‘Rubberband Girl’: The album opener Kate Bush called a “silly pop song”
Pop music has often been reduced to “silly” by audiences and critics alike. Sometimes, it’s more than deserving of that adjective. The songs that permeate modern radio can often seem silly and superficial, with their manufactured, catchy choruses and endlessly repeated lyrics. But some pop artists have expanded far beyond that descriptor, pushing the genre into new artistic realms. Take, for example, Kate Bush.
From the moment she released her first single, the blistering ‘Wuthering Heights’, it was clear that Bush wasn’t just another silly popstar. She infused her lyrics with literary influences, allowed her vocals to wander high and low at will, and created an art-pop sound that was entirely her own. With her debut, she became the first woman to secure a number one with a song she had written herself, but the acclaim didn’t stop there.
Bush continued to forge baroque pop tracks for a new era in popular music, allowing strings and synths to swirl around one another with abandon. In the process, she became one of the most important and influential figures in the genre’s history. Even now, over four decades after she took her first steps into the industry, Bush remains a reference point for modern-day pop artists such as Caroline Polachek and Lady Gaga.
Bush may have earned her legacy by infusing pop with a new sense of art and the avant-garde, but that didn’t stop her from penning the occasional silly pop song. In fact, she opened her seventh album, The Red Shoes, with exactly that. ‘Rubberband Girl’ was a bouncy pop track about picking yourself back up when you fall.
“If I could learn to twang like a rubberband,” Bush sings, “I’d be a rubberband girl.” The instrumentation that surrounds her is as springy and silly as her lyrics. Though there are glimpses at Bush’s more experimental approach to pop — in her strange vocalisations towards the end of the track, for example — it’s much more straightforward and silly than much of her work.
Bush wasn’t entirely sold on the song and even considered taking it off the record. “It is my least favourite track,” she admitted during a chat with Director’s Cut, suggesting that it didn’t feel as “interesting” as the other songs on the album. But ‘Rubberband Girl’ did make the cut, despite her doubts, and took up its place as the opener to The Red Shoes.
“I thought, at the same time, it was just a bit of fun and it felt like a good thing to go out with,” Bush explained, “It’s just a silly pop song really, I loved Danny Thompson’s bass on that, and of course Danny (McIntosh, Bush’s other half)’s guitar.” Between Thompson’s bass and the brass instruments, they had created an enchanting pop tune.
It’s easy to see why Bush was initially unsure about including the track on The Red Shoes. It’s not quite as interesting, instrumentally or thematically, as some of the other songs on the record, such as ‘And So Is Love’ or ‘Moments of Pleasure’. Still, this doesn’t take away from the merit of the song. It’s a near-perfect pop tune, and even the silliest songs have a place in music.
It also serves as proof that Bush really had mastered pop in its entirety. She had breathed new life into the genre, pushing it to progress, but she could also write a silly, straightforward hit too.
