FEATURE:
Kate Bush: The Deep Cuts
The Man I Love
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THIS is not a Kate Bush original…
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush at a fan convention in 1994
but it does show that she could take an existing song and very much make it her own. Like Elton John’s Rocket Man (which she covered for a tribute album in 1991), her reading of The Man I Love by George & Ira Gershwin is sublime and very different. Here, she provides a smoky, sensual, and chocolate-rich rendition of song written back in 1927. A song that could very much be included in The Great American Songbook in terms of its quality and legacy, with lyrics by Ira Gershwin and music by his brother George, The Man I Love was included in their government satire, Strike Up the Band. Bush recorded the song for Larry Adler’s The Glory of Gershwin album. The song was released as a single on 18th July, 1994. It reached twenty-two in the U.K. There is a bit to discuss when it comes to her cover. The song features Larry Adler on harmonica, and the album was released to coincide with the late great’s eightieth birthday. The B-side of the 7" single was an edited version of Adler and George Martin's (who produced the album) rendition of Rhapsody in Blue. Before getting to my thoughts around the cover, here is what Kate Bush said about being involved with the tribute album:
“This romantic song was written by George and Ira Gershwin and when Larry Adler put an album together of their songs, called The Glory of Gershwin, he asked me to sing this beautiful song. The album was produced by George Martin. I was very fond of George - such a special talent and creative spirit, a really gentle man, very kind and incredibly interesting. It was a great honour to work with him and Larry. George and Larry were very different personalities (Larry was a real character), but they made a great creative combination.
It was released as a single and Kevin Godley directed the video. I loved working with Kevin - so imaginative and great fun. I’d worked with him and Lol Creme when they directed the video for Peter Gabriel’s song, Don’t Give Up. Kevin chose to present the video in a very traditional way which suited the song extremely well. Godley and Creme are huge talents who left their mark not just in the music industry with their intelligence and wit in the band 10CC but also in the visual world with their groundbreaking videos, working with an impressive list of diverse artists”.
It is great that Bush got to add to her repertoire! Thinking about her studio albums, and there is not a lot like this on them. In terms of the vocal and the sort of compositional elements. That is a shame. Recorded after The Red Shoes in 1993, and way before she released Aerial in 2005, there could have been this album in the middle that maybe were covers. Thinking about Bush tackling more songs with the same beauty and smokiness would have been tantalising! I was not aware she was a Gershwin fan, so it was great that she was approached. Also, she got to work with George Martin. Bush was a huge Beatles fan, but she never got to record with any of the surviving band members – though there is time of course! As someone who recorded at Abbey Road Studios, it must have been a thrill for Bush to meet George Martin. Someone whose work she admired deeply. I also love the vocal direction! She could have done anything with it, but her reading is as mesmeric as anything in her catalogue. Bush brings so much emotion and passion to every word. The black-and-white video features Bush and Larry Adler. She is spellbinding throughout. The Man I Love is not known far beyond Bush’s most accessible and commercial work. Many people have not heard it, and I don’t think the 1994 single is played much on the radio. I have written about it before but, as this shows a whole new side to Bush, it needs to be focused on more.
The last point I want to make about Bush’s version of The Man I Love relates to Bush’s interpretative talents. Through her career, she did cover others’ music. Although her studio albums feature original compositions, there are B-sides and singles where she has taken on somebody else’s track and made it her own. All of her covers are so different. She never lazily stuck to the original or did anything stale. Instead, she takes the text and imagines it as her own. Think about her covering Rocket Man and giving it a Reggae twist. Very different to the stage version from the 1920s, Bush’s version sort of sounds like it could have appeared in a Jazz club in the 1950s or ‘60s. It is so engaging and mature. Listen to the songs on The Red Shoes and Bush’s vocal register. It is higher than it is on The Man I Love. Thirty-five when the song was released, you would swear you were hearing someone older singing in. Such an utterly entrancing vocal performance, it is a pity that we never got to hear Bush perform this live! Many have noted how her vocal on The Man I Love is a revelation. Why was it not explored more? I guess, as she was not recording her own music, opportunities would have been scarce. Still, one fans would have basked in the glory and wonder of Bush recording another track with that particular vocal sound! Definitely a Kate Bush deep cut, let’s hope that her staggering rendition of George & Ira Gershwin’s The Man I Love gets played on the radio more. It would help introduce this classic song and revelatory vocal performance…
TO a new generation.