Kate Bush’s haunting and mystical voice sets her apart from many other artists. Her breathy and sensual tone as well as her feminine appearance seem to be well suited to sweet and light-hearted love songs. However, Bush has proven that the use of her entrancing style contrasted with the horrors of war create a chilling message and evoke strong reactions from her listeners. Given the incredible use of symbolism and imagery in essentially all of her songs, I figured I would focus this post on two songs in particular that appear at the end of Bush’s album released in 1980 entitled “Never For Ever.”

The first song, “Army Dreamers,” is speculated by many to have been written in response to the ethno-nationalist conflicts in Northern Ireland given the accent she adopted for this particular song as well as the time period in which it was released. Bush uses this song to tell a story from the perspective of a mother who has just lost her young son who was serving in the military. She sees his death as unnecessary and wonders about what could have been done to protect him from such a tragic and untimely fate: “Should have been a rock star, but he didn’t have the money for a guitar… Should have been a politician, but he never had a proper education… Should have been a father, but he never made it to his twenties.” In addition to recognizing the heartbreak and regret that accompanies losing someone so young, Bush also seems to point out how the military often takes advantage of citizens who can’t afford to pursue other careers or obtain a meaningful education. With the lyrics, “give him all your stripes and ribbons. Now he’s sitting in his hole, he might as well have buttons and bows,” Bush recognizes the awards this soldier is likely to receive for his sacrifices, but argues that they are meaningless when compared to the tragedy of his death.

“Breathing” continues this dark theme of warfare and its disastrous effects on those who are involved. Bush takes her talents of storytelling from an alternate perspective to the extreme as she portrays a fetus within her mother’s womb that is self-aware and desperately fighting for life in the aftermath of a nuclear explosion. In this song, Bush notes, “My radar sends me danger but my instincts tell me to keep breathing,” explaining how the fetus must breathe to stay alive, but the inhalation of debris from nuclear fallout only puts its life in further danger. During the bridge in this song, Bush utilizes an audio recording of someone describing a nuclear explosion. The haunting imagery in this part of the song places the listener in the moment and increases the urgency of this dire situation.

Clearly, Kate Bush has released her fair share of songs that express strong anti-war sentiment. With the resounding success of her music, she was also no stranger to political controversy. For example, “Army Dreamers” was one of nearly 70 songs that were banned from BBC airplay in 1991 during the Gulf War because of the strong opinions it promoted about war and the military. If there’s one thing that Bush’s fans can always expect, it’s that her melodramatic style can be used to uniquely address a wide range of topics in a creative and refreshing way that leaves listeners captivated and intellectually stimulated.