The Haunting of 'Wuthering Heights.' Vocal ANALYSIS of Kate Bush's first masterpiece!

Kate Bush was 18 when she listened to a BBC adaptation of "Wuthering Heights" and decided to write this song about Catherine Earnshaw. In one take, the masterful Kate Bush made this legendary piece of earcandy. It's haunting, it's creepy, and it just works! I loved every second of it!

Join professional opera singer Elizabeth Zharoff, as she listens to Kate Bush performing "Wuthering Heights" for the first time.
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Written and Performed by Kate Bush
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Elizabeth Zharoff is an international opera singer and voice coach, with 3 degrees in voice, opera, and music production. She's performed in 18 languages throughout major venues in Europe, America, and Asia. Currently based somewhere between Los Angeles and Tucson, Arizona, Elizabeth spends her days researching voice, singing, teaching, writing music, and recording TONS. She also plays Diablo and Dungeons & Dragons.
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Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing.
Non-profit, educational, or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use.
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#katebush #Reaction #TheCharismaticVoice
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[adammckee]

You don't hear Tori Amos influence here. You hear Kate Bush influence when listening to Tori.

[MissParisina]

I don't think she says ''Wonderful'', I think she says ''Wuthering, Wuthering, Wuthering Heights'' 💜

[rockandroll]

I'm more stunned that you managed to live to 2022 without ever hearing this song before, not even on the radio.

[dethspud]

Kate said in an interview she sang Cathy in a higher register in order to be more ethereal and ghost like.
Her music is magical.
Great breakdown
😊

[lossow]

"I hear lots of Tori Amos influence" - No you don't, you hear Kate Bush influence in Tori who started her recording career well over a decade after after Kate! Kate has some incredible songs that cover (or defy) different genres. From the same album as this song you really should try James And The Cold Gun, The Man With the Child in His Eyes, Moving, Them Heavy People and Strange Phenomena (Perhaps one of the most unusual subject matters for a song!)

[bboom]

I feel kind of jealous that people are hearing the genius of Kate Bush, for the very first time! Her catalogue of work is exceptional, and absolutely unique.

[paulelverstone]

Kate Bush is nothing less than a national treasure, if you're from the UK. She is so unique, so left-field and so successful with it. A student of theatre, film and dance and it shows in all of her creations. She is a chameleon of the music genre. She fits in regardless of current style or fashion. She is incredible. Man with the child in his eyes was written when she was 14. How can you do that?...

[wernermcgann]

You cannot explain genius. I am 73 and have loved Kate Bush since wuthering heights.

[sierrahp]

A teenage girl so affected by a book written in the 1850s (ish) she composes and performs a musical and visual masterpiece retelling the story 120(ish) years after the book was written. I mean it’s just unbelievable. Without Emily Brontë, we would have this. I’ve never been so in awe of anything in my entire life and I’m old enough to remember this being released. Love you, Kate

[SRMNS]

You should have a lyric sheet for this song. She's not singing 'wonderful', she's singing
'Wuthering, Wuthering, Wuthering Heights'
The quality of her voice is just perfect as the voice of the ghost of Cathy haunting Heathcliff. I listened to this for the first time shortly after reading the novel and I was completely shaken. As far as I was concerned, this *was* the ghost of Cathy.

[tgsgardenmaintenance]

Kate Bush is a freaking legend, most artists could only dream of having her talent!!

[ColbyAzimuth]

WUTHERING HEIGHTS, by Kate Bush (lyrics+NOTES):

Out on the wily, windy moors
We'd roll and fall in green
You had a temper like my jealousy
Too hot, too greedy
How could you leave me
When I needed to possess you?
I hated you, I loved you, too

Bad dreams in the night
They told me I was going to lose the fight
Leave behind my wuthering, wuthering
Wuthering Heights

Heathcliff, it's me, I'm Cathy
I've come home, I'm so cold
Let me in your window
Heathcliff, it's me, I'm Cathy
I've come home, I'm so cold
Let me in your window

Ooh, it gets dark, it gets lonely
On the other side from you
I pine a lot, I find the lot
Falls through without you
I'm coming back love
Cruel Heathcliff, my one dream
My only master

Too long I roam in the night
I'm coming back to his side, to put it right
I'm coming home to wuthering, wuthering
Wuthering Heights

Heathcliff, it's me, I'm Cathy
I've come home, I'm so cold
Let me in your window
Heathcliff, it's me, I'm Cathy
I've come home, I'm so cold
Let me in your window

Ooh, let me have it
Let me grab your soul away
Ooh, let me have it
Let me grab your soul away
You know it's me, Cathy

Heathcliff, it's me, I'm Cathy
I've come home, I'm so cold
Let me in your window
Heathcliff, it's me, I'm Cathy
I've come home, I'm so cold
Let me in your window

Heathcliff, it's me, I'm Cathy
I've come home, I'm so cold

🤟
7:20 -- It's not "wonderful wonderful" but rather "Leave behind my wuthering, wuthering"
10:44 -- again

Bush (born July 30, 1958) wrote the song aged 18, in a few hours late at night on 5 March 1977. She was inspired after seeing the 1967 BBC adaptation of the 1847 novel Wuthering Heights. She subsequently read the book and discovered that she shared her birthday with author Emily Brontë (born July 30, 1818).

"Wuthering Heights" is the name of the farmhouse in the novel, and "Wuthering" indicates a wind that is blowing very strongly with a dull roaring sound. The farmhouse was on a barren desolate hill surrounded by green countryside.

Kate's interpretive dance may have to do with Cathy's ghost pressing against a window, to be let in, while the wind is blowing and swirling around.

The full movie "Wuthering Heights" (2009) with Tom Hardy, is in 11 parts at:
🤗

[rufus]

Only Kate Bush could make a song about a girl coming back from the grave to steal her former love's soul and have it sound like the sweetest thing ever.

[DuaLeaD]

As a musician and composer myself,
there's the time in your career BEFORE you discovered Kate Bush and the time AFTER - You will never be the same.
She is one of the greatest solo artists of all-time, a musical genius.
She wrote her 1978 debut album "The Kick Inside" when she was only 16.
It's so far beyond her years, artists can go an entire lifetime and never reach her level of songwriting ability.
I was over the moon when "Stranger Things" featured one of her tracks as the centerpiece of the Season 4 finale.
She is finally getting the recognition she deserves - One of the most hauntingly beautiful voices I have ever heard!

[hugedoof]

Kate's performance is based on Merle Oberon's Catherine Earnshaw from the 1939 movie "Wuthering Heights" with Sir Lawrence Olivier as Heathcliff. Kate often used film as inspiration for many of her songs. Realize that Catherine is dead at this point. Kate's movements shown in the video are indicative of a ghost rising up from the grave. To wit, the visitor, who sought refuge at Wuthering Heights during a storm, (at the opening of the movie), encounters Catherine's ghost peering into the window of his bedroom. Watch the 1939 movie, and the whole song, i.e., its lyrics and performance, will make more sense. Catherine was often on the verge of hysteria and emotional breakdown prior to her death (note how Kate Bush bulges her eyes during close-ups, again, paying tribute to Merle Oberon's magnificent performance in conveying Catherine's madness) throughout most of the 1939 rendition. This "hysteria" is wonderfully conveyed in Kate's vocal delivery too. Kate will often tell you that she can sing in tune, but not much more. The 'interpretive" dance moves, with Kate wearing a white dress, especially with the swinging of the hips, are reflective of Catherine and Heathcliff running and playing as children and then as young adults on the moors surrounding Wuthering Heights. You'll note toward the end of the song, that Kate points her finger to infinity when she sings, "it's me Cathy." This is representative of Catherine and Heathcliff's love enduring beyond the grave, despite Catherine's cruelty to Heathcliff (with all those who lived at Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange) casting Healthcliff out because of his orphan status; and then Healthcliff's cruel revenge to all those he encounters at Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange when he returns a self-made and wealthy man. Kate Bush certainly matured in her vocal delivery from the album "Never for Ever" and beyond.

[speerchucker]

For me you can never beat The Man With The Child In His Eyes. Amazing song, beautifully delivered

[jeperstone]

Kate was the 1st female artist (that I'm aware of) that was considered 'weird'. At the time (along with the Bee Gees) she was the butt of every comedian's joke. But she was not deterred. Prior to her female singers were quite 'straight' and 'pretty'. She deserves far more credit than she gets

[billearles]

As a 19 year old in 1978 I knew this would be a hit from the first few notes, it was so incredibly different from anything I had ever heard.

[slick_slicers]

“I hear lots of Tori Amos influences.” I’m sure you mean, this clearly influenced Tori Amos! When this was number 1, Amos was just 14 years old and wasn’t to achieve worldwide attention for more than a decade.

[LoukuleleLou]

Imagine getting home from school as a teenager, seeing this for the first time on Top of the Pops, and having to wait til the next morning to be able to discuss it with your friends!! Talked about it all day!! This and Bohemian Rhapsody - extraordinary landmarks!!
Also the faces on the boys when, if this record came on, all the girls would be singing along!!