Kate Bush News

John Boyne, bestselling author of The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, writes in The Irish Times about his discovery that reading the lyrics in Kate’s new book, How To Be Invisible, is to experience her songs in an entirely new way. He writes:

“Knowing the albums as well as I do, reading these familiar lyrics is to experience the songs I love in an entirely new way. They’re not structured chronologically here, and there’s more focus on the later work than the earlier, but this adds an interesting element, for Bush has clearly chosen each juxtaposition for a reason. Breathing, for example, a song about nuclear war, is placed next to Experiment IV, which recounts a military plot to create “a sound that could kill someone from a distance”, and this is followed by Joanni, a song about Joan of Arc. The entire section is introduced by the classic Army Dreamers and ends with O England My Lionheart, where “the soldiers soften, the war is over, the air raid shelters are blooming clover”. And these five songs are drawn from four different albums. It’s so subtle, but it’s so smart.” Read the full review here.

As well as appearing on this morning’s Today programme on BBC Radio 4 (see our earlier news item with transcript here), novelist David Mitchell writes a lengthy and quite brilliant piece in today’s Guardian. For him, she has produced four album masterpieces in her career – guess which ones? Read the full article here. Here’s an excerpt in which he discusses what it means to be a fan of Kate’s work:

“I’ve been a fan of Kate Bush for nearly 40 years. Being a fan, like being in love, is giddying, it’s as personal as skin, it connects you with others in a particular way, and it sets you up for a fall. Being a fan puts you on one-way first name terms with the object of your fan-ness, even if he, she, they or “Kate” don’t know you exist – as is almost always the case. Over time, the “fan state” may change in expression but not in essence. “Fan” as a label is a slur on your critical objectivity and even your maturity, but if you weren’t a fan of something or someone, wouldn’t life be a little bland?

You don’t learn much about Kate Bush from her songs. She’s fond of masks and costumes – lyrically and literally – and of yarns, fabulations and atypical narrative viewpoints. Yet, these fiercely singular pieces, which nobody else could have authored, are also maps of the heart, the psyche, the imagination. In other words, art.”

“Fans want more of what we loved the first time, yet we complain if things feel repetitive. Kate is a mighty exception to all this, as rare as a yeti. Her fidelity to her ever-curious, ever-morphing muse has won her a body of fans who hold her songs as treasured possessions to be carried through life. By dint of never having been in fashion, she has never fallen out of fashion. By taking bold artistic risks that she navigates with ingenuity and wisely chosen collaborators, the albums Kate made in her late 40s and 50s equal and surpass the songs recorded in her teens and 20s that made her famous. To any artist in any field, her example is a hope-instilling exhortation to evolve, to reinvent, to reimagine what we do.”

You can buy Kate’s book (with exclusive bookmark), and also How To Be Invisible t-shirts and tote bags along with lots of other items, AND enter a raffle for a signed copy at the Kate Bush Remastered Pop Up in Coal Drops Yard, London, which is still open every day until Sunday December 9th at 8pm, all profits to the Crisis homelessness charity. More info here. 

On the Today programme this morning on BBC Radio 4, author David Mitchell talks to Rebecca Jones about Kate’s book of lyrics, How To Be Invisible, for which he wrote the introduction. David previously worked with Kate on dialogue for scenes in her Before the Dawn shows. David has previously written about his love of Kate’s work in The Guardian here. Listen to the interview with David at time mark 2:22:37 into this audio stream here.

“I’m just really, really glad that this woman exists, I’m so glad she’s made the music she has done. It’s like a constellation in the sky for me, it fills me with wonder. As I’ve evolved her songs have a quality – they evolve as well. I often sort of think of them as companions who walk with me through life.”

She is notoriously private. What can we learn about Kate Bush through her lyrics?

“She is a “word nerd”…the kooky, quirky, quixotic use of language. She’s not afraid of the darker places of the human psyche. That gives her work power that most songs don’t even aspire to.

How did you first come across her? 

“Well, I first encountered Kate Bush like many people of my generation in 1978 on Top of the Pops when the video for Wuthering Heights appeared…(laughing) it was like nothing we’d ever seen before. I remember the next day I went to school and all the girls in the class were playing being “Kate Bush”, doing that dance around the playground which certainly burnt that song into my memory…and it’s still there.”

On Kate’s influence on his own writing: “She had an album in 1982 called The Dreaming which was artistically experimental, and it is a risk-encourager, you can’t listen to it without thinking, well, if it worked for her, maybe it will work for me as well. I listened to that album over and over and over when I was writing my first two novels. It’s a sort of friendly artistic muse on your ear saying: “yeah go on, have a go, try it, see if it works”

It was while he was working on his new novel that the request came from Kate Bush to write the introduction to her new book. We’re often advised not to meet our heroes, because they might be disappointing, what was it like for you then?  

“She’s not at all disappointing; she’s like her songs, she has a deep mind, the size of a planet, it’s full of interesting thoughts and images and combinations of words that you haven’t really met before, and just a very warm human being as well.”

Is there any hint that she’s working on new music? David, amused (and cautious!) says: “I’m not allowed to say, I’m SO not allowed to say…I can neither confirm nor deny so I’ll just have to lapse into enigmatic silence I’m afraid!” David concludes the interview, summing up Kate’s influence: “People will still be listening to these songs with amazement in two, three hundred years time. I think this work will last in the same way that metaphysical poetry from the Elizabethan era has lasted. I know that’s a huge claim to be making, but if I were to to make it about anyone, then Kate Bush would be in that very small circle of artists.”

You can buy Kate’s book (with exclusive bookmark), and also How To Be Invisible t-shirts and tote bags along with lots of other items, AND enter a raffle for a signed copy at the Kate Bush Remastered Pop Up in Coal Drops Yard, London, which is still open every day until Sunday December 9th at 8pm, all profits to the Crisis homelessness charity. More info here. 

Kate’s book of lyrics, How To Be Invisible is published today! After escaping into branches of Waterstones a little early last weekend, it will now be available in all good bookshops priced £14.99. We hope you enjoy curling up by the fire this December, mug of cocoa or a nice glass of red in hand, pouring over and savouring the results of Kate’s decades as a wordsmith like no other, selected and arranged by her, with an introduction by her friend, novelist David Mitchell. How lovely. (You’re going to love Aerial Tal!)

Kate’s book of lyrics, How To Be Invisible, has been appearing on shelves in branches of Waterstones across the UK, several days ahead of the announced release date. Signed copies of the book to be won in a daily raffle, exclusive bookmarks and other items will be offered at Kate’s charity Pop Up Shop from Wed December 5th to Sun December 9th – read here for all the details.