Kate Bush – Think Bensonium

Day 361: Hammer Horror, Kate Bush

Roderick Benson — Mon, 15 Mar 2021 00:00:54 +0000

Countdown to the year anniversary of Covid Island Discs T -6

So this song was a hit from Kate Bush’s album Lionheart. Is is a particularly intense and musically dramatic song and the accompanying video has all the Kate Bush trademarks including great choreography and the persistent image trace of her moving arms. The guy dressed all in black with a black hood adds a menacing touch to the video to match the menacing feel the lyrics of the song also create.

The song itself is based around the film production company Hammer which is based in London and produced many classic horror movies including Baron Victor Frankenstein, Count Dracula, and the Mummy, which Hammer reintroduced to audiences by filming them in colour for the first time. Apparently Kate Bush used to supply screams for horror movies so I wonder if she actually worked for Hammer in her early days?

Day 289: Babooshka, Kate Bush

Roderick Benson — Sun, 03 Jan 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Another classic from Kate Bush. I remember when this song was released as the radio track for her “Never for Ever” album. Certainly this song tells an interesting story of a woman “who wanted to test her husband’s fidelity”. The word “babooshka” means an elderly Russian or Polish woman especially one who is a grandmother.

Day 220: Blow away, Kate Bush

Roderick Benson — Mon, 26 Oct 2020 00:00:00 +0000

And here is the song I wrote about yesterday when I posted the one of Sandy Denny’s works. A song about what happens when one sheds this mortal coil. Sadly I cannot find a live version of this song so the album version will have to do.

Day 201: Wuthering Heights, Kate Bush

Roderick Benson — Tue, 06 Oct 2020 23:00:00 +0000

This week I am returning to what I would call my musical centre. There are few people and groups that really dominate my collection and Kate definitely is in there. This really was the song that launched her long and distinguished career. An amazing and let’s not be honest about it, an absolutely stunning woman.

Day 160: Don’t give up, Kate Bush & Peter Gabriel

Roderick Benson — Thu, 10 Sep 2020 16:41:52 +0000

When I turned 21 my lovely Seaforth Fellowship friends bought me a CD player: a cutting edge piece of tech all those years ago. They also bought me my first CD to go in it which was Peter Gabriel’s album “So”. I still have the CD in my collection and this beautiful duet between Kate Bush and Peter Gabriel is on the album (I mean CD).

Day 111: This woman’s work, Kate Bush

Roderick Benson — Tue, 08 Sep 2020 13:02:36 +0000

A set of songs from great female artists would not be complete without another song from Kate Bush. This song is from an older Kate Bush but once again has her beautiful voice to give this song a hauntingly sad quality. Thankfully the video suggests that the story has a happy ending.

Day 6: Wow by Kate Bush

Rbenson — Sat, 15 Aug 2020 20:43:38 +0000

I was a clumsy child. My life nearly ended as a toddler when I fell into a swimming pool and all but drowned to the point of being clinically dead. Then in 1978 I managed to get hit by a car in the UK and ended up in hospital with a broken pelvis for 6 weeks (only a very minor hairline fracture I might add). As a 12 year old just getting my first pulse of teenage hormones, I remember falling in love with all the nurses that cared for me. I still have such a clear image of them making the beds in the morning while the radio blasted out the two big hits at the time. The first was the song Wow by Kate Bush (another entertainer who had lots of teenage male fans not just because she produced amazing music). The second song? You’ll find out tomorrow but I guarantee you will never guess it.