Hey, folks! Sorry, I misread the characters in the song on this first listen, but the excruciating emotion certainly came across to me on an intuitive level. And thanks as always to the Kate fans, you've made this journey so much richer through your insights and comments. Cheers.
As others have said - watch the video. It’s one where the video really helps you “get” Kate’s vision for the song. Reminiscent for me of :All the Love” from The Dreaming. "All the things we should have said....but we never did"
That was a tough one. This song..... It causes us to pause and see the expectations and things we lost and didn't say. Such a simple track really...but goes straight to the heart. You did well Matt.
This Woman's Work hits harder with every year. Some songs are meant to travel with us as we age, gathering up losses and grief along the way. Kate's given us a tool to help shed a little bit of that weight we carry every time we hear it.
I have lost count of the amount of times I have listened to this song and yet here I am again, tears in my eyes after listening to it. This is a masterwork, there is no doubting that, the subject matter, the production, the composition, the lyrics and finally the beautiful, raw, immense powers of the song itself and Kate's voice just gets me every single time. This is the best of Kate Bush, her finest moment and there are some incredible songs that come close, Under The Ivy, The Infant Kiss, The Man With The Child In His Eyes, Hello Earth, And Dream Of Sheep but this is the pinnacle, it is perfect. Your reaction to this song, emotive, almost stunned is how I was when I first heard it many years ago and how I am now, such is the brilliance of the piece
It's amazing when a great songwriter like Kate Bush connects with a persons memory in this way. Get all the elements right and can really hook on to a persons experiences with women in their lives. Mother, Sister, wife etc. I was watching your face about half way in and thought we got a live one here. Lol. Great, genuine reaction.
It’s one of the best songs ever made I still can’t believe it only got to No25 in the UK singles chart! I was 18 when this came out and I bought the 7” vinyl single and I still have it! Kate is a British legend may people bow thei heads in front of her! Fame and Fortune hasn’t gone to her head at all she sounds like a very nice approachable woman when interviewed she was so overwhelmed by her resurgence in the last year due to Stranger Things on Netflix and Running Up That Hill which was a massive hit for her way before Stranger Things it originally got to No3 in the UK singles chart in September 1985 and went silver selling over 300.000 copies at that time, then 37 years later it goes to No1 in the UK one of the longest waits for a song to go to No1 in the uk, it beat Last Christmas by Wham which took 36 years to finally make No1 in 2020 here in the UK, up until that point Last Christmas held the record for the best selling single ever to make No2, and the 10th best selling single of all time in the UK! I’ve gone from Kate Bush to Wham in seconds, 😮 sorry I love Kate she is epic! ❤
Hi Matt, new to your reactions and loving your love for Kate, I've been a fan for 46 years (since I was 10) and am feeling every emotion with you, while on your KB journey , great job 😍
This song makes me cry like a baby every time i listen to it. I think it would even if i didn't know what Kate was singing about. There is just something about how this song is constructed that makes people emotional. The woman is an absolute magician with the ability to make people cry through her art. There's not many that can do that.
The following are Kate's comments about the song, warning there some spoilers if you haven't yet seen the film "She's Having A Baby" "John Hughes, the American film director, had just made this film called 'She's Having A Baby', and he had a scene in the film that he wanted a song to go with. And the film's very light: it's a lovely comedy. His films are very human, and it's just about this young guy - falls in love with a girl, marries her. He's still very much a kid. She gets pregnant, and it's all still very light and child-like until she's just about to have the baby and the nurse comes up to him and says it's a in a breech position and they don't know what the situation will be. So, while she's in the operating room, he has so sit and wait in the waiting room and it's a very powerful piece of film where he's just sitting, thinking; and this is actually the moment in the film where he has to grow up. He has no choice. There he is, he's not a kid any more; you can see he's in a very grown-up situation. And he starts, in his head, going back to the times they were together. There are clips of film of them laughing together and doing up their flat and all this kind of thing. And it was such a powerful visual: it's one of the quickest songs I've ever written. It was so easy to write. We had the piece of footage on video, so we plugged it up so that I could actually watch the monitor while I was sitting at the piano and I just wrote the song to these visuals. It was almost a matter of telling the story, and it was a lovely thing to do: I really enjoyed doing it. (Roger Scott Interview, BBC Radio 1 (UK), 14 October 1989)"
Next comment... "There's a film called 'She's Having A Baby'. And John Hughes, the director, rung up and said that he had a sequence in the film that he really wanted a song written to be with. And I'd only worked the once before on the 'Castaway' film - where I'd really enjoyed that - so I was extremely tempted by the offer. And when he sent the piece of film that the song was going to be part of, I just thought it was wonderful, it was so moving, a very moving piece of film. And in a way, there was a sense that the whole film built up to this moment. And it was a very easy song to write. It was very quick. And just kind of came, like a lot of songs do. Even if you struggle for months, in the end, they just kind of go - BLAH! - You know. [Laughs]. So that was the first song that I wrote for 'The Sensual World' album. In fact at the time we weren't even sure whether to put it on the album or not. And I must say that Del was very instrumental in saying that I should put it on the album, and I'm very glad I did. Because I had the most fantastic response - in some ways, maybe the greatest response - to this song. And I was really - I was absolutely thrilled, that you felt that way about it. (Kate Bush Con, 1990)" BTW the track that Kate wrote for the John Hughes Castaway film is called "Be Kind To My Mistakes"
Beautiful reaction. This song stands as one of Kate's masterpieces and that's saying a lot given her cannon of music. The lyrics, the arrangment, the vocals are just beyond amazing and tear at the soul. I've heard this song hundreds of time and (maybe I'm a softy) it always brings me to tears. For me the moment in the second chorus where you hear her background cry against the lyrics breaks me every time. Sheer brilliance from one of the greatest artists of the last 50 years. And by the way this is one song where I think you should go and watch the video because it's every bit as brilliant itself in getting the message behind the song across.
This is one song that makes me ugly cry. Anybody who has spent time in a hospital waiting room (as I did over 4 years ago when my daughter stopped breathing in her sleep) feels the gut punch when Kate sings “I should be crying but I just can’t let it show/I should be hoping but I can’t stop thinking” - to me the essence of anticipatory grief when you hope for the best but fear the worst (which came true when we heard that our daughter was gone).
Perfect.... it's perfect... just perfect. "This Woman's Work" was deliberately written to tear out your heart and that is what it does, it tears out your heart; not sentimentality, but true to life emotion. I have heard this song many many times, and knowing the back story to it, sometimes, for very personal reasons it is unbearably.... but it is always... perfect. Every placement of her hands on every piano key, every inflection, every change in tone or timbre, the strength or duration of every note that she sings is perfect. Brandon Flowers of "The Killers" said of this song: “It’s one of the most powerful pieces of music that I’ve encountered, […] It was in [the 1988 John Hughes movie] She’s Having a Baby when I was little, and even then I knew, like, I really like this song. And now that I’m older, it just sticks with me. It’s perfect […] It just affects me, man,” Just a few weeks ago a US based music/cinema/entertainment columnist called it a: “bravura vocal performance from […] one of the greatest voices and songwriters of the last century” For me the level of poetic or music symmetry Kate gives here is beautiful: a woman, asked to write a song from a man's perspective, who is filled with dread about the fate of a woman and their baby, and he is filled with dread and guilt and regret while he sits and paces and "stands" outside the delivery/maternity room - outside the woman's work, but although it is woman who might die, Kate still has the song say: "Ooh, it's hard on the man, Now his part is over Now starts the craft of the father" But for me the balance of this song is just extraordinary. She has the man thinking: All the things that you needed from me All the things that you wanted for me And that use of "From" and "For" is just beyond belief to my poor mind. Kate has given us good songs, great songs, and great what I would call "Kate Bush," Kate Bush songs, but among even all of this, there are times when somehow Kate Bush manages to capture something and no matter how often you listen to that song, rather than its initial force diminishing, somehow the older you get and the more often you hear it, that initial feeling intensifies. And this is one of those songs of hers that is somehow ageless - it lives and matures with you. Thanks for another great (raw and true) reaction video.
I agree with most of what you said,, however, as Kate has stated many times, her music video to this song is "Not' based on the movie about her having a baby, it is about a woman who almost dies and her "man" thinking of all "the things" etc..
Your reaction is exactly as I expected. Like in Rocket's Tail so much comes tumbling down even if the songs are so very different. Here it is all the overwhelming emotion she throws at us. I remember my first time hearing this one. I just sat there when it was over, overthinking what I just experienced. Each time I come across this jewel, the reaction remains te same. Even after more than 30 years now... It was a big surprise when this piece was used in a landmark scene in the opening of season two of The Handmaids Tale. The combination of sound and imagery in this scene was stronger than I have ever experienced with a Kate Bush song. Thinking back I instantly get the chills again.
Touching song and touching reaction. Thanks, Matt. 💜 Btw the following songs in the folder are B-sides. Check the metadata. ;) Just a reminder as I'll be on holiday for the next three weeks.
It has entered the UK charts on 5 separate occasions. Also In 2005, it would have reached #4 if digital downloads were included (as they were 6 months later) after its use in a series of NSPCC adverts (child protection). It now assessed to have UK 'sales' of over 500 000.
Such a great artist and such a beautiful song! I love how music in general - and Kate Bush and her songs in particular - can bring on so many emotions to us who love music! It is so life-affirming - no matter whether it is sad or joyful emotions! ❤
Everything about This Woman's Work is a masterpiece. Kate has always been inspired by visuals in film and I think you can tell from the Kate quotes in previous comments below she was instantly inspired by the scene she was given from the film but it's Kates singing that really hits hard. What a fabulous instrument her voice is and she uses it in so many different ways. I do hope that once you've finished this deep dive, some kind techno friend will sort out so that you can react to videos because I think you'll find it so rewarding watching some of Kate's music again with the accompanying videos, many of which she produced herself.
It gets me every time too Matt. The scenario seems to be a man whose wife is having life-threatening complications in childbirth. He's thinking (as you do in these situations) about "all the things I should have said, that I never said, all the things we should have done but we never did", all those plans and the little things that get lost in every day life until you realise that it might be too late and your chance might be gone. He doesn't want to deal with the situation - just make it go away. Deeply powerful and emotional, beautifully and sensitively performed, it's a masterpiece. I haven't heard it but singer Maxwell did a cover and I took some enjoyment in watching a lot of reaction videos where people's mouths drop open as they realise this is the original. To cheer up, may I suggest you imagine Laura Branigan stomping all over it like Godzilla, if she had got her hands on it.
Hahaha, oh man, the Branigan vocal-quakes are back! Cheers for another great comment, Mark. (and yeah, I was supposed to do another two reactions after this ... but I was just done after this emotional tune)
This is Kate at her very best. Although I know it's coming, this song stuns me every single time I listen to it. As for the lyrics: I think it's actually (partly) from the perspective of a man who is about to become a father and realizes that there are complications regarding the pregnancy. And now think about this: The song before this one was "Rocket's Tail", which as an album closer would be the pride of every musician in the world. But not Kate! She drops the mike after "This Woman's Work" and leaves us (or at least me) devastated and jubilant at the same time. What an artist!
Great thing about songs like this is you can paint the picture with your own inner landscape ... I didn't get a hint until I saw the video for the song but still didn't connect that the song could be about a childbirth ... The video is as vague as the song ... which I prefer ... It's more universal that way ...
Another great talent Kate has: the ability to leave a song open to many interpretations. It happens over and over again in her catalogue. She invokes thought and emotion, sometimes in an abstract manner. What an incredible creature Kate Bush is.
👍 "...but i didn't..." Give yourself a moment...its inescapable... Is this Experiment IV, or its antidote 😮🤝😊 . do all the things. The eternal Yes. She opens the door with All the Love. Then this perfect quiet song.... It is an album unto itself..more,.this song is a career all would envy, and some have tried to steal. No one ever will. Just that quiver in the voice, that soar to a plea, those words of self conviction and finally a hope for redemption...
Kate wrote this the previous year for the Kevin Bacon movie "She's Having A Baby". She's singing from the perspective of a man whose wife is going through complications during childbirth.
Oh wow, cheers. I obviously thought it was going in a different direction, but the level of emotion certainly came across intuitively to me. Thanks for the insight!
@@mattsnider2667 In the movie Kevin's character is very immature, but he realises how close he is to losing her and is reflecting on their relationship in the waiting room.
There's a Swedish artist called Maja Francis, she has covered this song. She is amazing singer, she's been discribed as a cross between Kate Bush and Dolly Parton!!! Sounds a bit of a strange combination but she is great ❤
Written for a film, I dont understand how this extraordinary track didnt get an oscar. Got plenty of airplay in the UK when released as a single but only managed to sneak into the lower end of the Top 30, which I feel is much less than it deserved. Beautiful arrangement too, can't remember the guy's name (David Kamen perhaps?)
Following up on my earlier comment, this song was written for the 1988 film 'She's Having a Baby' with Kevin Bacon and Elizabeth McGovern. Bacon learns that his wife and unborn child are in danger, having complications and the song deals with his thoughts and the scenario from the male perspective. I believe Kate wrote this song specifically for that one scene in the film. The film may have been forgettable but this song is anything but
A perfect closer to an album and it's a great shame that it didn't get higher in charts when released. It sort of had a new lease of life when it was covered and the cover was very successful in America, unlike Kate's original. For reference purposes I'm including the lyrics, although I think that they are very clear. Pray God you can cope I stand outside this woman's work, This woman's world Ooh, it's hard on the man, Now his part is over Now starts the craft of the father I know you have a little life in you yet I know you have a lot of strength left I know you have a little life in you yet I know you have a lot of strength left I should be crying, but I just can't let it show I should be hoping, but I can't stop thinking Of all the things I should've said, That I never said All the things we should've done, That we never did All the things I should've given, But I didn't Oh, darling, make it go, Make it go away Give me these moments back Give them back to me Give me that little kiss Give me your hand (I know you have a little life in you yet I know you have a lot of strength left. I know you have a little life in you yet. I know you have a lot of strength left.) I should be crying, but I just can't let it show I should be hoping, but I can't stop thinking Of all the things we should've said, That were never said All the things we should've done, That we never did All the things that you needed from me All the things that you wanted for me All the things that I should've given, But I didn't Oh, darling, make it go away Just make it go away now
Just wondering if you would be interested in Kylie Minogue’s output, the ABBA channel is massive, and Kylie does have more songs, but a chronological review of her international singles would be awesome. I could help you compile playlist.
I'd love to see you experience: The way Through The Woods by Pet Shop Boys (extended version). And their: Requiem in Denim & Leopard Skin. Oh....if you're feeling particularly resilient: I remember you............from Revenge album by eurythmics. I did a wee version of this vocal on my channel :)
Hey, folks! Sorry, I misread the characters in the song on this first listen, but the excruciating emotion certainly came across to me on an intuitive level. And thanks as always to the Kate fans, you've made this journey so much richer through your insights and comments. Cheers.
No apologies, it was a beautiful reaction. I cry my eyes out every single time...
And, nice to hear that you've been listening to Rocket's Tail!
As others have said - watch the video. It’s one where the video really helps you “get” Kate’s vision for the song. Reminiscent for me of :All the Love” from The Dreaming. "All the things we should have said....but we never did"
Happy Birthday, Kate!
That was a tough one. This song.....
It causes us to pause and see the expectations and things we lost and didn't say.
Such a simple track really...but goes straight to the heart. You did well Matt.
This song always makes me cry!😢 so intens...
This Woman's Work hits harder with every year. Some songs are meant to travel with us as we age, gathering up losses and grief along the way. Kate's given us a tool to help shed a little bit of that weight we carry every time we hear it.
❤❤❤
I have lost count of the amount of times I have listened to this song and yet here I am again, tears in my eyes after listening to it. This is a masterwork, there is no doubting that, the subject matter, the production, the composition, the lyrics and finally the beautiful, raw, immense powers of the song itself and Kate's voice just gets me every single time. This is the best of Kate Bush, her finest moment and there are some incredible songs that come close, Under The Ivy, The Infant Kiss, The Man With The Child In His Eyes, Hello Earth, And Dream Of Sheep but this is the pinnacle, it is perfect. Your reaction to this song, emotive, almost stunned is how I was when I first heard it many years ago and how I am now, such is the brilliance of the piece
It's amazing when a great songwriter like Kate Bush connects with a persons memory in this way. Get all the elements right and can really hook on to a persons experiences with women in their lives. Mother, Sister, wife etc. I was watching your face about half way in and thought we got a live one here. Lol. Great, genuine reaction.
It’s one of the best songs ever made I still can’t believe it only got to No25 in the UK singles chart! I was 18 when this came out and I bought the 7” vinyl single and I still have it! Kate is a British legend may people bow thei heads in front of her! Fame and Fortune hasn’t gone to her head at all she sounds like a very nice approachable woman when interviewed she was so overwhelmed by her resurgence in the last year due to Stranger Things on Netflix and Running Up That Hill which was a massive hit for her way before Stranger Things it originally got to No3 in the UK singles chart in September 1985 and went silver selling over 300.000 copies at that time, then 37 years later it goes to No1 in the UK one of the longest waits for a song to go to No1 in the uk, it beat Last Christmas by Wham which took 36 years to finally make No1 in 2020 here in the UK, up until that point Last Christmas held the record for the best selling single ever to make No2, and the 10th best selling single of all time in the UK! I’ve gone from Kate Bush to Wham in seconds, 😮 sorry I love Kate she is epic! ❤
beautiful reaction to, in my book, one of the best songs ever recorded. The times it grasped my throat...
one of my favorite songs of all time!
Simply a genius.
Never be mine + Rocket's tail + This woman's work is an incredible combo to closing an album
Hi Matt, new to your reactions and loving your love for Kate, I've been a fan for 46 years (since I was 10) and am feeling every emotion with you, while on your KB journey , great job 😍
Excellent, glad to have you along for the ride! And the next Kate reaction should be within a few days at most. Cheers!
Surely one of the most moving songs from (perhaps) Britain's greatest ever female singer-songwriter.
This song makes me cry like a baby every time i listen to it. I think it would even if i didn't know what Kate was singing about. There is just something about how this song is constructed that makes people emotional.
The woman is an absolute magician with the ability to make people cry through her art. There's not many that can do that.
The following are Kate's comments about the song, warning there some spoilers if you haven't yet seen the film "She's Having A Baby"
"John Hughes, the American film director, had just made this film called 'She's Having A Baby', and he had a scene in the film that he wanted a song to go with. And the film's very light: it's a lovely comedy. His films are very human, and it's just about this young guy - falls in love with a girl, marries her. He's still very much a kid. She gets pregnant, and it's all still very light and child-like until she's just about to have the baby and the nurse comes up to him and says it's a in a breech position and they don't know what the situation will be. So, while she's in the operating room, he has so sit and wait in the waiting room and it's a very powerful piece of film where he's just sitting, thinking; and this is actually the moment in the film where he has to grow up. He has no choice. There he is, he's not a kid any more; you can see he's in a very grown-up situation. And he starts, in his head, going back to the times they were together. There are clips of film of them laughing together and doing up their flat and all this kind of thing. And it was such a powerful visual: it's one of the quickest songs I've ever written. It was so easy to write. We had the piece of footage on video, so we plugged it up so that I could actually watch the monitor while I was sitting at the piano and I just wrote the song to these visuals. It was almost a matter of telling the story, and it was a lovely thing to do: I really enjoyed doing it. (Roger Scott Interview, BBC Radio 1 (UK), 14 October 1989)"
Next comment...
"There's a film called 'She's Having A Baby'. And John Hughes, the director, rung up and said that he had a sequence in the film that he really wanted a song written to be with. And I'd only worked the once before on the 'Castaway' film - where I'd really enjoyed that - so I was extremely tempted by the offer. And when he sent the piece of film that the song was going to be part of, I just thought it was wonderful, it was so moving, a very moving piece of film. And in a way, there was a sense that the whole film built up to this moment. And it was a very easy song to write. It was very quick. And just kind of came, like a lot of songs do. Even if you struggle for months, in the end, they just kind of go - BLAH! - You know. [Laughs]. So that was the first song that I wrote for 'The Sensual World' album. In fact at the time we weren't even sure whether to put it on the album or not. And I must say that Del was very instrumental in saying that I should put it on the album, and I'm very glad I did. Because I had the most fantastic response - in some ways, maybe the greatest response - to this song. And I was really - I was absolutely thrilled, that you felt that way about it. (Kate Bush Con, 1990)"
BTW the track that Kate wrote for the John Hughes Castaway film is called "Be Kind To My Mistakes"
Beautiful reaction. This song stands as one of Kate's masterpieces and that's saying a lot given her cannon of music. The lyrics, the arrangment, the vocals are just beyond amazing and tear at the soul. I've heard this song hundreds of time and (maybe I'm a softy) it always brings me to tears. For me the moment in the second chorus where you hear her background cry against the lyrics breaks me every time. Sheer brilliance from one of the greatest artists of the last 50 years.
And by the way this is one song where I think you should go and watch the video because it's every bit as brilliant itself in getting the message behind the song across.
One of my favourite Kate songs. Such emotion!
Gets me every time this track. Her voice is an emotion in its own right.
This is one song that makes me ugly cry. Anybody who has spent time in a hospital waiting room (as I did over 4 years ago when my daughter stopped breathing in her sleep) feels the gut punch when Kate sings “I should be crying but I just can’t let it show/I should be hoping but I can’t stop thinking” - to me the essence of anticipatory grief when you hope for the best but fear the worst (which came true when we heard that our daughter was gone).
Devastating song. The music video is equally touching.
Perfect.... it's perfect... just perfect. "This Woman's Work" was deliberately written to tear out your heart and that is what it does, it tears out your heart; not sentimentality, but true to life emotion. I have heard this song many many times, and knowing the back story to it, sometimes, for very personal reasons it is unbearably.... but it is always... perfect.
Every placement of her hands on every piano key, every inflection, every change in tone or timbre, the strength or duration of every note that she sings is perfect.
Brandon Flowers of "The Killers" said of this song:
“It’s one of the most powerful pieces of music that I’ve encountered, […] It was in [the 1988 John Hughes movie] She’s Having a Baby when I was little, and even then I knew, like, I really like this song. And now that I’m older, it just sticks with me. It’s perfect […] It just affects me, man,”
Just a few weeks ago a US based music/cinema/entertainment columnist called it a:
“bravura vocal performance from […] one of the greatest voices and songwriters of the last century”
For me the level of poetic or music symmetry Kate gives here is beautiful: a woman, asked to write a song from a man's perspective, who is filled with dread about the fate of a woman and their baby, and he is filled with dread and guilt and regret while he sits and paces and "stands" outside the delivery/maternity room - outside the woman's work, but although it is woman who might die, Kate still has the song say:
"Ooh, it's hard on the man,
Now his part is over
Now starts the craft of the father"
But for me the balance of this song is just extraordinary. She has the man thinking:
All the things that you needed from me
All the things that you wanted for me
And that use of "From" and "For" is just beyond belief to my poor mind.
Kate has given us good songs, great songs, and great what I would call "Kate Bush," Kate Bush songs, but among even all of this, there are times when somehow Kate Bush manages to capture something and no matter how often you listen to that song, rather than its initial force diminishing, somehow the older you get and the more often you hear it, that initial feeling intensifies. And this is one of those songs of hers that is somehow ageless - it lives and matures with you.
Thanks for another great (raw and true) reaction video.
Unbearably perfect. Such a great way to describe this song. ❤
I agree with most of what you said,, however, as Kate has stated many times, her music video to this song is "Not' based on the movie about her having a baby, it is about a woman who almost dies and her "man" thinking of all "the things" etc..
@@Rhiannon011 Hi Rhiannon, and if anything the video (directed by Kate) is even worse/better
Lovely emotional reaction to my favourite song of all time. Gives me goosebumps and makes me sweat every time I hear it, even now.
How moving... how ... incredibly touching
Fabulous song. A work of art. 💙
Yeah, it really hits you in the feels.
Your reaction is exactly as I expected. Like in Rocket's Tail so much comes tumbling down even if the songs are so very different. Here it is all the overwhelming emotion she throws at us. I remember my first time hearing this one. I just sat there when it was over, overthinking what I just experienced. Each time I come across this jewel, the reaction remains te same. Even after more than 30 years now... It was a big surprise when this piece was used in a landmark scene in the opening of season two of The Handmaids Tale. The combination of sound and imagery in this scene was stronger than I have ever experienced with a Kate Bush song. Thinking back I instantly get the chills again.
Touching song and touching reaction. Thanks, Matt. 💜
Btw the following songs in the folder are B-sides. Check the metadata. ;)
Just a reminder as I'll be on holiday for the next three weeks.
Thanks for the tip, Seb, and I hope you have a fantastic time on your holiday. Be waiting to hear from you when you get back. :)
@@mattsnider2667 Aww, thanks. I'll have a lot to catch up to. :D
Such a haunting song. Perfect album closer as well. Not a hit on release but it has endured and is now rightly seen as a classic
It has entered the UK charts on 5 separate occasions. Also In 2005, it would have reached #4 if digital downloads were included (as they were 6 months later) after its use in a series of NSPCC adverts (child protection). It now assessed to have UK 'sales' of over 500 000.
Such a great artist and such a beautiful song! I love how music in general - and Kate Bush and her songs in particular - can bring on so many emotions to us who love music! It is so life-affirming - no matter whether it is sad or joyful emotions! ❤
Just off the top of my head, this & Breathing are the most powerful songs to end an album (& coincidentally about life & death depending on your pov)
Everything about This Woman's Work is a masterpiece. Kate has always been inspired by visuals in film and I think you can tell from the Kate quotes in previous comments below she was instantly inspired by the scene she was given from the film but it's Kates singing that really hits hard. What a fabulous instrument her voice is and she uses it in so many different ways.
I do hope that once you've finished this deep dive, some kind techno friend will sort out so that you can react to videos because I think you'll find it so rewarding watching some of Kate's music again with the accompanying videos, many of which she produced herself.
It gets me every time too Matt. The scenario seems to be a man whose wife is having life-threatening complications in childbirth. He's thinking (as you do in these situations) about "all the things I should have said, that I never said, all the things we should have done but we never did", all those plans and the little things that get lost in every day life until you realise that it might be too late and your chance might be gone. He doesn't want to deal with the situation - just make it go away. Deeply powerful and emotional, beautifully and sensitively performed, it's a masterpiece. I haven't heard it but singer Maxwell did a cover and I took some enjoyment in watching a lot of reaction videos where people's mouths drop open as they realise this is the original. To cheer up, may I suggest you imagine Laura Branigan stomping all over it like Godzilla, if she had got her hands on it.
Hahaha, oh man, the Branigan vocal-quakes are back! Cheers for another great comment, Mark. (and yeah, I was supposed to do another two reactions after this ... but I was just done after this emotional tune)
Or Sylvester's falsetto....everybody tries to steal this song, but nobody...nobody ever will.
Easy. It’s a masterpiece.
This is Kate at her very best. Although I know it's coming, this song stuns me every single time I listen to it. As for the lyrics: I think it's actually (partly) from the perspective of a man who is about to become a father and realizes that there are complications regarding the pregnancy.
And now think about this: The song before this one was "Rocket's Tail", which as an album closer would be the pride of every musician in the world. But not Kate! She drops the mike after "This Woman's Work" and leaves us (or at least me) devastated and jubilant at the same time. What an artist!
Great thing about songs like this is you can paint the picture with your own inner landscape ...
I didn't get a hint until I saw the video for the song but still didn't connect that the song could be about a childbirth ... The video is as vague as the song ... which I prefer ... It's more universal that way ...
Well said, Doug! Sometimes sketching a scene is better than illustrating every single minute detail.
Another great talent Kate has: the ability to leave a song open to many interpretations. It happens over and over again in her catalogue. She invokes thought and emotion, sometimes in an abstract manner. What an incredible creature Kate Bush is.
Another great reaction. I hope its ok to mention that Kate's next single release would be an Elton John cover! You don't want to miss it!
👍
"...but i didn't..."
Give yourself a moment...its inescapable...
Is this Experiment IV, or its antidote 😮🤝😊 . do all the things. The eternal Yes. She opens the door with All the Love. Then this perfect quiet song.... It is an album unto itself..more,.this song is a career all would envy, and some have tried to steal. No one ever will. Just that quiver in the voice, that soar to a plea, those words of self conviction and finally a hope for redemption...
Kate wrote this the previous year for the Kevin Bacon movie "She's Having A Baby". She's singing from the perspective of a man whose wife is going through complications during childbirth.
Oh wow, cheers. I obviously thought it was going in a different direction, but the level of emotion certainly came across intuitively to me. Thanks for the insight!
@@mattsnider2667 In the movie Kevin's character is very immature, but he realises how close he is to losing her and is reflecting on their relationship in the waiting room.
'Thank You' Matt, I don't need to say more.......
There's a Swedish artist called Maja Francis, she has covered this song. She is amazing singer, she's been discribed as a cross between Kate Bush and Dolly Parton!!!
Sounds a bit of a strange combination but she is great ❤
Written for a film, I dont understand how this extraordinary track didnt get an oscar. Got plenty of airplay in the UK when released as a single but only managed to sneak into the lower end of the Top 30, which I feel is much less than it deserved. Beautiful arrangement too, can't remember the guy's name (David Kamen perhaps?)
Worse, it wasn't even nominated.
Another of Kate’s where I’d really advise you to watch the video sometime. Adds an extra dimension to an already fantastic masterpiece. 👍🏻
Following up on my earlier comment, this song was written for the 1988 film 'She's Having a Baby' with Kevin Bacon and Elizabeth McGovern. Bacon learns that his wife and unborn child are in danger, having complications and the song deals with his thoughts and the scenario from the male perspective. I believe Kate wrote this song specifically for that one scene in the film. The film may have been forgettable but this song is anything but
A wonderful, poignant song.
A perfect closer to an album and it's a great shame that it didn't get higher in charts when released. It sort of had a new lease of life when it was covered and the cover was very successful in America, unlike Kate's original.
For reference purposes I'm including the lyrics, although I think that they are very clear.
Pray God you can cope
I stand outside this woman's work,
This woman's world
Ooh, it's hard on the man,
Now his part is over
Now starts the craft of the father
I know you have a little life in you yet
I know you have a lot of strength left
I know you have a little life in you yet
I know you have a lot of strength left
I should be crying, but I just can't let it show
I should be hoping, but I can't stop thinking
Of all the things I should've said,
That I never said
All the things we should've done,
That we never did
All the things I should've given,
But I didn't
Oh, darling, make it go,
Make it go away
Give me these moments back
Give them back to me
Give me that little kiss
Give me your hand
(I know you have a little life in you yet
I know you have a lot of strength left.
I know you have a little life in you yet.
I know you have a lot of strength left.)
I should be crying, but I just can't let it show
I should be hoping, but I can't stop thinking
Of all the things we should've said,
That were never said
All the things we should've done,
That we never did
All the things that you needed from me
All the things that you wanted for me
All the things that I should've given,
But I didn't
Oh, darling, make it go away
Just make it go away now
Just wondering if you would be interested in Kylie Minogue’s output, the ABBA channel is massive, and Kylie does have more songs, but a chronological review of her international singles would be awesome. I could help you compile playlist.
I'd love to see you experience: The way Through The Woods by Pet Shop Boys (extended version).
And their: Requiem in Denim & Leopard Skin.
Oh....if you're feeling particularly resilient: I remember you............from Revenge album by eurythmics. I did a wee version of this vocal on my channel :)
ugh i just can't get into Kate Bush..... I feel like her music is made for the background while shopping at an herbal supplement store.
Haha, listen to "Get Out of My House" and then say that!
@@mattsnider2667 I just checked it out, a little better, but still.... for some reason I just cant get into her, and I don't really know why LOL.