Forget what happened then, and let me live again

I want you back

Isn't it about time...

...that crimped hair made a comeback?

Poorman's Meal

I officially love this woman. She is 91 and lived through the Great Depression.

I am so gonna try this Poorman's Meal.

Kate Bush for Dummies

I’m not quite sure how she has managed to escape my radar all these years, I had such faith that my parents had surrounded me with all the singers from their era that actually really mattered. There was one near miss when I was given a revision tape from my Spanish teacher who had accidentally taped Kate Bush over it. Rather than investigating this further I wrote her off as some strange wailing banshee woman. Makes sense- my idea of musical genius back then was Eternal. I’m simultaneously gutted and excited by all the lost years. So for the last few weeks have immersed myself in all things Bush! What follows is a crash course in Kate Bush for anyone interested. I have compiled all my favourite songs and interpretations...


Bad Dreams in The Night
Whilst still at school Kate was discovered by Pink Floyd 's David Gilmour who was so impressed by her that he financed some demo recordings. EMI Records were equally taken with her and in an unusual act of faith decided not to record her immediately. Instead, they gave her a cash advance and told her to go away for two years and develop her writing, dancing and singing in preparation for a long-term career. How unheard of is that now! Well it certainly paid off as Kate returned aged 19 with “Wuthering Heights” inspired by a television adaptation she had seen as a child of Emily Bronte’s novel. She caught the last 10 minutes of a scene where the ghost of Cathy haunts her ex-lover. The scene resounded with her more so as Cathy was her nickname as a child. The song captures brilliantly the obsessive love of the novels heroine, but more importantly it’s bloody good fun to prance around the kitchen to.




It’s in the trees, It’s Coming!
This song is about being afraid to fall in love and she compares it to being chased by a pack of hounds. I love how she can turn romance into a sort of horror ballad.
But rather than giving in to the fear she sort of laughs it off and eventually concedes to the idea of love when she admits that when she does fall in love she’ll recklessly “take her shoes off and THROW them in the lake” and she’ll “be two steps on the water” cautiously following them.





Mammy’s Hero
An ode to the grieving parents of deceased soldiers- those young men who only join the army because they have no other opportunities in life as they grew up in poverty. No doubt they are keen to 'see the world' but really they are pawns to the politicians and generals who send them to wars. They know little about the situation in which they find themselves – “the chicken with the fox”. It’s like the old joke isn’t it - to join the army is to travel to fascinating places, meet fascinating people, and kill them.




Deeper Understanding
In the context of 2009 this is clearly about internet addiction, how we are lonely and lost without “our little black box”. The fact that it was released in 1989 makes it a pretty foreseeing feat by Bush.
Unsatisfied with human interaction in the real world this person turns to their computer who “brings them love and deeper understanding”. Makes me want to chuck my laptop out the window!



I know you have a little life in you yet
John Hughes contacted Kate about writing a song for a specific scene in his movie "She's Having a Baby". He sent her a clip of the scene in which a young father to be waits nervously while his partner is in the delivery room giving birth to their child.

So the song is sort of a narrative of this man's thoughts how he stands outside “this woman’s work, this woman’s world”, how he could have been there more for his partner during the pregnancy etc.

Here’s how it appeared in the film...SOB!





Why did you make it so unreal?
Awww- just love this- sung before Kate became a big star.




Life is sad..And so is Love
Written after her Mother's death "And so is Love" is about finding out that love, like life, is not perfect; but as we get older, we learn that our loved ones matter most.

I like your hair very much too, like the other girl said

'Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?'
'That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,' said the Cat.
'I don't much care where-' said Alice.
'Then it doesn't matter which way you go,' said the Cat.

Tonight Matthew I am going to be...

KATE BUSH!!!! Can't be that hard can it?

Leotard- check
Green eyeshadow- check
Red Lipstick- check
Ethereal beauty and original talent- doh!

Ah well enjoy the pics below and check out the video of her speaking- she's so sweet! I love her explanation of the meaning behind Babooska.

Don't Give Up

Listening to this Kate Bush and Peter Gabriel track got me thinking about "our current economic climate" haha- who else is sick of hearing this phrase, I keep finding myself saying it!

Sure enough, Gabriel wrote it about unemployment during Thatcher's 80's.

So, If The Recession Made Albums.......

Today I'm mostly listening to..

Tell me again George...about the Rabbits

Michael Forever

So, rumours arose this week that MJ will be performing 30 shows at the o2 Arena in July! Oh my actual God!

I'm not completely deluded- I know things have changed- his moves won't be the same and he will inevitably be lip-syncing. But in all honesty I don't give a fig. Just to see him on stage again will be amazing- he's a sight to behold on stage- like a little space alien who you can't take your eyes off. And to be in a room full of similarly deluded fans will be ace.

I saw him at Wembley Stadium in 1997- when I was 14. It wasn't very cool to like him back then, especially at the age of 14 when everyone else in school was getting into britpop- grrr! I remember clapping eyes on a popular girl in the year above- on recognising each other we gave a mutual nod of agreement- "I won't tell, if you don't".

Anyway, off we trotted- my dad, my uncle hugh, lynnie and lauren. I will never forget Lynnie clapping her hands off in excitement- she had until then not been overly enamoured with MJ, but came back a total convert. I also remember thinking how cool it was that my dad let her have a beer! Lauren, love her, got overcome with emotion and let out a little yelp- "Michael, I love you". It would have been much more effective if we werent 2 football stadiums away from him!

Anyway, thought I would share my favourite live MJ performances....

At Last...

...a President who can keep to a beat.




Americans are so funny- somehow it just turned into Cinderella with Beyonce cast as the fairy godmother!

Shoot me...

...if I ever say the words “I don’t suffer fools gladly”

Is there some sort of Sayings Shop which you visit at the age of 30 where you are granted permission to suddenly slip this expression into everyday conversation? 12 year olds just can’t get away with saying it.

I especially hate it when people choose this expression to define their personality- like in Big Brother audition tapes- you have 1 minute to describe yourself and you choose to make yourself “stand out” with an overused phrase that you probably dont know the meaning of anyway, but heard your mums friend say once.

It’s up there with “I’m MAD me!” errr...you can’t call yourself mad- that negates the madness!

You heard her - she's got her boobies

How come no-one ever told me about Nina Simone before? She's like a ye olde Lauryn Hill- amazing.

Speaking of whom....

It doesn't happen very often...

....but there are those rare occasions when the cover is better than the original.

Like thus....

Al Green - How Can You Mend A Broken Heart (Bee Gees)



Stevie Wonder - We Can Work It Out (The Beatles)


Radiohead - Nobody Does It Better (Carly Simon)



Fugees - Ready Or Not (Jackson 5)



Magnet - Lay Lady Lay (Bob Dylan)




Nina Simone - I Put A Spell On You (Screamin Jay Hawkins)





David Bowie - Wild is The Wind (Johnny Mathis)





Travis - Hit Me Baby One More Time (Britney Spears)




Anthony & The Johnsons - Crazy In Love (Beyonce Knowles)




James Morrison - Come Back And Stay (Paul Young)

Stevie Forever

I just love the way he says Halloween

I'm walkin here, I'm walkin here!

Who knew?

I always assumed that he was singing about his sister (as you would), but I just read that it's actually a tribute to Boy George.

Anthony has said that as a transgendered child he felt completely lost until he saw the cover of a Culture Club album and felt that in Boy George he had finally found someone who would understand him- a "sister".

Awww- I like this interpretation.

Either way- it's a great song and encapsulates how I feel about my three sisters- no other song can make you appreciate a sibling more.

Sorry to go all emo on ya, but...

...I could talk all day about funeral songs. Here are some of my current faves.

Enjoy- and take note should I be struck down in the middle of the night...

Right, now we are all suitably depressed...tell me your songs to die for?

O to be a Tennis Ball...

Is it wrong that I like it when he says "you shut your mouth woman"?

I guess we'll just have to adjust...

So...2009 is the year we grow up. Well in essence the year Spence becomes an Animation Genius and I attempt to support us both. Oh my ACTUAL God.

This is something I've been putting off for a while. I somehow equated bills and pensions and TV licenses with the death of my childhood.

I've been reluctant to excel at an office job for fear of becoming one of those people who answers their phone on the train and says "Darling, we simply MUST do lunch". Do you think those people were ever children? To me work is like joining the army. You get up early and put on a uniform and march out there to kill the enemy that you used to love, the world of the "imagination".

For the last few years I have been "temping" in various HR-type jobs. When I tell people this I get "the smile" you know where their mouths make the right shape but their eyes are saying a whole different thing.

People tend to think that I am somehow selling myself short, that because Spence is so ambitious, I have somehow closed the door on my own aspirations to allow the way for his. The truth is despite going to uni (maybe because) in all honesty I HAVE NO AMBITION CAREER-WISE. Also I am clinically lazy.

There's a great freedom in acknowledging this, putting your hands up and saying "I still don't know what I want to be yet", so for all you little pods out there who haven't found your calling yet it really is ok. Anyway, the saying "A Man is his Job" is nonsense. So half the population are therefore "memos, deadlines and pivot tables"- thrilling stuff!

But we must get jobs or we don't eat. And I am generally a fan of eating- THAT I do know. So we must all agree that this illusory world of important work and money is actually real. We must agree that it is real in order to stay motivated and out of jail.

True, it is sad and in part involves having to renounce who you really are. But we get our kicks where we can- like the glimmer when you find a kick-ass colleague (yes you, Ms Welsh) who "gets you" and helps to numb the numbness with humour. Or when you are on the commute to work and see some graffiti on a bridge saying "GO ON. CALL IN SICK". Music helps too...

Wake Up
The Arcade Fire

Somethin’ filled up
my heart with nothin’,
someone told me not to cry.

But now that I’m older,
my heart’s colder,
and I can see that it’s a lie.

Children wake up,
hold your mistake up,
before they turn the summer into dust.

If the children don’t grow up,
our bodies get bigger but our hearts get torn up.
We’re just a million little god’s causin rain storms turnin’ every good thing to rust.

I guess we’ll just have to adjust.

With my lighnin’ bolts a glowin’
I can see where I am goin’ to be
when the reaper he reaches and touches my hand.

With my lighnin’ bolts a glowin’
I can see where I am goin’
With my lighnin’ bolts a glowin’
I can see where I am go-goin’

You better look out below!

So Spence, in the words of Cary Tennis, this year "We are our own saviors. We are our own heroes. And that is as it should be! We will figure it out, and on the other side of this, we will emerge beyond this bloated adolescence of ours into adulthood."