Expert: Lee Bastian - 8/14/2005

Question
Hi

A friend of mind told me that The Man with the child in his eyes was written about a much older male lover Kate had. Is this true?

I am finding this hard to believe as I also read that she recorded the song at 16 years old. Therefore this may not be right.

Any thoughts would be much appreciated

Margaret

Answer
    Hello Margaret and thank you for your question.While Kate has stated that she has generally been attracted to men older than her,this song came about more from an obserbvation she had about most of the men she knew at the time.Indeed,it is kind of an observation about most men in general.That observation is that most men are still like children in some ways.I can almost sense you laughing right now,but Kate meant this in a good way.It's about how they retain that child like fun and sparkle in the eyes.
   You are also correct that she did record this song at age 16.It was one of the songs on the demo recorded with the financial assistance of David Gilmour of Pink Floyd.There was speculation that maybe Kate and Gilmour were romantically involved,but that just wasn't the case.They made contact through a friend of the Bush family who knew Gilmour,and Gilmour was impressed with Kate's potential and got involved in getting her career off the ground.
    If you'd like,you can see what Kate herself has said about this song(or any of her songs for that matter)at the website "Cloudbusting:Kate Bush in her own words"
    Thanks again for the question and I hope my response helps to clear things up,although you seem to have had a good handle on this song to begin with.Have a great day!!