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An interesting moment from Kate Bush's œuvre

Rob Beschizza at 10:04 am Thu, Sep 6, 2012

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The last two minutes of Get Out Of My House, from Kate Bush' 1982 album The Dreaming, clearly rank among the finest moments of her work. [via @dogboner of Your Kickstarter Sucks]

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  • Andrew Perrine

    Oeuvre.  Or if you want to be super French, œuvre. 

    • http://www.epinardscaramel.com TokenFrenchDude

      I come for the comments, I stay for the ligatures.

  • UXO

    I’ve been listening to this song since it first came out and still consider it flat-out amazing. The current crop of so-called “divas” *wish* they had something even *resembling* her talent.

  • Their feldspars

    Kate’s awesome, but what is it about this bit in particular? 

    • http://twitter.com/beep54orama B E Pratt

       I think the ‘it’ in this case is the sometimes overlooked ability of Kate Bush as a producer. She was the go-to person when Pink Floyd wanted a ‘helicopter sound’.

  • nem0fazer

    I’ve always been in two minds about the whole donkey impersonation bit but on the other hand the photo at 2:21 may well be responsible for kick-starting puberty in me.

    • GawainLavers

      Donkey impersonation + repeatedly singing “Eeyore”.

    • madopal

      No, that wasn’t the photo.  THIS was the photo.  Gered Mankowitz FTW.  Moderately NSFW for high beams.

      http://giandoblack.blogspot.com/2012/05/kate-bush.html

  • Graham Fawcett

    In a strange twist, I was listening to Get Out of My House on my commute this morning, and I think this song is the greatest example of Kate Bush’s range as a vocalist — not just pitch, but how she uses her voice as an instrument in so many different ways — even, yes, the donkey vocalizations! 

    She’s an artist, not just an entertainer, and I don’t think a kneejerk “donkey sound herp derp” response is at all the right way to think about it. It’s a brilliant track.

    My personal take on the donkey thing, BTW, is that it’s a very lateral reference to Circe turning sailors into swine: don’t mess with the crazy house lady, or you might get sucked into her world.

    • Boundegar

      Swine are not donkeys.

      • Graham Fawcett

        And sailors are not swine! :) I did say “very lateral reference.” 

        I hear the donkeys, and the first thing it evokes is the Odyssey, though the barnyard names may have been changed. YMMV!

    • bardfinn

      Greek followers of Hecate were said to transform unwary waylaid victims into donkeys. So, not terribly lateral.

      • Graham Fawcett

        Interesting! Thanks, I didn’t know that.

  • http://twitter.com/beep54orama B E Pratt

    Why Kate Bush never quite translated beyond the Pond is a bit of a mystery. I first heard of her while she was doing a promo tour for Sensual World on public radio. I was enchanted and hooked for life. I still won’t forgive Joyce’s estate for not allowing her to use Molly’s soliloquy. Nonetheless, she did her best without it. Although I DO have to admit that Firesign Theater’s  fade-out “Ralph Spoilsport’s” version is still tops :)

    • UXO

      That’s old news, innit? “Director’s Cut” fixed that…

  • Their feldspars

    If you like donkeys in the studio, check out the documentary about Scott Walker (not that one, the other one), 30 Century Man. 

  • GuyInMilwaukee

    I’d go with her song “Pi”. Numbers have never sounded so sexy 
    http://youtu.be/kZSHr5E7fZY

  • chgoliz

    Not that I would ever question anyone listening to any Kate Bush at any moment, but was there a particular reason for mentioning this right now?

    Keeping my fingers crossed that you’re going to say something spectacular like: she’s finally agreed to do a world tour in 2013, so you pulled out all her albums in anticipation.

  • UncaScrooge

    I like Kate Bush’s music a lot. That having been said, we’re a good 20 years into the era of The Very Interesting Female Musician.

    Amy Denio — Rhymes with Ohio.  For just one.  And that’s just the Nineties talking.

    • Beanolini

      we’re a good 20 years into the era of The Very Interesting Female Musician.

      What’s that supposed to mean? There were no interesting (experimental?) female musicians before 1990? 

      You could argue it’s more like 800 years, starting with Hildegard of Bingen.

      • UncaScrooge

        That does sound offensive, doesn’t it?

        I mean that during the last 20 years, people have stopped popping their monocles in astonishment at the spectacle of unique female composers.  It has become commonplace, praise the Goddess.

        The first popular recording of Hildegard of Bingen’s work was published in the late seventies. Appalling.

        • Beanolini

          Fair enough. 

          But now I’m wondering what you mean by ‘Appalling’. Appalling that it took so long? Or a terrible recording? The latter would not come as a great surprise given the quality of most early music recordings from the 70s.

  • http://twitter.com/HugoMe HugoMe

    I always liked this one which for long was difficult to find online, a kind of sign that i was rather alone, I thought. My top Kate Bush song , with the highly commercial “Moving” . However the vocals at beginning of the song are as good as the end you’re pitching, imho 

  • Gerald Mander

    If it’s the flat-out rawness of the vocal that you like, I’d recommend the “And I love life” line in the chorus of “Pull Out the Pin” http://youtu.be/ojXm0VvvdJ0?t=6m55s over “Get Out of My House.” It never fails to send a shiver up my spine — utterly primal and yearning.

    Both tracks are from The Dreaming, a pretty damn amazing album. (It may have been the first time I ever heard a didgeridoo, too.)

    • http://glitch.tl/ Michael Smith

      primal and yearning.

      Or Rockets Tail.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=575467272 Martin Fox

    The Dreaming has some great songs on it – and Kate Bush has done some truly amazing production work. Check out the B side of the Hounds of Love called “The Ninth Wave”. 

  • http://twitter.com/gths Ǥɍǡḩḁᶆ Ӻᴙᴇᴇᴍᴀᴎ

    And at least Kate Bush has never done an ukelele album.

    • http://twitter.com/beep54orama B E Pratt

      The ukelele is unfairly maligned. Like pretty much any instrument, it is difficult to play well. Check out the Concert for George [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concert_for_George for info]. While Sir Paul opens the song Something with a uke, he is actually not all that good on it. It takes the closer Joe Brown playing I’ll See You In My Dreams to show everyone how to do it well.

      • http://www.brian-fitzgerald.net/ Brian Fitzgerald

        And Eddie Vedder’s Songs for Ukelele must be mentioned among the “played well” exemplars.