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| KATE BUSH c 1980 |
WUTHERING HEIGHTS
KATE BUSH
from the 1978 EMI LP The Kick Inside
WUTHERING HEIGHTS
Out on the wiley
Windy moors
We'd roll and fall
In green
You had a temper
Like my jealousy
Too hot
Too greedy
How could you leave me
When I needed to
Possess you
I hated you
I loved you too
Bad dreams
In the night
They told me
I was going to
Lose the fight
Leave behind
My Wuthering
Wuthering
Wuthering Heights
Heathcliff
It's me
I'm Cathy
I've come home
I'm so cold
Let me
In your window
Heathcliff
It's me
I'm Cathy
I've come home
I'm so cold
Let me
In your window
Oh it gets dark
It gets lonely
On the other side
From you
I pine a lot
I find a lot
Falls through
Without you
I'm coming back love
Cruel Heathcliff
My one dream
My only master
Too long I roam
In the night
I'm coming back
To his side
To put it right
I'm coming home
To Wuthering
Wuthering
Wuthering Heights
Heathcliff
It's me
I'm Cathy
I've come home
I'm so cold
Let me
In your window
Heathcliff
It's me
I'm Cathy
I've come home
I'm so cold
Let me
In your window
Ooh let me have it
Let me grab
Your soul away
Ooh let me have it
Let me grab
Your soul away
You know it's me
Cathy
Heathcliff
It's me
I'm Cathy
I've come home
I'm so cold
Let me
In your window
Heathcliff
It's me
I'm Cathy
I've come home
I'm so cold
Let me
In your window
Heathcliff
It's me
I'm Cathy
I've come home
I'm so cold
Words and music © 1978 Kate Bush
EMI/Noble & Brite Ltd
While it's rare for a famous literary novel to serve as the inspiration for a contemporary pop song, Emily Brontë's 1847 Gothic romance Wuthering Heights did precisely that for the eighteen year old Kate Bush, becoming the British singer-songwriter's first substantial hit and one of the defining performances of the 1970s following its release by the EMI label on 20 January 1978.
What makes the song so remarkable, apart from the haunting and haunted quality of Bush's astonishing lead vocal, is the way it seems to capture the gloom-laden Gothic atmosphere of the novel in language that cleverly echoes and occasionally borrows from it. At least three of its key lines — 'I'm so cold,' 'Let me in' and the all important hook line 'Bad dreams in the night' — are Brontë's own, underscoring the essential tragedy of the song's subject matter despite its lush arrangement and equally 'big' production style. In fact, it would not be stretching the point to suggest that Wuthering Heights could be the most purely atmospheric pop song ever recorded, a three minute excursion to a different place and time narrated by a ghost forever haunted by her enforced separation from her cruel but nevertheless sorely-missed lover. It manages to feel like Romantic poetry without relying on any of the traditional tropes of nineteenth century Romantic poetry to achieve its effects and remains one of the finest examples of 'sonic cinema' created by any artist anywhere.
Kate Bush has released many fine singles since her 1978 debut, none of which has replicated either the commercial success or the sheer emotive power of Wuthering Heights. If the song has persuaded even one of her fans to read the original novel then that can only be a good thing, a fitting tribute to an author who was forced to publish her work under the male pseudonym 'Ellis Bell' and died before the age of thirty in almost total obscurity.
Use the link below to visit Fish People, the website of British singer/songwriter KATE BUSH:
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