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.
“All of the birds are laughing
Come on let's all join in.”
Song lyrics, Aerial (2005), A Sky of Honey (Disc 2)
“It's not easy for me
To give away a secret —
It's not safe…”
Song lyrics, Singles and rarities
Song lyrics, 50 Words for Snow (2011)
"The Sensual World"; The lyrics of this song are derived from the last lines of Ulysses by James Joyce. Kate had initially wanted to set much of Molly Bloom's Soliloquy to music, just as Joyce had written it, but when the Joyce estate refused, she altered it enough as to not infringe on copyright. As she explained it in an interview: "The song was saying "Yes, Yes" and when I asked for permission they said "No! No!".
Song lyrics, The Sensual World (1989)
“All young gentle dreams drowning
In life's grief
Can you hang on to me?”
Song lyrics, The Red Shoes (1993)
“Am I the cat that takes the bird?
To her the hunted, not the hunter.”
Song lyrics, Hounds of Love (1985)
“I think about us diving
Diving off a rock, into another moment…”
Source: Song lyrics, The Red Shoes (1993)
Song lyrics, Hounds of Love (1985), The Ninth Wave
Song lyrics, Never for Ever (1980)
Song lyrics, Aerial (2005), A Sea of Honey (Disc 1)
“My terrible fear of dying
No longer plays with me,
for now I know that I'm needed
For the symphony.”
Song lyrics, Lionheart (1978)
“I spend a lot of my time looking at blue,
The colour of my room and my mood…”
Song lyrics, Lionheart (1978)
“My mother and her little brown jug
It held her milk
And now it holds our memories…”
Song lyrics, Aerial (2005), A Sea of Honey (Disc 1)
“And I'd never know where you'd gonna be next
But I'd know that you'd surprise me.”
Song lyrics, 50 Words for Snow (2011)
“How I'm moved.
How you move me
With your beauty's potency.”
Song lyrics, The Kick Inside (1978)
Recited by "Lily"
Song lyrics, The Red Shoes (1993)
“He said it was her fault.
She said it wasn't at all.
But the truth lies somewhere in the middle.”
Song lyrics, The Sensual World (1989)
“So all the colours run
See what they have become
A wonderful sunset”
Song lyrics, Aerial (2005), A Sky of Honey (Disc 2)
Song lyrics, Aerial (2005), A Sky of Honey (Disc 2)
Song lyrics, Hounds of Love (1985)
Song lyrics, The Kick Inside (1978)
Song lyrics, Hounds of Love (1985), The Ninth Wave
“I will not let you in.
I face towards the wind.
I change into the Mule.”
Song lyrics, The Dreaming (1982)
“As the people here grow colder I turn to my computer
And spend my evenings with it
Like a friend.”
Song lyrics, The Sensual World (1989)
Song lyrics, Hounds of Love (1985)
“You look like an angel,
Sleeping it off at a station.
Were you only passing through?”
Song lyrics, The Kick Inside (1978)
“Do you know what I really need?
I need love love love love love, yeah!”
Song lyrics, Hounds of Love (1985)
Song lyrics, 50 Words for Snow (2011)
Song lyrics, The Red Shoes (1993)
“Never, never say goodbye
To my part of your life.”
Song lyrics, Hounds of Love (1985), The Ninth Wave
Song lyrics, Aerial (2005), A Sky of Honey (Disc 2)
“It's gonna be so good now
It's gonna be so good
Can you see the lark ascending?”
Song lyrics, Aerial (2005), A Sky of Honey (Disc 2)
“Harm is in us.
Harm in us, but power to arm.
Harm is in us.
Leave it open!”
Song lyrics, The Dreaming (1982)
.png){kind=link}