Expert: Birgitte S.C. - 9/23/2005

Question
Hello B!
I've been a great fan of KB's art since 1978, when I was living in Europe and "Wuthering Heights" hit the top of the charts.  ‘Cathy and Heathcliffe' followed me everywhere I went, from Italy to Greece to Spain to France to Germany to Amsterdam to San Marino to Portugal---from big city to small village, discos and bars, I heard it everywhere—and I loved it! Bought “The Kick Inside” as soon as it came out, and have continued to get hold of each and every KB album, and CD ever since.  

I'm looking for detailed info, not necessarily reviews or opinions.  Where can I read the background or ‘history' of each of the  tracks or albums.  Things like what influenced K, what the  meaning of a song or lyric may be.  Various interpretations.  There's a lot of anecdotal info out there, as well as bits and pieces of trivia, no less interesting, to be sure.  
But ideally, I'm hoping for info a bit more in-depth.  Some thoughtful expositions on the meaning behind the fantastic imagery in her lyrics, or her wonderful and skillful use of homonymy or what her inspiration initially was or what she had intended—any interpretation from anyone—from the artist herself to her multitude of fans to academics to literary pundits to stoners—as long as it's reflective.  

Example:  In “Them Heavy People”, from “Kick”, Gurdjieff is mentioned.  I had no idea who or what this was—what a thrill to find a wild and extremely interesting story behind this guy.  
But, I couldn't find anything regarding KB and Gurdjieff.  Did she subscribe to his views?  Did she see a correlation between “Gurdjieff” and “Jesu's” teachings?—Jesus is mentioned on the same line. What about Kashka? Was she someone K knew?  Was Tennyson the inspiration for ‘The Ninth Wave' ?  Which poem?  Are all the lyrics from side 2 of “The Hounds of Love” connected to Tennyson's poem?  Is Kate's pic on the sleeve a reference to Ophelia? Who meets her at the lift in “Moments of Pleasure”? The answers to these kinds of questions I the kind of thing I'm looking for.

I've gone through the questions here on All Experts, and some info was interesting, but not what I'm looking for.
Basically, I'd like to read comprehensive analyses, valid interpretations of the lyrics, the concepts behind the album, and the inspiration behind various songs—especially the earlier works.

Is there any such information out there?

Thanks for your help!  

Answer
Hello JP,

There are two websites I'd recommend to you. The first is Cloudbusting (http://children.ofthenight.org/cloudbusting/cloudbusting.html) where you'll find information about all the albums and tracks from Kate herself, compiled from interviews she's given.

The second website is GaffaWeb, and particularly the section The Dreaming and Moments, in which interesting posts of the Lovehounds Mailing List about the albums and songs have been compiled. You can find it here: http://gaffa.org/dreaming/ and here: http://gaffa.org/moments/

I hope this is helpful for you.

Kind regards,

Birgitte