3 great lesser-known Kate Bush songs

In the many articles I’ve seen of late examining Kate Bush’s catalogue (as a result of ‘Running Up That Hill’'s appearance on Stranger Things) I haven’t seen many mentions of these three songs, all of which are a) great, b) representative of her oeuvre, and c) missing from her The Whole Story kind-of greatest hits compilation.

I only encountered these songs recently myself. I’ve never been Bushy’s biggest fan, but as with many artists, I’ve always suspected I should make some effort to listen to more of her catalogue. So when I conveniently caught Covid earlier in the year I lay in bed and listened to as much of her music as I could bear before it all got ‘a bit much’.

I’d say what these three songs have in common - apart from not really sounding like anyone else - is a mischievousness that some of the later, peak-Bush work perhaps lacks.

Almost certainly related: these three songs were all released before she was 21!

1) 'Moving' (from The Kick Inside)

This is the first track (and her second single) from her first album, released in 1978 when she was nineteen. That sounds startlingly young, until you learn that she wrote some of the songs several years before the album’s release.

One of the most notable things about ‘Moving’ is that, already, her entire vibe is in place: it’s ethereal, somewhat spooky-ooky, but melodic with it - while retaining an unpredictability that catches you off guard at first, but which makes it more rewarding with repeated listens.

Apparently it was inspired by her dance teacher, who was a formative influence. The above performance from her tour in 1979 (her only live dates for 35 years) illustrates how seemingly fully-formed she was as an artist already.

2) 'Oh to Be in Love' (from The Kick Inside)

From the same album, this one ends somewhat anticlimactically after such a delightful interplay of piano, harpsichord and bass alongside Kate’s swooping vocals. Plus there are some great male backing vocals; “oh-oh-oh-to-be-ee-ee-in-love” really gets stuck in your head.

I also enjoy the lyrical contrast; ‘to be in love’ is set against ‘and never get out again’, and throughout there’s this desperate sense of wanting to stop the passage of time:

Slipping into tomorrow too quick,
Yesterday always too good to forget.
Stop the swing of the pendulum! Let us through!

Like many of the best lyrics, they look faintly ridiculous when read in isolation.

3) 'Symphony in Blue' (from Lionheart)

This is the first track from her second album, released in, er, 1978. By this point she’d had one of the year’s biggest hits in ‘Wuthering Heights’, so it was quite a twelve months.

While much of Lionheart comprised songs she’d already composed, ‘Symphony in Blue’ was a new one. It’s probably my favourite of the three here, but it tends to go unmentioned in countdowns of her best work. The lyrics contrast the colour blue - which she seems to associate with her creative muse - with red, which she relates to danger, love, jealousy and the like. She mentions God, sex, meaninglessness, fear of death, all that good stuff.

And yet the song retains a lightness of touch and a playfulness that balances out the lyrical themes. I think it’s a masterpiece.

Of course no mention of Kate Bush should ever go without a reminder of Alan Partridge's medley from Comic Relief 1999:

A zero-engagement Tweet I refuse to give up on

Until next time, or never again,

Stuart