An in-depth analysis of the Kate Bush Christmas Special, 40 years later
Interviewer: “You’re now just over 21, and you’ve made it — what is there left to do now?”
Kate Bush: “Everything.”
If I could have dinner with any person (living or dead) it would without a doubt be Kate Bush, and I would spend much of that dinner asking her every single question I have about her wonderfully bizarre BBC Christmas special.
For the uninitiated, the Kate Bush Christmas Special (titled simply Kate on-screen) aired on the BBC on December 28th, 1979. Bush was in between albums at the time, having released Lionheart in November 1978 and in the the middle of recording Never For Ever, which would come out in November 1980. Despite the lukewarm critical and commercial reception for Lionheart, the Christmas special came hot off the massive success of Bush’s Tour of Life, her first (and, until 2014, only) concert tour, and one she embarked on after turning down an opener slot on Fleetwood Mac’s Tusk tour.
It’s important to mention the Tour of Life here, since the Christmas special’s choreography borrows heavily from that tour. But where she sang live on the Tour of Life, she lip-syncs to pre-recorded tracks here and incorporates pre-recorded video segments. As a result, the Christmas special plays out more like a crazy, longform music video than a traditional stage show.
Kate answers the age-old question: “what would happen if the BBC gave a Christmas special to an incredibly ambitious 21-year-old art rocker who also smokes a ton of weed?” 40 years have passed since it came out, and it’s just as weird and wonderful as the day it first aired.
As I completed my yearly viewing of the special, I decided to take a closer look at just exactly what the fuck is going on here. And boy, is there a lot to unpack!
Intro and Violin
Is this a Christmas song? No.
Is this a song about death? No, but it appears that at least one of the violins is trying to choke Kate out at some point.
Is it unreleased? Yes, it would be released in 1980 on Never For Ever.
A direct quote from my notes: “I can’t believe she starts her Christmas special like this.”
Kate opens her 1979 Christmas special hanging onto a rope dangling the ceiling, clad in a black dress and wearing a few feathers on the top of her head. She drops from the rope as the first few notes of her as-of-yet unreleased song “Violin” play. During the second chorus, two anthropomorphic, goth violins approach her, and the three point emphatically as her band’s guitarist rips the sickest solo you’ve ever heard. In other words, just normal Christmas stuff! You just know that the rest of this special is going to pop the fuck off.
Gymnopédie №1 (composed by Erik Satie) and Symphony In Blue
Is this a Christmas song? No.
Is this a song about death? Yes!
Is it unreleased? No, “Symphony In Blue” was on Lionheart, released the year prior.
A direct quote from my notes: “She looks dead into the camera when she sings ‘the more I think about sex / the better it gets’.”
We cut to the violins, who now appear to be sleeping in a corner and can only be described as “just vibing.” Kate plays “Gymnopédie №1” by Erik Satie on the piano before transitioning into “Symphony in Blue” off of 1978’s Lionheart. It’s a song about sex, death, God, and the meaning of life. She looks dead into the camera when she says the word ‘sex’, as if she could sense that I’d one day be sitting here, writing this article.
Them Heavy People
Is this a Christmas song? No.
Is this a song about death? No, but it’s about religion and her two dancers are maybe supposed to be dead at the end of this performance?
Is it unreleased? No, this one’s from The Kick Inside.
A direct quote from my notes: “Tit zippers!!!”
Kate is now wearing a sparkly blue skirt, a black shirt with what appear to be zippers on her breasts, and a hat. Her two dancers are dressed like old-timey detectives. The choreography here is fun: the “rolling the ball” refrain is accompanied by her dancers rolling across the stage during the first chorus, and the three engage in some playful stage combat in the later choruses.
Then, all of a sudden, one of her dancers BREAKS A GLASS BOTTLE OVER HER HEAD, the second dancer breaks a chair over the first dancer’s head, and then Kate breaks yet another chair over the second dancer’s head. And then the whole thing just ends, with Kate standing over the bodies of her conquered foes.
Peter Gabriel’s Theme Song and Here Comes the Flood (Peter Gabriel)
Is this a Christmas song? No, neither of these songs are Christmas songs. There’s a biblical allusion in the weird Peter Gabriel theme song, but that’s as close as we get here.
Is this a song about death? Not sure, but it’s depressing as hell!
Is it unreleased? No, “Here Comes the Flood” was the closer on Gabriel’s 1977 record.
A direct quote from my notes: “She wrote a theme song for Peter Gabriel!”
We cut to Kate and two other singers (one of whom is her older brother and frequent creative collaborator Paddy Bush) who sing what can only be described as a Peter Gabriel theme song:
Through velvet storms and the rains that fell
Here comes the man with his tale to tell
And some have named him Peter, the angel, Gabriel
Peter Gabriel at a piano then proceeds to play the most depressing song you’ve ever heard. Why is Peter Gabriel here? This is the point in the special where you really start to realize anything could happen. This is Kate Bush’s world and we’re just living in it.
The tonal shift between “Them Heavy People” and Peter Gabriel’s somber “Here Comes The Flood” is so jarring it made me laugh out loud when he first started playing those sad little piano notes. “Here Comes The Flood” is a really beautiful song, but his sudden, dramatic appearance (and Kate’s complete lack of involvement with this number) is really indicative of the bizarre tonal shifts we see in this special.
Ran Tan Waltz
Is this a Christmas song? No.
Is this a song about death? Not that I know of!
Is it unreleased? Yes. It would later be released as a B-side for “Babooshka” in June 1980.
A direct quote from my notes: “Kate Bush invented adult babies”
Speaking of bizarre tonal shifts, Kate is back — now in drag as a man — to sing “Ran Tan Waltz” with her wife and their adult baby. The choreography here is bonkers, wonderful, and really physically involved. She’s constantly getting picked up and thrown around, which causes her to lose both her beard and her hat, and by the end of the performance she’s no longer Kate Bush in drag as a man, but rather just a slightly disheveled Kate Bush in a vest.
December Will Be Magic Again
Is this a Christmas song? YES! This is undoubtedly, without a question, a Christmas song. Don’t get too excited though, because this is literally the only one in the whole special.
Is this a song about death? No.
Is it unreleased? Yes, it would be released in 1980.
A direct quote from my notes: “This song is really beautiful”
THIS IS A CHRISTMAS SONG!!! And a damn good one at that — I had never really appreciated how nice of a song this was until re-watching this special. Really gorgeous melodies here, and the piano arrangement paired with the jingle bells is really lovely! Good job, Kate. I’m sure we won’t be getting another bizarre tonal shift following this lovely Christmas song, right?
The Wedding List
Is this a Christmas song? No.
Is this a song about death? YOU BET YOUR ASS IT IS!!!!!
Is it unreleased? Yes, it would be released in 1980 on Never For Ever.
A direct quote from my notes: “She follows a Christmas song with a song about two murders and suicide!!!”
Kate follows her nice little Christmas song with the unreleased banger “The Wedding List.” Kate’s wearing a very wild wedding dress, and we cut back and forth between pre-recorded footage of her husband getting shot on their wedding day and in-studio footage of Kate plotting and enacting her revenge on the murderer. At the end of the song, her now-reanimated dead husband lifts her in the air and she dies in his arms. Merry Christmas!
Another Day (duet with Peter Gabriel, Roy Harper cover)
Is this a Christmas song? No.
Is this a song about death? No, but it’s depressing as hell.
Is it unreleased? No, it’s a cover of a 1970 Roy Harper track. Gabriel and Bush had plans to record and release it at some point, but never did.
A direct quote from my notes: “I don’t know what to say about this”
Peter Gabriel comes back to perform a duet of Roy Harper’s “Another Day.” It’s not a Christmas song, but it is an extremely depressing song about reflecting on What Could Have Been with a former lover. Peter and Kate really sell it, performing both the past and present versions of the couple. It’s a beautiful performance, but it’s hard not to laugh when you remember that a) this is ostensibly a Christmas special and b) it’s proceeded by “The Wedding List” and followed by, well…
Egypt
Is this a Christmas song? No, it’s a song about Egypt!
Is this a song about death? No, it’s a song about Egypt!
Is it unreleased? Yes, it would be released in 1980 on Never For Ever.
A direct quote from my notes: “Is this just random footage of Egypt?”
Now Kate performs her unreleased song “Egypt” which is a song about, well, Egypt! You know what, I’m not going to try to describe this one! If you haven’t watched the special yet, do so immediately so you can understand how bizarre this is, even in the context of all the weird shit Kate is doing here.
The Man With The Child In His Eyes
Is this a Christmas song? No.
Is this a song about death? No.
Is it unreleased? No, this one’s from The Kick Inside.
A direct quote from my notes: “Tiny Kate Bush doing interpretive dance in the corner of the screen”
Kate hops back on the piano for another piano ballad, this time with a tiny version of Kate sitting in the corner of the screen doing a gentle interpretive dance. It’s pretty standard Kate fare, and not too different from the concept behind her 1978 SNL performance. Then the song ends, and tiny Kate climbs away and inside a trash can, because of course she does! Her two dancers shine flashlights all over the place and it’s altogether a super disorienting experience.
Don’t Push Your Foot On The Heartbreak
Is this a Christmas song? No.
Is this a song about death? No, but honestly we can never be too sure!
Is it unreleased? No, this one’s from Lionheart.
A direct quote from my notes: “Serving Cell Block Tango realness”
Kate and her dancers are now wearing matching, skintight, all-black outfits. They hang from some grates that make it look like they’re in cages and I half-expected Kate to break into a verse of “Cell Block Tango” at one point. During the second chorus, Kate pantomimes riding a motorcycle really convincingly only for the trash can to suddenly roll back on stage. She picks it up, SLAMS it on the ground repeatedly, and throws it off-stage.
Her dancers spin trash can lids hypnotically, and then it’s all over. The credits roll, and the instrumental outro of her megahit “Wuthering Heights” begins to play. Suddenly, you’re reminded that Kate Bush didn’t even bother to play her biggest hit during her BBC Christmas special.
Merry Christmas, and Long Live Kate Bush.