0:00:02 > 0:00:04MUSIC: "Moments Of Pleasure" by Kate Bush
0:00:04 > 0:00:07For those people who don't know who Kate Bush is
0:00:07 > 0:00:10and completely forgotten who she may have been,
0:00:10 > 0:00:12she is the waif-like singer and songwriter who had
0:00:12 > 0:00:16an enormous hit with her first eerie single, Wuthering Heights.
0:00:16 > 0:00:19# Out on the wily, windy moors
0:00:19 > 0:00:23# We'd roll and fall in green. #
0:00:23 > 0:00:26She was an original, a rarity in the pop world,
0:00:26 > 0:00:29where so many performers look and sound much the same.
0:00:29 > 0:00:32# She signed the letter "All yours"
0:00:32 > 0:00:34# "Babooshka, Babooshka
0:00:34 > 0:00:36# "Babooskah, ya, ya". #
0:00:36 > 0:00:41- Is it a bird, is it a plane, is it a tree?- No, no, no, it's a Bush.
0:00:41 > 0:00:43Ladies and gentlemen, Kate Bush.
0:00:43 > 0:00:45MUSIC: "Wow" by Kate Bush
0:00:47 > 0:00:49- PRODUCER: Kate Bush. - Kate Bush.
0:00:49 > 0:00:55# Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow-ah! #
0:00:55 > 0:01:01Just like fire, you know? It's all just, like, coming out of her mouth.
0:01:01 > 0:01:03MUSIC: "Army Dreamer" by Kate Bush
0:01:03 > 0:01:06She has made her performances into something of an art form,
0:01:06 > 0:01:09mingling dance and mime and all kinds of theatre.
0:01:09 > 0:01:11SONG: "Sat In Your Lap"
0:01:11 > 0:01:14I mean, they're not normal songs. None of her songs have been normal.
0:01:14 > 0:01:17# I see the people working. #
0:01:17 > 0:01:20She's just who she is. She's unique, she's a mystery.
0:01:20 > 0:01:23She's the most beautiful mystery.
0:01:23 > 0:01:26There were moments of, like, hairbrush in the mirror,
0:01:26 > 0:01:29like, Running Up That Hill and dancing round the lounge.
0:01:29 > 0:01:31# And if I only could
0:01:31 > 0:01:33# Make a deal with God. #
0:01:33 > 0:01:34The music speaks for itself,
0:01:34 > 0:01:37but liking her makes you feel a bit clever.
0:01:37 > 0:01:39# We're running up that road. #
0:01:39 > 0:01:43Hours I've been in my room by myself, through good times
0:01:43 > 0:01:45and bad times, and listened to her on headphones
0:01:45 > 0:01:47and her taking me away from my stress.
0:01:47 > 0:01:49# I'd be running up that hill. #
0:01:58 > 0:01:59Let me tell you a story.
0:01:59 > 0:02:04When I had my civil partnership nine years ago in 2005, and Kate,
0:02:04 > 0:02:05we invited Kate.
0:02:05 > 0:02:08We didn't think she'd come but she came with her husband Danny,
0:02:08 > 0:02:10and there were a lot of very famous people in that room.
0:02:10 > 0:02:12There was, like, 600 people,
0:02:12 > 0:02:15and all anybody wanted to meet was Kate Bush.
0:02:15 > 0:02:17I mean, musician, anybody,
0:02:17 > 0:02:19they couldn't believe Kate Bush was there.
0:02:19 > 0:02:21She's kind of an enigma.
0:02:21 > 0:02:23I don't think she's ever particularly wanted to play
0:02:23 > 0:02:25the game, has she?
0:02:25 > 0:02:28But I think when you've done great work like she's done,
0:02:28 > 0:02:32and then you retract from the public,
0:02:32 > 0:02:37people almost have to make up their own version of you, don't they?
0:02:37 > 0:02:40You can hear one note of a Kate Bush song,
0:02:40 > 0:02:46or one note of her voice, even, and know immediately what it is,
0:02:46 > 0:02:50and that is the biggest feat of any artist,
0:02:50 > 0:02:54especially when you consider all the roads that she's gone down.
0:02:56 > 0:02:58SONG: "Wuthering Heights"
0:03:00 > 0:03:03# Out on the wily, windy moors
0:03:03 > 0:03:07# We'd roll and fall in green. #
0:03:07 > 0:03:11When Kate Bush came along, sort of '78, I was in The Slits,
0:03:11 > 0:03:15and I remember, I was sitting in a van outside our singer's house,
0:03:15 > 0:03:17waiting to go and do a gig,
0:03:17 > 0:03:20and Wuthering Heights came on the radio, and I was like, "Huh?
0:03:20 > 0:03:23"What's this?!", and I kept waiting for the melody to repeat,
0:03:23 > 0:03:25because at that time,
0:03:25 > 0:03:28pop music was very much, you know, Radio One was repeating melodies
0:03:28 > 0:03:32very quickly, and this melody meandered on in this high
0:03:32 > 0:03:36pitched voice, warbling and dropping, but I was absolutely spellbound.
0:03:36 > 0:03:39# Wuthering, Wuthering Heights. #
0:03:39 > 0:03:42When I first heard it, I thought it was extremely challenging.
0:03:42 > 0:03:48The vocal was almost hysterical, and so up there, the register.
0:03:48 > 0:03:51But it was absolutely fascinating.
0:03:51 > 0:03:54I know at the time a lot of my friends couldn't bear it.
0:03:54 > 0:03:59They just thought it was too much, but that's exactly what drew me in.
0:03:59 > 0:04:02# Bad dreams in the night
0:04:02 > 0:04:07# Told me I was going to lose the fight
0:04:07 > 0:04:09# Leave behind my
0:04:09 > 0:04:12# Wuthering, Wuthering Wuthering Heights
0:04:12 > 0:04:14# Heathcliff... #
0:04:14 > 0:04:17Look! I can see Wuthering Heights!
0:04:17 > 0:04:21Well, I saw a series on the television about ten years ago
0:04:21 > 0:04:25and it was on very late at night, and I caught literally the last
0:04:25 > 0:04:29five minutes of the series, where she was at the window trying to get in.
0:04:29 > 0:04:30Who are you?
0:04:30 > 0:04:32- DISEMBODIED VOICE: - I'm Catherine Linton.
0:04:32 > 0:04:33Oh!
0:04:33 > 0:04:36I've come home.
0:04:37 > 0:04:42And it just really struck me. It was so strong. And I read the book.
0:04:42 > 0:04:43You read the book later?
0:04:43 > 0:04:45Yeah, I read the book before I wrote the song,
0:04:45 > 0:04:49because I needed to get the mood properly.
0:04:49 > 0:04:53I'd never heard anything like it before. It was like banshee music.
0:04:53 > 0:04:56# Too long I roam in the night. #
0:04:56 > 0:05:02This absolute otherworldly voice, singing about a book.
0:05:02 > 0:05:04# To Wuthering, Wuthering
0:05:04 > 0:05:05# Wuthering Heights
0:05:05 > 0:05:08# Heathcliff... #
0:05:08 > 0:05:13As a bookish kid, I was always fascinated by anything,
0:05:13 > 0:05:17any music that seems to be inspired by books.
0:05:17 > 0:05:21For that to have come out of someone's brain, period,
0:05:21 > 0:05:23is a remarkable feat.
0:05:23 > 0:05:27For that to have come out of someone's brain at 17 years old,
0:05:27 > 0:05:30this incredible song. Incredible song.
0:05:30 > 0:05:33# I'm coming back, love
0:05:33 > 0:05:35# Cruel Heathcliff
0:05:35 > 0:05:37# My one dream
0:05:37 > 0:05:40# My only master. #
0:05:40 > 0:05:45There aren't that many amazing pop songs that have two or three
0:05:45 > 0:05:47key changes in them, and I'm not talking modulations,
0:05:47 > 0:05:51I'm talking, like, "OK, now we're in the key of Q." You know,
0:05:51 > 0:05:56it's like, "What?!", but it's so brilliant, it's so memorable.
0:05:56 > 0:05:59I always karaoke that song if I drink enough.
0:06:01 > 0:06:02# Heathcliff...
0:06:02 > 0:06:06# It's me-ah, Cathy, I'm come home. #
0:06:06 > 0:06:09Wuthering Heights was not your normal type song.
0:06:09 > 0:06:11But that's why it was so brilliant.
0:06:11 > 0:06:13It was great to hear something out of the norm.
0:06:13 > 0:06:16When things like that come along, they don't come along very often.
0:06:16 > 0:06:20I mean, when does the next Kate Bush come along after Kate Bush?
0:06:20 > 0:06:21There hasn't been one.
0:06:21 > 0:06:23MUSIC: "Aerial Tal" by Kate Bush
0:06:29 > 0:06:33- Now, let's get back to the beginnings. You're 19 now.- 20.- 20?
0:06:33 > 0:06:38- Yeah, just.- And you're from Kent. - Yeah.- Is Kate Bush your own name?
0:06:38 > 0:06:41- Yes, it is.- Now, you're father's a doctor.- Yes.- Is it a musical family?
0:06:41 > 0:06:43My brothers are very musical.
0:06:43 > 0:06:45They were really responsible for turning me
0:06:45 > 0:06:47on to it in the first place.
0:06:47 > 0:06:50They were always playing music when I was a kid.
0:06:50 > 0:06:52Her brothers were a big part of it.
0:06:52 > 0:06:56They were very much, in her early days, her formative years,
0:06:56 > 0:06:58particularly people like Paddy.
0:06:58 > 0:07:01I mean, he was having all these musical ideas coming in,
0:07:01 > 0:07:05he had all these strange musical things that he was into,
0:07:05 > 0:07:09lots of strange musical instruments and various forms of music,
0:07:09 > 0:07:12and he would run those past her and lots of it would stick.
0:07:14 > 0:07:16What do you call it?
0:07:16 > 0:07:20It's called a strumento di porco, that's it's real name.
0:07:20 > 0:07:22- You're Kate's brother, aren't you? - Yeah, afraid so.
0:07:22 > 0:07:27- Is it a sort of a family business, really?- Well, yes and no.
0:07:27 > 0:07:31I mean, Kate and I have been making music together for years and years.
0:07:31 > 0:07:35On different levels, but there's always been music in our family.
0:07:35 > 0:07:40When I was young, it was really the music that my brothers played,
0:07:40 > 0:07:43and I'd picked out the stuff that I liked and listened to it with them.
0:07:43 > 0:07:45What kind of music did they play?
0:07:45 > 0:07:48They were into King Crimson at that time,
0:07:48 > 0:07:55and Pink Floyd and Blind Faith, Fleetwood Mac, that sort of thing.
0:07:55 > 0:07:59When you went to visit the family house, East Wickham,
0:07:59 > 0:08:03it sort of reminded me of my parents' house in some ways.
0:08:03 > 0:08:08It was a comfortable, middle class doctor's house with a nice garden.
0:08:08 > 0:08:12Yet, out of that had grown this strange creature that was
0:08:12 > 0:08:14doing wonderful things.
0:08:14 > 0:08:19- When did you start writing songs? - I must have been 11 or 12.
0:08:19 > 0:08:23When did the music men come to hear about you, and how?
0:08:23 > 0:08:25That was quite a gradual process.
0:08:25 > 0:08:29When I was about 14, there was a friend of my brother's called
0:08:29 > 0:08:32Ricky Hopper, who was in the business
0:08:32 > 0:08:34and he knew a lot of people,
0:08:34 > 0:08:36and he acted as a friend to try
0:08:36 > 0:08:38and get the tapes across to people,
0:08:38 > 0:08:40and after some trying,
0:08:40 > 0:08:41there was no response,
0:08:41 > 0:08:44and he knew Dave Gilmour from the
0:08:44 > 0:08:47Pink Floyd, and Dave came along
0:08:47 > 0:08:49to hear me, because at that time, he
0:08:49 > 0:08:52was scouting for struggling artists.
0:08:52 > 0:09:00I had a listen. I was intrigued by this strange voice.
0:09:00 > 0:09:04I went to her house, met her parents down in Kent,
0:09:04 > 0:09:10and she played me, God, it must have been 40 or 50 songs...
0:09:10 > 0:09:16on tape, and I thought I should try and do something.
0:09:16 > 0:09:20# I hear him
0:09:20 > 0:09:22# Before I go to sleep
0:09:23 > 0:09:27# And focus on the day that's been
0:09:27 > 0:09:29SONG CONTINUES THROUGH SMARTPHONE
0:09:29 > 0:09:33# I realise he's there
0:09:33 > 0:09:35# When I turn the light off. #
0:09:35 > 0:09:38Dave Gilmour put up the money for me to make a proper demo with
0:09:38 > 0:09:43arrangements and selected songs and we took it to the company.
0:09:43 > 0:09:45We were making, Pink Floyd, that is,
0:09:45 > 0:09:48were making the Wish You Were Here album, and I think we had
0:09:48 > 0:09:52the record company people down at Abbey Road in number three.
0:09:52 > 0:09:55# And suddenly I find myself... #
0:09:55 > 0:10:00And I said to them, "Do you want to hear something I've got?"
0:10:00 > 0:10:02And they said, "Sure", so we found another room
0:10:02 > 0:10:05and I played it to them, The Man With The Child In His Eyes,
0:10:05 > 0:10:08and they said, "Yeah, thank you, we'll have it!"
0:10:08 > 0:10:10# He's here again
0:10:12 > 0:10:16# The man with the child in his eyes
0:10:18 > 0:10:22# Ooh, he's here again... #
0:10:22 > 0:10:27The Man With The Child In His Eyes is still one of those things
0:10:27 > 0:10:30that right from the get-go, has its own life
0:10:30 > 0:10:33because it's just a great song
0:10:33 > 0:10:38and she has, you know, for all the time that she or I or anyone spent
0:10:38 > 0:10:40decorating and creating moods,
0:10:40 > 0:10:46it's actually the key element of what you're saying, the melody
0:10:46 > 0:10:48and the chords and the rhythm
0:10:48 > 0:10:54that still speak louder than all the stuff around on a great song.
0:10:54 > 0:10:58RECORDING: # Ooh, he's here again... #
0:10:58 > 0:11:01It is absolutely beautiful, isn't it?
0:11:01 > 0:11:04And it's sort of over two years
0:11:04 > 0:11:06before any of the other recordings she did,
0:11:06 > 0:11:08that is her singing at the age of 16
0:11:08 > 0:11:13and having written those extraordinary lyrics
0:11:13 > 0:11:15about...whatever they're about.
0:11:23 > 0:11:26The thing is with me, I only like extreme talent,
0:11:26 > 0:11:30that's the only thing I can listen to, and I like originators.
0:11:30 > 0:11:33Where does Kate Bush come from? You can't hear her influences,
0:11:33 > 0:11:36you know, it's like Billie Holiday, when I first heard Billie Holiday,
0:11:36 > 0:11:39I'd never heard anything like that in my life.
0:11:39 > 0:11:42The same with Kate Bush. I can't figure out musically, artistically,
0:11:42 > 0:11:44who her mother and father is.
0:11:44 > 0:11:48MUSIC: "Hang On To Yourself" by David Bowie
0:11:48 > 0:11:51# Well, she's a tongue-twisting storm She'll come to the show tonight
0:11:51 > 0:11:53# Praying to the light machine
0:11:55 > 0:11:57# She wants my honey Not my money... #
0:11:57 > 0:12:01- PRODUCER:- Somebody told me that she was at a '73 gig at Ziggy Stardust.
0:12:01 > 0:12:04I'm like, "Are you sure?" Everybody seems to have been at that gig.
0:12:04 > 0:12:05Yet, we were there.
0:12:05 > 0:12:07# We've really got a good thing going... #
0:12:07 > 0:12:10It was a great gig. He's one of those people
0:12:10 > 0:12:13that have had an influence on her in a weird sort of way, you know.
0:12:13 > 0:12:16It's not obvious, but you know, people do.
0:12:17 > 0:12:20# Make me a deal And make it straight... #
0:12:20 > 0:12:24She was aware of Roxy Music, Brian Eno and people like that, you know,
0:12:24 > 0:12:26she was aware of a lot of people.
0:12:26 > 0:12:28A lot of people had an influence on her.
0:12:28 > 0:12:31# I hope and pray He don't blow it cos
0:12:31 > 0:12:33# We've been around a long time
0:12:33 > 0:12:38# Trying, just trying, just trying to make the big time
0:12:38 > 0:12:40# Take me on a roller coaster... #
0:12:40 > 0:12:41Kate, having seeing me,
0:12:41 > 0:12:45probably, yeah, the first time working with Bowie,
0:12:45 > 0:12:49I mean, she wanted to be a performer like that,
0:12:49 > 0:12:53nothing like Bowie but to move like that.
0:12:53 > 0:12:56And, of course, she had seen Flowers,
0:12:56 > 0:12:58as had everyone at that time.
0:13:03 > 0:13:05I went to see a show,
0:13:05 > 0:13:07and it was Lindsay Kemp
0:13:07 > 0:13:10and really, I'd never seen anything like it before,
0:13:10 > 0:13:12and what he was doing was,
0:13:12 > 0:13:14he was using movement without any sound at all,
0:13:14 > 0:13:18something I had never experienced, and he was expressing so much,
0:13:18 > 0:13:21probably more than most people would express with their mouths
0:13:21 > 0:13:24and it suddenly dawned on me that there was a whole new world
0:13:24 > 0:13:27of expression that I hadn't even realised.
0:13:35 > 0:13:38I was teaching at the Dance Centre in Covent Garden.
0:13:38 > 0:13:41Kate turned up dressed very properly in her ballet tights and things
0:13:41 > 0:13:45and her hair scraped back, looking very, very professional indeed,
0:13:45 > 0:13:47very, very serious student,
0:13:47 > 0:13:49but as timid as hell,
0:13:49 > 0:13:52and of course, she took a place at the back of the class
0:13:52 > 0:13:54and I had to coax her forward.
0:13:54 > 0:13:58I mean, she was extremely shy, extremely timid,
0:13:58 > 0:14:01and of course, the first thing I had to do
0:14:01 > 0:14:05was bring her out of herself, give her courage.
0:14:05 > 0:14:09I have to say that once Kate actually started dancing,
0:14:09 > 0:14:13she was a wild thing. I mean, she was wild.
0:14:19 > 0:14:24One day, some months after knowing her,
0:14:24 > 0:14:27I got back to my home in Battersea
0:14:27 > 0:14:32and there was an LP pushed under the door, The Kick Inside,
0:14:32 > 0:14:38and there, dedicated to me, was this beautiful song, Moving.
0:14:39 > 0:14:43# How I'm moved
0:14:43 > 0:14:47# How you move me
0:14:47 > 0:14:54# With your beauty's potency... #
0:14:55 > 0:15:01I didn't know she had any aspirations to being a singer.
0:15:01 > 0:15:04She never talked about herself.
0:15:04 > 0:15:08# Here come old flattop He come grooving up slowly
0:15:08 > 0:15:12# He got juju eyeball He one holy roller... #
0:15:12 > 0:15:16I met her for the first time in the spring of '77
0:15:16 > 0:15:19and we went around to her brother's house to meet her
0:15:19 > 0:15:22because we wanted to get a band together to do some pubs
0:15:22 > 0:15:26and the idea was, we'd get his sister to sing because
0:15:26 > 0:15:29we might be able to get a few more gigs if we had a girl singer.
0:15:29 > 0:15:32MUSIC: "James and the Cold Gun"
0:15:32 > 0:15:35And so we got that band together, we had a few rehearsals,
0:15:35 > 0:15:38we did lots of covers but we did things like James and the Cold Gun,
0:15:38 > 0:15:40Heavy People, all that kind of stuff,
0:15:40 > 0:15:42we did embryonic persons of those.
0:15:42 > 0:15:47# James, come on home... #
0:15:48 > 0:15:52- PRODUCER:- The first time you sang in public, do you remember that?
0:15:52 > 0:15:56Yeah, that was about two years ago in a pub in Lewisham.
0:15:56 > 0:15:59And I was so scared, I really was.
0:15:59 > 0:16:00And I knew from day one,
0:16:00 > 0:16:03I knew, there was no way this girl's not going to make it.
0:16:03 > 0:16:06She's going to be a huge success,
0:16:06 > 0:16:09there is no way, because she was so driven for it
0:16:09 > 0:16:12and her enthusiasm for it was infectious.
0:16:12 > 0:16:13APPLAUSE
0:16:13 > 0:16:17Now we have a young person, Basil Bush's sister,
0:16:17 > 0:16:19who, as you know,
0:16:19 > 0:16:24was responsible for that great hit, Withering Tights.
0:16:24 > 0:16:26Kate Bush and the Bushwhackers.
0:16:26 > 0:16:28- # Rolling the ball - Rolling
0:16:28 > 0:16:30- # Rolling the ball - Rolling
0:16:30 > 0:16:33# Rolling the ball to me... #
0:16:33 > 0:16:36The early vocal style is really acrobatic, isn't it?
0:16:36 > 0:16:41It's very, almost sort of vocal gymnastics, isn't it?
0:16:41 > 0:16:43Jumping around all over the place.
0:16:43 > 0:16:47She's almost still finding her... finding her style a little bit.
0:16:47 > 0:16:49It's quite kooky and strange.
0:16:50 > 0:16:52# They made me look at myself
0:16:52 > 0:16:54# I saw it was... #
0:16:54 > 0:16:58'When I first started singing, I had an incredibly plain voice.'
0:16:58 > 0:17:00I mean, I could sing in tune, but that was about it.
0:17:00 > 0:17:02I mean, I really wasn't that good,
0:17:02 > 0:17:06and really, all I did was sing every day. Because I was writing songs,
0:17:06 > 0:17:10'I would sing them, and I was concentrating much more on my writing
0:17:10 > 0:17:12'and therefore my voice came through that.'
0:17:12 > 0:17:15# Them heavy people hit me in a soft spot... #
0:17:15 > 0:17:18You can sort of understand the experimentation of her music
0:17:18 > 0:17:21through thinking about what she does with her voice
0:17:21 > 0:17:24and she uses it as a kind of fabric
0:17:24 > 0:17:28to sort of pull and push and almost tear apart
0:17:28 > 0:17:30and she's sort of stretching the fabric,
0:17:30 > 0:17:34not just of her voice but of the whole kind of pop form, I think.
0:17:34 > 0:17:41# Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow
0:17:41 > 0:17:45# Unbelievable... #
0:17:45 > 0:17:47There are lots of layers to that song,
0:17:47 > 0:17:51but what she's doing with her voice is just going, "Wow, wow, wow..."
0:17:51 > 0:17:55It's very hypnotic, it's a bit like a siren,
0:17:55 > 0:17:59and then it whoops up to a very high register.
0:17:59 > 0:18:00It's like a child,
0:18:00 > 0:18:04it's like a kind of just revelling in what her voice can do.
0:18:05 > 0:18:12# We're all alone on the stage tonight... #
0:18:12 > 0:18:16It's sort of about her own melodrama, isn't it? About the...
0:18:16 > 0:18:19About the actor, about the sadness of vanity.
0:18:19 > 0:18:24# We know all our lines so well...
0:18:24 > 0:18:27# Ah-hah! #
0:18:27 > 0:18:28That's what you wanted!
0:18:28 > 0:18:30# We've said them so many times. #
0:18:30 > 0:18:33Listening to this on a record player in suburbia,
0:18:33 > 0:18:37and you're taken, it's like she takes you by the hand
0:18:37 > 0:18:41and you fly off through the sky like The Snowman or A Christmas Carol.
0:18:43 > 0:18:46# He's too busy hitting the Vaseline... #
0:18:46 > 0:18:49"He's too busy hitting the Vaseline."
0:18:49 > 0:18:55I don't know whether that's a gay reference or not. It's a bit rude.
0:18:55 > 0:18:56# We'd give you a part... #
0:18:56 > 0:18:58You'd give me a part, my love.
0:18:58 > 0:19:01# But you'd have to play the fool... #
0:19:01 > 0:19:03But you'd have to play the fool.
0:19:05 > 0:19:10# Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow!
0:19:10 > 0:19:13# Unbelievable!
0:19:13 > 0:19:17# Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow
0:19:17 > 0:19:21# Unbelievable! #
0:19:21 > 0:19:23Of course, she's a gift for satirists.
0:19:23 > 0:19:28Of course, it's easy, because dull artists, especially in pop music,
0:19:28 > 0:19:31are very difficult to satirise.
0:19:31 > 0:19:33MUSIC: "Wuthering Heights"
0:19:33 > 0:19:37# I'm so cold, let me in at your window... #
0:19:40 > 0:19:43It was all there on a plate, really, wasn't it?
0:19:43 > 0:19:44# I'm running up that road
0:19:44 > 0:19:46# I'm running up that hill
0:19:46 > 0:19:48AUDIENCE CLAPS ALONG
0:19:48 > 0:19:50# No problem
0:19:50 > 0:19:51# Rolling the ball... #
0:19:51 > 0:19:54'It's about misinterpreting what she meant, you know,'
0:19:54 > 0:19:57"It's me, I'm Cathy, I've come home now,
0:19:57 > 0:20:00"so cold, let me into your window,"
0:20:00 > 0:20:04and I think he goes, "Let me into your window, whoa-ho-ho!"
0:20:04 > 0:20:05Heathcliff!
0:20:05 > 0:20:10'As if it's sort of cheeky and sexy and not about the angst of love.'
0:20:10 > 0:20:14# So co-o-o-o-o-old, let me into your window!
0:20:14 > 0:20:15# Oh-ho!
0:20:15 > 0:20:17# Heathcliff! #
0:20:17 > 0:20:19'It was fun to do, people laughed'
0:20:19 > 0:20:23and Kate Bush came to the last night of my show to see it
0:20:23 > 0:20:26'when we performed in the West End.'
0:20:26 > 0:20:29She said, "It's so nice to hear all those songs again."
0:20:29 > 0:20:30That's what she said!
0:20:32 > 0:20:39# We're all alone on the stage tonight... #
0:20:39 > 0:20:42In early January this year, Kate Bush had never performed
0:20:42 > 0:20:46before an important live audience. In a sense, she was a media singer.
0:20:46 > 0:20:49When she took the decision to go on tour,
0:20:49 > 0:20:52no-one doubted how important it could prove to her career.
0:20:52 > 0:20:54MUSIC: "Kite"
0:21:03 > 0:21:05Her early shows were so sensational,
0:21:05 > 0:21:08the one she did at the Palladium, for example,
0:21:08 > 0:21:11were the benchmark for people's shows in the future.
0:21:11 > 0:21:14MUSIC: "James And The Cold Gun"
0:21:14 > 0:21:16Aurally, she was who she was,
0:21:16 > 0:21:19but visually, she created a new standard for people.
0:21:21 > 0:21:23APPLAUSE
0:21:23 > 0:21:25- Did you enjoy the show? - It was lovely.- Did you?
0:21:25 > 0:21:29- Are you really happy?- I'm knocked out. I can't believe that audience.
0:21:31 > 0:21:33Now that it has worked so well,
0:21:33 > 0:21:36I gather you were a bit worried beforehand that it would all be OK,
0:21:36 > 0:21:38now it has proved to be so successful, do you think
0:21:38 > 0:21:41you might do a more extensive tour later in the year?
0:21:41 > 0:21:42That really depends.
0:21:42 > 0:21:44So much depends on energy
0:21:44 > 0:21:46because it can become very tiring,
0:21:46 > 0:21:50with the travelling. I don't know, we have to wait and see.
0:21:50 > 0:21:51CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:21:56 > 0:21:59I hope she doesn't mind me saying this
0:21:59 > 0:22:03but it's about 14 years ago, I had a long, long phone call with her
0:22:03 > 0:22:05because I wanted her to do something
0:22:05 > 0:22:09and she wouldn't do something live with me, or do some song with me,
0:22:09 > 0:22:11and she rang me to tell me why
0:22:11 > 0:22:13and it turned into a long, long conversation
0:22:13 > 0:22:19about performing on stage and how terrifying it can be,
0:22:19 > 0:22:23and how she hadn't done it for a long, long time
0:22:23 > 0:22:25and she felt a little bit,
0:22:25 > 0:22:30just a bit scared by the prospect of going out there again.
0:22:38 > 0:22:41I think her early stuff was her kind of still finding her way.
0:22:41 > 0:22:44I don't think that she quite found herself.
0:22:44 > 0:22:46Lots of artists need to find their way
0:22:46 > 0:22:49and all of that early stuff with her dancing around in a leotard...
0:22:49 > 0:22:52# They've got the stars for the gallant hearts
0:22:52 > 0:22:55# I'm the replacement for your part... #
0:22:55 > 0:22:58I don't know, it was all a little bit am dram, wasn't it?
0:22:58 > 0:23:00Some people would have thought,
0:23:00 > 0:23:05you know, it looks like she's come straight out of drama school
0:23:05 > 0:23:07and she's learned how to wave scarves around
0:23:07 > 0:23:11and that sort of thing. But to me, it wasn't really about that.
0:23:11 > 0:23:13It was kind of about the whole package
0:23:13 > 0:23:16and the sound coming out of her was just so incredible
0:23:16 > 0:23:21that kind of blew every other, you know...
0:23:21 > 0:23:24problem, if you like, away. People didn't really care
0:23:24 > 0:23:27if she looked a bit naff. She just sounded amazing.
0:23:28 > 0:23:32# Outside
0:23:33 > 0:23:38# Gets inside, ooh
0:23:38 > 0:23:40# Through her skin. #
0:23:40 > 0:23:42Breathing is a foetal song.
0:23:42 > 0:23:46It's a song of a reincarnated foetus coming around again,
0:23:46 > 0:23:47terrified of a nuclear war,
0:23:47 > 0:23:50terrified of the radioactivity outside,
0:23:50 > 0:23:54terrified of the idea that we won't be able to breathe.
0:23:54 > 0:23:55# Keep breathing... #
0:23:55 > 0:23:57Nobody writes songs like that.
0:23:57 > 0:24:01It's utterly political and it's utterly female.
0:24:01 > 0:24:03# Breathing
0:24:03 > 0:24:07# Breathing my mother in
0:24:07 > 0:24:10# Breathing
0:24:10 > 0:24:13# My beloved in
0:24:13 > 0:24:15# Breathing... #
0:24:15 > 0:24:19It's almost like a reminder how important women are.
0:24:19 > 0:24:21I've had a funny thing, my mother committed suicide
0:24:21 > 0:24:24and my whole career has been based around my mother.
0:24:24 > 0:24:26All around my mother cos I didn't know her,
0:24:26 > 0:24:30and you know, just like, "Keep breathing, breathing my mother in",
0:24:30 > 0:24:34that lyric there could be my whole career and this is what it means.
0:24:34 > 0:24:36I'm a kid from a council flat,
0:24:36 > 0:24:39I'm a mixed-race guy who grew up in a white ghetto,
0:24:39 > 0:24:42totally different life to Kate Bush,
0:24:42 > 0:24:46but that lyric, "Keep breathing my mother in",
0:24:46 > 0:24:47my whole career is based on that.
0:24:50 > 0:24:53# What are we going to do?
0:24:53 > 0:24:56# Breathe... #
0:24:56 > 0:24:59It was like a little symphony.
0:24:59 > 0:25:02It had the male choir, like this call and response,
0:25:02 > 0:25:05"What are we going to do?"
0:25:05 > 0:25:07And then she's like, "Breathing!" The way she's singing,
0:25:07 > 0:25:10I was just like, "Oh, my God, what's this woman on?"
0:25:10 > 0:25:15- # Are we going to die without... - Leave me something to breathe... #
0:25:15 > 0:25:20This is a whole universe I can dive into
0:25:20 > 0:25:25and for me, it was very avant-garde and expressive and kind of...
0:25:25 > 0:25:27from a complete different planet
0:25:27 > 0:25:30to everything else that you see from the '80s, like you say,
0:25:30 > 0:25:33Duran Duran, you know, on a boat in Rio!
0:25:33 > 0:25:35She was definitely out there on her own.
0:25:39 > 0:25:43It's funny, nobody ever applies the term "progressive rock" to Kate Bush
0:25:43 > 0:25:45but to me, it's prog,
0:25:45 > 0:25:48you know, it's everything I love about the best prog.
0:25:48 > 0:25:52It's like, the really sort of brash stuff which is about
0:25:52 > 0:25:55people showing technical ability, I have no interest in,
0:25:55 > 0:25:56but the experimental dreamy stuff
0:25:56 > 0:26:00that sort of came from lots of different places at once, you know,
0:26:00 > 0:26:03I sit her stuff next to...
0:26:03 > 0:26:06well, next to Genesis, the obvious comparison as well
0:26:06 > 0:26:08because of her story with Peter Gabriel.
0:26:09 > 0:26:13# Jeux sans frontieres
0:26:14 > 0:26:18# Jeux sans frontieres
0:26:19 > 0:26:22# Jeux sans frontieres... #
0:26:22 > 0:26:25One, two, three, four.
0:26:25 > 0:26:27SHATTERING
0:26:28 > 0:26:31Gabriel used a computerised instrument called a Fairlight.
0:26:31 > 0:26:35Any sound can be fed into it, stored and played back on its keyboard.
0:26:37 > 0:26:39What was so exciting was that
0:26:39 > 0:26:42you could take any sound in and then manipulate it.
0:26:42 > 0:26:46See, if I pick up this mike, for an example,
0:26:46 > 0:26:49and press S for sample,
0:26:49 > 0:26:51we can put in the sound, I hope.
0:26:51 > 0:26:52"Mummy!"
0:26:52 > 0:26:57Over here, we have the waveform, and it should be up on the keyboard.
0:26:57 > 0:26:59- AT VARYING PITCHES:- 'Mummy! Mummy!'
0:26:59 > 0:27:01Every kid can do that with their phone nowadays,
0:27:01 > 0:27:06but at the time, it was absolutely unique and suddenly opened up
0:27:06 > 0:27:11these whole sort of continents of new sound texture.
0:27:11 > 0:27:14# All yours, Babooshka, Babooshka
0:27:14 > 0:27:18# Babooshka-ya-ya
0:27:18 > 0:27:19SHATTERING
0:27:19 > 0:27:24# Babooshka, Babooshka, Babooshka-ya-ya
0:27:24 > 0:27:25SHATTERING
0:27:25 > 0:27:30Well, she did give me a credit on one record for opening her windows.
0:27:30 > 0:27:32I had actually cleaned the windows,
0:27:32 > 0:27:35but I'm very happy to get any acknowledgement.
0:27:37 > 0:27:40- # Babooshka - She wanted to test her husband
0:27:40 > 0:27:44# She knew exactly what to do
0:27:44 > 0:27:47# A pseudonym to fool him
0:27:47 > 0:27:52# She couldn't have made a worse move
0:27:52 > 0:27:55# She sent him scented letters
0:27:55 > 0:27:58# And he received them with a strange delight
0:27:58 > 0:28:00# Just like his wife... #
0:28:00 > 0:28:04The video is so kind of classic Kate Bush
0:28:04 > 0:28:08because she does this thing, whenever she's performing,
0:28:08 > 0:28:12which is that she's one version of herself,
0:28:12 > 0:28:14and then often when the chorus kicks in...
0:28:14 > 0:28:16# She signed the letter
0:28:16 > 0:28:19# All yours, Babooshka... #
0:28:19 > 0:28:23..she becomes this other version, which is a kind of crazier version
0:28:23 > 0:28:26and her eyes get very wide and the camera zooms in
0:28:26 > 0:28:31and she's sort of performing this kind of crazy, unhinged woman,
0:28:31 > 0:28:35and that's clearly a side to her that she brings out in these songs.
0:28:35 > 0:28:38# Shout it out, I'm all yours
0:28:38 > 0:28:42# Babooshka, Babooshka, Babooshka-ya-ya! #
0:28:42 > 0:28:44Babooshka's one of those songs
0:28:44 > 0:28:46you just can't get out of your head, can you?
0:28:46 > 0:28:50You know, how she's able to take a word
0:28:50 > 0:28:53and then you start seeing images and pictures
0:28:53 > 0:28:56to a word that maybe you haven't used,
0:28:56 > 0:29:01it's not as if you're saying, "Je t'aime." It's Babooshka.
0:29:01 > 0:29:05And how she's turned that into, though, an emotion.
0:29:05 > 0:29:09That's just how she's able to use a combination of a word
0:29:09 > 0:29:12and a combination of a melody and the rhythm of that,
0:29:12 > 0:29:14and it creates a new language.
0:29:14 > 0:29:16# Babooshka
0:29:16 > 0:29:18# She wanted to take it further
0:29:18 > 0:29:22# So she arranged a place to go... #
0:29:22 > 0:29:24The first song I heard was Babooshka
0:29:24 > 0:29:26and like, you know, with the bass
0:29:26 > 0:29:31and this amazing relationship she had with that bass.
0:29:31 > 0:29:34No-one had done anything like that before
0:29:34 > 0:29:37and like, the dance moves that she was doing
0:29:37 > 0:29:41were not things that you would learn in a dance academy
0:29:41 > 0:29:45and the music was not something you'd learn in a kind of rock school
0:29:45 > 0:29:48or a conservatoire of music academy.
0:29:48 > 0:29:51What I love about her music is that it's so innate,
0:29:51 > 0:29:55the talent she has is so innate but perfect, fully formed music.
0:29:59 > 0:30:01I read an interview with her one time,
0:30:01 > 0:30:06where she was asked something along the lines of,
0:30:06 > 0:30:09"Why do you write from the perspective of a lot of characters?"
0:30:09 > 0:30:12And she said, very simply and eloquently,
0:30:12 > 0:30:14"Because they are more interesting than I am."
0:30:14 > 0:30:16MUSIC: "Army Dreamers"
0:30:19 > 0:30:23# Army dreamers... #
0:30:23 > 0:30:29She seems to have an endless kind of ability to put herself in
0:30:29 > 0:30:32and empathise with different characters and viewpoints.
0:30:32 > 0:30:35# What could he do? Should have been a rock star
0:30:35 > 0:30:38# But he didn't have the money for a guitar... #
0:30:38 > 0:30:41Army Dreamers is a maternal point of view, you know,
0:30:41 > 0:30:44you've got this song about young squaddies dying.
0:30:44 > 0:30:48And the person singing it, you know, somewhere,
0:30:48 > 0:30:52understands what it's like to be a mother and to lose a son.
0:30:52 > 0:30:55# Army dreamers
0:30:55 > 0:30:57# Oh, what a waste of
0:30:57 > 0:30:59# Army dreamers... #
0:30:59 > 0:31:03Byron once said of Keats,
0:31:03 > 0:31:06"Keats writes about what he imagines.
0:31:06 > 0:31:09"I write about what I live."
0:31:09 > 0:31:13And most rock'n'roll people
0:31:13 > 0:31:17write about their lives in some way,
0:31:17 > 0:31:21and Kate Bush is more like Keats,
0:31:21 > 0:31:25in that she writes about what she imagines.
0:31:31 > 0:31:33# I see the people working
0:31:33 > 0:31:35# And see it working for them
0:31:35 > 0:31:38# And so I want to join in
0:31:38 > 0:31:40# But then I find it hurt me
0:31:40 > 0:31:44# Some say that knowledge is something sat in your lap... #
0:31:44 > 0:31:47My favourite album by her is The Dreaming,
0:31:47 > 0:31:50and I think she produced that one herself.
0:31:50 > 0:31:51And that got a lot of criticism.
0:31:51 > 0:31:55But I loved it, it was overloaded with textures and tones
0:31:55 > 0:31:57and all manner of things.
0:31:57 > 0:32:00It's a record that I still can play to this day
0:32:00 > 0:32:02and still hear new things.
0:32:02 > 0:32:05I mean, obviously, it's not number one on the dance floor,
0:32:05 > 0:32:07but then, all music shouldn't be.
0:32:14 > 0:32:18Well, seemingly, it's you, holding on to some bloke's ears,
0:32:18 > 0:32:21- with something in your mouth, it looks like... Is it a key?- Yeah.
0:32:21 > 0:32:23It's a key. Ah-ha!
0:32:23 > 0:32:28Well, if you listen to the album, and especially to the song Houdini,
0:32:28 > 0:32:30then you'll know all about it.
0:32:35 > 0:32:38Well, it's "With a kiss, I'd pass the key."
0:32:38 > 0:32:42Do you know who the man is that she's kissing? It's me!
0:32:42 > 0:32:48You can only see my right ear, but then again, who wants to see me?
0:32:48 > 0:32:51Kate has spent the last 14 months holed up in various studios,
0:32:51 > 0:32:54recording her new LP, The Dreaming, and the resultant noises include
0:32:54 > 0:32:58helicopter rotor blades, didgeridoos and a chorus of fake sheep.
0:33:02 > 0:33:07# Bang goes another kanga on the bonnet of the van... #
0:33:07 > 0:33:09But on that track, you employed, I think,
0:33:09 > 0:33:15- Percy Edwards to supply the kind of synthesised jungle backing?- Yes.
0:33:15 > 0:33:18Well, I knew that in the choruses, we wanted to create a feeling
0:33:18 > 0:33:22of the landscape, and obviously there are a lot of Australian animals,
0:33:22 > 0:33:25and the sounds are very reminiscent of the environment.
0:33:25 > 0:33:27And of course, Percy could come along and give us
0:33:27 > 0:33:31a selection of at least 10 different Australian animals.
0:33:31 > 0:33:33HE COOS
0:33:33 > 0:33:37I'm not sure which song is the one where she's, like, donkey braying!
0:33:37 > 0:33:39There's one where she's like, "Hee-haw!"
0:33:55 > 0:33:58When I first heard it, I almost had to bend my ears round,
0:33:58 > 0:34:02to be able to understand the sounds that were coming at me.
0:34:02 > 0:34:05And I found it really...
0:34:05 > 0:34:08Again, I was 11 or 12, so I found some of it really scary.
0:34:08 > 0:34:11# I must admit
0:34:11 > 0:34:14# Just when I think I'm king... #
0:34:14 > 0:34:17The direction I'm going in with my art is the way I want to go,
0:34:17 > 0:34:21because for me, it's a little bit deeper, it's got more meaning,
0:34:21 > 0:34:24it's not so poppy, I suppose.
0:34:24 > 0:34:28But of course, maybe that won't be so widely accepted,
0:34:28 > 0:34:30especially in the singles chart.
0:34:30 > 0:34:33# We got the job sussed
0:34:33 > 0:34:36# This shop's shut for business
0:34:37 > 0:34:43# The lookout has parked the car but kept the engine running
0:34:43 > 0:34:45# Three beeps means trouble's coming... #
0:34:45 > 0:34:48She came out with this record that people were just, like,
0:34:48 > 0:34:51"What?" They couldn't grasp it.
0:34:51 > 0:34:53But the greatest thing that happened was,
0:34:53 > 0:34:55after that, The Hounds Of Love,
0:34:55 > 0:34:58which was one of her most complete works, was created.
0:34:58 > 0:35:02I think, only through pushing through those boundaries
0:35:02 > 0:35:06and exploring the deepest recesses of production could she then
0:35:06 > 0:35:09come through and create something like The Hounds of Love.
0:35:09 > 0:35:12You went away on your own terms to make this LP, didn't you?
0:35:12 > 0:35:14Yes, I wanted to make sure that we
0:35:14 > 0:35:15got our own studio together,
0:35:15 > 0:35:16that was the next move, really.
0:35:16 > 0:35:20I spent a lot of time on the last album moving from studio to studio,
0:35:20 > 0:35:23and now we've got our own place
0:35:23 > 0:35:26and everything is brilliant, it makes such a difference.
0:35:26 > 0:35:30When we set up the mastering studio for Hounds Of Love, I think
0:35:30 > 0:35:34that really did get rid of the last of the chains that she had,
0:35:34 > 0:35:36that she felt she had.
0:35:36 > 0:35:38And it did set her free, in a lot of ways.
0:35:38 > 0:35:40MUSIC: "Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)"
0:35:40 > 0:35:44Now, though, a timely burst from a lady who hasn't graced
0:35:44 > 0:35:46the turntables with a new record for two years.
0:35:46 > 0:35:47It's nice to have her back.
0:35:50 > 0:35:53I just remember pulling aside - I was driving -
0:35:53 > 0:35:56and I heard it on the radio, in the States.
0:35:56 > 0:35:59And she didn't get played a lot on the radio in the States,
0:35:59 > 0:36:00until that song.
0:36:00 > 0:36:03That really got played a lot.
0:36:03 > 0:36:06# It doesn't hurt me
0:36:06 > 0:36:09# D'you want to feel how it feels?
0:36:10 > 0:36:13# D'you want to know Know that it doesn't hurt me... #
0:36:13 > 0:36:17I remember, I had to pull over and listen to it.
0:36:17 > 0:36:19Because I had never heard anything like it.
0:36:19 > 0:36:23# And if I only could I'd make a deal with God
0:36:23 > 0:36:26# And I'd get him to swap our places
0:36:26 > 0:36:29# Be running up that road... #
0:36:29 > 0:36:30I think the choreography,
0:36:30 > 0:36:33the fact that there was suddenly a Kate Bush who was completely
0:36:33 > 0:36:38owning, you know, the aspect of dance, even not singing,
0:36:38 > 0:36:41you know, she wasn't even lip-syncing, she was just dancing.
0:36:41 > 0:36:43On top of that, it was a way of dancing that
0:36:43 > 0:36:47was at the time not at all popular.
0:36:47 > 0:36:50It wasn't a type of dancing that you would have from, I don't know,
0:36:50 > 0:36:53artists like Michael Jackson or Janet Jackson or Madonna,
0:36:53 > 0:36:57you had somebody who was bringing in a style of dancing
0:36:57 > 0:37:00that was like a marginal way of moving in a modern dance.
0:37:00 > 0:37:03# Tell me we both matter, don't we? #
0:37:03 > 0:37:06This is, like, one of my all-time favourite songs.
0:37:06 > 0:37:09Music is supposed to evoke emotion, you know what I'm saying?
0:37:09 > 0:37:11It makes us feel a certain way, you know?
0:37:11 > 0:37:13That's what the vibrations are,
0:37:13 > 0:37:15it's not stagnant,
0:37:15 > 0:37:17it's not just plain or whatever,
0:37:17 > 0:37:18every time you listen to it,
0:37:18 > 0:37:21it just touches you, strikes a chord.
0:37:21 > 0:37:25# And I'd get him to swap our places... #
0:37:25 > 0:37:28# Be running up that road, be running up that hill... #
0:37:28 > 0:37:31'I was introduced to the music by my Uncle Russell,
0:37:31 > 0:37:33'he was kind of like the weirdo of the family,
0:37:33 > 0:37:36'he was a skateboarder and all kind of things, so I was'
0:37:36 > 0:37:41sixth or seventh grade and I used to ride my bike to school and just listen to it and I just got deeper
0:37:41 > 0:37:45and deeper into it, you know, that's one of my biggest musical influences, I love it.
0:37:45 > 0:37:50# If I only could Be running up that hill. #
0:37:52 > 0:37:56If you look at her work from The Kick Inside
0:37:56 > 0:38:00and how it evolves through things like Never For Ever
0:38:00 > 0:38:03and stuff like that, into, you know, the zenith, which is
0:38:03 > 0:38:07Hounds Of Love for me, you know, it's a beautiful evolution
0:38:07 > 0:38:11and the songs are kind of becoming more sophisticated,
0:38:11 > 0:38:14even though they've always been sophisticated, even from the start,
0:38:14 > 0:38:17they're just developing a kind of calm sophistication.
0:38:17 > 0:38:20And I think she just always kept people guessing.
0:38:20 > 0:38:23Here with the title track of her bestselling LP,
0:38:23 > 0:38:27in the studio at number 18, Kate Bush with The Hounds Of Love.
0:38:29 > 0:38:31'It's in the trees! It's coming!'
0:38:31 > 0:38:36# When I was a child Running in the night
0:38:36 > 0:38:39# Afraid of what might be
0:38:39 > 0:38:42# Hiding in the dark Hiding in the streets... #
0:38:42 > 0:38:46She starts the song with that quote from Night Of The Demon.
0:38:46 > 0:38:48And it's a little bit scary.
0:38:48 > 0:38:52# The hounds of love are haunting me
0:38:52 > 0:38:55# Ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh-ooh
0:38:55 > 0:38:58# I've always been a coward
0:38:58 > 0:39:00# Ooh ooh ooh ooh... #
0:39:00 > 0:39:05It's like this repressed sexuality, so sensual and sexual,
0:39:05 > 0:39:08and it's so honest as well, I'm a coward and I'm frightened,
0:39:08 > 0:39:12you know, to state "I'm a coward" in the song is quite a brave thing to do, actually.
0:39:12 > 0:39:15# Here I go
0:39:15 > 0:39:19# It's coming for me through the trees... #
0:39:19 > 0:39:21It is like she's on a leash,
0:39:21 > 0:39:24it's like the whole song is on a leash and you're tugging it back,
0:39:24 > 0:39:27but you know it's just going to escape and burst and run free.
0:39:27 > 0:39:31# Take my shoes off and throw them in the lake
0:39:31 > 0:39:33# And I'll be... #
0:39:33 > 0:39:36I'm convinced that as great as that record sounds,
0:39:36 > 0:39:40if you had anyone else sing it, you know,
0:39:40 > 0:39:46anyone else try to kind of weave and make it kind of do that thing where
0:39:46 > 0:39:50it burns like wildfire and it comes alive, no-one else could do it.
0:39:50 > 0:39:54# I found a fox caught by dogs... #
0:39:54 > 0:39:58It's incredible, the way she brings this kind of cold,
0:39:58 > 0:40:02Arctic atmosphere, it's just like fire, you know?
0:40:02 > 0:40:06It's all just like, "Aah!" coming out of her mouth.
0:40:06 > 0:40:08# Here I go
0:40:08 > 0:40:10# Don't let me go... #
0:40:10 > 0:40:13Everything's doubling up now, you've got twice the amount of cellos,
0:40:13 > 0:40:14so everything's doubled.
0:40:14 > 0:40:18# It's coming for me through the trees... #
0:40:18 > 0:40:22The Fairlight synthesiser...
0:40:22 > 0:40:24That's the wash, which is what she wrote the song with.
0:40:24 > 0:40:28What we had done is, we had set up a pattern in the Fairlight,
0:40:28 > 0:40:31put that to tape so she had that pattern to play along with,
0:40:31 > 0:40:35and then, she used the Orchestra 5 sound as a wash,
0:40:35 > 0:40:36to actually write the song with.
0:40:36 > 0:40:38Which is what you hear all the way through,
0:40:38 > 0:40:43that kind of washy synthesiser sound that's underneath it all.
0:40:43 > 0:40:46Then, all the cellos just dance over the top of it.
0:40:48 > 0:40:50Virtually no backing vocals at all.
0:40:50 > 0:40:52I think that's the strength of the song,
0:40:52 > 0:40:55the fact there is very little to get in the way of that lead vocal.
0:40:55 > 0:40:57# And throw them in the lake... #
0:40:57 > 0:41:00And now I'm replaying the song in my head. She's like...
0:41:00 > 0:41:04# Do you know what I really need Do you know what I really need?
0:41:04 > 0:41:05# Need la-la-la-la
0:41:05 > 0:41:09# Yay, yo, yay, yo, your love... #
0:41:14 > 0:41:18I find it really hard to separate images from the music,
0:41:18 > 0:41:20once you know the music is brilliant, and of course,
0:41:20 > 0:41:24I associate this image with some of my favourite songs...
0:41:26 > 0:41:29..that I know in my life.
0:41:29 > 0:41:35# Little light, shining... #
0:41:35 > 0:41:37The second half of The Hounds of Love,
0:41:37 > 0:41:40that's really where the magic is, for me.
0:41:40 > 0:41:42I mean, the first half is a collection of the singles,
0:41:42 > 0:41:43almost, isn't it?
0:41:43 > 0:41:48But the second half is an incredible sort of series of songs -
0:41:48 > 0:41:52And Dream Of Sheep, which is so beautiful.
0:41:52 > 0:41:56# I tune into some friendly voices
0:41:58 > 0:42:01# Talking 'bout stupid things... #
0:42:01 > 0:42:04"I tune into some friendly voices, talking about stupid things
0:42:04 > 0:42:06"I can't be left to my imagination
0:42:06 > 0:42:10"Let me be weak, let me sleep and dream of sheep."
0:42:10 > 0:42:13# Let me be weak... #
0:42:13 > 0:42:15I love that lyric.
0:42:15 > 0:42:21# Let me sleep and dream of sheep... #
0:42:23 > 0:42:28The way it kind of goes the stranger songs, like Waking the Witch
0:42:28 > 0:42:31and things like that, where it's just, it's just these odd
0:42:31 > 0:42:35little, uncomfortable little musical moments...
0:42:35 > 0:42:39ECHOING PIANO AND VOICES
0:42:39 > 0:42:42I think The Ninth Wave was the piece of music that affected me
0:42:42 > 0:42:44the most when I was little, because it terrified me.
0:42:44 > 0:42:47It's about witches and being stuck under ice
0:42:47 > 0:42:50and, you know, floating adrift in a sea of nothingness,
0:42:50 > 0:42:54and all those kind of dream elements, subconscious themes,
0:42:54 > 0:42:58and very kind of English, ancient storytelling.
0:43:01 > 0:43:05It seems like, on that piece of music,
0:43:05 > 0:43:08she captured that moment between waking and sleeping.
0:43:08 > 0:43:11HAUNTING CHORAL VOCALS
0:43:11 > 0:43:13I've spent many, many,
0:43:13 > 0:43:16many hours listening to that 30 minutes of music,
0:43:16 > 0:43:18it's an incredible piece of music,
0:43:18 > 0:43:20and I advise anyone who has never heard it to go
0:43:20 > 0:43:23and listen to it, because it's one of the great pieces of music.
0:43:26 > 0:43:31Creativity comes from the freedom to fail.
0:43:31 > 0:43:34And the freedom to fail comes from, you know, experimentation,
0:43:34 > 0:43:38and that's what gives something its individuality,
0:43:38 > 0:43:42and, you know, I think her courage, which is
0:43:42 > 0:43:47the positive way of interpreting it, or bloody-mindedness, which is
0:43:47 > 0:43:52the negative, is part of what gives her real value as an artist.
0:43:52 > 0:43:56# In this proud land We grew up strong
0:43:56 > 0:43:59# We were wanted all along
0:44:01 > 0:44:04# I was taught to fight Taught to win
0:44:04 > 0:44:07# I never thought I could fail... #
0:44:07 > 0:44:10It's extraordinary what that song has been used for,
0:44:10 > 0:44:13but I think a lot of people who have got into trouble have attached
0:44:13 > 0:44:17themselves to that song, and I think a lot of it is that Kate's
0:44:17 > 0:44:22wonderful voice is there in a sort of reassuring and loving way.
0:44:22 > 0:44:26And just makes them think that perhaps there is going to be
0:44:26 > 0:44:28that type of love out there for them.
0:44:28 > 0:44:31# Don't give up
0:44:31 > 0:44:33# Cos you have friends
0:44:37 > 0:44:39# Don't give up
0:44:39 > 0:44:43# You're not the only one... #
0:44:44 > 0:44:46The record she did with Peter Gabriel
0:44:46 > 0:44:47was one record that saved my life.
0:44:47 > 0:44:50That record helped me get sober.
0:44:50 > 0:44:54So, she played a big part in my actual downfall and, um,
0:44:54 > 0:44:59rebirth, as it were. That record helped me so much.
0:44:59 > 0:45:02I never told her that, but it did.
0:45:03 > 0:45:06# Don't give up
0:45:06 > 0:45:10# Cos I believe there's a place
0:45:10 > 0:45:14# There's a place where we belong... #
0:45:14 > 0:45:21One of the things that I love about Kate Bush is her absolute ability
0:45:21 > 0:45:26to take things, to pluck things that you would never expect to see
0:45:26 > 0:45:31on a rock album and put them there and make them work.
0:45:31 > 0:45:32# Mm, yes
0:45:32 > 0:45:38# Then I'd taken the kiss of seedcake back from his mouth... #
0:45:38 > 0:45:40'James Joyce's Ulysses,'
0:45:40 > 0:45:43one of the greatest passages
0:45:43 > 0:45:49in all of English or Anglo-Irish literature
0:45:49 > 0:45:54is Molly Bloom's glorious soliloquy
0:45:54 > 0:45:57ending in a sequence of yes's.
0:45:57 > 0:46:00Yes, he said, I was a flower of the mountain, yes,
0:46:00 > 0:46:03so we're all flowers, a woman's body, yes.
0:46:05 > 0:46:06# Mm, yes
0:46:06 > 0:46:10# He said I was a flower of the mountain, yes
0:46:10 > 0:46:13# But now I've powers over a woman's body... #
0:46:13 > 0:46:16It's about embracing the world of the senses,
0:46:16 > 0:46:20embracing yourself, embracing sex, embracing love,
0:46:20 > 0:46:24embracing the future, embracing all possibility.
0:46:24 > 0:46:27# Into the sensual world... #
0:46:27 > 0:46:31And it goes all the way back for me to Wuthering Heights.
0:46:31 > 0:46:33This is somebody who's not afraid of books.
0:46:33 > 0:46:35This is somebody who's not afraid of reading,
0:46:35 > 0:46:37somebody who's not afraid of writers
0:46:37 > 0:46:41and who's not afraid of translating,
0:46:41 > 0:46:42being an intermediary,
0:46:42 > 0:46:48being a door between the world of books and the world of rock.
0:46:48 > 0:46:52I still remember going to the CD store and buying Sensual World
0:46:52 > 0:46:55when I was 16 and the cover
0:46:55 > 0:46:59and there's a rose in front of her mouth that has bloomed.
0:46:59 > 0:47:04She's got big wide eyes and I remember, you know,
0:47:04 > 0:47:07putting it in the shitty car stereo on the way home
0:47:07 > 0:47:09and, you know,
0:47:09 > 0:47:13and my life was forever changed.
0:47:13 > 0:47:16# Oh... #
0:47:22 > 0:47:27I really thank Kate because these touchstones like This Woman's Work,
0:47:27 > 0:47:31that kind of song is, it's celebrating everything
0:47:31 > 0:47:35that's so wonderful about being a woman and being...
0:47:35 > 0:47:38nurturing and intuitive and emotional
0:47:38 > 0:47:42and gentle and sensual and just like really intimate.
0:47:42 > 0:47:47# I should be crying but I just can't let it show... #
0:47:48 > 0:47:51People don't put their hearts on the line in that vulnerable way
0:47:51 > 0:47:55very much and it's really, as an artist myself, it's helped me
0:47:55 > 0:47:59to not be frightened to show all, as much as my vulnerability
0:47:59 > 0:48:03as a woman as I can and in that be powerful.
0:48:03 > 0:48:07# And all the things that we should have said that we never said
0:48:07 > 0:48:10# All the things we should've done that we never did
0:48:10 > 0:48:14# All the things that you needed from me
0:48:14 > 0:48:19# All the things that you wanted for me... #
0:48:19 > 0:48:23It's as if within her voice, there's everything.
0:48:23 > 0:48:26Every possible facet of human experience is there
0:48:26 > 0:48:27under her surface
0:48:27 > 0:48:30and her work as a writer is to constantly draw that out
0:48:30 > 0:48:35and not just the particularity of her experience as a female body
0:48:35 > 0:48:38but her experience as a person
0:48:38 > 0:48:42which is to be prey to all kinds of forces and sensations.
0:48:50 > 0:48:53What about your lyrics? Yours are very passionate and provocative.
0:48:53 > 0:48:56Do you get inspiration anywhere?
0:48:56 > 0:48:58I think it is illusive stuff
0:48:58 > 0:49:01but I think really the biggest inspiration is people.
0:49:01 > 0:49:05I think people are just so inspiring, they're fascinating
0:49:05 > 0:49:10and wonderful and I think, you know, that nearly every idea that
0:49:10 > 0:49:14a person has had is probably at some point come from another person.
0:49:14 > 0:49:17I think The Red Shoes, without going into too much detail,
0:49:17 > 0:49:19is a very personal album.
0:49:19 > 0:49:22You know there was a lot of very personal stuff happening
0:49:22 > 0:49:26at that time and I think it shows in the music.
0:49:26 > 0:49:28I mean, basically a lot of the music on that album
0:49:28 > 0:49:29is about break up of relationships.
0:49:29 > 0:49:31You know, "I'll come round when you're not in
0:49:31 > 0:49:34"and I'll pick up all my things." And all that kind of stuff.
0:49:34 > 0:49:39# It's all right, I'll come round when you're not in
0:49:39 > 0:49:43# And I'll pick up all my things
0:49:43 > 0:49:47# Everything I have I bought with you... #
0:49:47 > 0:49:49'It's such a desperate song
0:49:49 > 0:49:54'and she really finds a way to convey despair.'
0:49:54 > 0:49:57The despair of, you know, missing the person
0:49:57 > 0:50:01or a break up that you know will never come back together again.
0:50:01 > 0:50:04I don't know quite how to put this but obviously, you know,
0:50:04 > 0:50:07you've had a professional/personal relationship with Kate
0:50:07 > 0:50:10for a long time
0:50:10 > 0:50:14and The Red Shoes was an expression of some of the things
0:50:14 > 0:50:16that may have been happening between the two of you
0:50:16 > 0:50:20- and yet you were still working together.- That's exactly it.
0:50:20 > 0:50:24Well, because the working relationship was never a problem.
0:50:24 > 0:50:27We always worked together reasonably well, you know?
0:50:27 > 0:50:30We always argue, we always have and we always will, I guess.
0:50:30 > 0:50:33I've always argued with Kate, she's always argued with me
0:50:33 > 0:50:35but I guess that's just the way it is, you know?
0:50:35 > 0:50:41So I feel I'm emotionally involved with it all to a great extent.
0:50:41 > 0:50:44Much more so than most people would imagine.
0:50:44 > 0:50:47Not only did we have a personal relationship when I worked with her,
0:50:47 > 0:50:50I really love her music, I really do.
0:50:50 > 0:50:52To the point where I've virtually worked with nobody else
0:50:52 > 0:50:54because nobody else comes close.
0:50:55 > 0:51:00# Some moments that I've had
0:51:00 > 0:51:04# Some moments of pleasure
0:51:13 > 0:51:17# I think about us lying
0:51:17 > 0:51:22# Lying on a beach somewhere... #
0:51:22 > 0:51:27I was just really sad that suddenly someone who was making work
0:51:27 > 0:51:30that was accessible to me, suddenly became inaccessible
0:51:30 > 0:51:33because, you know, because of circumstances, personal choices
0:51:33 > 0:51:37or whatever but I always blamed the critics.
0:51:37 > 0:51:40# And I can hear my mother saying
0:51:42 > 0:51:46# Every old sock needs an old shoe
0:51:48 > 0:51:52# Isn't that a great saying?
0:51:58 > 0:52:02# Every old sock needs an old shoe... #
0:52:04 > 0:52:08The fact that she took time off to raise her child and disappear
0:52:08 > 0:52:12and give Bertie a wonderful life,
0:52:12 > 0:52:15the humanity in her is so great and
0:52:15 > 0:52:18she wasn't interested in anything except, you know, raising her child
0:52:18 > 0:52:20and being happy.
0:52:20 > 0:52:24I don't think what Kate Bush did was like a weird thing at all,
0:52:24 > 0:52:28to kind of withdraw to bring up a child,
0:52:28 > 0:52:30if that's indeed why she did withdraw.
0:52:30 > 0:52:32Maybe she just withdrew because she
0:52:32 > 0:52:35was sick of the whole bloody lot of them wanting to know about her life
0:52:35 > 0:52:38and I can really understand that.
0:52:40 > 0:52:43For me to get to get into that creative process,
0:52:43 > 0:52:47I have to have a sort of quiet place that I work from
0:52:47 > 0:52:50and if I was living the life of, you know,
0:52:50 > 0:52:53somebody in the industry as a pop star or whatever,
0:52:53 > 0:52:55it's too distracting.
0:52:55 > 0:52:58It's too to do with other people's perceptions of who you are
0:52:58 > 0:53:03and what's important to me is to be a human being who has a soul
0:53:03 > 0:53:06and who hopefully has a sense of who they are,
0:53:06 > 0:53:09not who everybody else thinks you are.
0:53:09 > 0:53:13# Elvis, are you out there somewhere?
0:53:13 > 0:53:15# Looking like a happy man
0:53:23 > 0:53:26# In the snow with Rosebud
0:53:26 > 0:53:32# And the king of the mountain... #
0:53:32 > 0:53:34John Harris, there's been some anticipation over this,
0:53:34 > 0:53:37someone even wrote a novel called Waiting For Kate Bush
0:53:37 > 0:53:39about the long wait. Has it been worth it?
0:53:39 > 0:53:41I think there's probably less anticipation in the real world,
0:53:41 > 0:53:44in quote marks, than there is in certain circles of the media.
0:53:44 > 0:53:47I think people will get themselves in a tizz about this record
0:53:47 > 0:53:50because there's still an element of we are not worthy about Kate Bush.
0:53:50 > 0:53:51But deeply eccentric...
0:53:51 > 0:53:53It's not, that's the point, it's not eccentric.
0:53:53 > 0:53:56You can tell this is someone who's not been near the music business
0:53:56 > 0:53:59for 12 years and it sounds like the sort of thing that would blast
0:53:59 > 0:54:00from shopping malls in about 1989,
0:54:00 > 0:54:02there's a bit of kind of Tears For Fears about it.
0:54:02 > 0:54:05What I like it's not self-conscious eccentricity, I think she's making
0:54:05 > 0:54:08this record for herself, she's pleasing herself with her music.
0:54:08 > 0:54:11MUSIC: "Prelude" by Kate Bush
0:54:12 > 0:54:14The Aerial album,
0:54:14 > 0:54:18my favourite on that album is actually that song called Prelude.
0:54:18 > 0:54:21It's just the sound of some cuckoos
0:54:21 > 0:54:24and the sound of a child's voice
0:54:24 > 0:54:27and she just manages to combine these very, very prosaic,
0:54:27 > 0:54:31pure elements and turn them into magic.
0:54:33 > 0:54:38She's always been able to find, let's say the language of nature.
0:54:38 > 0:54:42She would be able to make you hear words within, you know,
0:54:42 > 0:54:46the sounds that birds would make,
0:54:46 > 0:54:49you would actually hear that they're saying something.
0:54:52 > 0:54:55Kate Bush makes a record
0:54:55 > 0:54:57then you don't hear from her.
0:54:57 > 0:55:00And you play the stuff that she's made already
0:55:00 > 0:55:04and you listen to it and one day, you are surprised
0:55:04 > 0:55:07and she brings out something else and she's been quietly working away
0:55:07 > 0:55:10on it for however long she wanted to work on it.
0:55:10 > 0:55:13And I love that, I love the willingness to be quiet
0:55:13 > 0:55:15until it's time to speak
0:55:15 > 0:55:17which is something that she does over and over.
0:55:21 > 0:55:24# You're not a langur monkey
0:55:28 > 0:55:31# Nor a big brown bear
0:55:37 > 0:55:39# You're the wild man... #
0:55:42 > 0:55:4350 Words For Snow,
0:55:43 > 0:55:48my favourite track on that is where her little son, he sings,
0:55:48 > 0:55:50# I am sky. #
0:55:50 > 0:55:57You know, that amazing like choral boy pure voice was like,
0:55:57 > 0:56:00it was just so lovely to hear the generations coming through
0:56:00 > 0:56:02and that they're making music together.
0:56:02 > 0:56:06# I am sky... #
0:56:10 > 0:56:12I was called by my agent who said,
0:56:12 > 0:56:16"Would you like to record a track with Kate Bush?"
0:56:16 > 0:56:19To which there is only ever one possible answer.
0:56:19 > 0:56:21"As long as it's not me singing."
0:56:21 > 0:56:23I said, "She does know I can't sing..
0:56:23 > 0:56:28She said, "No, no, it would be voicing and saying words for snow."
0:56:28 > 0:56:29Oh, no, it's not, is it?
0:56:32 > 0:56:36I just still can't quite believe it says Kate Bush/Stephen Fry.
0:56:41 > 0:56:45It's wonderfully atmospheric, isn't it? It's just something about it.
0:56:45 > 0:56:47# Drifting
0:56:48 > 0:56:50# Two
0:56:58 > 0:56:59# Three... #
0:57:04 > 0:57:09These phrases and epithets are hers and some of them obviously exist
0:57:09 > 0:57:14like whiteout and some of them are just sort of poetic force poetry.
0:57:14 > 0:57:18Almost like what Anglo-Saxon poetry is known as a kenning
0:57:18 > 0:57:20where you just put things together.
0:57:22 > 0:57:24She has a very intense poetic mind.
0:57:28 > 0:57:30# Come on, Joe, you've got 32 to go... #
0:57:30 > 0:57:35That's what makes it. That voice that comes in.
0:57:35 > 0:57:41# Come on, Joe, you've got 32 to go... #
0:57:41 > 0:57:44The intention is to tell a story,
0:57:44 > 0:57:48to create a sonic world for us, a sonic painting for us to walk into
0:57:48 > 0:57:53without having to see her.
0:57:53 > 0:57:54She's transcending that.
0:57:54 > 0:57:59She's choosing to transcend that and that's a very powerful thing to do.
0:58:06 > 0:58:08You don't ever get the sense that
0:58:08 > 0:58:12she is making music to pander to anyone.
0:58:12 > 0:58:18I think you always get her absolute best attempt at her true vision
0:58:18 > 0:58:20whenever you get a Kate Bush record.
0:58:20 > 0:58:23The word coming to my mind is national treasure
0:58:23 > 0:58:26but that means kind of like an almost dead person, doesn't it?
0:58:26 > 0:58:28Or something.
0:58:28 > 0:58:31She's become a legend not just because she's been absent
0:58:31 > 0:58:34but because she's important to musicians
0:58:34 > 0:58:38as much as she's important to the British public.
0:58:38 > 0:58:43She's one of those people that has got a muse over her head,
0:58:43 > 0:58:49she's got this special way to tap in to the energy and reality of music.
0:58:49 > 0:58:52She takes you somewhere else.
0:58:52 > 0:58:55You know there are other artists, they're of a genre, aren't they?
0:58:55 > 0:58:56And you can sort of jump between them,
0:58:56 > 0:59:00I don't think you can do that with her, I think you have to...
0:59:00 > 0:59:03fully submerge yourself in...
0:59:03 > 0:59:06I was going to say the Bush but I better not.