The song Kate Bush wrote “about the music business”
Kate Bush entered the music industry as a teenager, and her rise to fame was extremely straightforward. The talented singer-songwriter would likely be called a ‘nepo baby’ if she released ‘Wuthering Heights’ as her debut single in 2023, given that family friend and Pink Floyd member David Gilmour offered assistance when securing Bush’s deal with EMI Records.
Bush didn’t spend years performing in empty rooms and never needed to drive in a van to the other side of the country for a show after finishing work. Fortunately for her, EMI Records were alerted to her extraordinary voice and signed her at 16. While they didn’t allow her immediately release music until she was 18, Bush was already destined for superstardom.
The young singer remained focused on her education and writing music during this two-year period. When she finally released her debut single, ‘Wuthering Heights’ went straight to number one, and her days of anonymity ended forever.
Perhaps it’s due to her unlikely route to the top, but Bush has always had a strange relationship with the art of performing. Famously, she didn’t play a headline show for almost 35 years before returning in 2014 for a series of sold-out dates at the Hammersmith Apollo in London.
It was never Bush’s grand plan to never perform again, but she became too consumed with the recording process of her work that she didn’t have time to even entertain the idea of touring. Before she knew it, decades had passed, and Bush had not been on the stage.
However, as early as her second album, Bush was already lamenting being a live performer in her work. On ‘Wow’, which appeared in 1978’s Lionheart, Bush writes from the perspective of an artist constantly being praised, but that counts for nothing when they are left to perform alone on a desolate stage.
She concludes the track by singing, “We’re all alone on the stage tonight, We’re all alone, On the stage, Tonight.” Bush later explained the meaning behind ‘Wow’ in her newsletter: “‘Wow’ is a song about the music business, not just rock music but show business in general, including acting and theatre. People say that the music business is about ripoffs, the rat race, competition, strain, people trying to cut you down, and so on, and though that’s all there, there’s also the magic.”
Discussing the song from a musical perspective, Bush noted how ‘Wow’ was influenced by Pink Floyd, stating: “It was sparked off when I sat down to try and write a Pink Floyd song, something spacey; Though I’m not surprised no-one has picked that up, it’s not really recognisable as that, in the same way as people haven’t noticed that ‘Kite’ is a Bob Marley song, and ‘Don’t Push Your Foot On The Heartbrake’ is a Patti Smith song.”
Unlike other songs about the music industry, ‘Wow’ doesn’t shout about the inequalities of show business; instead, it helps the listener understand a performer’s perspective.
