As some Fungus Blog fans might know, I LOVE KATE BUSH!!!!!!!!!!!! And I always wanted to write something about her. Though I am not particularly smart when it comes to music, Kate Bush is an amazing artist who pulls inspirations and song ideas from many different literary sources and I find her lyrics as beautiful and interesting as the melodies. Here today I wanted to discuss some of the songs that people either don't analyse as often as I'd like or their general interpretation is something I don't entirely agree with. This will probably be somewhat clunky and short, but I wanted to get it out fast as a treat for my returning readers and also because it has been at the back of my mind for way too long and if I don't push it out now then I don't know when I will.
One of the more striking songs to me on The Red Shoes. Originally and somewhat famously, it almost didn't make it on the album and you can kinda tell due to how different of a vibe it is. It also reads as much darker than the rest of the songs, even compared to Top of the City's suicidal references and the heartbreak of You're the One. Big Stripey Lie is also considered one of the more cryptic songs Kate Bush has written as there isn't much information from the artist. While it was kind of a challenge to properly explain what my thoughts on it are, I think I managed to somewhat well.
The melody has a very industrial feel to it (it always reminded me of Army of Me by Bjork actually, which uses the imagery of an industrial city in the music video version). Sadly there is no official music video for Big Stripey Lie, I think the harsh sound of it definitely alludes to something mechanical and non-organic. Kate Bush saying, "it's a jungle in here" in the fourth verse actually works perfectly with this interpretation, as we all know the phrase 'Concrete Jungle' to refer to an urban area, usually with a negative connotation.
"Oh big stripey lie moving
Like a wavy line
Coming up behind"
"Big stripey lie moving [...] coming up behind" in conjunction with the jungle imagery in the fourth verse gives an impression of a tiger. While not a real tiger in my interpretation, it is still understood to be a ferocious force of destruction. The common understanding is that the song depicts "someone's jungle-like emotional world," but what is the big stripey lie and why is it coming up from behind?
Stripes actually have a cultural significance as a symbol for criminality and therefore prison, so I do not believe the big stripey lie to be the center piece of someone's emotional turmoil, rather an outside force chasing us down, like a predator might in a real jungle.
"All young gentle dreams drowning
In life's grief
Can you hang on to me?"
The second verse in my view makes it come together with the idea of existing in a hostile world, falling for the lies society tells you about how to live your life, perhaps such as which aspirations to follow (what dreams to hold onto). Kate Bush offers the listener a safe haven in which she tries to help and guide those caught in the presence of a predator.
"Your name is being called by sacred things
That are not addressed nor listened to
Sometimes they blow trumpets"
The Red Shoes album has consistent themes of religion, love and as such loneliness that comes with the emotional turmoil of love. The album is notable for its song titled 'Lily' in which Kate Bush explores her spirituality and deep admiration for teachings of Lily Cornford. I think it is not ridiculous to consider that this verse laments the fact that society's relationship with spirituality as a whole is extremely shallow, despite the forces of good that Kate Bush believes to be real, calling out to the listener. "Your name" specifically being called makes me believe that whoever the song is about is not in themselves an agent of chaos or evil, rather that they are ultimately good, but are presumably unable to hear the call.
"Hey all you little waves run away
Run away"
Trumpets in a religious sense allude to the Book of Revelation, in which they signify the end times, death of the world as we know it and, maybe in the context of this song, the death of the listener as they may lose themselves in the big stripey lie, if they do not manage to run away.
In a comment Kate Bush made on the song, she says that it's about trying to not "get caught up between two extremes", seemingly implying it tells a story of being forced to choose one thing and the paralysis of such a decision. Now I'm not here to argue with Kate Bush, but that description always seemed so disappointingly short and open ended for a song that holds a special meaning for me, so I wanted to explore the nuances of the lyrics a little further.
"Can't move my arms
Can't move my legs
Can't say no
I can't say yes
Can't help myself
I need your help"
I think it's very clear that the bulk of the song does not really convey the message of "don't choose the two extremes." Nothing in the words expresses that it would be the wrong choice to choose the "left" or the "right" side of the line, which is the beautiful thing to me about it. There is actually no choice to be made. You can only be paralysed or walk straight down the middle (right through the heart of the storm so to speak), which is a situation and feeling a lot of people find themselves in.
"He thought he was gonna die
But he didn't
She thought she could never cope
But she did
We thought it was all over
But it wasn't
It hadn't started yet"
Once in the middle of whatever you are, you have to move forward and you are aware of it, even if the idea of moving forward can be frightening to the point of panic and wanting to change your mind and flee from your path. Kate Bush does not downplay the difficulty of it, nor how being in that situation can have a traumatizing impact on you, which makes it an incredibly empowering song to me in combination with the strong instrumentation. Kate Bush is one punk ass bitch for this that's for true.
I am gonna leave off with a lighter subject :smilered:. This song is very silly and happy, but it still helped me a bit in my BPD-dom.
"Rolling the ball (Rolling), rolling the ball (Rolling), rolling the ball to me"
Unlike many other Kate Bush songs, I don't think the inclusion of Jesus necessarily makes it a song about religion, unlike what the Genius annotation claims (yeah I know it's fucking Genius, but I think a lot of people do use it for information). The role Jesus plays in the song is portraying the different mindsets and people you are bound to meet in life and how it's not always a guarantee that those encounters will be pleasant.
"They arrived at an inconvenient time
I was hiding in a room in my mind
They made me look at myself, I saw it well
I'd shut the people out of my life
So now I take the opportunities
Wonderful teachers ready to teach me
I must work on my mind, for now I realise
Every one of us has a heaven inside"
Kate Bush believes that when you meet someone, even if they are abrasive who might challenge your worldview and make you feel negative emotions, you need to see those experiences as opportunities to grow as a person. If you don't confront yourself and let others confront you, the ball will never roll to them and back to you.
"Them heavy people hit me in a soft spot
Them heavy people help me"
The heavy people are heavy in the sense that they take a heavy mental toll on you, but Kate Bush considers them wonderful teachers, as everyone comes from different walks of life and everyone has a heaven inside. It's only the idea of what heaven is depends on the person, for example whether you are a practicing Dervish, a Christian or believe in the teachings of Gurdjieff.
"They build up my body, break me emotionally
It's nearly killing me, but what a lovely feeling"
Gurdjieff believed that most people spend their lives not being conscious of themselves and basically autopilot through life. It appears that Kate Bush thinks that in order to become a fully realized person, you have to put yourself through the wringer.
Kate Bush had a fascinating comment on the song in which I think her story of the songwriting process really adds beautifully to the message, how a piece of art like this came together from 'plucking' bits she'd heard around her home. I won't copy it here, but I recommend reading it if you are curious.
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