Thursday, 7 April 2011

Kate, Eric, time travel and old socks…

Why can’t I dream of Kate Bush?

It doesn’t have to be the Kate of Babooshka or even There Goes a Tenner, the Kate of Sensual World or King of the Mountain would be just fine. I’m not asking for much in my dream, some conversation, or perhaps a walk on her private beach far below her isolated house in Devon. I want to try to understand why her lyrics seem to be grabbed from out of my mind. I was thinking them long before she ever wrote them. I want to know if the affinity I have with her words equates to an affinity with the person.

She’s younger than me, but not much. She was born the year after I was born in 1957, perhaps that explains Rosebud, Citizen Kane, Night of the Demon (it’s in the trees), and why they seem to mean so much to us both. It doesn’t explain the weather machine, the face under the ice, the big sky, or all the other images that I drew in my teens though.

‘Every old sock needs and old shoe, ain’t that a great saying?’ I said to Ju-Ju once, long before Kate every dropped it into one of her songs. I dreamed the curtains and Rhinestones in the video to King of the Mountain long before Catherine ever directed it. I drew Kate’s words.

‘The wind is whistling through the house.’ Yes, sometimes it seems to, but still I dream of work, speeding cars, roads high above night time cities, newborn babies speaking when they shouldn’t, bare-boarded schools and last night time travelling with Eric Morecombe - but never Kate.

By the way Ernie was around but didn’t put in an appearance.

So why can’t I dream of Kate Bush?

Tonight instead of tricking myself to sleep with an A-Z of fruit and vegetables, or the names of islands, or even an alphabet of ailments and diseases, I’m going to go for an A-Z of Kate Bush songs - perhaps it might work. I’ll let you know, and who knows? Maybe Kate’s next song will be about a time travelling comedian.

A. Army Dreamers, B. Babooshka, C. Cloudbursting, D. Deeper Understanding, E. Eric takes a trip to yesterday…

7 comments:

  1. Maybe your blog will plant the dream you want. If it does I hope ur meeting goes how you want it to.

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  2. Ur wasn't text speak. My phone is on a go slow

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  3. Kevin Parrott commented on Facebook: ‎
    1978, our first Top of The Pops. I think it was also Kate's first TOTPs too. For a few of us, it was a live performance, (no miming), including Kate. The orchestra was directed by the (recently late) great, Johnny Pearson. The pianist couldn't quite perfect the intro to 'Wuthering Heights', (not easy at a few hours notice), and I remember Kate getting a bit annoyed to say the least, and shoving him to one side on the piano,and showing him how it should be played.

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  4. David Bell commented on Facebook:
    Still has a great voice though

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  5. I love Army Dreamers and Man With The Child In his Eyes. Did I ever tell you that she left my secondary school the year I joined?

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  6. I just thought of a connection - Morecambe & Wise recorded 'Boom-Ooh-Ya-Ta-Ta-Ta', and Yatta is one of Fish's touring crew so he can legitimately be called one of the Fish People!

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  7. Woe - that is a cool connection. Well done bkirk.

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