Catherine Bush is an English singer-songwriter, musician, dancer and record producer. Bush came to notice in 1978 when, aged 19, she topped the UK Singles Chart for four weeks with her debut single "Wuthering Heights", becoming the first female artist to achieve a UK number one with a self-written song. She has since released twenty-five UK Top 40 singles, including the top-ten hits "The Man with the Child in His Eyes", "Babooshka", "Running Up That Hill", "Don't Give Up" and "King of the Mountain". She has released ten studio albums, all of which reached the UK Top 10, including the UK number-one albums Never for Ever , Hounds of Love , and the compilation The Whole Story . She is the first British solo female artist to top the UK album charts and the first female artist to enter the album chart at number one.Having been writing songs since age 11, she was signed to EMI Records while under professional assistance by David Gilmour, who, along with his associates, curated her 1978 debut album The Kick Inside. Bush slowly gained artistic independence in album production, and she has taken sole credit for the production duties on all of her studio albums since The Dreaming in 1982. After the release of her seventh album The Red Shoes , she took a 12 year hiatus that ended with the issue of her following album Aerial in 2005. She drew significant attention again in 2014 when she announced her concert residency Before The Dawn, which was her first set of shows since 1979's The Tour of Life.
Her eclectic and experimental musical style with literary and unconventional lyrical themes, has proved influential to a diverse range of artists. She has been nominated 13 times for British Phonographic Industry accolades, winning for Best British Female Artist in 1987. She has also been nominated for three Grammy Awards. In 2002, she was recognised with an Ivor Novello Award for Outstanding Contribution to British Music. In October 2017 she was nominated for induction in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2018. Bush was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2013 New Year Honours for services to music.
“Oh, come on, you've got to use your flow.
You know what it's like, and you know you want to go.”
Song lyrics, Lionheart (1978)
Context: Oh, come on, you've got to use your flow.
You know what it's like, and you know you want to go.
Don't drive too slowly.
Don't put your blues where your shoes should be.
Don't put your foot on the heartbrake.
“They look down
At the ground,
Missing.
But I never go in now.”
Song lyrics, Hounds of Love (1985)
Context: They look down
At the ground,
Missing.
But I never go in now.
I'm looking at the Big Sky.
Song lyrics, Never for Ever (1980)
Context: All we ever look for — a god.
All we ever look for — ooh, a drug.
All we ever look for — a great big hug.
All we ever look for — a little bit of you.
All we ever look for — a little bit of you, too.
All we ever look for,
But we never do score.
“Just being alive
It can really hurt
These moments given
Are a gift from time.”
Song lyrics, The Red Shoes (1993)
Context: p>Just being alive
It can really hurt
These moments given
Are a gift from time.Just let us try
To give these moments back
To those we love
To those who will survive…</p
MOJO interview (2005)
Context: For the last 12 years, I've felt really privileged to be living such a normal life. It's so a part of who I am. It's so important to me to do the washing, do the Hoovering. Friends of mine in the business don't know how dishwashers work. For me, that's frightening. I want to be in a position where I can function as a human being. Even more so now where you've got this sort of truly silly preoccupation with celebrities. Just because somebody's been in an ad on TV, so what? Who gives a toss?
Profiles in Rock interview (December 1980)
Context: Artists shouldn't be made famous. You know… they're just … as important as… um doctors, and priests … or maybe not as important sometimes, and yet they have this huge aura of almost god-like quality about them, just because their craft makes a lot of money. And at the same time it is a forced importance — you know, football stars and theatre stars — It is man-made so the press can feed off it.
“Only tragedy allows the release
Of love and grief never normally seen.”
Song lyrics, The Dreaming (1982)
Context: Only tragedy allows the release
Of love and grief never normally seen.
I didn't want to let them see me weep,
I didn't want to let them see me weak,
But I know I have shown
That I stand at the gates alone.
“Artists shouldn't be made famous.”
Profiles in Rock interview (December 1980)
Context: Artists shouldn't be made famous. You know… they're just … as important as… um doctors, and priests … or maybe not as important sometimes, and yet they have this huge aura of almost god-like quality about them, just because their craft makes a lot of money. And at the same time it is a forced importance — you know, football stars and theatre stars — It is man-made so the press can feed off it.
As quoted in "In conversation with Kate Bush" by Elio Iannacci in MacLeans (28 November 2016)
Context: The great thing about art on any level is that it can speak to all people if it’s achieved properly. When I’ve heard a piece of music or seen a painting that moves me, it gives me something. That’s such an incredibly special experience. I have intentions as a writer, but people — when they’re listening to a track — will take from it what they interpret. Sometimes people mishear my lyrics and think a song’s about something it isn’t. That doesn’t matter. If it speaks to them and they get something positive from it, it’s great.
“With a kiss
I'd pass the key
And feel your tongue
Teasing and receiving.”
Song lyrics, The Dreaming (1982)
Context: With a kiss
I'd pass the key
And feel your tongue
Teasing and receiving.
With your spit
Still on my lip,
You hit the water.
“Not until I'm ready for you,
Not until I'm ready for you
Can I have it all.”
Song lyrics, The Dreaming (1982)
Context: I don't know why I'm crying.
Am I suspended in Gaffa?
Not until I'm ready for you,
Not until I'm ready for you
Can I have it all.
“I want to hear you laugh,
Don't let the mystery go now.”
Song lyrics, Singles and rarities
Context: December will be magic again.
Don't miss the brightest star,
Kiss under mistletoe,
I want to hear you laugh,
Don't let the mystery go now.
“She knows that I've been doing something wrong,
But she won't say anything.”
Song lyrics, Hounds of Love (1985)
“This chapter says
"Put it out of your mind"
Mmm, give it time….”
Song lyrics, The Red Shoes (1993)
“Rolling the ball, rolling the ball, rolling the ball to me…”
Song lyrics, The Kick Inside (1978)
“We could be like two strings beating,
Speaking in sympathy…”
Song lyrics, The Sensual World (1989)
Song lyrics, Hounds of Love (1985), The Ninth Wave
“Rosabel believe,
Not even eternity
Can hold Houdini!
"Rosabel, believe!"”
Song lyrics, The Dreaming (1982)
As quoted in "Kate Bush Speaks" by Owen Myers in Fader (23 November 2016) https://www.thefader.com/2016/11/23/kate-bush-interview-before-the-dawn
This was a song written for the soundtrack of The Magician of Lublin (1979), based on the 1960 novel by Isaac Bashevis Singer; Kate's singing of it appears at times in the background within the film - YouTube video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkfbkVKmbG0 <br class="br">Song lyrics, Singles and rarities
Song lyrics, The Red Shoes (1993)
Song lyrics, Hounds of Love (1985)
“The sense of adventure
Is changing to danger.
The signal has been given.”
Song lyrics, The Dreaming (1982)
Song lyrics, Aerial (2005), A Sea of Honey (Disc 1)
“We're building a house of the future together.
(What would we do without you?)”
Song lyrics, The Sensual World (1989)
“Well, I couldn't see what was to be,
So I just stood there laughing.”
Song lyrics, The Sensual World (1989)
“It's no good for you baby
It's no good for you now
Keep looking up for the ladder.”
Song lyrics, The Red Shoes (1993)
“They took the game right out of it.
When I am a man
I will be an astronaut,
And find Peter Pan.”
Song lyrics, Lionheart (1978)
“At night
They're seen
Laughing,
Loving.
They know
The way
To be
Happy.”
Song lyrics, Lionheart (1978)
“Split me open
With devotion
You put your hands in
And rip my heart out
Eat the music.”
Song lyrics, The Red Shoes (1993)
Song lyrics, Lionheart (1978)
“We needed you
To love us too.
We wait for your move.”
Song lyrics, The Dreaming (1982)
Variant: We needed you
To love us too.
We wait for your move.
Song lyrics, Aerial (2005), A Sea of Honey (Disc 1)
“Gabriel before me
Raphael behind me
Michael to my right
Uriel on my left side
In the circle of fire.”
Song lyrics, The Red Shoes (1993)
Song lyrics, Never for Ever (1980)
Song lyrics, The Dreaming (1982)
“The light
Begin to bleed,
Begin to breathe,
Begin to speak.
D'you know what?
I love you better now.”
Song lyrics, Hounds of Love (1985), The Ninth Wave
Song lyrics, Hounds of Love (1985), The Ninth Wave
Song lyrics, Aerial (2005), A Sea of Honey (Disc 1)
Song lyrics, Never for Ever (1980)
“Without the pain there'd be no learning
Without the hurting we'd never change.”
Song lyrics, The Red Shoes (1993)
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