Analysis: a look at the life, work and many Irish connections of Kate Bush

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By Anika Babel, UCD

A year on from featuring in the Netflix series Stranger Things, Kate Bush's Running Up that Hill is continuing to smash records. The 1980s hit has become 'the first solo recording by a female artist from that decade to pass one billion streams’ on Spotify.

In our increasingly digital world where series such as Stranger Things are devoured in a day or two, songs like Running Up that Hill or Metallica’s Master of Puppets serve as sonic souvenirs; they extend the ephemeral experience of streaming shows by enabling us to recall, respond to, and even re-enact favourite scenes.

The embrace of this music by new generations speaks to the timeless appeal of Bush's music. Ahead of her 65th birthday on July 30th - and this weekend's The Most Wuthering Heights Day Ever event in Dublin - let’s look at some of her artistic innovations and Irish connections.

Her musical exploration began on an organ salvaged by her father until barn mice ate through the instrument, prompting her to turn to the family piano. Here, she developed her craft as a songsmith, composing the The Man With The Child In His Eyes at the age of 13. This song would earn her the Ivor Novello Award for Outstanding British Lyric in 1979.

After declining Fleetwood Mac's invitation to support their Rumours tour in the US in 1978, she instead embarked on her own Tour of Life. A mixture of mime, dance, poetry, theatre and even magic, these shows were like no other. During her sold-out European tour, Bush even pioneered equipment that would change the face of live performance.

Using a coat hanger as a mic boom, her sound engineer fashioned the first wireless headset, freeing her to command every corner of the stage. The contraption on her face initially bemused audiences but Bush danced cord-free so that P!nk could fly across arenas years later. Bush wouldn’t undertake another run of shows until some 35-years later with her 2014 Before The Dawn residency at London’s Hammersmith Apollo.

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From RTÉ Archives, Kate Bush makes her first appearance on Irish television on the Late Late Show in 1978

On her one and only performance in Ireland for the Late Late Show in 1978, her interview with host Gay Byrne revealed a longing for a life removed from the limelight. When asked: "you've decided that music and show business is your career?" the teenager simply replied: "Music is."

Later, during rare interviews, she would take a similar stance to Enya: "I’m not a recluse, I’m working." As Bush turned away from public life, the studio became her laboratory, and her tightly choreographed music videos became an increasingly important output (like Wuthering Heights, Babooshka and Cloudbusting, starring Donald Sutherland). Even in the midst of last summer’s Running Up That Hill frenzy, she gave only one interview — via her landline.

In 1985, Dónal Lunny, John Sheahan and Paddy Glackin helped Bush "get back to her [Irish] roots" as the daughter of a Waterford native. The ensemble recorded The Jig of Life at Dublin’s Windmill Lane Studios for her fifth studio album, Hounds of Love. Del Palmer, her former partner and life-long musical collaborator, remembers the profundity of this moment. "They were all around her and played the piece and she was reduced to jelly. It just blew her away, she got so emotional. Irish music is for her and her family a very intense relationship."

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Bill Whelan, who worked extensively with Bush as a piper and orchestral arranger, notes that Kate’s brother Paddy "introduced her to a lot of Irish music." Much like Billie Eilish and Finneas O'Connell, both sets of Irish-descendant siblings share a symbiotic musical partnership. Paddy’s mandolin tremolos can be heard throughout his sister’s tracks, and he helped shape her unique sound-world with eclectic instruments like psalteries, bullroarers and the fujara. The duo were also champions of the Fairlight CMI synthesiser that produced the iconic timbre of Running Up That Hill.

In tribute to her matrilineal Irish heritage, Bush would go on to arrange and record Mná na hÉireann with Dónal Lunny for Common Ground: Voices of Modern Ireland, the 1996 album also featuring Christy Moore, Sinead O'Connor and Paul Brady, among others. Lunny described the "immortal quality" of Seán Ó Riada's piece and the "enormous pains" taken by Bush to deliver the song in Irish. They exchanged numerous phonetic phone calls and faxes to clarify pronunciations, doing justice to Peadar Ó Doirnín's poem "in praise of Irish women."

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Sentiments from songs like Army Dreamers ring true today. Many interpreted the 1980s' song as a commentary on the Troubles. The lyrics resonate poignantly with ongoing conflicts around the world, such as the Russian war on Ukraine:

What could he do? Should have been a rockstar.

But he didn’t have the money for a guitar.

What could he do? Should have been a politician.

But he never had a proper education.

What could he do? Should have been a father.

But he never even made it to his twenties.

What a waste of army dreamers.

Devoted and newfound fans alike eagerly await announcements about new music from Bush and it’s sure to come. Every year around her birthday in July, The Most Wuthering Heights Day Ever sees fans gathering globally to celebrate her life and work.

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The annual global phenomenon invites people of all genders, ages, colours, sexual orientations, shapes and sizes to don their finest red frock in celebration of an artist whose unmistakable music, lyrical stories and fantastical videos continue to offer endless intrigue to the ever-diverse Kate Bush community.

Anika Babel is a PhD Candidate at the School of Music at UCD

The views expressed here are those of the author and do not represent or reflect the views of RTÉ