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The World of Kate Bush's Music Videos
- Myra Dodd
- Mar 18
- 3 min read
I watched some of Kate Bush's music videos I hadn't seen before to see if/how it changed my perception of the song.
Hounds of Love
I was originally going to pick songs from several artists, but I was entranced as soon as the "Hounds of Love" video started. I wanted to do this to get a closer interpretation of how artists view their own songs and to see how closely it matched my own. "Hounds of Love" is one of my favorite songs ever. It encapsulates so much of what makes Kate Bush fantastic, with bold, larger-than-life instrumentals supporting her powerful voice.
To me, "Hounds of Love" has always been about someone running from a love they don't feel deserving of. A love that scares them. The song is marked by the uncertainty of what to do about these feelings while still framing love as the savior. Although the actual hounds are metaphorical, when conjuring up an image for this song, I picture something akin to Taylor Swift's "Out of the Woods." That is not, however, what I found upon watching this for the first time. In the music video, it seems that other people are the ones stopping her from love instead of my interpretation of herself. It doesn’t quite hold to the whimsy in my head, but I still think it is pretty great. It holds to the song's dramatics, adding goofy cuts and sharp angles along with cartoonish goons that are the perpetrators seemingly holding back this love.
This Woman's Work and Cloudbusting
These two videos absolutely nailed the image that I had crafted in my head.
"Cloudbusting" featured a 27 Kate Bush dressed as a little boy, aiding her father in creating a weather machine while facing opposition from the authorities. While it sounds a bit insane written out, so is the song. This video also featured an extended version of the song, dragging it past the 7-minute mark. However, this was not an issue for me as it allowed time for the full story to play out, ending with a fantastical shot of the young Kate operating the machine in her father's absence.
"This Woman's Work" was also almost exactly as I envisioned. It features a father waiting anxiously for the news of his wife's condition in the hospital. Although I had always pictured it while she was giving birth, this wasn't specifically referenced in the video. The extremely grim setting features a desolate waiting room with the man at the center as he is lost in his head, treasuring the moments he once had with the woman he loves.
Suspended in Gaffa
This music video is pretty nonsensical. I was a bit confused at first, but I think this matches my interpretation more than I ever could have imagined.
It works because
"Suspended in Gaffa" has always been a bit nonsensical to me. It is a song that doesn’t let you breathe; it is fun, fast, existential, and suffocating at the same time. "Suspended in Gaffa" is about working your way towards something you’re not worthy of yet. The music video primarily features Kate dancing in an extremely windy barn or workshop. This is mixed with dream-like scenarios/scenes that are occasionally and increasingly cut to as the video progresses. With a visit from a god-like mother at the end, presumably the goal she had been working toward/waiting for.
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