FEATURE:
Kate Bush’s Babooshka at Forty-Five
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush during a performance of Babooshka in 1980/PHOTO CREDIT: Adrian Boot
A Hugely Important and Pivotal Moment in Her Career
__________
IN my second…
feature around Babooshka and its forty-fifth anniversary, I wanted to concentrate on how important this song was and is. Released on 27th June, 1980, it reached number five in the U.K. The second single from Kate Bush’s third studio album, Never for Ever (1980), it was a bigger commercial success than the lead single, Breathing – which went to number sixteen in the U.K. I am going to bring in some words around the song and also some from Kate Bush regarding its inspiration. Kate Bush fans will know the origins and story. In terms of its subject matter and angle, it was very unusual for an artist. Bush was never one to write conventionally or like her peers. However, this idea of fidelity being tested and a wife disguised herself to test her husband. Where does that come from?! Bush drew a lot from literature and film, though Babooshka seems like it came to her in a different way. Bush did not even know that Babooshka is similar to the word, ‘babushka’ – which is Russian for an old woman or grandmother. Thought I feel uncomfortable highlighting Russia and its influence, for the sake of this song, we have to mention how the country was relevant. I believe that Bush had heard the Russian word somewhere and locked it away subconsciously. However, as I wrote in the previous Babooshka feature, Bush inadvertently helped foster a greater understanding of Russia and its history. People who heard the word and connected it to the Russian word, Babushka. There is a Kate Bush tribute act, Baby Bushka, that obviously are inspired by the Kate Bush song and its relation to the Russian word. I am going to come to my theories and points soon. Before that, I want to revisit some text that I have definitely highlighted before.
A track that has been covered quite a few times and Kate Bush pleasingly got to perform live more than once, it is among her most beloved and respected singles. Before going any further, this article from the Kate Bush Encyclopedia brings in some interview archive where Bush spoke about the inspiration behind the mighty Babooshka. One of her most extraordinary moments:
“‘Babooshka’ is about futile situations. The way in which we often ruin things for ourselves. (Kate Bush Club newsletter, September 1980)
Apparently it is grandmother, it’s also a headdress that people wear. But when I wrote the song it was just a name that literally came into my mind, I’ve presumed I’ve got it from a fairy story I’d read when I was a child. And after having written the song a series of incredible coincidences happened where I’d turned on the television and there was Donald Swan singing about Babooshka.
PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush
So I thought, “Well, there’s got to be someone who’s actually called Babooshka.” So I was looking throughRadio Timesand there, another coincidence, there was an opera called Babooshka. Apparently she was the lady that the three kings went to see because the star stopped over her house and they thought “Jesus is in there”.’ So they went in and he wasn’t. And they wouldn’t let her come with them to find the baby and she spent the rest of her life looking for him and she never found him. And also a friend of mine had a cat called Babooshka. So these really extraordinary things that kept coming up when in fact it was just a name that came into my head at the time purely because it fitted. (Peter Powell interview, Radio 1 (UK), 11 October 1980)”.
I have said in previous anniversary features how you can hear the influence of the Fairlight CMI in the song. It was a new acquisition by Kate Bush so it is not all over Never for Ever the same way as it is the follow-up, 1982’s The Dreaming. However, one cannot deny its impact and how even the addition of the sound of breaking glass you can hear was a sonic step up from the songs you hear on 1978’s The Kick Inside and Lionheart. Technology starting to come more into play and exert bigger influence. The wonderful backing vocals from Paddy Bush and Gary Hurst; brilliant electric bass from John Giblin.
I have said how there was breaking glass heard on Babooshka. It may actually be plates, as I think Bush used some crockery and plates from Abbey Road Studios and broke them to get the effect and then apologised afterwards (I think she sent an apology note or box of chocolates for the staff!). Recorded at Abbey Road Studio 2, this wonderful song was a definite turning point for Bush. I shall discuss that. First, I want to bring in this feature. They talk about the influence of Peter Gabriel and the Fairlight CMI on the song. How it adds something distinct to Babooshka:
“The song ends with the sound of breaking plates, perfectly in key, one of the earliest examples of a sample created with the Fairlight CMI synthesiser, which had only become available in UK during the latter half of 1979. The pioneering synth, used in many 80s hits, came with a piano keyboard, monitor, and computer keyboard. An 8" floppy disc provided sampled orchestral instruments but musicians found it was best to create synthetic sounds and strange effects, such as bottles breaking or running water, which could be incorporated into songs.
Its first adopter in the UK was Peter Gabriel, who soon introduced it to Kate Bush. Her album Never For Ever (released September 1980), which includes Babooshka and Army Dreamers, was the first to use Fairlight samples; they were programmed by Richard Burgess and John Walters of Landscape, famous for the 1981 hit Einstein A Go Go. Although tech-savvy musicians loved it, the Fairlight was not universally appreciated. After the BBC science series Tomorrow's World highlighted the possibility that orchestras might be redundant in the future, the Musicians' Union railed labelled it a "lethal threat" towards its members. The year before the union has also tried to ban Gary Numan and synthesizers from Top Of The Pops for the same reason.
So did the wife ruin the marriage? That's up to the listener to decide. One interpretation is that when the husband fell for Babooska, the wife's fears were realised, and she walks away from the broken marriage. Alternatively, the husband falls in love all over again with his wife, saving their marriage; it just needed a bit of excitement. Your conclusion will depend largely on whether you are a cynic or a romantic. For the record, we believe the breaking plates are a strong hint, but who doesn't like a happy ending?
This track has it all: a wonderful narrative, melodic verses, a dramatic chorus and a memorable title. Not surprisingly, Babooshka became one of Kate Bush's biggest hits, although it never reached No.1 in any country”.
Its B-side is the underrated and extraordinarily odd Ran Tan Waltz. I love the quirky live performances of Babooshka. I think this song is one of the most important moments of Kate Bush’s career. It started with Breathing, though it was a real shift in terms of who Bush was and what her sound was. If the singles from The Kick Inside and Lionheart are more piano-led and people labelled her as this squeaky-voiced and rather demure and weird artist, Babooshka changed things – though only a little. Breathing is this epic and political song that was a smart choice of a leading single. Never for Ever is that bridge between the teenage creations of her first two albums and the more experimental two albums that followed. Babooshka is the first track on Never for Ever. A listener would put the needle down and hear this incredible song. The video too was a definite revelation. Sexy and unusual, those who thought Bush was immature or witch-like would have been taken aback by the video! Bush was only twenty-one when Babooshka was released. Even so, it seemed like the song and video announced her as a woman and grown-up artist, rather than someone much younger. Not that this was deliberate. Critics pigeonholed her on her 1978 albums. Bush did want to be taken more seriously and, as a producer on Never for Ever, she could evolve and push her sound.
The music video sees Bush alongside a double bass (contrabass), used to symbolise her husband as she wore a black bodysuit and a veil. That quick and notable switch where Bush changes into this sparse ‘Russian’ costume as her alter-ego, Babooshka. An illustration by Chris Achilleos was the basis for the costume. So bold and unique, I would argue Babooshka is the most important single release to that point. It did help to change the narrative or at least push some more positivity her way. Even so, there were these critics who still attack Kate Bush and dismissed her. NME, when they reviewed Babooshka, still mentioned this “high-pitched” and “weirdness”. In my view, Babooshka was Bush entering this new phase of her career. A revelation where new technology and lyrical inspiration came into the mix. The production sound and the striking visuals. Babooshka was a bigger commercial success than Breathing, though once cannot call Babooshka commercial or conventional. That is why its success is so wonderful. People connected with the song in 1980. As it turns forty-five on 27th June, I wanted to write about Babooshka. I hope that others share words about this track. If some critics were still beholden to cliches and wrong impressions of Kate Bush, the impact and brilliance of Babooshka…
SILENCED many other critics.