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Post by Xanadu on Jul 14, 2006 17:59:51 GMT
Personally, I think there are some things that aren't meant for us to understand. I believe the really gifted writers use direct references and mixed metaphors to convey emotion. With the lyrics being intentionally vague or unusual, various people of all backgrounds can connect with that emotion. It doesn't have to be about one specific experience in her life, but an amalgamation of thoughts and impressions from many people. Her talent is being the filtering voice of that sentiment.
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Post by Al Truest on Jul 14, 2006 23:31:58 GMT
Personally, I think there are some things that aren't meant for us to understand. I believe the really gifted writers use direct references and mixed metaphors to convey emotion. With the lyrics being intentionally vague or unusual, various people of all backgrounds can connect with that emotion. It doesn't have to be about one specific experience in her life, but an amalgamation of thoughts and impressions from many people. Her talent is being the filtering voice of that sentiment. Unlike my poems, which make no sense to anyone but me. ;D
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Post by Xanadu on Jul 15, 2006 0:39:57 GMT
Unlike my poems, which make no sense to anyone but me. ;D Oh, they make more sense than you think... ;D LOL
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Post by michael on Jul 15, 2006 7:09:20 GMT
You're right, Xanadu. Even though I write songs, when I listen to something for the first time, it's not the "story" or the lyric that I focus on, but the whole feel. It's the sense of the groove and with Rocket's Tail (like almost all of her stuff), it feels right, even if I don't know the "Whole Story." It fits. However, I'm also notorious for thinking songs were about one thing when they were about something completely different, and I still believe that there's someone who thinks Rocket's Tail is even more perfect a fit than I do. The reason I think this is that when Kate quotes someone else in a song, it's never pithy; it's never an artifice, it sounds real and personal. But maybe that's just part of her magic.
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Post by tannis on Nov 26, 2007 17:28:23 GMT
IMHO... This song deals with the performing artist - It has a sad humour, like Janis Joplin saying: “I just made love to 25,000 people, but I’m going home alone!” A tells B how they wish they could experience the brilliant thrill suggested to them by the rocket. But B regards this wish as crazy. To B, the rocket symbolises not to be - brevity, sadness, aloneness, etc. Years later, B is a performer, like the firework… holding the night in its arms… But when a performer is on stage, most of us can’t see the look in their eyes… And I guess a performer sometimes feels like a 'stick on fire' rather than the biggest rocket... (‘I put on my pointed hat…’ Kate wore a pointed hat for ‘Sat in Your Lap’… and a black and silver suit ON STAGE… and Waterloo Bridge is very close to the London Palladium where she began her first and last tour in 1979.) B puts so much effort in, but still feels unfulfilled when the show is over… Nobody seems to see me… (The Dreaming met with a mixed critical reception…) So B tries again and again to fill “the gap”… (‘I put on my cloudiest suit…’ refers to Cloudbusting, etc.?) B is ‘on fire’ with the need to perform, to express herself artistically… like a cat with its tail on fire!!! So the song seems to be about B, looking back on that November night, and ironically thinking, ‘Gosh, was it me who said you were crazy!’ The song laughs at the unexpected and maybe turns self-doubt into a motivating force… The preparing to perform… the rocket suit and gunpowder pack… A rock star shooting into the night… the self-doubting ‘I land in the river!’ … And The Trio Bulgarka's "WEEEEEEEeeeeee!" as the firework lands in the river!!! A beautiful song! EDIT KB on RT: "It's also about how people see things from different standpoints. Those with a negative outlook see only the fizzle-fizzle while others see the celebration of the moment, the YEEAAAHHHHH!" gaffa.org/reaching/i89_cd.html
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Post by soundbite on May 18, 2008 21:54:46 GMT
I just want to say that this is my favourite song on this album and I'd put it in my personal top 5 of Kate Bush songs.
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Post by rosabelbelieve on May 18, 2008 22:04:42 GMT
It is a fabulous song, isn't it. The Trio Bulgarka are amazing here.
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Adena
Moving
This time around we dance - we're chosen ones
Posts: 611
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Post by Adena on May 19, 2008 1:01:49 GMT
Yes, it's a very nice song. I think it lacks some of the glitter of Kate's other songs, but nevertheless nice.
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Post by tannis on Jul 17, 2008 10:00:05 GMT
I put on my pointed hat And my black and silver suit, And I check my gunpowder pack And I strap the stick on my back. And, dressed as a rocket on Waterloo Bridge...Rocket's Tail is one of those beguiling Bush songs that have a simple story on the surface, about an eccentric strapping a rocket to his back, but you want to know just where it comes from. "I'm not sure if it's meant to be figured out," says Bush, offering little help. "If you want to figure it out, great; but again, songs should exist in their own space. And if they are a curious item, then that's very nice. Some people are, aren't they?" Musician, "Kate Bush's Theater of the Senses" (1990)gaffa.org/reaching/i90_mu.html
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Post by mimosa on Nov 1, 2008 4:07:53 GMT
Hi, I wonder what people would make of this interpretation of Rocket's Tail. You could listen to it and read the lyrics as an allusion to a witch being burnt at the stake or thrown bound into a river. There are heaps of images that could be associated with the popular view of witchcraft - flying into the air, etc - and with the witch burning times. Perhaps the use of an image of a rocket was used to somehow hide the seriousness of the topic. Even the background vocals towards the end of the song could be interpreted as a jeering superstitious crowd. Rocket wasn't a black cat by any chance? With the lyrics below I'll list some of the associations that might make this interpretation of the song make sense.
That November night, looking up into the sky (why November?) You said
"Hey, wish that was me up there It's the biggest rocket I could find And it's holding the night in its arms If only for a moment I can't see the look in its eyes But I'm sure it must be laughing"
But it seemed to me the saddest thing I'd ever seen And I thought you were crazy, wishing such a thing
I saw only a stick on fire Alone on its journey Home to the quickening ground With no one there to catch it
(Above this point the narrator is seeing a 'witch' being burnt at the stake as an observer, after this she describes the process in the first person.)
I put on my pointed hat (witches hat) And my black and silver suit (black cloak, why would black be a colour for a rocket?) And I check my gunpowder pack (the fuel at the base of the stake) And I strap the stick on my back (the stake the 'witch' is tied to) And, dressed as a rocket on Waterloo Bridge (a bound 'witch' being thrown into a river) Nobody seems to see me Then, with the fuse in my hand (fuse as rope) And now shooting into the night (thrown from a bridge, but also could be a reference to witches flying on broomsticks - whatever that alludes to) And still as a rocket (like a solid object that can not swim to save her life) I land in the river
Was it me said you were crazy? (the narrator being burnt as a witch herself after witnessing it happening to someone else) I put on my cloudiest suit (smoke as the fuel at the base of a stake is lit) Size 5 lightning boots, too (the fire spreads)
'Cause I am a rocket (the sound is of a jeering mob while the narrator is being burnt to death) On fire Look at me go, with my tail on fire With my tail on fire On fire Hey, look at me go, look at me... (which dies down when its all over...)
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Post by tannis on Nov 1, 2008 16:00:01 GMT
You could listen to it and read the lyrics as an allusion to a witch being burnt at the stake or thrown bound into a river. Yes, this listening experience does make sense. After all, KaTe used witch burning in Waking The Witch and dedicates the song to her cat familiar, Rocket. But I tend to interpret the song as a tale set around Guy Fawkes Night, The Tour Of Life, and KaTe's subsequent hits and misses. And I guess that The Tour Of Life might have felt like a witch burning trial, all that ducking and diving and drowning under the spotlight. And maybe the background vocals towards the end of the song are trying to suggest a rocket firework shooting up into the night, burning itself out, and then falling back down to earth...KT: Rocket *is* one of my cats, and he was the inspiration for the subject matter for the song, because he's dead cute <both laugh>. And it's very strange subject matter because the song isn't exactly about Rocket, it's kind of inspired by him and for him, but the song, it's about anything. I guess it's saying there's nothing wrong with being right here at this moment, and just enjoying this moment to its absolute <something>, and if that's it, that's OK, you know. And it's kind of using the idea of a rocket that's so exciting for maybe 3 seconds and then it's gone <phutt!>, you know that's it, but so what, it had 3 seconds of absolutely wonderful... Radio One Interview by Roger Scott 14th October 1989gaffa.org/reaching/ir89_r1.htmlThat November night, looking up into the sky...Remember, remember the Fifth of November, The Gunpowder Treason and Plot, I know of no reason Why the Gunpowder Treason Should ever be forgot. Guy Fawkes, Guy Fawkes, t'was his intent To blow up King and Parli'ment. Three-score barrels of powder below To prove old England's overthrow; By God's providence he was catch'd With a dark lantern and burning match. Holloa boys, holloa boys, let the bells ring. Holloa boys, holloa boys, God save the King! Guy Fawkes Night (also known as Bonfire Night, Cracker Night, Fireworks Night) is an annual celebration on the evening of the 5th of November. It celebrates the foiling of the Gunpowder Plot of the 5 November 1605 in which a number of Catholic conspirators, including Guy Fawkes, attempted to blow up the Houses of Parliament in London, England.
It is primarily marked in the United Kingdom where it was compulsory, by Royal Decree, to celebrate the deliverance of the King until 1859. Festivities involve fireworks displays and the building of bonfires on which traditionally "guys" are burnt. These "guys" are traditionally effigies of Guy Fawkes, the most famous of the Gunpowder Plot conspirators.
In Sussex, it is a major festival that centres on Lewes necessitating the closure of the town centre. The night also commemorates the Glorious Revolution and 17 local Protestant martyrs that were burnt at the stake during Marian Persecutions by the Catholic Queen Mary I. The night begins with torchlight processions in costume by a number of local bonfire societies and culminates in six separate bonfires where effigies of Guy Fawkes, Pope Paul V and topical personalities are destroyed by firework and flame.
lewes Bonfire night 2006uk.youtube.com/watch?v=fBdZZHc2y-E&feature=relatedYou said, "Hey, wish that was me up there-- It's the biggest rocket I could find, And it's holding the night in its arms If only for a moment...'A' tells 'B' how they wish they could experience the brilliant thrill suggested to them by the rocket firework. Of course, a firework's display is over in a moment. But in that brief moment in time, it holds our attention and the night in its arms. 'A' would rather one crowded hour of glorious life than an age without a name...
"SOUND, sound the clarion, fill the fife! Throughout the sensual world proclaim, One crowded hour of glorious life Is worth an age without a name." ~ Thomas Osbert Mordaunt (1730 - 1809)...I can't see the look in its eyes, But I'm sure it must be laughing."'A' personifies the firework, and the rocket takes on the characteristics of a performing Rock Star (Dave Gilmour on guitar).I: Among the other guests on The Sensual World are Bulgarian singers the Trio Bulgarka and an old friend, Dave Gilmour from Pink Floyd. KT: It was so good for me to come this full circle where, as you know, Dave was very involved in getting my initial signing to the record company and I'd kinda written this song and I knew I wanted the Bulgarian singers to be the main body of the song. And the idea is that at one point in the song the character dresses up as a rocket and jumps off this bridge, and it just felt so right that Dave Gilmour should be the rocket - you know, sort of ... off the bridge. You know ... he's kind of the guitar hero isn't he? Rapido Interview BBC2 TV 14th October 1989gaffa.org/reaching/iv89_ra2.htmlBut it seemed to me the saddest thing I'd ever seen, And I thought you were crazy, wishing such a thing. I saw only a stick on fire, Alone on its journey Home to the quickening ground, With no one there to catch it. But 'B' regards this wish as crazy. To 'B', the firework rocket symbolises not to be - brevity, sadness, aloneness, etc. The firework is alone up in the sky, like a solitary star, but burning up in an instant... Brief Lives... Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, James Dean, Joan of Arc... The image of the firework as a metaphor for life unsettles 'B'.
Rocket's Tail kinda taps into Achilles' choice. If there is a "theme" to The Iliad (and one should resist simplifying large and complex literature), it is "Achilles choice." Achilles has been offered a choice: either he can be a great and famous hero in war and die young (Achilles does die in Troy when a poison arrow strikes him in the ankle), or he can live a long, happy life without any lasting fame whatsoever. Although Achilles initially chooses not to die young, the death of his friend forces him to make the choice that will make him famous for all time, but tragically dead at a young age.I put on my pointed hat And my black and silver suit, And I check my gunpowder pack And I strap the stick on my back. And, dressed as a rocket on Waterloo Bridge-- Nobody seems to see me. Then, with the fuse in my hand, And now shooting into the night...At this point in the song, we fast forward and look back at KaTe as a performer. Like the rocket firework, KaTe On Stage holds the night in her arms. And when a performer is on stage, most of us can’t see the look in their eyes. And I guess a performer sometimes feels like a 'stick on fire' rather than the biggest rocket or rock star. The "pointed hat" probably refers to the pointed dunce's cap KaTe wore for the Sat in Your Lap single cover and video shoot. The "black and silver suit" probably refers to the costume KaTe wore for the James And The Cold Gun Tour Of Life performance, and shown as a still for the On Stage EP cover. The "gunpowder pack" and "stick on my back" probably refer to checks and paraphernalia used on The Tour Of Life, such as the wireless headset radio microphone. And "dressed as a rocket on Waterloo Bridge" is surely a comedic reference to KaTe playing The Tour Of Life at the London Palladium in 1979 (Waterloo Bridge is very close to the London Palladium).Kate Bush - Sat in Your Lap uk.youtube.com/watch?v=xEVMfG8z490 Kate Bush - James & the Cold Gun - Live at Hammersmith Odeon 1979 - 10 of 12uk.youtube.com/watch?v=I4S5i3jfzHcAnd still as a rocket, I land in the river. Was it me said you were crazy? I put on my cloudiest suit, Size 5 lightning boots, too. 'B'/KaTe puts so much effort in, but still feels unfulfilled when the show is over… Nobody seems to see me… e.g. 'The Dreaming' met with a mixed critical reception… Give me deeper understanding... Hey, look at me...
The "cloudiest suit" probably refers to the costume KaTe wore for the Cloudbusting video. The "Size 5 lightning boots" could refer to the costume KaTe wore for the The Big Sky video.
Kate Bush Cloudbustinguk.youtube.com/watch?v=IRHA9W-zExQKate Bush The Big Skyuk.youtube.com/watch?v=C88yb-OVNmw'Cause I am a rocket On fire. Look at me go, with my tail on fire, With my tail on fire, On fire. Hey, look at me go, look at me... 'B'/KaTe tries again and again to fill "the gap". 'B' is "on fire" with the need to perform, to express herself artistically… like a cat with its tail on fire!So IMHO the song is about 'B', down to earth, looking back on that November night, and ironically thinking, 'Gosh, was it me who said you were crazy!'Kate Bush - Rocket's Tailuk.youtube.com/watch?v=7yeimyOsdrA
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Post by mimosa on Nov 2, 2008 3:57:55 GMT
Thank you Tannis for your explanation of the history behind the song.
I wasn't aware of Guy Fawkes Night in November and how it is associated with bright fireworks and rockets. As you say the song might also express the personal experiences of Kate Bush as a star 'A', looking back at her experience from the perspective of down to earth 'B' and telling the tale in her own words.
I haven't read The Iliad but I wonder to what extent there was a choice. In some other Greek tragedies, such as Oedipus Rex, a prophecy became a self-fulfilling prophecy precisely because the character did everything he could to avoid that prophecy becoming true. There is a twist of fate there that the prophecy catches and that the character can not avoid no matter what he does.
Anyway, that's beside the point. Thank you for providing a background context for the song. It makes more sense than the interpretation I've expressed above.
Cheers, Mimosa
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amy
Reaching Out
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Post by amy on Nov 2, 2008 13:26:45 GMT
Hi Mimosa; I assumed you brought up this thread because Bonfire night's in a few days time! Strange coincidence? I was actually at that very Lewes night (2006) you've posted Tannis. It's extremely loud and quite dangerous really and the atmosphere is electrifying. Worth going to if you're ever in the UK. With regards to the song, it doesn't make a huge amount of sense to me but I always picture Kate and the trio as witches (Halloween's only just gone) at night flying over the tops of leafless trees.
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Post by tannis on Nov 3, 2008 9:45:25 GMT
Hi Mimosa; I assumed you brought up this thread because Bonfire night's in a few days time! Strange coincidence? We raise our hats to the strange phenomena! ... I always picture Kate and the trio as witches (Halloween's only just gone) at night flying over the tops of leafless trees. Yes, Kate and the trio do sound like the Weird Sisters! And Guy Fawkes Night (stake burning) and Halloween (the bewitching hour) share witchy themes. And in some countries, Halloween is marked by fireworks displays.I put on my pointed hat And my black and silver suit, And I check my gunpowder pack And I strap the stick on my back. And, dressed as a rocket on Waterloo Bridge-- Nobody seems to see me. Then, with the fuse in my hand, And now shooting into the night...At this point in the song, we fast forward and look back at KaTe as a performer. On a brighter note: At this point in the song, the guitar solo could symbolise The Tour Of Life and KaTe's excitement as a performer or Rock Star.And still as a rocket, I land in the river. Was it me said you were crazy? And she lands still as a rocket, i.e. she doesn't burn up! And the experience is so thrilling that she can't believe she thought the idea crazy on that November night. Indeed, she is so excited and thrilled that she wants more, is now addicted to creative performing. She's a rocket on fire... And look at her go... I put on my cloudiest suit, Size 5 lightning boots, too. In Rocket's Tail, the performer is "on fire" with the addictive need to create and perform. And the song's ending could indeed suggest that she is consumed by the fire of her addiction (rather like, as Mimosa says, a witch being burnt at the stake). And KaTe returns to this theme in The Red Shoes... They're gonna make her dance 'till her legs fall off...
In Rocket's Tail, 'A' tells 'B': "Hey, wish that was me up there..." In The Red Shoes, KaTe tells the dancer: "I'd love to dance like you..." Oh the minute I put them on I knew I had done something wrong All her gifts for the dance had gone It's the red shoes, they can't stop dancing, dancingThe 'size 5 lightning boots' have become 'the red shoes'. And The Sorcerer's Apprentice is struggling to control the magic...
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Post by tannis on Nov 11, 2008 8:03:26 GMT
I was actually at that very Lewes night (2006) you've posted Tannis. It's extremely loud and quite dangerous really and the atmosphere is electrifying. Worth going to if you're ever in the UK. That November night, looking up into the sky...Thank you, Amy. I went to Lewes on Bonfire Night. It was amazing! The town was packed like a riot. The processions were great, with burning torches, burning crosses, flare torches, marching bands, costumes, barrels of fire, and crackers going off everywhere! I watched Guy Fawkes burned on the bonfire and a great display of fireworks, and then followed the procession back through town, where they sang "Remember, Remember the Fifth of November", "God Save The Queen" and "Auld Lang Syne". A great night, and as Amy says, worth going to if you're ever in the UK. Lewes Bonfire Night uk.youtube.com/watch?v=IMK7UXW6l3g
Lewes Bonfire Night 2008 (1) - TheMagicalPianoPlayer uk.youtube.com/watch?v=smZa0M4lvmY&feature=related
Lewes Bonfire Night 2008 (2) - TheMagicalPianoPlayer uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Dj6pbBA4S00&feature=related
Lewes Bonfire Night 2008 (3) - TheMagicalPianoPlayer uk.youtube.com/watch?v=CBXb3BF12Ho
Lewes Bonfire Night 2008 (4) - TheMagicalPianoPlayer uk.youtube.com/watch?v=-_gy91FPcDQ&feature=related
Lewes Bonfire Night 2008 (5) - TheMagicalPianoPlayeruk.youtube.com/watch?v=p-d-AgN94Zk&feature=related
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