Today’s classic song of the day is “Wuthering Heights” by Kate Bush. No, the song wasn’t written about Emily Bronte’s 1847 novel of the same name, but rather the 1967 BBC-TV adaptation of the same book. Ms. Bush wrote the song from the perspective of Catherine, the book’s female protagonist, about her relationship with Heathcliff, the tortured anti-hero of the novel:
Heathcliff, it’s me, I’m Cathy
I’ve come home, I’m so cold
Let me in your window
“Wuthering Heights” was the final track on the first side of Kate Bush’s debut album, The Kick Inside. It was also her first single, released in January of 1978. The track took just three weeks to rise to #1 on the UK charts, where it stayed for a month. It was a huge hit worldwide, reaching the top ten in Australia (#1), Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Ireland (#1), Italy (#1), the Netherlands, New Zealand (#1), Norway, Portugal (#1), South Africa, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland. Not so here in the U.S., however, where it inexplicably failed to crack the Billboard Hot 100.
The single’s poor performance in the U.S. is sadly indicative of how we Americans received Ms. Bush throughout her career. While she was embraced by music lovers worldwide, Ms. Bush just never really hit it off here in the States. Her only real hit in the U.S. was “Running Up That Hill,” which reached #30 on its initial release in 1985; this one had a miraculous second life when it was featured in the television series Stranger Things, and it went all the way to #3 in its 2022 rerelease.
I was first exposed to Kate Bush when she appeared as the musical guest on the December 9, 1978, episode of Saturday Night Live, with host Eric Idle (of Monty Python fame). She performed “The Man With the Child in His Eyes” and “Them Heavy People” in a highly theatrical fashion, and I’d never seen anything quite like it. Her blending of music and performance art was groundbreaking at the time and presaged the highly choreographed and theatrical performances common among pop performers today.
(Click here to view Kate Bush’s SNL performance in its entirety.)
I’ve been a Kate Bush fan since that SNL performance and remain so today. Her songs are sophisticated both musically and lyrically, unlike most anything else at that time or since, and her performances intelligently theatrical. I find her captivating.
Which leads to our two daily bonus videos of the day, Kate Bush’s two music videos for “Wuthering Heights.” And here’s the kicker—she was only 19 years old when she recorded and released “Wuthering Heights” and The Kick Inside. Amazing.
