Top Ten Songs by Kate Bush

Apparently, there are some people who still confuse Mariah Carey’s hiccupping yelps with having a multi-octave register. And then there’s the rest of us who listen to a pop singer who can really hit the high notes that Mariah has such trouble actually singing. Kate Bush doesn’t just have an infinitely superior voice to Mariah Carey-as well as just about every other pop singer-but her songs are tremendously more complex as well as listenable. In fact, I’d rather spend eternity in hell listening to Kate Bush’s worst song than two minutes listening to Mariah Carey’s best song. Don’t mean to pick on Mariah Carey especially, but when you’re the biggest selling female singer of the past two decadesâÂ?¦.

10. The Big Sky

A fun, fun song. Incredible drumming sets the stage of a driving, throbbing song that gradually builds on itself, adding in instruments, voices, and sounds until it explodes in an orgy of delight. If you get the chance, watch the video for The Big Sky. It is simply one of most entertaining of those everything-but-kitchen-sink type videos ever made.

9. This Woman’s Work

A truly heartbreaking song. When you talk about sad songs, you generally talk about the same thing that makes sad movies, which in a word is manipulation. The subject may be sad or the notes that the writer chooses have over the years become emotional buttons that can be used to turn any subject into a sad song. This song is sad because there is real emotion; it’s an emotional powerhouse.

8. Hounds of Love.

There’s nothing particular standout about Hounds of Love, but it’s one of those songs that worms its way into your consciousness and it’s difficult to shake it loose. And if you watch the video, you simply can never listen to the song again without that image of Kate tangoing at the party running through your head.

7. Army Dreamers

A delicate little song about that most indelicate of topics. Army dreamers are those kids who grow up buying into the ideological reasons for wasting their lives defending the intensely personal reasons that leaders not willing to sacrifice the lives of their own children go to war over. An Army dreamer is a kid who gets killed in a faraway land instead of growing old enough to watch his own son live in a world where dumbass wars don’t take place anymore. What a waste, indeed.

6. Babooshka

A cool little song with a story. What happens when a who woman thinks her man is cheating on her sends him a lust letter to test his fidelity? Listen and find out.

5. Cloudbusting

Cloudbusting was turned into a video that is actually a sort of mini-movie starring Donald Sutherland! How many songs do you ever get a chance to hear that are inspired by a little-known psychoanalyst? The song should very much be in vogue today as it has some elements to it-if you know the story and watch the video-about being watched by an overly protective government. Also great to listen to, however.

4. Experiment IV

I hesitate to even mention what this song is about for fear that our fearmongering leaders will look into it, but alas I figure that particular cat has been out of the bag for decades. How can you make such a fantastically catchy tune out of a song about creating a weapon out of sound? Listen to Experiment IV and you won’t die; you’ll just wish anyone currently involved in a government program to study the viability of such a weapon would.

3. Them Heavy People

The first time I ever saw Kate Bush was on Saturday Night Live before they even had the Live part in the title. It was just known as Saturday Night at that point. Here was this strange woman in a trench coat singing about rolling a ball and dancing in a herky-jerky fashion. Great song, though and I didn’t even realize it was her after I’d heard other Kate Bush songs many years later.

2. Suspended in Gaffa

A wonderful little song that has an exotic feel to it, as does much of Kate Bush’s music. Great use of strings and really showcases Kate’s voice. You’ve got to love a song that manages to reference Pandora and her box and Alice and her looking-glass within a space of six words.

1. Running Up That Hill

Often confused due to its alternative-and original-title “A Deal With God.” To give an example of how ideology affects consumer choice, Bush was forced to change the title over fears by EMI execs that American radio stations would be hesitant to play a song titled “A Deal with God.” Never mind the fact that the sponsors of American radio stations are far more concerned about playing songs that require listeners to think; if you aren’t thinking, you’re more likely to be susceptible to the subliminal effects of even non-subliminal advertising. “Running Up That Hill” has a hypnotic drumming beat that captures you and brings you deeper inside this, well, perfect song that isn’t about swapping places with God, as so many people think, but is about asking God to let you swap places with someone else so that maybe you can come to a deeper understanding. (And by the way, the video for Running Up that Hill is the best “dance number” video of all time.)