Already I'm so awesome I could cry!

I guess I owe a lot to Kate Bush. My Dad played her music when I was a little girl and I have a very vivid memory of being about...3 or 4 (so this would be 1991 or thereabouts), perhaps, sitting in the entrance to my house, playing with some cans (yes, I was an oddball child), singing what I could make out of 'Them Heavy People', my first favourite Kate track and first favourite song ever.

I made my Dad put her music on and I used to try and decipher the tracks I heard (In 'Babooshka', I used to think 'incognito' was a place. If you don't know the meaning of the word, it really could sound that way!) with varying success.

I watched the videos avidly (I'm proud to say that 2 of the KB videos that are knocking about this house actually belong to me :D my 7yo self!) and pretended to be her, this time, with limited success. It was fun, even though I made a complete idiot of myself and even made my parents record it. So yes, there is a video of me in my lounge, prancing about to 'Wuthering Heights.' I still want to have a white dress to wave my arms about on a moor.

I even had piano lessons. I even had the big hair. Sadly didn't have the big voice.

I left the (sort of) fandom for a few years whilst I got into the music of my generation (the Spice Girls... I was a big fan, I'm not ashamed to admit it) but then my Dad bought home a CD copy of Hounds of Love. He put it on and once I heard the beginning, I knew it. The love had returned. Big time. I would spend ages at a time listening to the albums again, refamiliarising myself. There was a day back in 2003 where I felt utterly awful so I spent the day listening to 'The Sensual World' - a remedy.

One of my memories from more recent times involved me rediscovering 'Coffee Homeground.' I loved it as a child so I went looking for it - it was as great as I had remembered. A favourite to this day.

My favourite track will probably always remain 'Symphony in Blue' (it got played for me on the radio once - vair impressed!) but 'Them Heavy People', 'Violin' (the line-deciphering in particular), 'Suspended in Gaffa', 'Coffee Homeground' and, of course, 'Wuthering Heights' will always have a special place in my heart. By that, you can see that I loved her earlier, banshee-style voice tracks slightly more than her later music - but that's not to say I don't love that too; 'Running up that Hill' is beautiful and as for 'The Sensual World'... sensual.

My favourite album has to be 'The Dreaming.' I pretty much love every track... least favourite being the title track.

I would give my limbs to see her live. The lack of legs would only be a minor annoyance.

Here's to you, Kate - thank you for introducing me to the world of music. I'm pretty sure you've influenced my creativity too.

Enjoy my favourite song;