KATE BUSH – “Wuthering Heights”
I’ve never read Wuthering Heights, though I like to imagine its heroine does a pushy-arm dance at some point. Looking it up on Wikipedia, however, I was shocked to realise that Kate Bush is singing this song as a ghost, but really that’s just another oddness on a teetering pile of them: in a really excellent article on Bush for the late Stylus magazine, Marcello Carlin (hi dere!) points out that she is “the last musician to be allowed to do what she likes, as and when she likes”, and the precocious, precious “Wuthering Heights” is both evidence and justification for this indulgence.
On a parallel Earth somewhere, though, she never did anything else that anyone bought, and this is a one-hit-wonder, another in the seventies’ cavalcade of novelties. After all, we’ve already considered a hymn played on bagpipes, a tribute to Van Gogh, a mother-and-son barrelhouse piano romp, a spoken-word treatise on cosmic annihilation, a disco vision of the future, and a three-part rock opera, at least two of which are routinely ranked among the best singles ever. So a pop adaptation of a Bronte novel is unprecedented, but only as unprecedented as anything else thrown at the wall in this oddest of eras. Its ‘weirdness’, in other words, is not exactly why “Wuthering Heights” ought to be treasured.
To understand why this record is so brilliant, it helps to understand what it is: a power ballad. Like all great power ballads, it has a stonking big guitar solo, but that’s the least of its affiliation with the genre. It also has an absolutely steely conviction in its own seriousness and worth; it stares down even the merest notion that it might be ridiculous. And it continually raises its stakes: just when you think “Wuthering Heights” has peaked it pushes up somewhere higher, grander.
It starts off playful, Bush just revelling in how scrumptious words like “temper” or ”greedy” sound when she’s singing them. Then – “bad dreams in the night” – she starts pushing things on a bit, and then rolls into the chorus, showing her range and melodic skills off. And then she really starts moving – “ooh it gets dark”, whipping up more of a storm, still playful enough to throw out that pine/find almost-rhyme though. The storm breaks on the second chorus, and Bush is imperious, working the song’s newfound groove. Still only halfway through, when she takes things up another notch, no longer singing as a character but letting song and story dissolve into one another, “let me have it!” – the tingliest point in a record full of them. “You know it’s me”. It’s one of those rare, liminal moments in pop when a performer seems to be trying to will a change in reality itself, to make our world simply swap places with the one her song’s creating. The piano strains at its upper limit, and then the strings come in, the moment of crisis passes, Kate Bush retires from her song in triumph and Dave Gilmour’s solo is a meandering, heartfelt round of applause.
And that, as far as we’re concerned, is that. Better one Kate Bush number one than none, and better this one than many, but it’s still a shame. After such an introduction, it’s us she’s haunting, a face pressed at pop’s casement window, mouthing a message: be this remarkable.
10
Thus Spake Rosie:
Well there’s a link between Wagner and Modernism!
Indeed–and quite an extraordinary one! Most of the major Modernists eventually found it necessary to deal with W eventually.
I could suggest an interesting book on the topic. (And, no–I didn’t write it.)
intothefreak:
Let me be completely honest about this – I fell in love with Kate Bush.
No need to be embarrassed about that! (So did I!)
Well, didn’t we all! And in my case, got unbelievably jealous as well.
Just a complete answer to a question asked earlier (64)about its chart status: According to Wiki this went #1 in Ireland, New Zealand and Australia and was a top 10 in four other European countries. In the U.S.? It peaked at #108. Also: on a mostly British site, I’m stunned nobody has yet brought up the seminal version of “Wuthering Heights,” the one done in flag semafore….
doctormod @ 66:
I entry to Kate Bush was via Tori, too – as a teenager I was a Tori obsessive, probably much along the lines of your students, and I think in around 1997 someone nudged me towards the Kate back catalogue – but I’ve never thought their aesthetics overlapped all that much, bar their similar vocal range. To be slightly reductive, I’ve always felt that Kate’s work is situated more in the realm of the imagination (not a million miles from the fantasy genre) whereas Tori focuses on personal experience and catharsis, albeit viewed through a very fractured prism at times. Plus, the work of both is really heavily informed by their nationalities.
(I think Tori’s gone on the record as saying she’d never heard Kate Bush until after she’d written most of Little Earthquakes, as KB never really hit big in the US.)
Wonderful record, even though we all did “hilarious” Kate Bush impressions in the playground for weeks (years?) afterwards. Loved ‘The Man With The Child I His Eyes’ too, obv, and not just because six-year-old me thought she was naked in the video. For me, as a kid, she dropped off the radar completely (save, maybe, more terrifying stuff on ‘Babooshka’) so when she reentered my sphere in 1985 as an NME darling, I was somewhat surprised. I suppose she’d always been a heroine of the inkies, but was still a figure of fun (fear?) among my peer group.
I’ve been proper hooked since Hounds Of Love, of course.
Lex #80:
I quite agree that KB and TA are the products of their respective nationalities, but I think there’s greater aesthetic overlap, particularly musically, than you would suggest. (By the way, most of the students to whom I presented KB thought them kindred spirits.) Kate can be ferociously cathartic in some of her work, and I think it valid to say that she employs the “fractured prism” technique to great effect, particularly in her “concept albums” (if one chooses to see them as such) The Dreaming and Hounds of Love. (I’ve actually lectured on this topic–so I can go on and on. But I’ll spare everyone the long-winded discourse.)
I think what you’re implying is that KB’s subject matter lies more in her imagination and TA’s more in her personal experience. Yes and no. I grant you that KB has never done anything as unnervingly personal as “Me and a Gun,” but there’s no shortage of violence and grittiness in her work, even if it is presented in a more–what?–metaphorical manner. (This, too, could be a US vs UK thing).
This is not to disparage TA by any means. Like KB, she is a genuine eccentric gifted with the extraordinary sort of vision few others possess. But I do think it’s a bit disingenuous to say that there’s no influence there. (TA’s disavowal notwithstanding, KB wasn’t completely unknown in the US–she actually had some chart presence in the 80s.)
It’s interesting to note, though, that when VH1 did their “100 Most Important Women in Rock” programme (or something to that effect) back in the late 1990s), KB placed somewhere in the middle range of the list, despite this being a US-based project. And what artist do you think they interviewed about the significance of her work? TA!
BTW, TA nowadays occasionally sings “Running Up That Hill” in her live shows.
now, that’s gonna confuse some of the audience..
I can’t really imagine it – I knew she was doing it, but it’s a v recent development and my days of obsessively downloading every live cover TA did are at least 5 years in the past. She’s a lot better at covers these days tbh, though her last album wasn’t bad at all.
KB has always struck me as a lot more…performative, I guess, than TA, and far less prone to being inappropriate or crude; thematically, TA is a lot more confrontational, the violence in KB’s work seems to occur most when she’s being overtly theatrical, playing roles and characters which are not her (‘Get Out Of My House’, ‘Houdini’, ‘Wuthering Heights’ too I guess!), and her most cathartic, traditionally confessional tracks are some of her most gentle (‘This Woman’s Work’, ‘Man With The Child In His Eyes’, ‘Moments Of Pleasure’). Whereas TA’s catharsis is often this raging, angry thing (‘Precious Things’, ‘Crucify’, Blood Roses’) which often seems like it’ll spiral out of control, were it not for TA’s songcrafting talents and technical chops; it was actually when I first heard Fleetwood Mac that I thought “oh so that’s where Tori got her inspiration from.
I look forward to discussing Tori in her own right in approx. 20 years’ time!
Yes, its as if the spoiler bunny was scared off by the confrontational Kate.
Bun scared no.
I think you’ve missed the point with this one, although i certainly agree with the mark. The strength of the song lies with its naive narrative pushed up against her most incredible voice and arrangement. That’s its beauty: her childish song about a book, the sort of lyrics you write when you’re at school getting in to Hardy or something. It tells a story so blatantly like few other decent songs. Telling this story is the most pure, unheralded voice which understands which words to emphasise or wail. Oh it’s so good i’m thinking about it now!
So in conclusion: the naivety of a silly song about a Secondary School Novel combined with astonishing vocals and arrangements make this 10/10.
And she turns 50 today!
Where’s the stork when you need it?
Naturally, I’m pleased that it’s such a momentous record, even though I obviously can’t claim any credit – it is indeed the first self-penned Number One by a solo female. Technically speaking, we will eventually hit a song from Tapestry, but let’s say no more for the nonce. Oh, and apparently ‘Running Up That Hill’ was Number 30 in the US.
As regards this one, I do feel a bit of distance from it just because I’m a bloke, but I wouldn’t give it less than maybe 9.5 – I deduct half a mark for that guitar solo which never feels like part of the song to me. Mind you, I don’t actually own the proper version of the track, which seems a bit of an omission on my part.
Oh, and I like the Futureheads, who found their own point even if it wasn’t the one originally intended. That China Drum cover is terrible though – meatheaded “Oooh look there’s a slow song let’s play it fast” rubbish.
Just a small point – the guitar solo in WH is played by Ian Bairnson, not Dave Gilmour..
Lex, I may have missed this on some other thread, but has anyone pointed you towards Laura Nyro, the Godmother of them all? If not, you’re set for a brand new box of piano-straddled femme treasures. I’d recommend New York Tendaberry for starters.
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*“let me have it!” – the tingliest point in a record full of them*
I can’t hear this record without thinking that this is my favourite pop moment of them all.
Re: “the last musician to be allowed to do what she likes, as and when she likes”
Bjork?
No disagreement with the rating on this one, even if wasn’t a brilliant song, it’s fantastic to see such an odd piece of music at the top of the charts. I remember my Dad saying that the moment where the full orchestra stuff comes in halfway through is the best moment in any song ever – he’s not far wrong!
You may be right about Bjork, but does she still engage with the mainstream? But them I am not sure Kate does either (though a new Kate Bush album is big Radio 2 news, a new Bjork album these days would be scrutinised for poppiness before even 6 Music palyed to too much).
don’t think it was gilmour who played guitar on “Wuthering Heights” as the author ststes. Initially thought it sounded like (Mike) Oldfield but I heard somewhere it was Alan Parsons axe (forget his name – sorry.)
No – it wasn’t – someone corrected this mistake somewhere in the comments thread but I forgot to change it.
Somebody mentioned earlier about reading and listening to music at the same time, and their brain kind of “fused them together”. I’m just wondering if a young 18 or 19 year old Kate might have been reading Wuthering Heights while listening to “Johnny Remember Me”?
There’s something about the female vocal in the latter, that has me thinking surely Kate Bush must have heard this. Also I wonder how might Joe Meek have taken this song and played around with the arrangement?
Maybe producing something a little more Wagnerian perhaps?
More thoughts on WH…Bauhaus formed in 1978 and from that lil acorn we have a whole genre right there (hello goths!). The whole gothiness of WH harks back again to those Shangrila’s songs and their Bronte-esque doomed love stories.
My cousin was a goth and she skirted around the whole punk thing concentrating on the fashion and make-up. I misunderstood the point completely and bought her an Exploited 7″ for her birthday, while all the time she was listening to Phil Spector’s back catalogue and Iggy and the Stooges. Then she phoned me and asked me to buy her Kate Bush’s album for xmas. That’s when I realised she was no more punk than I, but instead something else.
I never really bought into this tribalism thing as a teenager, but I now know that my cousin was one of the first goths, bless her.
Lovely, funny interview with KB on BBC Radio 4 this evening:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b017cfkz
Kate skates:
http://skatebush.tumblr.com/
#101 I can see her coming a cropper there. No Vans.
Kate @ Christmas:
http://networkawesome.com//show/the-kate-bush-christmas-special/
Wuthering Heights stretched to 36 minutes, truly astonishing – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsXhtJ9BTJA
File under ‘what fresh hell is this?’: WH only made #96 on NME’s Best Songs of the ’70s list here. Lots of very good stuff on the list, of course, but shoe-in’s like I’m Not In Love and Benny ‘n’ the Jets and Rhythm Stick and Strawberry Letter 23 and Autobahn and New Rose didn’t make it, whereas relatively minor stuff like Prince’s I wanna be your lover and Moroder’s Midnight Express theme (Chase) and Blondie’s One Way or Another did. Lists.