Quote from Kate Bush (forward to How to Be Invisible Lyric Book) April 2023 A few years ago I happened to meet the man I'd been madly in love with when I was about thirteen. It had been a real schoolgirl's crush, and he had had no idea. When I told him that he was 'The Man with the Child in his Eyes' , and that I had written the song for him, he was extremely surprised. I got the feeling it kind of made his day, but I don't think he ever told anyone. I'm not sure he really believed me.
Kate wrote this at age 13/14. "The inspiration for 'The Man With the Child in His Eyes' was really just a particular thing that happened when I went to the piano. The piano just started speaking to me. It was a theory that I had had for a while that I just observed in most of the men that I know: the fact that they just are little boys inside and how wonderful it is that they manage to retain this magic. I, myself, am attracted to older men, I guess, but I think that's the same with every female. I think it's a very natural, basic instinct that you look continually for your father for the rest of your life, as do men continually look for their mother in the women that they meet. I don't think we're all aware of it, but I think it is basically true. You look for that security that the opposite sex in your parenthood gave you as a child." - Kate Bush from 'Self Portrait' radio show 1978
Oh wow, so a really complex intersection of some different concepts, including a self-reflected psychoanalytical exploration of the thematic material. Crazy, I really appreciate that context.
@@mattsnider2667 the OP has it right, and I think the intention of the lyric is child-like, rather than childish. Kate was taught piano by her father, and she had a very close relationship with her two older brothers, who introduced her to much of the music and artists that influenced her. She would go to write about men, or from a man's perspective, with great sensitivity, empathy and compassion; not merely as an infatuated / disatisfied lover, or a spurned ex. She didn't race to take a side in some exaggerated conflict of genders, and whilst she recognised that there are problematic men, I don't think she would subscribe to a view, often expressed nowadays, that casts all women as victims of patriarchal power. She loved her father and her mother, so why would she?
This song was written when Kate was 13 years old, she apparently started writing songs at 11, but only started adding more complex lyrics from 13 onwards. It was recorded in June 1975 one of the three songs professionally recorded that David Gilmour had selected from her extensive collection of well over a hundred songs (some reports say nearer 200) during studio time and session musicians that Gilmour had paid out of his own pocket. "The Saxophone Song" was the other track from this session that made it onto "The Kick Inside". The remaining track did finally appear very much latter as part of her remastered boxset releases (in Vinyl and CD). It was these three professionally recorded songs that Gilmour passed onto EMI record executives who were looking for new talent. Upon hearing the songs EMI wanted to sign Kate up right away, but in the end had to wait because Kate was still at school. Eventually Kate signed for EMI records when she was 16.
Incidentally half the musicians on this album were in another band in the UK/Scottish called "Pilot". They had pop hits with "January" , "Magic" and "Just A Smile". My partner is a huge fan of their music and in particular guitarist Ian Bairnson. As guitarist Dave Gilmour discovered Kate Bush and produced the album he has been mistakenly thought of as having played on the album and the guitar solo in Wuthering Heights, it was not Gilmore but Bairnson. It unfortunately was faded out on the original version but in the re-recorded vocals version for the greatest hits "The Whole Story" the outro was restored. We came to know Ian and his wife in recent years as they do not live far from us. My partner, John, had a rare Pilot track on cassette and the band had not got a proper copy. The official band website got in touch and as Ian lived nearby , John met up with Ian to give them a copy. We met up a few times as Ian toured with other musicians as a guitarist. He was a major musician for the Alan Parsons Project. Unfortunately in the past few years Ian has been diagnosed with a form of alzheimers and is extremely impaired by the condition and retired from the music business
I didn't know Pilot worked with other artists. I had a few of their singles. One song of theirs I really liked was 'Canada' (can't remember if it was a 'B' side). I think David Paton and Billy Lyall were originally with the Bay City Rollers.
@@dawndriscoll3344 yes that's them. David Paton and Stuart Tosh also worked with Alan Parsons. Paton also played bass on several Elton John tours. Ian Bairnson was an in-demand session musician and has played with 100s of people Paul McCartney, Tom Jones, Chris DeBurge, Elaine Paige ... and also played on and co-wrote tracks for Bucks Fizz
This was always of my favourites of hers. It used to make me cry. I first saw her on Top of the Pops performing Wuthering Heights and was about 9 or 10 and thought she was an actual witch because she was dressed in black, had huge black hair and a screeching high voice.
This to me, is possibly one of the most beautiful melodies ever created in a "pop" song. I may be mistaken but to me at least, the "child" in the man's eyes was part of him and how he looked at the world and life rather than anything sinister....to be able to view things in the way a child can when you are an adult is a rare and beautiful thing. To have not become so jaded and to still be in awe and wonder. Just my take on it.
I learned about Kate Bush from Duran Duran... Nick was a fan and I remember them introducing her videos whenever they were guest VJs on MTV. She is so soooo talented!
Much is made of this song being written when she was 13. I think it is more accurate to say she wrote the first draft at 13 in among all the other songs she had started writing at about that age, and then finished it off when she was 15. It was one of three songs Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour paid for her to have professionally recorded and produced in 1975 when she was 16 to serve as a demo tape. On hearing the tape EMI signed her up on a retainer contract when she was still 16. It was these demos of ‘The Man…’ and ‘Saxophone Song’ that appear on her debut album released in 1978. Kate said in early interviews that very little of her songs’ content was based on personal experience. They were based mainly on imagination and were often written from a third person’s perspective. Kate said this song was a young girl’s imaginings and was inspired by something she saw in all the men she knew. That with each there was something of the little boy in a man’s body. The song is unusual on the debut album in that it is sung fairly straight and not in the high register Kate used for the other songs. This was because at 16 she still hadn’t decided to develop the high register style that was to be a feature on her first two albums.
One of her first demos produced by David Gilmour and the first of only 2 of her songs to chart in the US. In 2010, Steve Blacknell (Kate’s boyfriend at the time the song was written) claimed it is about him, when he put the original hand-written lyrics up for auction.
Hi Matt and thanks for your reaction. To tell the truth your uncertainty about its meaning is something that many people have when they come to this song. There will be other songs in Kate's catalogue where you will find yourself in very similar waters. And sometimes KB is entirely deliberate in weaving a number of possible meanings into her songs and sues words or phrases quite intentionally to make the listener think. And on this song quite a lot of people can find themselves wondering about darker interpretations (if you decide to progress through her music you will come across one her hugely successful album "Never For Ever" called "The Infant Kiss" that is truly creepy and intentionally so, but once you know the back story to it, that it is ultiamtely traced back to the horror movie "The Innocents" and via that back to the book "The Turn of the Screw" then it makes sense, but in making sense becomes a terrifying story of paranoia, madness, and (possible) possession. Here in this song Kate herself said of it: "Oh, well it's something that I feel about men generally. Sorry about this folks. That a lot of men have got a child inside them, you know I think they are more or less just grown up kids. And that it's a... No, no, it's a very good quality, it's really good, because a lot of women go out and get far too responsible. And it's really nice to keep that delight in wonderful things that children have. And that's what I was trying to say. That this man could communicate with a younger girl, because he's on the same level." So, the title then ultimately refers to the eye as being the window of the soul and that she had observed that many of the men she encountered had retained a sense of childlikeness. Your reaction is very understandable, and you have stumbled across one of the things that litter KB's music - she can and will make you feel very uncomfortable (while in this song the feeling comes more from us ourselves, there will be songs that are deliberately weird, disconcerting, off-putting, creepy, or thought provoking.
This has always been one of my favourite Kate Bush songs, and very mature songwriting from a musician still so young at the time of writing. There is usually an ethereal otherworldly element to her songs, I agree with you there, and see the comparisons you draw with Morten Harket in the seemingly effortless ease with which she can reach those stratospheric high notes. I can see why, looking through the prism of todays eyes, the title may strike alarm in some, but she wrote and recorded this song in 1978 and I believe what she meant is that there is something of the boy in every grown man, an endearing and beguiling quality which can attract women, sometimes making us want to mother them. Others have interpreted it differently, thinking it meant she was attracted to much older men…that may very likely be true too, but it could still be the young boy trapped inside the older man that attracted her to them.
Marjorie McBride Actually it was written at 13 in 1971/72 and recorded at 16 in '74/75. Part of a three track demo, paid for and coproduced by David Gilmour from Pink Floyd. The other two tracks were "Saxophone Song" and "Maybe" (later renamed Humming) They secured her EMI recording contract at 16. Even more remarkable, eh?
@@warrenbridges1891 I am only going by the UK single releases. I did also like Babooshka, but that didn't make me want to rush out and buy any Kate Bush albums. There were a lot of other artists/groups I preferred.
It doesn't surprise me that Kate wrote this at such a tender age of 13. It may surprise (or even perturb some) that we do at that age dream and fantasize about older men (more than boys) I know I did. It makes some a bit uncomfortable I think, and I'm wondering if that was her anxiety in part of the Song's lyrics maybe? Who knows... Great classic! It was only her second hit after 'Wuthering'. but It only made No. 6 for three weeks I think, and did not do quite as well, and I often wonder if maybe it was the subject matter of the Song?
Cheers, a few people have mentioned that now and I've since re-listened with that framework in mind. I suppose my speculation about the title maybe relating to emotional maturity wasn't a million miles away, though I still didn't quite grasp the essence when considering themes in advance. Thanks for the comment, another Kate reaction coming later this morning. :)
Despite what Kate may claim publicly about the meaning of the song, which she wrote at age 13, there are other possible interpretations, some of which Kate might not want to comment on publicly. One such interpretation is that "the man" in the song is in fact a metaphor for Kate's own masculinity, already dissociated, so Kate thinks of it as a man who is always with her when she closes her eyes at night. This interpretation fits a recurring theme in Kate's music and life, one of gender transformation. I think it possible that Kate Bush is not straightforwardly female. I had to laugh when you said that vocals were not often heard like that in other female singers!
Cheers, that's a fascinating take! And I will keep my ear alert for future lyrics and themes that seem to fit that gender-transformation concept. And ha, you're right---my remark does seem different in light of your perspective.
@@mattsnider2667 The most obvious (despite what many people claim) song with a gender transformation theme is "Running Up That Hill", which, of course, had a big resurgence earlier this year. Shortly after, trans singer Kim Petras did a cover version of it. Now, a few months later, we have Sam Smith and Kim Petras at the top of the charts, with the first openly transexual song to ever reach number one. Makes me think that there is a social agenda at work in music in 2022!!
@@mattsnider2667 Kate apparently once had a public debate with JK Rowling over the true definition of "a woman". Rowling claimed that a woman is someone who menstruates. Kate apparently replied that some men can menstruate! Whatever Kate meant by that, it certainly shows a rather "non black or white" concept of gender on Kate's part.
@@stephenthorpe3591 Oh wow! I know that song (indeed, I reacted to the Placebo cover just before starting the deep-dive on Kate's material), and you're right---it's about a woman wishing she could see through the eyes of a man and vice-versa. Can't wait to get to her original version of the song in this deep-dive (now informed by the perspective you've provided). Cheers!
It is a shame that you are not set up to react to video clips. Instead, you might like to just privately watch Kate's 1979 Xmas TV Special performance of her song "Egypt": th-cam.com/video/B6mTxSqo7iI/w-d-xo.html It has a dark and rather hardcore "camp" feel to it. Kate doesn't come across in it, not to me anyway, as particularly feminine, but more like a hardcore drag act!
![Shnootz - Reaction Video (Kate Bush - The Ninth Wave [Part 2])](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/m63ne1-rNW0/mqdefault.jpg)
![Shnootz - Reaction Video (Kate Bush - The Ninth Wave [Part 2])](/img/tr.png)
Quote from Kate Bush (forward to How to Be Invisible Lyric Book) April 2023
A few years ago I happened to meet the man I'd been madly in love with when I was about thirteen. It had been a real schoolgirl's crush, and he had had no idea. When I told him that he was 'The Man with the Child in his Eyes' , and that I had written the song for him, he was extremely surprised. I got the feeling it kind of made his day, but I don't think he ever told anyone. I'm not sure he really believed me.
Kate wrote this at age 13/14. "The inspiration for 'The Man With the Child in His Eyes' was really just a particular thing that happened when I went to the piano. The piano just started speaking to me. It was a theory that I had had for a while that I just observed in most of the men that I know: the fact that they just are little boys inside and how wonderful it is that they manage to retain this magic. I, myself, am attracted to older men, I guess, but I think that's the same with every female. I think it's a very natural, basic instinct that you look continually for your father for the rest of your life, as do men continually look for their mother in the women that they meet. I don't think we're all aware of it, but I think it is basically true. You look for that security that the opposite sex in your parenthood gave you as a child." - Kate Bush from 'Self Portrait' radio show 1978
Oh wow, so a really complex intersection of some different concepts, including a self-reflected psychoanalytical exploration of the thematic material. Crazy, I really appreciate that context.
@@mattsnider2667 the OP has it right, and I think the intention of the lyric is child-like, rather than childish. Kate was taught piano by her father, and she had a very close relationship with her two older brothers, who introduced her to much of the music and artists that influenced her. She would go to write about men, or from a man's perspective, with great sensitivity, empathy and compassion; not merely as an infatuated / disatisfied lover, or a spurned ex. She didn't race to take a side in some exaggerated conflict of genders, and whilst she recognised that there are problematic men, I don't think she would subscribe to a view, often expressed nowadays, that casts all women as victims of patriarchal power. She loved her father and her mother, so why would she?
This song was written when Kate was 13 years old, she apparently started writing songs at 11, but only started adding more complex lyrics from 13 onwards. It was recorded in June 1975 one of the three songs professionally recorded that David Gilmour had selected from her extensive collection of well over a hundred songs (some reports say nearer 200) during studio time and session musicians that Gilmour had paid out of his own pocket. "The Saxophone Song" was the other track from this session that made it onto "The Kick Inside". The remaining track did finally appear very much latter as part of her remastered boxset releases (in Vinyl and CD).
It was these three professionally recorded songs that Gilmour passed onto EMI record executives who were looking for new talent. Upon hearing the songs EMI wanted to sign Kate up right away, but in the end had to wait because Kate was still at school. Eventually Kate signed for EMI records when she was 16.
Incidentally half the musicians on this album were in another band in the UK/Scottish called "Pilot". They had pop hits with "January" , "Magic" and "Just A Smile". My partner is a huge fan of their music and in particular guitarist Ian Bairnson.
As guitarist Dave Gilmour discovered Kate Bush and produced the album he has been mistakenly thought of as having played on the album and the guitar solo in Wuthering Heights, it was not Gilmore but Bairnson. It unfortunately was faded out on the original version but in the re-recorded vocals version for the greatest hits "The Whole Story" the outro was restored.
We came to know Ian and his wife in recent years as they do not live far from us. My partner, John, had a rare Pilot track on cassette and the band had not got a proper copy. The official band website got in touch and as Ian lived nearby , John met up with Ian to give them a copy. We met up a few times as Ian toured with other musicians as a guitarist. He was a major musician for the Alan Parsons Project.
Unfortunately in the past few years Ian has been diagnosed with a form of alzheimers and is extremely impaired by the condition and retired from the music business
I didn't know Pilot worked with other artists. I had a few of their singles. One song of theirs I really liked was 'Canada' (can't remember if it was a 'B' side). I think David Paton and Billy Lyall were originally with the Bay City Rollers.
@@dawndriscoll3344 yes that's them. David Paton and Stuart Tosh also worked with Alan Parsons. Paton also played bass on several Elton John tours.
Ian Bairnson was an in-demand session musician and has played with 100s of people Paul McCartney, Tom Jones, Chris DeBurge, Elaine Paige ... and also played on and co-wrote tracks for Bucks Fizz
@@izzyworld8068 Oh yes, I remember the name Stuart Tosh as well. Thanks for the info, Izzy.
Mature songwriting right from the start of her career. Kate was and still is a master story-teller
This was always of my favourites of hers. It used to make me cry. I first saw her on Top of the Pops performing Wuthering Heights and was about 9 or 10 and thought she was an actual witch because she was dressed in black, had huge black hair and a screeching high voice.
This to me, is possibly one of the most beautiful melodies ever created in a "pop" song. I may be mistaken but to me at least, the "child" in the man's eyes was part of him and how he looked at the world and life rather than anything sinister....to be able to view things in the way a child can when you are an adult is a rare and beautiful thing. To have not become so jaded and to still be in awe and wonder. Just my take on it.
Cheers, that makes sense. And indeed, someone shared a quote from her in the comments here, and that is certainly part of what she was saying.
I learned about Kate Bush from Duran Duran... Nick was a fan and I remember them introducing her videos whenever they were guest VJs on MTV. She is so soooo talented!
Much is made of this song being written when she was 13. I think it is more accurate to say she wrote the first draft at 13 in among all the other songs she had started writing at about that age, and then finished it off when she was 15. It was one of three songs Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour paid for her to have professionally recorded and produced in 1975 when she was 16 to serve as a demo tape. On hearing the tape EMI signed her up on a retainer contract when she was still 16. It was these demos of ‘The Man…’ and ‘Saxophone Song’ that appear on her debut album released in 1978. Kate said in early interviews that very little of her songs’ content was based on personal experience. They were based mainly on imagination and were often written from a third person’s perspective. Kate said this song was a young girl’s imaginings and was inspired by something she saw in all the men she knew. That with each there was something of the little boy in a man’s body. The song is unusual on the debut album in that it is sung fairly straight and not in the high register Kate used for the other songs. This was because at 16 she still hadn’t decided to develop the high register style that was to be a feature on her first two albums.
One of her first demos produced by David Gilmour and the first of only 2 of her songs to chart in the US. In 2010, Steve Blacknell (Kate’s boyfriend at the time the song was written) claimed it is about him, when he put the original hand-written lyrics up for auction.
Hi Matt and thanks for your reaction. To tell the truth your uncertainty about its meaning is something that many people have when they come to this song. There will be other songs in Kate's catalogue where you will find yourself in very similar waters. And sometimes KB is entirely deliberate in weaving a number of possible meanings into her songs and sues words or phrases quite intentionally to make the listener think. And on this song quite a lot of people can find themselves wondering about darker interpretations (if you decide to progress through her music you will come across one her hugely successful album "Never For Ever" called "The Infant Kiss" that is truly creepy and intentionally so, but once you know the back story to it, that it is ultiamtely traced back to the horror movie "The Innocents" and via that back to the book "The Turn of the Screw" then it makes sense, but in making sense becomes a terrifying story of paranoia, madness, and (possible) possession.
Here in this song Kate herself said of it:
"Oh, well it's something that I feel about men generally. Sorry about this folks. That a lot of men have got a child inside them, you know I think they are more or less just grown up kids. And that it's a... No, no, it's a very good quality, it's really good, because a lot of women go out and get far too responsible. And it's really nice to keep that delight in wonderful things that children have. And that's what I was trying to say. That this man could communicate with a younger girl, because he's on the same level."
So, the title then ultimately refers to the eye as being the window of the soul and that she had observed that many of the men she encountered had retained a sense of childlikeness.
Your reaction is very understandable, and you have stumbled across one of the things that litter KB's music - she can and will make you feel very uncomfortable (while in this song the feeling comes more from us ourselves, there will be songs that are deliberately weird, disconcerting, off-putting, creepy, or thought provoking.
Kate explored this idea of the child in a man again in The Infant Kiss
Fabulous song. Loved it from day one.
This has always been one of my favourite Kate Bush songs, and very mature songwriting from a musician still so young at the time of writing. There is usually an ethereal otherworldly element to her songs, I agree with you there, and see the comparisons you draw with Morten Harket in the seemingly effortless ease with which she can reach those stratospheric high notes.
I can see why, looking through the prism of todays eyes, the title may strike alarm in some, but she wrote and recorded this song in 1978 and I believe what she meant is that there is something of the boy in every grown man, an endearing and beguiling quality which can attract women, sometimes making us want to mother them. Others have interpreted it differently, thinking it meant she was attracted to much older men…that may very likely be true too, but it could still be the young boy trapped inside the older man that attracted her to them.
Marjorie McBride Actually it was written at 13 in 1971/72 and recorded at 16 in '74/75. Part of a three track demo, paid for and coproduced by David Gilmour from Pink Floyd. The other two tracks were "Saxophone Song" and "Maybe" (later renamed Humming) They secured her EMI recording contract at 16. Even more remarkable, eh?
I always forget that this song is on her first album. It's not what you expect from a 19 year old's debut offering.
Not a fan of female singers normally, but this is beautiful, the only Kate Bush song I really liked.
Dawn Driscoll Out of nine albums, you only like one song?
@@warrenbridges1891 I am only going by the UK single releases. I did also like Babooshka, but that didn't make me want to rush out and buy any Kate Bush albums. There were a lot of other artists/groups I preferred.
@@dawndriscoll3344 I thought that might have been the case. Some of my favourite songs by Kate never got airplay.
It doesn't surprise me that Kate wrote this at such a tender age of 13. It may surprise (or even perturb some) that we do at that age dream and fantasize about older men (more than boys) I know I did. It makes some a bit uncomfortable I think, and I'm wondering if that was her anxiety in part of the Song's lyrics maybe? Who knows... Great classic! It was only her second hit after 'Wuthering'. but It only made No. 6 for three weeks I think, and did not do quite as well, and I often wonder if maybe it was the subject matter of the Song?
The song centres on Kate's belief that men hang on to their inner child more than women do.....
Cheers, a few people have mentioned that now and I've since re-listened with that framework in mind. I suppose my speculation about the title maybe relating to emotional maturity wasn't a million miles away, though I still didn't quite grasp the essence when considering themes in advance.
Thanks for the comment, another Kate reaction coming later this morning. :)
It's more about the child like qualities that males have. They retain the ability to play even when they get older.
OK, I will say what you were all thinking when you saw the title..........................MJ
Despite what Kate may claim publicly about the meaning of the song, which she wrote at age 13, there are other possible interpretations, some of which Kate might not want to comment on publicly. One such interpretation is that "the man" in the song is in fact a metaphor for Kate's own masculinity, already dissociated, so Kate thinks of it as a man who is always with her when she closes her eyes at night. This interpretation fits a recurring theme in Kate's music and life, one of gender transformation. I think it possible that Kate Bush is not straightforwardly female. I had to laugh when you said that vocals were not often heard like that in other female singers!
Cheers, that's a fascinating take! And I will keep my ear alert for future lyrics and themes that seem to fit that gender-transformation concept. And ha, you're right---my remark does seem different in light of your perspective.
@@mattsnider2667 The most obvious (despite what many people claim) song with a gender transformation theme is "Running Up That Hill", which, of course, had a big resurgence earlier this year. Shortly after, trans singer Kim Petras did a cover version of it. Now, a few months later, we have Sam Smith and Kim Petras at the top of the charts, with the first openly transexual song to ever reach number one. Makes me think that there is a social agenda at work in music in 2022!!
@@mattsnider2667 Kate apparently once had a public debate with JK Rowling over the true definition of "a woman". Rowling claimed that a woman is someone who menstruates. Kate apparently replied that some men can menstruate! Whatever Kate meant by that, it certainly shows a rather "non black or white" concept of gender on Kate's part.
@@stephenthorpe3591 Oh wow! I know that song (indeed, I reacted to the Placebo cover just before starting the deep-dive on Kate's material), and you're right---it's about a woman wishing she could see through the eyes of a man and vice-versa. Can't wait to get to her original version of the song in this deep-dive (now informed by the perspective you've provided). Cheers!
It is a shame that you are not set up to react to video clips. Instead, you might like to just privately watch Kate's 1979 Xmas TV Special performance of her song "Egypt": th-cam.com/video/B6mTxSqo7iI/w-d-xo.html
It has a dark and rather hardcore "camp" feel to it. Kate doesn't come across in it, not to me anyway, as particularly feminine, but more like a hardcore drag act!
🏳🌈