nrc@cbema.att.COM (Neal R Caldwell, Ii) (03/05/90)
My draft of annotations to the song "Moving" will follow. Please let
me know what you think. The remarks in brackets indicate specific
places where I'd like suggestions or further information.
This idea hasn't gone over terribly well. Jenn Turney has been the
only person to offer information so far (thanks Jenn). Fortunately
Jenn dug some interesting information from the archives and I found
some interesting stuff in my own files.
==================================
MOVING
HISTORY
_Moving_ appeared for the first time on _The Kick
Inside_, Kate's first release. It later appeared as the
B side to the second single from that album, _The Man
With the Child in His Eyes_.
The Kick Inside.....................EMC 3223......02/17/78
The Kick Inside (picture disc).....EMPC 3223......02/17/78
The Man With the Child in His Eyes/
Moving...EMI 2806......05/28/78
BACKGROUND
"_Moving_ is a tribute to Lindsay Kemp, the dance and
mime performer whose highly influential show,
_Flowers_ (based on texts of Jean Genet), Kate
attended when she was 15 or 16. Kemp's use of
gesture without sound -- what Kate calls "expressive"
mime, as opposed to the Marcel Marceau-tradition's
"mime of illusion" -- made a profound impression on
her, and within another few months she had begun
studying under Kemp. After Kemp left for Australia
Kate went on to work with several other dance
instructors at the Dance Centre in Covent Garden, but
she has always referred to Kemp as the first and
foremost influence on her use of movement as an
expressive vehicle in her musical performances."
- Andrew Marvick
"[Lindsay Kemp] taught me that you can express with
your body -- and when your body is awake so is your
mind. He'd put you into emotional situations, some
of them very heavy. Like he'd say, 'Right, you're
all now going to become sailors drowning, and there
are waves curling up around you.' And everyone would
just start screaming."
- Kate
March 1978
Interview by Steve Clarke.
It has been speculated by some that Kate had a "crush"
on Kemp, though there is no evidence of this beyond the
song's lyrics. In any case, Kemp has been a tremendous
influence on Kate throughout her career.
In the thirteenth issue of the Kate Bush Club newsletter
(summer of 1983) Kate writes about visiting Kemp while
traveling to promote _The Dreaming_:
"It was a very interesting trip -- we went to Rome,
and as Lindsay Kemp was visiting at the time, we got
a chance to see Lindsay, and we had a lovely
evening. He cooked us a meal, and after we were so
full that we could hardly move, he got out boxes of
his old photos and we fingered each one with magical
memories: shots of _Flowers_ from The Collegiate
Theatre, the first time I saw Lindsay perform.
Lindsay dressed as Mr.Punch, leaping for joy. I
remember the theatre being full of adults rather
than children, and all of us shouting "Look behind
you!" and "Oh, no, you don't!" Adults transported
to childhood in a matter of moments -- but that's the
craft of Lindsay's magic. Fond memories spread
across the floor -- the passionate and dramatic,
Lindsay's shows in photo form. We carefully put
them all back in their boxes, a farewell dance and
a big kiss goodbye."
This is all particularly appropriate since Kate had by
this time begun a shift from performance-style videos,
which clearly bore the mark of Kemp's inspiration,
towards more film-inspired videos.
"My videos are more film-influenced now. When I
first started making videos, I was so obviously
theatrically and dance-influenced. A lot of that
was from Lindsay Kemp and dance teachers with whom
I had been working. Gradually the more involved I
got in video, the process of making films, the more
I've swung around to filmmaking. It's a beautiful
discipline, dance, and it can be lovely, but I guess
I'm getting for more into filmmaking now."
- Kate
Option (March 1990)
_The Insights and Sounds of
Kate Bush_
by Maria Montgomery Sarnoff
[Am I going too far afield here?]
[Hasn't there been some recent speculation that _Wow_
might also be inspired by Kemp?]
ANNOTATIONS
MOVING
Words and Music By Kate Bush
The sounds heard during the beginning and end of the song
are "whale song", the sounds made by whales underwater.
[Does anyone know _why_ Kate put this in there?]
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
[What does she mean? Is she asking Kemp to try to
"fall" for her in spite of his homosexuality?]
(Chorus)
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
The lily has long been considered a symbol of purity,
innocence or more specifically the Virgin Mary (ref.
Barbara Walker's _The Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and
Secrets_ and Stephen Friar's _A Dictionary of
Heraldry_). From this we can conclude that she is at
least saying, "You stir passion in me."
Some might take the metaphor further and say that this is
her first experience with this sort of passion -- the
deflowering of her soul, if you will. The passion found
in songs known to have been written well before _Moving_,
_Passing Through Air_ for example, would seem to refute
this.
Moving liquid, yes, you are just as water
You flow around all that comes in your way
Don't think it over, it always takes you over
And sets your spirit dancing
[What does she mean? "You flow around all that comes
in your way"? What is she saying about Kemp here?]
(Chorus)
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
PERFORMERS
Drums: Stuart Elliot
Bass: David Paton
Guitars: Ian Bairnson
Electric Piano: Duncan MacKay
SOURCES
Dave Armstrong
Richard Caldwell
Jenn Turney
Doug Alan*
Keith Patrick DeWeese*
Andrew Marvick*
* Author of material from archive
==============================================================
"Don't drive too slowly." Richard Caldwell
AT&T Network Systems
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(614) 860-2206barger@ARISTOTLE.ILS.NWU.EDU (Jorn Barger) (03/05/90)
To Richard Caldwell: wow! congratulations on a thorough job well done! I think you've won the job of complete-annotator, but I may continue thru at my speeded-up pace of a side at a time, maybe an album per month... Re "flow around all that comes in your way"-- I see grace and charm, zen non-resistance... --jorn