Run For Cover is a weekly music column comparing cover songs to the original version. Prepare for a major bending of rules as we hear musicians throw around genres, tempos, style, and intent. Whether they’re picking up another’s song out of respect or boredom, the results have impressed us.
Did you hear the whole world burst into shrill half-singing, half-screaming a few hours ago? Kate Bush announced she’s touring for the first time in 35 years. Okay, so the shows are only in the UK during August and September of this year, but who cares.
It’s a joke dream come true.
Bush has only toured once before, back in 1979, to support her second album, Lionheart (with a beautiful tour poster to match). She decided to stop after six weeks after feeling the need to retreat, telling The Guardian, “I felt that my sexuality – which in a way I hadn’t really had a chance to explore myself – was being given to the world in a way which I found impersonal.” Since then, Bush has graced a few states for collaborations of single night performances, but that’s all.
The 55-year-old singer-songwriter is one of the UK’s most successful solo female performers thanks to eclectic vocals, a free-spirited songwriting style, and a fearlessness of art rock and baroque pop. Not only did Bush learn how to play piano at 11 years old, but she would play the organ in the barn behind her parents’ house where she began writing her own songs. Terry Slater of EMI signed her, impressed by a tape of her recordings, but the managing director felt it was best to wait two years before moving forward with it. He felt that at such a young age, Bush would not have been able to handle the success or failure that could have been thrown her way from critics.
Ten albums later, it’s quite clear Kate Bush was the sound the music world was waiting for. She released material every decade from the 70s onward, the most recent of which, 50 Words for Snow, came out in 2011. With a reoccurring presence such as hers, Bush influenced band after band over the years, her distinct style encouraging others to be eccentric.
Don’t think this is limited to the Yoko Onos and the Joanna Newsoms of our time. Both Bjork and Big Boi cite 1982’s The Dreaming as an all-time favorite.
So is the case for Syracuse baroque pop group Ra Ra Riot. Their debut album, The Rhumb Line, saw a lot of praise from critics, partially because they were so young and partially because of their creative use of strings. Personally, I think their cover of “Suspended in Gaffa” is what did the trick.
What normally sounds like a state fair track that would play over a children’s ride now gets a bump up the age chart. Ra Ra Riot bring their signature cello and violin into the mix. The result is entirely magical. For those unfamiliar with Bush’s repertoire (or her theatrical voice), their cover finds a balance between the whimsical and the accessible, keeping the original’s semi-cheekiness at bay and replacing a boastful chorus with tame drum crashes.
Here’s to the return of Kate Bush live. Cross your fingers Queen Elizabeth II will be in the crowd singing along. Considering she appointed Bush Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in 2013 (yes, really), it’s not too far of a stretch. With ticket websites already predict she will be the fastest-selling female act of 2014 (trumping Beyonce and Lady Gaga), it all comes down to who can snag tickets first.