Under the Ivy by Graeme Thomson

Author:Graeme Thomson
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9780857123220
Publisher: Music Sales Corp.
Published: 2010-10-16T21:00:00+00:00

The new decade brought a new perspective, a new studio, and some landmark new compositions. “EMI had asked us to record four songs, I think, before Christmas,” says Kelly. “Then we agreed between us that she should write some more, because these four songs were still from the early Kate Bush Songbook. So she went off and wrote some new songs. I can remember going to her flat just after Christmas and she played me ‘Babooshka’.”

‘Babooshka’ was loosely inspired by the folk song ‘Sovay’, in which a young woman dresses up as a highwayman and robs her lover in order to find out whether he will hand over the gold love ring she gave to him. Even threatened with his life he refuses to part with it, and Sovay thus feels certain of his devotion. In Bush’s song, the conclusion is less upbeat. An older woman tests her husband’s faith by tempting him with scented letters and finally dressing up as a younger version of herself to meet him in the flesh, “incognito,” and he succumbs. The title, borrowing and misspelling the Russian word for grandmother, also brought to mind Matryoshka dolls, or Russian dolls, often incorrectly known as ‘Babushka dolls’. Bush claims the title came to her out of the ether, but the notion of an older figure hiding a series of other, younger figures within herself seems peculiarly apt for these ruminations on age, trust and sexual identity.

There are in existence two early demo versions of one of Bush’s best known singles, dating from late 1979. The first and earliest features ‘Babooshka’ in its raw infancy, just her piano and voice with a single harmony vocal overdubbed on the title phrase. It’s a wonderful two minutes of music, beginning with a great bluesy flourish, the piano reminiscent of the opening passage of Bob Dylan’s ‘Ballad Of A Thin Man’, and even a jarring bum note on the keyboard can’t dull its obvious ebullience. On a later demo she had added – significantly, for rhythm was becoming an essential part of her writing process – a simple electronic drum pattern, while the song’s signature keyboard motif was now present. The vocal harmonies became more complex, and the listener can hear what she’s trying to do with the song and where it’s heading. It’s a fascinating insight into how advanced these songs were before they even arrived in the studio, a vital link between how they began and what they would later become.

Jon Kelly recognised a hit single from the very start. “It had such a rising chorus and such an impact,” he says. “She had that little piano riff right from the beginning, that little motif, so it had all these ingredients. I thought it was great and would be a single, which of course damned it! It had a little bit of a stigma attached to it throughout the recording. Kate had realised that it was going towards being a single and was thinking, ‘Oh God! Promotion, release, press, charts, Top Of The Pops,’ and thinking that’s not where she wanted to go.

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