Working on a Kate Bush medley

Let's see what becomes of this musical project

Photography by Gered Mankowitz

Dear hopeful reader,

I fell in love once with the “Elephant Love Medley” from Moulin Rouge—a film I may or may not have seen. But it may be the time to (re)watch it. Still an immigrant then struggling with English, French, and Russian—what a mélange or, dare I say, medley—I didn’t know at the time what a medley even was. And embarrassingly, I had to look it up again recently to make sure it is what I think it is. I can’t bear to humiliate myself, except right now by admitting that!

In one of my recent posts, I mentioned I got back a piano keyboard. I want to re-learn how to play. I admit, it’s been confusing so far. The way the notes are taught in the US is different than in Canada, for one. Also, my brain is weirdly wired and foggy and impatient. Following instructions and me don’t mix so well.

For instance, as I’m visually and sonically inclined, I can’t follow recipes. I’d rather look at the end result then recreate it through intuition, or whatever it is. Somehow my hands know what to do and it works out. When I’m listening to a track, I hear the notes in my mind’s eye without any conception of what they are and what they mean. My vocals follow suit, by some knowing, although not always great with more vocally complex songs, as I need to practice, practice, practice to strengthen my voice box.

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Professionally, I can be confined to rules and regulations. Creatively, I need freedom to improvise and produce. Sometimes I toy with the keyboard, playing something that doesn’t yet exists. Other times, I try “Shenhua” from Shenmue by sonically matching the keys, without any notes in front of me. A fun process and challenge, but drawn-out! And I’m not sure I’ll learn for good that way, since I do want to be able to play other songs and compose my own.

My first music goal would be to learn to play several Kate Bush songs before attempting original music. As I started this post with a medley, my plan is to mash up five Bush songs then do an audio or video recording.

Respectively, they are:

• Wuthering Heights

• Them Heavy People

• Moving

• Hammer Horror

• Running Up That Hill

And the medley will include the following lyric lines:

Out on the wily, windy moors
We’d roll and fall in green
You had a temper like my jealousy
Too hot, too greedy
How could you leave me
When I needed to possess you?
I hated you, I loved you too

Bad dreams in the night
They told me I was going to lose the fight
Leave behind my wuthering, wuthering
Wuthering Heights

*

Rolling the ball, rolling the ball, rolling the ball to me

They arrived at an inconvenient time
I was hiding in a room in my mind
They made me look at myself, I saw it well
I’d shut the people out of my life

So now I take the opportunities
Wonderful teachers ready to teach me
I must work on my mind, for now I realise
Every one of us has a heaven inside

*

Moving stranger, does it really matter?
As long as you’re not afraid to feel
Touch me, hold me, how my open arms ache!
Try to fall for me

How I’m moved, how you move me
With your beauty’s potency
You give me life, please don’t let me go
You crush the lily in my soul

*

You stood in the belltower
But now you’re gone
So who knows all the sights of Notre Dame?

They’ve got the stars for the gallant hearts
I’m the replacement for your part
But all I want to do is forget
You, friend

Hammer Horror, Hammer Horror
Won’t leave me alone
The first time in my life
I keep the lights on to ease my soul
Hammer Horror, Hammer Horror
Won’t leave it alone

I don’t know
Is this the right thing to do?

*

You
It’s you and me
It’s you and me, won’t be unhappy

Oh, come on, baby
Oh, come on, darlin’
Let me steal this moment from you now
Oh, come on, angel
Come on, come on, darlin’
Let’s exchange the experience

And if I only could
I’d make a deal with God
And I’d get him to swap our places
I’d be runnin’ up that road
Be runnin’ up that hill
With no problems

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I adore all Kate Bush songs. Every one of them. But these ones I can actually sing, or could in time. Starting with “Wuthering Heights” is significant because it’s Kate’s debut single that took the world by storm, and does to this day.

For me, it was the first song I heard by her, and I was enamored. Then I read the book, and I was enamored. Then I got close with a boy, and I was enamored. Nothing flourished, but I remember that time to be full of passion and excitement and wondering and all other kinds of feelings—aliveness, true and pure.

Ending with “Running Up That Hill” makes sense too. That song made an appearance in Stranger Things not long ago, and people went bananas over it. It’s heartfelt. Those who forgot remembered her again. Those who never did regretted not knowing her sooner. She fought hard for this song, and she deserves to be celebrated again. Her whole body of work does.

I played this song way too many times, especially when I ached to understand how others felt and what they experienced, and vice versa. I remember being so guarded and protective of my feelings when I could have just been vulnerable and honest with others. And maybe they too could have been with me. The defenses are all in our head and we can unlearn what doesn’t serve our relationships and relearn to love like children and dogs. I’m still learning.

I’ve been practicing singing the songs every chance I get. I would say I’m the weakest at “Moving.” The way Bush ascended and descended her vocals so fast with words “move me” and “potency” is more difficult for me, but not impossible. “Them Heavy People” has been the easiest to sing, although it also has vocally challenging moments, with the rises and falls.

I made a very raw recording of the “Them Heavy People” excerpt, sans piano for now. And of course the quality isn’t that great, so please don’t laugh too hard at me. But it’s okay if you do! I’ll laugh at myself with you! Haha. It’s just to record and show my progress with this project thus far. I’ll invest in a better audio recorder in time.

I sound a bit shy and restrained. How I am in real life, unless I’m surrounded by people I’m fully comfortable with. But even then. Perhaps eventually I’ll unfurl more theatrically with this project, but still with my own style. I kind of like how the word “us” accidentally came out as “ahahs.” A beautiful mistake.

Has learning new tricks or relearning old ones been challenging for you? What have you been working on lately? Pray tell. Better yet, show me.

Yours hopefully,

Nadia

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