Oh, god. The other two I can already map out a paragraph in my head about, vaguely. This one is a little harder to crack. Well, the name's an obvious allusion to the horror films from Hammer which were popular in the 70's in England! They also inspired the Hinchcliffe years of Doctor Who, as we've talked about. Kate isn't really singing about that though. This song's just about an acting ghost haunting their understudy after they got killed, and said understudy afraid to turn on the lights. Which is, of course, represented by a dude in tight pants with a hood over his face picking up Kate Bush and doing some real goddamn suggestive movements, always behind her, always haunting. I love the touch of Kate having a veil on in the first verses of the song, and then taking it off in the second. Whoever did the effects on this video, though, should have been told there's more effects than motion blur. Come to think of it, Kate's breakout hit "Wuthering Heights" also had a lot of motion blur in it... and was also inspired by ghost stuff from the actual story of Wuthering Heights. Weird. I guess 1978 Kate Bush was really into ghost stories. Come to think of it, that would explain why she took to the piece of media which inspired our next song. Jump on ahead to the 80's in our magical music machine, as it's time for...
I don't think there's an official video for this song, but I really like the feel of the one I picked. Yes, Get Out Of My House is inspired by The Shining... specifically the novel and not the Kubrick movie, according to these quotes. That surprises me, considering the Kubrick movie would have been more contemporary. Oh well. Either way, this song is a bonkers closer to a bonkers album called The Dreaming. Can we talk about that for a moment? The Dreaming is the very first Kate Bush album I heard, and it's absolutely bonkers. It's Kate Bush going full-on experimental, and you can see a real wild evolution in her work from the early days of The Kick Inside and Lionheart (which had Hammer Horror as its closer), to Never For Ever, to The Dreaming, and then to Hounds Of Love which everyone says is the best Kate Bush album. More on that in a moment, but The Dreaming being absolutely out there fits with a tribute song to The Shining. October may not be the best month for it. I always associate it with the winter, and those guitar and bass riffs just chill my soul and make me think of frigid winter wind. You can feel it in that video, even, watching Shelley Duvall open the window out into that wasteland of snow. Then, of course, we go full tilt into madness with Kate singing against some sort of ghost, facing towards the wind, and turning into a mule before the song devolves into donkey braying. What the fuck? This is how Kate's most wild and out there album ends, with donkey braying and those cold guitar riffs blowing you a cold kiss before you leave. God. I love it. I've saved the arguable spookiest for last, though. We're going into the consensus best Kate Bush album ever, so hang on to your hats and get warm. It's about to get even chillier...
Now we're into the wild shit. Waking The Witch is part of a larger suite of songs from the second half of Hounds Of Love, called The Ninth Wave. It's all about being lost adrift at sea in cold waters and the ordeal that takes on someone. It definitely takes on that chilly vibe that Get Out Of My House had... and I have to give special mention to the song that precedes this, Under Ice. God, that's chilly. So, moving on from that? Waking The Witch starts nice and mellow with a bunch of dreamy voices telling us to wake up. Nice and pleasant... but all hell breaks loose. "Look who's here to see you!", we're cheerfully told, before what I can only assume is Lord Fucking Satan himself is speaking to us. Kate's speech is all garbled, she's singing about red red roses, there's Latin and church bells. Good CHRIST what is happening? We've ratcheted up in intensity. This is a nightmare, quite literally, from the person lost at sea... and it's all about witches and burning and whatnot. It's pretty unnerving and wild, and it bombards you at full tilt from the peaceful voices earlier in the song. What I'm trying to say is, it's pretty great. That was my attempt to be a music critic. I think I did okay? Maybe. If nothing else, you got to listen to what I think are some really goddamned good songs. If this makes you want to check out more Kate Bush, then please do! I'd suggest Never For Ever, The Dreaming, or Hounds Of Love for a starter. Those are the ones I like best and when you put them all together there's an arc of creativity to them. Also spookiness. I didn't mention anything from Never For Ever but its closer is a downer about nuclear armageddon which is quite haunting in its own right, so there's that. Anyway, enjoy Kate Bush. Next time might be a movie again. Might. We'll see.
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