Although she appeared to believe that the song was by Maxwell, and no-one on the judging panel corrected her, Essex girl Hope seriously impressed the panel with her rendition of Kate’s This Woman’s Work.
Hope had started with Jessie J’s Mamma Knows Best, but Simon Cowell complained: “I’ve heard that song so many times, “I want to hear something different to whatever anyone else is singing.” so Hope turned to Kate and won a standing ovation from the audience, and pass marks from the panel into the next part of the competition.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kpeaYFmMCik[/youtube]
Later: As a consequence of this it appears This Woman’s Work (both versions) has reappeared in the i-tunes Top 20.
Later Still: This from the Radio Times:
“Hope Murphy was from Upminster and was not ashamed to be an Essex girl. She was 16 but already had the flinty, aged look the county specialises in, with solid blonde hair and Barry M cladding. You could imagine her quite comfortably running a large pub/carvery. But her singing voice! Perfect clarity and hints of a freakish range achieved without effort.
She sang This Woman’s Work “by Maxwell” (it’s by Kate Bush!), a canny leftfield song choice arrived at after Simon, looking down at his producer’s notes to see the words “TELL HER TO CHANGE HER SONG”, told her to change her song. Shameless, but who cares any more?”
Alberto Di Costanzo
No one has corrected her from the judging panel because they do not know and they obviously believe the song is from Maxwell…..what a shame!!! She sang it beautifully…
Alan
Maxwell’s version is currently two places ahead of Kate’s original version. Scandalous! Though I suppose she still picks up writing credits. Someone should really have told her before she went on. She may have only heard Maxwell’s version but that’s not the point!
Rod
Well, you know, it hasn’t worked out so badly, Alberto, the twittersphere trended KB and a lot of her fans hit home that TWW is a Kate Bush song. As Peter points out both this interpretation and the “real” version of the song are back in the i-Tunes top 20, and that’s a cause for some celebration, and if hearing it for the first time brings KB even more new fans then that’s a bonus too.
This may be how the business operates now and I’ve no doubt a KB Glee episode or two would make a big difference in the US and see a push on sales of her entire catalogue. Come to think of it, it would make a really watchable show; even for us non-Glee fans.
Collin Kelley
The same thing happened here a season or two ago on American Idol. One of the guys sang This Woman’s Work and credit was given to Maxwell and not Kate. This happens all the time, especially when the cover is more widely known than the original, although you would think Kate’s version is the more known in Britain.
Peter
I suspect at this point This Woman’s Work is second only to Wuthering Heights for Kate songs known to the public at large. It certainly seems to have been used in one form or another in a number of prime time TV dramas, and variously in very big talent shows.
Brandon
It is sad when a BRITISH girl doesn’t even know that it is a Kate Bush song. Maxwell is an American artist covering it. And no one even corrected her when she said it was a Maxwell song :(. She did sing it very beautifully though. Only Kate could have written and produced that song.
ARoseGrowingOld
One rule in my life:
Only Kate can do Kate