FEATURE:
James, Lily, and Mrs. Bartolozzi
ILLUSTRATION CREDIT: Jon McCormack
Imagining a Version of Quantum Criminals: Ramblers, Wild Gamblers, and Other Sole Survivors from the Songs of Steely Dan for Kate Bush
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EVEN if the title…
IMAGE CREDIT: University of Texas Press
of the Steely Dan-focused book, Quantum Criminals: Ramblers, Wild Gamblers, and Other Sole Survivors from the Songs of Steely Dan, is a little unwieldy, it kind of seems appropriate. The group were really a duo (Donald Fagen and Walter Becker) playing with a cast of musicians. The new book about their music explores the deep, complex and rich music that Steely Dan left us. Written by Alex Pappademas and illustrated by Joan LeMay, this essential book, instead of being a biography, lists the characters mentioned In Steely Dan’s songs and uses that as a jumping off point. You get to know about the song the character is in, but you also get context around the album the characters are from. It is a great way of exploring the brilliant and unique world of Steely Dan. With accompanying artwork from the superb Joan LeMay, this is a book that every Steely Dan fan should own! Even though I have found it hard getting a copy in the U.K. – the earliest dispatch date is a couple of weeks away at least -, there have been some really positive reviews for this book. LeMay and Pappademas have been promoting it tirelessly, and it is a perfect way to understand these Steely Dan characters. Whether they are eponymous like Peg, Josie or Doctor Wu, or they are nameless or have a nickname (The Expanding Man from Deacon Blues, kings Richard and John from Kings for example), you get to know about them in wonderful detail! It is a novel idea. A great way for diehards and casual fans alike to know more (and I do not agree with some reviews that say Quantum Criminals: Ramblers, Wild Gamblers, and Other Sole Survivors from the Songs of Steely Dan is for diehards only).
I was wondering whether this style of writing and approach could apply to other artists. Specifically, Kate Bush. Rather simply replicate what Pappademas and LeMay have done with Steely Dan, it would be amazing to have Bush’s song characters spotlighted and explored in the same way. Having artwork to go along with some of these characters. Maybe it would be a close replication thinking about it. Many might feel that there are not that many characters in her song. Similar to Steely Dan, there are more than you think! We have had some remarkable Kate Bush books through the years. Biographies from Graeme Thomson (Under the Ivy: The Life & Music of Kate Bush) and Tom Doyle (Running Up That Hill: 50 Visions of Kate Bush). Tom Doyle’s biography was released year, and that had a good and original approach. Rather than do a linear and straight biography, he has taken fifty snippets and sections that is not chronological. Each chapter is a various point and part of her career and music. With her story being told by contributors, it is fresh and fascinating in equal measures. There have been photobooks published about Kate Bush. I would love to see more of that. There are so many press photos and rarer photoshoots that have not seen the light of day! An ultimate compendium where we have hundreds of photos together would be treasured by fans, I am sure. I think that Kate Bush’s characters could get the same treatment as Pappademas and LeMay gave to Steely Dan. Rather than it being a note-for-note rip, you could have a similar structure (characters from songs coming chronologically rather than random), and maybe have a slightly different artistic style. I am minded of the Finding Kate book by Michael Byrne and Marius Herbert. Sadly, Byrne died after a short illness in 2022, but I got to speak with him about the book. It was a pleasure to talk with someone so passionate her music and the songs!
The book focused on a series of tracks, with illustrations by Marius Herbert. Speaking about the book with Byrne was a real pleasure – and it is so sad that he is not around now to see how Kate Bush’s music has exploded again! Knowing what is on the market, it would be great having this deep dive into the characters within the songs. If you think about The Kick Inside, there is an array of characters. You have the ‘moving stranger’ from the opening track, Moving. There is ‘the man’ (with the Child in His Eyes) from one of Bush’s most beautiful song. Wuthering Heights, based on Emily Brontë’s novel of the same name, has Cathy and Heathcliff. You have James of James and the Cold Gun. That particular James is not James Bond, as Kate Bush has pointed out. We also have Them Heavy People, and you could write about them. Bush name-checks Gurdjieff and Jesu. The Kick Inside’s title track has a brother and sister who are in an incestuous bond. The sister gets pregnant and kills herself to protect the brother/a sense of shame. Those siblings could be illustrated and explored, as the song is based around Lizie/Lucy Wan, a Child ballad 51 and a murder ballad. It is also known as Fair Lizzie. The fact that Kate Bush took from literature, T.V. and film right from the start means she was bringing in characters through her songs. Peter Pan is obviously at heart on In Search of Peter Pan. Moving through Lionheart still, and we also have ‘The Actor’ from Wow - or, as “Emily” is the song’s first word/intro, maybe exploring who she is -, plus Kashka from Baghdad’s eponymous figure. I guess you could also extract a mysterious and dark figure from Coffee Homeground. Look at Never for Ever, and there is the husband and deceitful wife from Babooshka. Delius is named for Romantic English composer, Frederick Delius. Blow Asway (For Bill) is in memory of Bill Duffield, who was a lighting assistant who tragically died after the warmup show for Bush’s The Tour of Life in 1979. She mentions a list of departed musicians in the song. The Wedding List has a vengeful bride, and you get a mother talking about her son being sent to war in Army Dreamers. There are plenty of characters throughout Never for Ever!
Jump to The Dreaming where one can find a dunce in Sat in Your Lap, the bank robbers from There Goes a Tenner, and a soldiers in Pull Out the Pin. Houdini is, of course, about the famous escapologist. He and his wife Bess are part of the song. Even if there are more vague characters in The Dreaming rather than named ones, you have options for Hounds of Love. Mother Stands for Comfort’s mother and son are on the first side. Cloudbusting is about the very close relationship between psychiatrist and philosopher Wilhelm Reich and his young son, Peter, told from the point of view of the mature Peter. The album’s second side, The Ninth Wave, suggests various figures that could be expanded and feature. The Sensual World includes everyone from Kate Bush’s cat, Rocket (Rocket’s Tail), the nervous father in This Woman’s Work, plus we have the illusion to Molly Bloom (Bush wanted to use her famous soliloquy from James Joyce’s Ulysses but was not granted permission to use it until he recorded 2011’s Director’s Cut, renaming the song Flower of the Mountain). The Red Shoes starts with Rubberband Girl. Moments of Pleasure names both ‘George the Wipe’ and Douglas Fairbanks. The Song of Solomon and Lily suggest themselves, as does ‘capt'n’ in Constellation of the Heart. Aerial has King of the Mountain. Very much with Elvis Presley in mind, you could explore the King of Rock and Roll. Bush’s then-young son Bertie is named in track three (Bertie).
Mrs. Bartolozzi seems like the most intriguing song and heroine! Joanni is a song that could lead to an interesting illustration and character. On the album’s second side/disc you have an architect (An Architect’s Dream), painter (The Painter’s Link) and there is mention of blackbirds in Aerial Tal. 2011’s 50 Words for Snow has the ghostly lady who rises from the water in Lake Tahoe. There is the snowman in Misty, Wild Man’s eponymous yeti figure, Professor Joseph Yupik is in the album’s title track (played by Stephen Fry, he plays this professor who reads fifty words for snow). Maybe there are not quite as many characters in Bush’s songs than that of Steely Dan, but you could conservatively have about twenty-five that could be brought to life. Bush was a big fan of Steely Dan, and I think they influenced her in many ways. From that studio craft and getting the most out of every musician, through to the way she wrote and that rich drawing of wild, weird and wonderful characters. I think that was partly down to Steely Dan. It would be amazing seeing a book out there where these figures from Kate Bush’s songs are illustrated, and are a starting point where an author can look inside that song and parts of the album from which it is from. It is a thought that I had, as a I really love the new Steely Dan book from Alex Pappademas and Joan LeMay. An equivalent of Quantum Criminals: Ramblers, Wild Gamblers, and Other Sole Survivors from the Songs of Steely Dan for Kate Bush’s music would definitely have…
THAT wow factor.