Kate Bush Sings About The Yeti In Her New Single "Wild Man"

Written By: Ken Hulsey
Source: The Quietus / Kate Bush.com

I fell in love some 25 years ago with Kate Bush when I saw her perform "Hounds of Love" on a British music awards program. During her performance she danced around the stage with person wearing a werewolf costume. Being a monster movie fan I was smitten.

Delving into her vast library of music I soon discovered that horror and sci fi were major inspirations for several of her songs including "Hammer Horror", "Experiment IV", "Cloudbusting" and the for mentioned "Hounds of Love" which was inspired by the 1957 film "Night of the Demon."

"It's in the trees! It's coming!"

Now Bush has chosen the Yeti as inspiration for "Wild Man" the first single off her new album entitled "50 Words For Snow".

In a recent interview Bush talked about the mythical monster, "Well, the first verse of the song is just quickly going through some of the terms that the Yeti is known by and one of those names is the Kangchenjunga Demon. He’s also known as Wild Man and Abominable Snowman. "

On whether the Yeti is man or beast.

"Well, I don’t refer to the Yeti as a man in the song. But it is meant to be an empathetic view of a creature of great mystery really. And I suppose it’s the idea really that mankind wants to grab hold of something [like the Yeti] and stick it in a cage or a box and make money out of it..."

"Wild Man" lyrics:

They call you an animal, the Kangchenjunga Demon, Wild Man, Metoh-Kangmi.
Lying in my tent, I can hear your cry echoing round the mountainside.
You sound lonely.
While crossing the Lhakpa-La something jumped down from the rocks.
In the remote Garo Hills by Dipu Marak we found footprints in the snow.

The schoolmaster of Darjeeling said he saw you by the Tengboche Monastery.
You were playing in the snow. You were banging on the doors. You got up on the roof, Roof of the World.
You were pulling up the rhododendrons. Loping down the mountain.
They want to know you. They will hunt you down, then they will kill you.
Run away, run away, run away...
While crossing the Lhakpa-La something jumped down from the rocks.
In the remote Garo Hills by Dipu Marak we found footprints in the snow.
We found your footprints in the snow. We brushed them all away...
From the Sherpas of Annapurna to the Rinpoche of Qinghai.
Shepherds from Mount Kailash to Himachal Pradesh found footprints in the snow.

You’re not a langur monkey nor a big brown bear – You’re the Wild Man.
They say they saw you drowned near the Rongbuk Glacier.
They want to hunt you down. You’re not an animal.
The Lamas say you’re not an animal.



On a side note, Kate Bush's music video for "Cloudbusting" is one of my all time favorites and possibly the best ever produced! Check it out - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRHA9W-zExQ

Okay .... just in case you don't know what the Yeti is:

The Yeti or Abominable Snowman is an ape-like cryptid said to inhabit the Himalayan region of Nepal, and Tibet. The names Yeti and Meh-Teh are commonly used by the people indigenous to the region, and are part of their history and mythology. Stories of the Yeti first emerged as a facet of Western popular culture in the 19th century.

The scientific community generally regards the Yeti as a legend, given the lack of conclusive evidence, yet it remains one of the most famous creatures of cryptozoology. The Yeti may be considered a sort of parallel to the Bigfoot of North America. - Wikipedia

And Kate Bush:

Kate Bush (born Catherine Bush 30 July 1958) is an English singer-songwriter, musician and record producer. Her eclectic musical style and idiosyncratic vocal style have made her one of the United Kingdom's most successful solo female performers of the past 30 years. Bush was signed by EMI at the age of 16 after being recommended by Pink Floyd's David Gilmour. In 1978, at age 19, she topped the UK Singles Chart for four weeks with her debut single "Wuthering Heights", becoming the first woman to have a UK number-one with a self-written song. She was also the most photographed woman in the United Kingdom the following year.

After her 1979 tour—the only concert tour of her career—Bush released the 1980 album Never for Ever, which made her the first British solo female artist to top the UK album charts and the first female artist ever to enter the album chart at No. 1. In 1987, she won a BRIT Award for Best British Female Solo Artist. She has released ten albums, three of which topped the UK Albums Chart, and has had twenty-five UK Top 40 hit singles including "Wuthering Heights", "Running Up that Hill", "King of the Mountain", "Babooshka", "The Man with the Child in His Eyes", and "Don't Give Up" (a duet with Peter Gabriel)—all of which reached the Top 10.

In 2002, Bush's songwriting ability was recognised with an Ivor Novello Award for Outstanding Contribution to British Music. In 2005, she released Aerial, her first album in 12 years. The album earned her a BRIT Award nomination for Best Album and another for Best Solo Female Artist. During the course of her career, she has also been nominated for three Grammy Awards. In early 2011, EMI Records also announced an upcoming re-issue of four of Bush's albums (The Dreaming, Hounds of Love, The Sensual World and The Red Shoes) under the name of her own label, Fish People, now that Bush has regained full control over these records. Bush released Director's Cut on 16 May 2011, which contains reworked material from her albums The Sensual World (1989) and The Red Shoes (1993). Bush will release her 10th studio album titled 50 Words For Snow on 21 November 2011. - Wikipedia