Kate Bush -- Wuthering Heights

Wikimedia Commons

Welcome to another Holiday edition of Reminiscings of Youth.

Of course, being the long weekend, our entire family got together for dinner. No Thanksgiving turkey for 2025...we opted for sushi instead and after coming back to our place for rest and dessert, I noticed that my niece had a book on the coffee table which looked rather old and ornate. I didn't see the title on the cover so I asked her what she was reading.

Well, she answered "Wuthering Heights" from 1847. And I was rather surprised and impressed. I'm not sure whether the Emily Bronte classic was ever considered mandatory reading in high schools; it wasn't in mine but I did hear of the novel and its many adaptations for the big screen and small over the decades. Mind you, the only name I remember from the story is Heathcliff. Plus, my imagination whenever I hear the title is of two lovers from a century and a half ago in full embrace on a windy grassy plain on top of a cliff while a storm is surrounding them. I gather that the weather was really reaching the heights of wuthering at the time.

The above is the 1967 BBC adaptation of "Wuthering Heights" starring a very young Ian McShane. Wow! The earliest I remember the future manager of that hotel with assassins galore was that rather tragic episode of "Space: 1999" in the early 1970s.

Well, according to the relevant Wikipedia article, that 1967 adaptation inspired one young teenager in the UK and quickly wrote a song about it. She also decided to read the original novel and discovered that she even shared a birthday with Bronte. The lass was Kate Bush and so impressed she was with "Wuthering Heights" that she simply had to call what would be her classic song, "Wuthering Heights".

Released in January 1978 as her debut song, "Wuthering Heights" wasn't the first song by Bush that I had ever heard. There was a weird music video that I saw many years later (can't even remember the title or the song) with her and a bunch of costumed characters in a slow mass dance which would be my introduction to the ethereal and beautiful singer. However, listening to "Wuthering Heights" and seeing the two music videos attached to it, I can say that it is the Kate Bushiest Kate Bush song that I've ever encountered and that's even after coming across "Babooshka".

In both videos, she appears as this ghostly sprite on a performance art binge while this gentle art pop melody rolls away and her vocals soar above in the heavens in a way that I would describe as either godly or witch-ly. If I were to make any comparisons between her and Akiko Yano（矢野顕子）, it's always through "Wuthering Heights".

The song hit No. 1 in her native UK and even spent four weeks up at the top. Australia, Ireland, Italy, New Zealand, and Portugal also gave "Wuthering Heights" their No. 1 ranking. Strangely enough, in Japan where the single was known as "Arashigaoka"（嵐が丘）, the song was known as the theme for an NTV late-night Saturday variety program "Koi no Karasawagi" (恋のから騒ぎ...Much Ado About Love).

So, just a few days before the release of "Wuthering Heights", what Oricon songs were also at the height of the chart?

1. Pink Lady -- UFO

2. Miyuki Nakajima -- Wakare Uta (わかれうた）(cover version)

4. Pink Lady -- Wanted

Kate Bush -- Running Up That Hill

 

It was a little over a year ago when I found out about how one episode of "Stranger Things" really set social media alight (along with the villain) with its usage of Kate Bush's August 1985 single "Running Up That Hill". I was thinking about putting that in as the first of Bush's discography as part of the Reminiscings of Youth articles, but gosh darn it, I was too beholden to her earlier song "Babooshka" so I went with that. 

But this time, it's "Running Up That Hill". Like Bonnie Tyler's "Total Eclipse of the Heart", Bush's single and video had the heaviest rotation on radio and TV respectively for weeks and perhaps months on end, and yep, it was getting to the point where I was beginning to feel Bush fatigue. However, I think I fared a little better with "Running Up That Hill" since that interpretive dance was so mesmerizing (along with the percussion) for a while. Frankly, I think the video is probably the Bush-iest video I've ever seen. 

My impression is that "Running Up That Hill" was dusted off after so many years for "Stranger Things", but I think that the song would be perfect for any scene in a movie or TV show revealing preparation for an upcoming battle of huge proportions. The observation that it took a few decades for that realization to actually coalesce in a Netflix horror series has made both program and song that much more legendary.

When it was first released, the song did fairly well on the charts by scoring No. 30 on US Billboard and No. 16 on Canada's RPM with its highest rankings being in the UK and West Germany at No. 3. But once that "Stranger Things" episode aired, "Running Up That Hill" achieved year-end rankings of No. 24 and No. 23 in Canada and the United States respectively.

So, what was coming out as singles in Japan at that time?

Yu Hayami -- Passion

Yumi Matsutoya -- Metropolis no Katasumi de（メトロポリスの片隅で）

Yoko Oginome -- Kokoro no Mama ni  (心のままに 〜I'm just a lady〜)

Up above, I described "Running Up That Hill" as that call-to-arms. Well, last night before I was about to head to bed, I discovered that the first non-Japanese to attain the highest rank of yokozuna in sumo, Taro Akebono (born Chad Rowan in Hawaii), passed away some days ago at the age of 54. He'd retired from active competition more than twenty years previously but his shadow was so long that I couldn't quite believe that it's been that long since his retirement. I can only imagine that he ran up a very steep hill to become a yokozuna in a Japanese sport whose governing body could have been very reluctant to have an American at the very top of the sumo pyramid in 1993, although at the time, the rank had been vacant for the better part of a year. My condolences to his family, friends and fans.

Kate Bush -- Babooshka

 

To be honest, when I decided to bring in Kate Bush for this week's Reminiscings of Youth, I had planned to talk about "Running Up That Hill" since the 80s hit received a new lease of life due to its use in an episode of "Stranger Things" last year.

But then, I came upon "Babooshka", her single from June 1980 and my mind was set. The image of Bush in that Valkyrie costume has forever remained with me since I first saw the music video decades ago. And watching it once more last night, I remember being rather flabbergasted at not only how pretty (and terrifying) she looked but also at the whole thing about her in a black bodysuit interacting with a contrabass as she switched scenes between that and her Valkyrie self.

Still trying to gain my bearings with all sorts of music at that time, I couldn't quite understand the genre of "Babooshka", although it's been described in Wikipedia as a rock song. However, my feeling is that it was either Art Pop or Baroque New Wave Pop (which could be one and the same). Regardless, the video and the song and her vocal style stand out very clearly, and isn't that what any singer wants? Bush definitely succeeded, and the chorus was playing out in my head repeatedly when I went to bed last night and when I woke up this morning. 

To further emphasize that I've always been more of a melody man than someone who is into the lyrics, I had never paid attention to the straight-ahead story of the titular embittered wife Babooshka putting on the guise of a younger woman through correspondence as a test to see if her husband would stray away from the marriage. In fact, I'd thought "Babooshka" that was simply a play on the singer-songwriter's name because of that second syllable in the title.

Although there's no information on how the song did on the charts in either America or Canada, "Babooshka" was Bush's 2nd Top 5 single in the UK by hitting No. 5 according to the relevant Wikipedia article. I will have to do "Running Up That Hill" sometime in March. Anyways, what was at the top of Oricon in June 1980?

1. Monta & Brothers -- Dancing All Night

2. Shinji Tanimura -- Subaru （昴）

3. The Chanels -- Runaway