FEATURE:
Kate Bush: The Deep Cuts
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in an outtake from the Hounds of Love cover shoot/PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush
Under the Ivy
__________
THIS is a track…
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1985
that was the B-side to one of Kate Bush’s best known and popular songs, Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God). Many might not consider Under the Ivy to be a deep cut in that sense. How many people still have the single from back in 1985? Whereas Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) was written one evening during the summer of 1983, Under the Ivy was written quickly after Hounds of Love had completed. Bush could have used another album track to provide the B-side but, clearly wanting something new, she recorded a song which elevates itself above B-side status. I have written about this song before but, as a deep cut that I rarely hear played or discussed, I often muse how it could have fitted onto Hounds of Love had it been written in time. I shall not repeat myself in terms of details and angles when it comes to this song. All I wanted to say that, as this is a track relatively unknown, it is well worth listening to. There was a video made for it – a live performance at Abbey Road Studios -, but it would be great to see it visualised somehow. Under the Ivy could have been a single on its own, and I often wonder what would happened if Bush released it standalone in 1986 instead. That year, she did put out her greatest hits album, The Whole Story. One new single from that, Experiment IV, came out and did relatively well. I think Under the Ivy could have reached a high chart position and sold well.
Before carrying on, I should let Kate Bush herself discuss where Under the Ivy came from and what it is about. It is to the Kate Bush Encyclopedia for some archived interviews, where Bush revealed that this beautiful and astonishing song came together very quickly and naturally. A case of Bush writing a song whilst in the studio:
“'Under The Ivy' we did in our studio in just an afternoon. (Peter Swales, 'Kate Bush'. Musician, Fall 1985)
It's very much a song about someone who is sneaking away from a party to meet someone elusively, secretly, and to possibly make love with them, or just to communicate, but it's secret, and it's something they used to do and that they won't be able to do again. It's about a nostalgic, revisited moment. (...) I think it's sad because it's about someone who is recalling a moment when perhaps they used to do it when they were innocent and when they were children, and it's something that they're having to sneak away to do privately now as adults. (Doug Alan interview, 20 November 1985)
I needed a track to put on the B-Side of the single Running Up That Hill so I wrote this song really quickly. As it was just a simple piano/vocal, it was easy to record. I performed a version of the song that was filmed at Abbey Road Studios for a TV show which was popular at the time, called The Tube. It was hosted by Jools Holland and Paula Yates. I find Paula’s introduction to the song very touching.
It was filmed in Studio One at Abbey Rd. An enormous room used for recording large orchestras, choirs, film scores, etc. It has a vertiginously high ceiling and sometimes when I was working in Studio Two, a technician, who was a good friend, would take me up above the ceiling of Studio One. We had to climb through a hatch onto the catwalk where we would then crawl across and watch the orchestras working away, completely unaware of the couple of devils hovering in the clouds, way above their heads! I used to love doing this - the acoustics were heavenly at that scary height. We used to toy with the idea of bungee jumping from the hatch. (KateBush.com, February 2019)”.
It is amazing how Kate Bush managed to make this B-side in such a short time. A song that, as I said, is far stronger than a B-side normally would be! A jewel in her catalogue that not that many people know about, this is definitely a deep cut. I don’t think the song is available on Spotify, so it might have passed a lot by when researching Bush and seeking out her catalogue. I do really love Under the Ivy, and the fact Bush might have been inspired by the garden, ivy, and something secretive when in her family home or seeing the landscape around her. The video of her performing to celebrate one hundred episodes of The Tube is spellbinding. She seems in her element and entranced by this song! One of those Bush songs that definitely should be better known and more widely heard, go and listen to Under the Ivy and cherish it. Quite different to anything on Hounds of Love, I do think it could have had its place. Featuring one of Bush’s most beautiful vocal performances, I never get tired of this song. It is so engrossing and moving, you listen and watch the scenes unfold under the ivy…in that garden away from the party. A sensational Kate Bush song that must rank alongside the best B-sides ever, it goes to show that there are…
NO limits to her powers.