h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Of course, everyone loves the song. I hear the solo is by Dave Gilmour (Pink Floyd) and...well, there's another thread here already about how he helped her career. I just had to point out that there's a Brazilian power metal band called Angra who covered this song on their first album back in 1993. Just as sublime as the original, and kudos for their blokey singer nailing every single note! It's bizarre at first but you get used to it and love it

1978, and across the land a generation of adolescent testosterone were stirred into life by one flimsy white robed caterwauling wild-haired third of a standard Shakespearean coven. Oh, how we all wished we could be Heathcliffe.

Ethereal and eccentric, Kate Bush's almost demented wailings of her near-namesake Bronte character provided smooth transition for those stuck on the pop-punk divide, paving the way to The Cocteau Twins and latterly (and probably middle-agedly) Faye Wong.

It is well-documented that Bexley-born Kate, young and petite at 19 and 5'3" (1.6m) respectively, but nonetheless intuitively headstrong, put her foot down with corporate giant EMI regarding both the release itself and its packaging, culminating in delay of release of the single for some two months from the original intended date of 4 November 1977 until actual release on 11 January 1978. In the meantime the promo demos issued by EMI were understandably getting plenty of airplay, notably at London's Capital Radio, and Wuthering Heights was already a hit before the record-buying public could get their grubby hands on it.

As it transpired, the single turned out to be an ABBA-displacing number one hit for Kate, and deservedly so.

My dad,who is an expert in all forms of useless information, says she's clinicly insane....

...And I used to go out with a guitarist who's favourite song was 'The Man with the Child in his eyes.' I think he thought it was written especially for him. I also think he thought he was political, deep, intellegent and interesting to be with, where as he was actually wrong, shallow, boring with the intelect of an eight year old... It's a great song, but I'm begining to agree with him, lothed that I am.

For a moment there I thought you were having a dig at me ... "... wrong, shallow, boring with the intelect of an eight year old... ", but then I remembered I don't know guitar.

Trout

PS '... was stirred ...', not '... were stirred ...'. FFS Trout, you're a doofus sometimes.

Yeah, that description cuts a sore point over here as well

In the 'Mis-heard lyrics' round of 'Never Mind the Buzzcocks', Sean Hughes' team came up with:

"Out on the wild and windy moor
Sweet Roland fell in brie.
You had distemper, like my jealous eel,
Too hot, too greasy."

The song has never been the same since.

I'm very, very scared now.

Oh, and on the subject of Wuthering Heights itself, I've heard covers by both Sarah Brightman and Hayley Westenra, neither of which were particularly brilliant. Some people seem to think any soprano can cover it and get away with it, but it's not suited to that kind of vocal training... must investigate the other cover mentioned above though, sounds interesting. I think the only way you could get away with it is to do it very differently to Kate's version.

I've got this nagging thought that I know of another one, but I can't think what it is at the moment.

And as to the meaning of the song, it's fantastic stuff, but I never really understood it until I actually studied Wuthering Heights at school. Amazing that a song which is actually relevant to the book made it to the top of the chart and has retained people's interest for so long.

'Amazing' describes Kate Bush fairly well I think.

Oh yeah, I chose to study Wuthering Heights back in Year 9 because of the song. Wish I hadn't because the book is virtually unreadable! Or at least it was to me back then...

I remember that epissode of Buzzcocks quite well, as well... took me ages to stop hearing those words over the proper ones

Wuthering Heights was my favourite book that I had to study for my A level (many moons ago....). I think that the love of Kate's song led me to an instinctive understanding and appreciation of the themes of the novel.

So, thanks Kate for helping me with my studies!

Didn't mean to insult anyone guys, hey for all I know you could be political, interesting, deep, clever and sensitive, all that and have a sense of humour! (I'm not asking for much, am I?) You definately have strong retrospective skills which allow you to see your failings in others, which is what every woman wants because (and I am about to be very politically incorrect here) if he doesn't know what he is, how can any woman change him?!?!?

Kidding, of course

Getting back on topic...

What an amazing track 'Wuthering Heights' was. Suddenly this strange, fascinating, beautiful but mad-looking woman was all over the TV and radio, with her unearthly multi-octave voice that made just about everything else around seem very plain and ordinary.

Some 'Wuthering' trivia:

1) Sorry, Iron Maiden, but the guitarist wasn't David Gilmour. It was Ian Bairnson, sometime guitarist with Pilot and The Alan Parsons Project. Bairnson played guitar on a lot of Kate's recordings: see http://gaffa.org/diction/b for the full list. The Gaffaweb site also notes that he played beer bottles on 'Room For The Life' from 'The Kick Inside'!

2) 'Wuthering Heights' made Kate the first British woman to top the UK singles chart with a song she'd written herself.

3) I remember Kate saying at the time that she loved Emily Bronte's 'Wuthering Heights' because she was so thrilled that a young woman had written such a passionate book at a time when women weren't really expected to write books at all. Kate also liked the fact that the heroine was called Cathy - which was how she'd often been addressed as a child.

4) Kate later came to feel that her singing on 'Wuthering Heights' wasn't as good as it should have been. Her 'greatest hits' album 'The Whole Story' features an amended version with a new vocal track, recorded several years after the original. If anything, it's even more extreme, extravagant and expressive than the hit version.

5) By an eerie coincidence, Kate and Emily Bronte have the same birthday: July 30.

I don't know anything about them really, but there's a band somewhere out there called 'Mr Floppy'. I remember them for their dreadful slightly thrashy version of Wuthering Heights, which made the radio here a few years ago. They amended the lyrics slightly...

'Heathcliff, it's me, I'm floppy, come home...'

Oh dear.

Ivan.

The version of Wuthering Heights I have is the one from The Whole Story, and it is indeed excellent. This may be why I'm usually slightly disappointed with the version that accompanies the video during Classic Hits Weekends on a certain overly commercial music channel.