Expert: Birgitte S.C. - 5/12/2004

Question
Ok, Birgette.  Last summer I asked you what Kate Bush songs to listen to, and since then I've bought all her albums! so I'm back to plague you with 2 other questions...

"Wuthering Heights" is about the Bronte book.  In another post you talk about Wilhem Riech (sp?) from Cloudbusting.  I heard Cloudbusting was also based on a book - is this true?  Are there any other of Kate's songs based on books?

Just curious, have you ever met or written Kate?

Thanks!

Answer
Hello Matthew,

Good to hear from you again! Wuthering Heights is indeed based on the novel by Emily Brontė, but the movie of the 30s (of which she only saw the ending once on TV) was the actual inspiration for writing the song. The song Cloudbusting is also based on a book, yes: A Book of Dreams by Peter Reich about his father Wilhelm Reich who had invented a machine, a Cloudbuster, that could make it rain. The book has been out of print for a long time and is very hard to come by, not to mention expensive!

The song The Sensual World is loosely based on the book Ulysses by James Joyce but Kate wasn't permitted to use the original text for her song. These three songs are the only ones inspired by books as far as I know.

She's also inspired by movies, maybe even more than by books:

* The Shining inspired her to write Get Out Of My House
* The Innocents inspired her to write Infant's Kiss
* The Red Shoes by Michael Powell inspired her to write The Red Shoes
* Hammer Horror is Kate's tribute to the Hammer Horror movies

I hope this information is useful for you.

Kind regards,

Birgitte