank you.
Ed: Alright thanks for calling. There's a song, actually that you've chosen called Nature Boy.
K: Oh, yeah.
Ed: Why do you like this one so much?
K: Well the first time I heard it in fact George Benson's version and I thought "what an incredible song." And I happen to hear it by Nat King Cole and he's like Billie Holiday, I mean his voice - just so beautiful.
[The song is played]
Ed: Nat King Cole, nature boy. And that was written by a man who it was his only composition.
K: Oh, that song. And that guy's voice, the two together, oh that's just beautiful.
Ed: Marvelous record. Lets go straight now to - oh we're staying here in London. To Amanda Cotten. Hello Amanda.
Amanda: Hello.
K: Hello, Amanda.
Amanda: Have you got any ambitions?
K: Ambitions. Oh, I've got so many. I want to do everything. [Laughs] Yeah.
Amanda: What are the main ones, though.
K: Well, really all I want to keep doing is what I'm doing now and just try to get better because I've got a long way to go. I want to keep writing songs and singing and I'd like to keep training as a dancer cause that really makes me feel good.
Amanda: Thank you.
K: Thank you.
Sue: And our last caller, probably, for today is Pierre Craddock from Cromwell. Pierre.
Pierre: Hello, Kate.
K: Hello, Pierre.
Pierre: On your album Lionheart and The Kick Inside, there's a symbol on the actual kite on the back and on the box on the front of the album...
K: Oh, you noticed.
Pierre: Yes. Have they only sorta symbolize?
K: Well, what in fact it is, it's a KT...
Pierre: It's a TK or a KT..
K: A KT and it's sorta [teasings ???] that actual sign is an old Knights Templers sign and 'round the countryside you'll find it scattered on the doorways of churches and things and it was just very fitting because I used to be in a band called the KT Bush Band. Katie, KT. And it's just a theme that we've kept running. It's a sorta motto.
Ed: Alright Pierre, there's the answer to the question. So we've got one more call to go. Thanks for yours. Heather Norris from Ryan, Sussix.
Heather: Hello?
K: Hello.
Heather: I'd just like to ask you, who do you most like to meet?
K: Who would I like to meet most? Quite a few people.
Ed: Well, I'm here!
K: I've met him, he's here, yeah. I'd love to meet David Bowie. I'd love to meet. I'd really liked to have met Gracho Marx, but I'm too late.
Sue: I'd just like to say, that I agree with the girl earlier that you'll definitely knock 'em all out [??? all] England.
K: Thank you.
Sue: Thanks alot.
K: Bye, bye.
Ed: Ok, Kate. Well Kate, our time is nearly up. We'd like to thank you for being our very first guest on Personal Call.
K: My pleasure, it's been great!
Ed: It's been quite [??? grueling] isn't it.
K: Yeah.
Ed: Right, but you cope marviously.
K: Thank you.
Ed: I know there's been lots of listeners tonight, who haven't been able to get through to you. But I'm sure that most of the questions have been answered. And thank you for being so sympathetic with all the question and answers.
K: Thank you for being able to [??? inaudible]
Ed: It's been really good, hasn't it?
K: Yeah.
Ed: But we'd like to go out with your latest single, which is a "Wow". [Kate Laughs] Right?
K: Yeah!
Ed: But we'd like to... we'll start that as I just close with the credits for this evening. [Wow and closing credits] ...and most of all thanks to you, Kate Bush.
K: Thank you, take care.
Date: Sun, 4 Aug 1991 16:50:00 -0800
From:
gatech!chinet.chi.il.us!katefans@EDDIE.MIT.EDU (Chris Williams)
Subject:
About Personal Call
Vickie here.
Thanks for the Personal Call Ron, it's pretty close to me because it was the first spoken word interview I ever heard (the first time I had ever heard Kate speak) when I got it in 1982.
[repeating of chat about God omitted]
Kate says some pretty darn silly things in the show, but this was really cool. Such a diplomat! I still rank PC up there among interviews just because she gives lots of interesting tidbits, such as Kashka's origins, not having a middle name and the above. Not to mention it's the *ONLY* time "Maybe" has ever been heard. Thanks again Ron.
Oh, was it mentioned that Personal Call was BBC's first ever radio call-in show? For Kate to be chosen as the first guest was quite wonderful! ---Vickie
To
the Reaching Out Interviews Table of Contents
"The pull and the push of it all..." - Kate Bush
Reaching Out
is a
Marvick - Hill
Willker -
Mapes
Fitzgerald-Morris
Grepel - Love-Hounds
Presentation