FEATURE:
Song of Summer in His Hand
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1980/PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush (from the book, KATE: Inside the Rainbow)
Delius from Kate Bush’s Never for Ever
___________
I have already put out a recent feature…
about Kate Bush’s Never for Ever, because I have ordered a copy of PROG that looks at the album on its fortieth anniversary - and I was able to learn quite a lot from it. I have written about Never for Ever before and focused on a few different songs. One such moment from the album that I have not investigated fully is Delius – or, with its subtitle, Delius (Song of Summer). In my last feature regarding the album, I focused on another song, Violin, but I think many people do not know about Never for Ever or, when they do play it, songs such as Babooshka, Army Dreamers, and Breathing are played. There is nary a weak track on Never for Ever, and there are so many different interesting sounds and vocal performances. As we know, Bush discovered the joys and opportunities the Fairlight C.M.I. provided, and this meant that she could open up her songwritring and add so many different sounds to the mix - even though she utilised the technology a little too late to completely infuse the album, one can hear its influence and power in several songs! There is an embarrassment of riches on Never for Ever regarding potential singles. I have covered this before, but aside from Babooshka, Breathing and Army Dreamers, I think The Infant Kiss, The Wedding List, or All We Ever Look For would have been great singles.
On The Kick Inside, and Lionheart of 1978, singles were released in the U.K. and others were released exclusively for other nations; as a way of reaching more territories and also putting out a range of songs. On Never for Ever, Bush stuck with three singles. Breathing featured The Empty Bullring as its B-side; Babooshka had Ran Tan Waltz as its B-side, whereas Army Dreamers featured Passing Through Air, and Delius. I think it is great that Bush released non-album tracks as B-sides and I feel Ran Tan Waltz is especially underrated. Maybe it was a missed opportunity not releasing more singles and having B-sides featuring great tracks like Violin, or maybe All We Ever Look For. I am glad the remarkable Delius made it onto the B-side of Army Dreamers. It is the second track on Never for Ever and it follows Babooshka. I love how the broken glass sound – producing using the Fairlight C.M.I. - then opens Delius. It was clear that Bush was becoming more experimental, not only regarding technology and sound, but the way she programmed albums and composed. Running the two songs together keeps the momentum going, but that glass sound also bridges the spirited Babooshka with the more choral and heavenly Delius – Bush also put in a sub-one minute song, Night Scented Stock, to bridge The Infant Kiss, and Army Dreamers.
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1980/PHOTO CREDIT: Andy Phillips
The ‘Delius’ is named for the English composer, Frederick Delius. It is quintessential Kate Bush that she would draw inspiration from a composer! Looking at the Kate Bush Encyclopaedia and we get some more information about the track:
“Song written by Kate Bush as a tribute to the English composer Frederick Delius. The song was inspired by Ken Russell's film Song of Summer, made for the BBC's programme Omnibus, which Kate had watched when she was ten years old. In his twenties, Delius contracted syphilis. When he became wheelchair bound as he became older, a young English admirer Eric Fenby volunteered his services as unpaid amanuensis. Between 1928 and 1933 he took down his compositions from dictation, and helping him revise earlier works.The song was released on the album Never For Ever and as the B-side of the single Army Dreamers.
A music video for 'Delius' exists, which was shown on television at least twice: during a Dr. Hook television special on 7 April 1980 and during the Russell Harty Show on 25 November 1980. The setting is a quiet, lazy English riverbank filled with reeds and grass. By the bank is a wheelchair-ridden old man, his body covered by a throw-rug, his head obscured by a large yellow disk resembling a sun. This figure presents an image of Delius much like the one which was depicted in the BBC television film by Ken Russell. Gliding along on the river is a young swan-girl, represented by Kate in a gossamer white gown with wings”.
I do love the lyrics of the song: “Ooh, he's a moody old man/Song of summer in his hand/Ooh, he's a moody old man/...in...in...in his hand/...in his hand/"Hmm."/Ooh, ah, ooh, ah/Delius/Delius amat/Syphilus/Deus/Genius, ooh/To be sung of a summer night on the water/Ooh, on the water/"Ta, ta-ta!/Hmm/Ta, ta-ta/In B, Fenby!"/To be sung of a summer night on the water/Ooh, on the water/On the water”. I think the real power comes from Bush’s voice, which floats and flies through the song. It is one of her most beautiful performances and, with Paddy Bush and Ian Bairnson providing bass vocals, there is a sumptuous blend! Percussion is provided by a Roland (and Preston Heyman), and there is some nice sitar from Paddy Bush. With Paddy Bush playing the role of Delius, and the song detailing the decline of Delius’ health, it is an amazing song that is both richly detailed and simple. A fitting tribute to a brilliant composer, I think Delius is one of the best tracks from Never for Ever. Even two tracks into Never for Ever, one is truly startled by very different songs that sort of set you back! I want to finish by quoting from an interview in 1980, where Bush was asked about the sonic difference on Never for Ever (compared to her previous albums) and the story behind Delius:
“I: Has a great effort gone into the sound of this album, not just the music but the sound?
K: Yes. I thinks sounds are so important because that is what music is - it is the sound of the music - and the way sounds mix and move together is incredible. It is again so similar to colours and to have a pure colour and pure sounds are very similar things. In many ways I think we saw a lot of the sounds a visual things - this is the way I often interpret music, I see it visually, and so in many ways you'd interpret a mountain in the picture into a very pure guitar sound or whatever. I think everyone was very aware of sounds and the animation of it and how a certain sound could imply so much more at one piece in the song.
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1980/PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush
I: You are the co-producer of this album with Jon Kelly. I suppose this then was your job in that regard, the direction of the sound?
K: Yes. The whole thing was so exciting for me, to actually have control of my baby for the first time. Something that I have been working for and was very nervous of too, obviously, because when you go in for the first time you really wonder if you are capable - you hope you are. Every time that we tried something and it worked it just made you feel so much braver. Of course it doesn't always work, but everyone helping and concentrating on the music, it's such a beautiful thing, it really is a wonderful experience - everyone's feelings going into the songs that you wrote perhaps in a little room somewhere in London, you know, it's all coming out on the tape.
I: From "Babooshka" we mix literally quite nicely into "Delius (Song of Summer)" and this is the one which contains references I must confess I don't understand. I don't know who Delius was or for that matter what Fenby is?
K: Delius was an incredible classical composer, an English one, he was from Bradford, I think and he was Fred, Frederick Delius. He was a wonderful composer and he in fact got neurosyphilis, which completely ruined his body; he became totally paralysed and he could no longer play the piano or write his music. I don't know whether he was a very bad tempered man before, but during his illness he became bad tempered. From that time on he lived his life in a wheelchair and he needed someone to write his music for him.
For years he kept getting young writers coming along who'd meet him and sit down and try to transcribe his writing, but he had no voice. He couldn't sing. He had no pitch in his voice, no real sense of timing. He would sit there and just grunt like going aargh, aargh, and the writer would just not know where to start. He didn't know what key it was in, the time signature, what notes the guy was ginging. And Delius would not tell him, he'd just say write it down. All these guys ran away, they couldn't take it, it was too much. One day a gentleman called Eric Fenby (who is in the song) turned up. He tried to get through this barrier until eventually he could understand everything Delius was saying. Fenby stayed with him until his death and he wrote all his music out for him. Through Fenby, Delius' music came alive again. It was such a beautiful concept - this man whose body was almost completely useless and yet inside him all this life and colour and freedom. It was only through Mr. Fenby that it could come out. It's such a beautiful story, he really need a song”.
Forty years after Never for Ever was released, I think its influence and importance has inspired a new generation of songwriters. I will write another Never for Ever in the future, but I wanted to focus on Delius, and there is so much to love about it! I especially enjoy Kate Bush’s vocal and how the song springs, swoops and moves the senses. It is a wonderful song on an album that hosts…
MANY unique gems.