FEATURE:
Vibes in the Sky Invite You to Dine
Returning to Kate Bush’s Blow Away (For Bill)
__________
A song considered to be…
one of the weakest on her third studio album, Never for Ever, I wanted to come back to the brilliant Blow Away (For Bill). Whilst it is not my favourite song from the album, it is a beautiful song that gets overlooked. The song has quite a sad backstory. Dedicated to lighting director Bill Duffield, he worked with Kate Bush and her team for The Tour of Life. On 2nd April, 1979, following a show at the Poole Arts Centre in Dorset, the equipment had been loaded up for the next date, and Duffield was having a last look around the stage area to make sure nothing had been left behind. An open panel was left in the flooring so, as Duffield crossed the stage, he fell seventeen feet onto a concrete floor under the stage. He was put on life support but died a week later. Barely in his twenties, it was a tragic loss and hit Bush hard. On 12th May, 1979, there was an In Aid of Bill Duffield concert in Hammersmith that included contributions from Peter Gabriel and Steve Harley. Before going into a bit more detail, the Kate Bush Encyclopedia collected some interviews where Bush discussed Blow Away (For Bill):
“'Blow Away' is a comfort for the fear of dying and for those of us who believe that music is perhaps an exception to the 'Never For Ever' rule. (Kate Bush Club newsletter, September 1980)
So there's comfort for the guy in my band, as when he dies, he'll go "Hi, Jimi!" It's very tongue-in-cheek, but it's a great thought that if a musician dies, his soul will join all the other musicians and a poet will join all the Dylan Thomases and all that.
None of those people [who have had near-death experiences] are frightened by death anymore. It's almost something they're looking forward to. All of us have such a deep fear of death. It's the ultimate unknown, at the same time it's our ultimate purpose. That's what we're here for. So I thought this thing about the death-fear. I like to think I'm coming to terms with it, and other people are too. The song was really written after someone very special died.
Although the song had been formulating before and had to be written as a comfort to those people who are afraid of dying, there was also this idea of the music, energies in us that aren't physical: art, the love in people. It can't die, because where does it go? It seems really that music could carry on in radio form, radio waves... There are people who swear they can pick up symphonies from Chopin, Schubert. We're really transient, everything to do with us is transient, except for these non-physical things that we don't even control... (Kris Needs, 'Lassie'. Zigzag (UK), November 1985)”.
When it comes to Never for Ever, Blow Away (For Bill) is not often discussed. I think the song boasts one of Bush’s best vocal performances on the album. The fact that she dedicated a song to Bill Duffield shows how much he meant to her. More than anything, the song is this unusual and fascinating glimpse into a musical afterlife.
The lyrics name-check departed musicians such as Sanny Denny and Marc Bolan. Bush debuted the song on 18th November, 1979 during a gig at the Royal Albert Hall to celebrate seventy-five years of the London Symphony Orchestra. This was the first and only performance of the song. The lyrics draw you in. You can picture these musicians together in Heaven (or another place) joined by the young Bill Duffield. Maybe Bush wanted to feel like her friend was being looked after following death or had this reward and company: “Our engineer had a different idea/From people who nearly died but survived/Feeling no fear of leaving their bodies here/And went to a room that was soon full of visitors/Hello. Minnie/Moony, Vicious/Vicious, Buddy Holly/Sandy Denny”. I can’t think of too many songs since Blow Away (For Bill) when it comes to the story and lyrics. I love the song and feel that it should be better regarded and played more. The third track on Never for Ever, it follows Delius (Song of Summer) and All We Ever Look For. A beautiful run of songs, they are ethereal and memorable. Never for Ever is a Kate Bush album that definitely should be heard by more people, as a lot of attention still surrounds other albums like Hounds of Love. Perhaps not as strong as Babooshka, Army Dreamers and Breathing, Blow Away (For Bill) is a brilliant song for Bill Duffield. It is definitely a moving and…
FITTING tribute.