Wuthering Heights (song)
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Wuthering Heights ( German about "Stormy Heights" or "Storm Heights " ) was the debut single in 1978 and at the same time the first number one hit of the British musician Kate Bush .
background
The single (with the B-side Kite ) was released by major label EMI on January 20, 1978 in Great Britain. On February 11, she entered the UK charts at number 42. On March 11th, she climbed to number one position via positions 27, 13 and five, which she was able to hold for four weeks.
Bush wrote the song herself - like almost all of her published material - and was the first woman to succeed in reaching number one position in Great Britain with her own composition . You can hear the musicians Ian Bairnson (guitar) and David Paton (bass), both formerly with Pilot , as well as Duncan Mackay (keyboard) and Stuart Elliott (drums); all four were busy studio musicians and were part of the regular cast of The Alan Parsons Project at the time , as was the producer of this piece and the first two Kate Bush albums, the composer and arranger Andrew Powell . The famous guitar solo at the end of the song comes from Bairnson and not, as sometimes falsely claimed, from David Gilmour , who promoted Bush early on and brokered the record deal for her.
In Germany, Kate Bush had her first live appearance with Wuthering Heights on the ARD television program Bio's Bahnhof on February 9, 1978. The success of Wuthering Heights also sparked keen interest in Kate Bush's debut album, which followed in February. The Kick Inside reached number 3 on the UK album charts.
For the best-of compilation The Whole Story (1986) Kate Bush re-recorded the song.
interpretation
The song refers to the novel Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë : The foundling Heathcliff grew up with the Earnshaw family in Yorkshire . As a teenager, Heathcliff falls in love with his foster sister Cathy. However, Cathy marries the wealthy Edgar Linton. She dies in childbed. Out of anger and frustration, Heathcliff takes revenge on the Earnshaws and Linton by terrorizing and ruining both families. Even now the owner of Wuthering Heights, he is plagued by Cathy's ghost, which he cannot see, but can often feel around him. Before his death, Cathy finally appears at the window: she takes his soul to her.
At this point the song begins:
Out on the wiley, windy Moors we'd roll and fall in green - describes their childhood, playing in the heather .
You had a temper like my jealousy, too hot too greedy. - The boy's temperament was very similar to Cathys: wild, greedy and jealous.
How could you leave me, When I needed to possess you? I hated you. I loved you, too. - Heathcliff left the court when he heard of Cathy's upcoming marriage.
Bad dreams in the night, You told me I was going to lose the fight, Leave behind my wuthering, wuthering, Wuthering Heights. - Cathy realizes that leaving Wuthering Heights was a mistake. She has nightmares and says that she lost the "fight" (the decision between Edgar and Heathcliff).
I'm coming back, love, cruel Heathcliff, my one dream, my only master. - It is only in death that Cathy realizes that Heathcliff was her real love. She returns to him as a ghost.
Heathcliff, it's me, Cathy, I've come home. I'm so cold, let me in through your window. - She asks him to come in at the window. She has returned home to Wuthering Heights.
Ooh, it gets dark! It gets lonely, on the other side from you. - Cathy is lonely in the dark world of the dead, she wants to be reunited with her "other half" Heathcliff.
Ooh! Let me have it. Let me grab your soul away. You know it's me — Cathy! - That's why she brings his soul to her. He recognizes her and dies in ecstasy at the eventual union with her.
Cover versions
The song has been covered several times , including in 2003 by Hayley Westenra on the album Pure, by Pat Benatar and by the Brazilian band Angra on their debut album Angels Cry, sung by André Matos, whose high falsetto vocals come close to the Kate Bushs.
The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain went the opposite way on the album Top Notch, on which the singer deliberately performs the song slowly and in chest voice . Another cover version comes from the band The Puppini Sisters from 2006, who interpret the song in the swing style of the 1940s.
Web links
- Christina Dongowski: Kate Bush: "Wuthering Heights". Pop anthology. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung . August 4, 2018. Retrieved August 8, 2018 .
swell
- ↑ Chart data. In: chartsurfer.de, accessed on May 19, 2019.
- ↑ KATE BUSH'S FIRST TV Cologne Frechen Benzelrather Eisenbahn-Kite & Wuthering Heights LIVE. Kate Bush in Bio's Bahnhof with “Wuthering Heights” and “Kite”. on YouTube , March 23, 2011, accessed May 18, 2019 (appeared on February 9, 1978).