The Great Fish Debate

[Chrisb]

Calling all Sensual Worlders: you're being labelled as fanatical forumers over at XTC central where there's a growing KB thread. They're currently debating what species of fish is described in Mrs Bartolozzi, and they're keen for your imput.

Here's the link if you're interested:

www.xtcidearecords.co.uk/cgi-bin/ikonboard/topic.cgi?forum=36&topic=1070&start=40

[Gelid]

Umm, excuse me but isn't there a forum called The Kate Bush Forum? ("XTC Central" referrs to The Kate Bush Forum, not TSW of KB)I think I was a member at one time. (I don't mean to be nit-picky, but I just can't help it! )

[Al Truest]

chrisb said:

.......They're currently debating what species of fish is described in Mrs Bartolozzi, and they're keen for your input.

Slippery eel, I'd say.

[Adey]

From the keyboard of one such forumer ~

Hey chrisb, you guys at XTC worry about the fish while I just appreciate the art..

Regards to your fellow forum chums.

[stev0]

They're all exotic fish I find, like Jason and the Argonauts.

[Sheila]

The same fish that are in PJ Harvey's "Down By The Water" J/K

Are those XTC fans (I love XTC btw! more obsessive than we are? That's an achievement!

Okay I'll bite, I just picture very little fish like baby perch or Minnows.

[Sheila]

On more careful listening, I have a (possibly whacked) theory--what if this is sexual metaphor? Read that verse again, it could be. What if the "fish" are actually sperm? This is the one song on disc one I am having trouble with. I just don't get it, but trying to. Am I out in left field with this interp?

[Al Truest]

sheila said:

On more careful listening, I have a (possibly whacked) theory--what if this is sexual metaphor? Read that verse again, it could be. What if the "fish" are actually sperm? This is the one song on disc one I am having trouble with. I just don't get it, but trying to. Am I out in left field with this interp?

No you're not. I thought the same thing right away. 'Most everything can have a sexual connotation if carried to it's conclusion. Just as in "The Warm Room" and in this Steely Dan ("Countdown to Ecstasy") album cover that appears, to me at least, to be spermatozoa awaiting launch



A recurrent theme it seems.

[stev0]

Wouldn't be the first time Kate's used that one. Check out the lyrics for her unreleased demo, "The Craft of Love" -

I know how you like to kiss.
I'll ask you what you're thinking.
Silvers in our dark hair.
The sheets are soaked by your tiny fish.

[Sheila]

stev0 said:

Wouldn't be the first time Kate's used that one. Check out the lyrics for her unreleased demo, "The Craft of Love" -
I know how you like to kiss.
I'll ask you what you're thinking.
Silvers in our dark hair.
The sheets are soaked by your tiny fish.

Oh yeah forgot about that! Maybe I AM on to something here...

[Barbarella]

sheila said:

On more careful listening, I have a (possibly whacked) theory--what if this is sexual metaphor? Read that verse again, it could be. What if the "fish" are actually sperm? This is the one song on disc one I am having trouble with. I just don't get it, but trying to. Am I out in left field with this interp?

This is also what I thought the fish were too. In the lyrics, he is standing right behind her. booyah!

[Al Truest]

barbarella said:

sheila said:

On more careful listening, I have a (possibly whacked) theory--what if this is sexual metaphor? Read that verse again, it could be. What if the "fish" are actually sperm? This is the one song on disc one I am having trouble with. I just don't get it, but trying to. Am I out in left field with this interp?

This is also what I thought the fish were too. In the lyrics, he is standing right behind her. booyah!

He is standing in the lyrics.

This song may not seem as deep as some of the others. But there is a lot of imagery and allegory going on. Finding depth in the routine activities of daily life...Our imagination and boudless creativity. We all share the same day, yet on this entire project she has filled her day with birds. What do we fill ours with?....

[tabatha]

If you are looking for the sexual connotations of this song, and I now see these little fish in the same way, look at the lines preceding the fish one, in particular the three or four above. With the right mind set it could all be linked.

And on an entirely different note. What would Kate think if she read all these? I'd think she'd laugh, and then become thoughtful. One wonders if she ever reads anything her fans write.

[Al Truest]

tabatha said:

And on an entirely different note.....

Ants don't really care for cucumbers.

[Adey]

Lets be honest ~

Were it not for the lyric "between my legs", which immediately follows the reference to "little fish swimming", surely no-one would have thought of it as having any sort of sexual connotation. (Craft of Love, notwithstanding).

In his extensive Radio 2 interview with Kate, Mark Goodier asked her this exact question. Kate immediately denied that Mrs Bartolozzi contained any sort of sexual reference..

Just out of interest, and in respect of Craft.. I vaguely recall a Dylan Thomas poem which used a 'sperm as fish' reference. I'm sure that Kate would have been exposed to Thomas's work through her poet brother John Carder Bush, or through her own reading of poetry. I guess I've always assumed that she picked up the reference there and used it in her own writing..