The song Kate Bush found “very difficult” to write
Even the most established and experienced artists sometimes struggle to complete their creations. The Beach Boys used up 90 hours of tape while concocting their 1966 hit ‘Good Vibrations’. ‘Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da’ took 42 hours to record, despite being one of the most hated songs in The Beatles’ catalogue. Whether due to physical restraints or creative blocks, artists often struggle to realise their initial artistic vision for a song fully, and Kate Bush is no exception.
After capturing the attention and admiration of Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour with a demo tape, Bush began carving out a place for herself as one of the most innovative artists in the pop realm. With her debut single ‘Wuthering Heights’, she became the first woman to claim a number one UK single with a self-penned song, winning over audiences with her wavering vocals and literary lyricism.
From there, she pioneered art-pop with swirling synth soundscapes. She was a true visionary, dreaming up strange ideas for music videos and live performances and, somehow, executing each of them seamlessly. But even Bush sometimes struggled to get her creative juices flowing. When it came to writing ‘The Big Sky’, the final single from her iconic 1985 album Hounds of Love, Bush once admitted that she struggled to complete the song.
As usual, Bush had a clear idea for the track, but she couldn’t quite achieve it in practice. “‘Big Sky’ was very difficult to write,” she once told Richard Skinner on Radio 1, “I knew what I wanted to finish up with, but I didn’t seem to be able to get there! We had three different versions and eventually it just kind of turned into what it did, thank goodness.”
After playing with the song and pulling in collaborators like Killing Joke’s Martin Glover on bass and her brother, Paddy, on the didgeridoo, Bush was finally able to get ‘The Big Sky’ close to her vision for the song. The final recording of the track featured prominent drums and a punchy bass, the latter of which Del Palmer suggested was essential to figuring out the song.
“He plays that particular style that’s just perfect for that kind of track,” Palmer told Musician, praising Glover’s contributions to the track, “That was very much a case of getting the right person for the right thing on the right track. Horses for courses.” They certainly had found the right bassist in Glover, whose playing truly grounded the track.
The pounding instrumentation only served to enhance Bush’s characteristically airy vocals and lyrics, which find her gazing up at the sky, finding countries and characters in the clouds. “We’re looking at the big sky, honey,” she sings, “You want my reply? What was the question? I was looking at the big sky.” It’s easy to see her vision for the tune, for an instrumental that rolls like the clouds she describes.
After three attempts at the song and the genius recruitment of Glover on the bass, Bush had finally achieved the vision she had set out for ‘The Big Sky’. The track wouldn’t quite secure the same success or longevity as some of the other singles from Hounds of Love, such as ‘Running Up That Hill (A Deal From God)’, but it fit seamlessly into the feeling of the record and served as further proof of Bush’s ability to push through a creative block and execute her artistic vision.
