Kate’s book of lyrics, How To Be Invisible was published in a new paperback version last week and is now available in book shops across the UK and Ireland. A very limited amount of signed copies have also been sent out to those who managed to pre-order them from selected retailers in January. Publisher Faber have announced that they are “delighted that the paperback of Kate Bush’s How To Be Invisible has entered the charts this week as a Top Ten Sunday Times Bestseller“
Kate’s new introduction is a lovely addition to this paperback edition. Replacing the original introduction to the 2018 hardback edition written by Kate’s friend and collaborator David Mitchell, Kate has now written a very personal five page piece about what her written words mean to her, remembering how she would crawl as child, under her father’s piano, and listen to him while he played, leading to her profound relationship with that special instrument and her songwriting. “I was extremely prolific when I was very young”. It’s a truly wonderful read, well worth the purchase alone.
It’s great to hear that so many fans are now reading her lyrics with new eyes, much as she had hoped herself. Kate references the process involved in creating the lyrics to songs like Cloudbusting, Mrs Bartolozzi and Snowflake while citing the influence of the likes of author Alan Garner, singer Frank Sinatra, The Trio Bulgarka and the band King Crimson on her wordcraft. She even reveals the roots of her very early composition The Man With The Child In His Eyes; a mystery man she recently met again who had no idea he was the subject she was “madly in love with” as a young teenager!
As announced, a very small number of those copies have invisible ink messages inscribed on the signed page from Kate – only visible under UV light. Secret messages from Kate include “Boo!”, “Now, You’ve Read Between the Lines”, “Can’t See The Words For The Trees?”, and “Now You Don’t, Now You See Me!” Special copies indeed!
Daniella Clark
I received mine but it doesn’t seem to be signed.
Any way I can get a signed copy or get my one signed please….?
Les
No – unfortunately I was not one of the “lucky” ones who managed to get a signed copy (let alone a “mystery” copy) – even though I had checked everyday on a number of book/music sites since it was supposed to be made available about 6 weeks ago. I already bought the hardback edition when that came out, and didn’t the money to risk it. The good news there are loads of re-sellers on Ebay from £180 ready to rip off proper fans. It’s not who you are a fan of it’s clearly who you know in the business,
Michael
I tried as well but couldn’t find the links to make this work. As said now opportunists are selling these at silly prices!
Rhonda M
Daniella, the signed editions were available from Waterstones, Rough Trade and various independent book and record shops all over the UK from 9am on Friday 20th January. It took stealth and cunning to find shops selling many many many fans were unsuccessful.
The signed editions have this printed on the inner page with signature beneath; standard do not.
No-one seems to know how many copies were signed and the publisher not revealing.
Ebay now flooded with signed copies which are reducing in price on a daily basis – since 5th April they have gone from c..£250 to as low as £120 today and most aren’t shifting. Wait a while and the price will drop some more.
It’s a sad state of affairs. Several shops were allowing people to buy several copies (have seen one pro seller with 8 signed) networks of pro-traders (not all of books!) bought them all up, checking for uv’s and are selling on to other traders and so on until an actual legit fan forks out. All sorts going on. It’s a pity the books hadn’t been numbered or had some way to validate and record how many genuinely have uv’s .