Musical Zen — Kate Bush and Prince

As winter approaches with the prospect of the impact of the pandemic second wave, regular readers will note I’m regularly posting around the idea of proactive resilience, including sharing music and writing and other art that inspires.

Today a story around a musical collaboration between two favourite artists, both absolute geniuses and with unique sounds.

…Kate Bush asked Prince to contribute a few background vocals to a song called “Why Should I Love You”, which she had just recorded in full at Abbey Road Studios. But when Prince received the track, he ignored the instructions and dismantled the entire thing like a crazed mechanic taking apart old cars on his backyard. He wanted to inject himself into the very heart of it, weaving his sound amongst her sound, giving it a new soul entirely.

..It’s startlingly brilliant, with sometimes bizarre, musical depths. It begins as a typical Kate Bush creation; her stratospheric vocals rising across a strange organ melody and tumbling drums. But then, about a minute through, it mutates like an unstable element being dropped into boiling water.

…By the time it reaches the 2-minute mark, it has been completely permeated with that Paisley Park flavour; smatters of electric guitar and rich walls of vocals spilling over its borders. The purple sound arrives like a…