The Friday OT: Kate Bush; Cloudbusting

I just know that something good is going to happen

And I don't know when

But just saying it could even make it happen

I've been having a Kate Bush fest. Last week, and I have no idea why, her first hit Wuthering Heights popped into my head and I couldn't stop mind-playing it. Then last weekend I read by chance that she'd brought a new album out, which was pleasing to hear.

And then Bina over at News of the Restless topped off the coincidences* by featuring this very track, Cloudbusting, on her blog last Sunday.  I hit play over there and oh wow, how good is this song? How good is Kate Bush? Answer: very very very very but very good indeed, oh yes. I thought about a variation on Bina's most excellent choice for this week's Friday OT but favourites are favourites so it's Cloudbusting here, too. Thanks Bina, I owe you one.

For what it's worth, I also found this wiki page on the track and as it's pretty good, here's the bulk of the text for own enjoyment.

"Cloudbusting" is a song that was written, produced and performed by the British singer Kate Bush. It was the second single released from her no.1 1985 album Hounds of Love. "Cloudbusting" peaked at no.20 in the UK Singles Chart.

The song is about the very close relationship between psychologist and philosopher Wilhelm Reich and his young son, Peter, told from the point of view of the mature Peter. It describes the boy's memories of his life with Reich on their family farm, called Orgonon where the two spent time "cloudbusting", a rain-making process which involved pointing at the sky a machine designed and built by Reich, called a cloudbuster. The lyric further describes Wilhelm Reich's abrupt arrest and imprisonment, the pain of loss the young Peter felt, and his helplessness at being unable to protect his father. The song was inspired by Peter Reich's 1973 memoir, "A Book of Dreams", which Bush read and found deeply moving.

The music video, directed by Julian Doyle, was conceived by Terry Gilliam and Kate Bush as a short film. The video features Canadian actor Donald Sutherland playing the role of Wilhelm Reich, and Bush in the role of his young son, Peter. The video shows the two on the top of a hill trying to make the cloudbuster work. Reich leaves Peter on the machine and returns to his lab. In flashback, he remembers several times he and Peter enjoyed together as Reich worked on various scientific projects, until he is interrupted by government officials who arrest him and ransack the lab. Peter senses his father's danger and tries to reach him, but is forced to watch helplessly as his father is driven away. Peter finally runs back to the cloudbuster and activates it successfully, to the delight of his father who sees it starting to rain.
Filming took place at The Vale of White Horse in Oxfordshire, England. Bush found out what hotel Sutherland was staying from actress Julie Christie's hairdresser and went to his room to personally ask him to participate in the project. In the UK, the music video was shown at some cinemas as an accompaniment to the main feature. Due to difficulties on obtaining a work visa for Sutherland at short notice, the actor offered to work on the video for free.
The Cloudbusting machine in the video was designed and constructed by people that worked on the Alien creature and bears only a superficial resemblance to the real cloudbusters, which were smaller and with multiple narrow, straight tubes and pipes, and were operated while standing on the ground.In an oblique reference to the source material of the song, Bush pulls a copy of Peter Reich's "A Book of Dreams" out of Sutherland's sweater.

*don't exist