Kate Bush - Babooshka

"Babooshka" is a song by British singer Kate Bush, taken from her album Never for Ever. Released as a single on June 23, 1980 it spent 10 weeks in the UK chart, peaking at number five.[1] It was an even bigger hit in Australia, where it was the 20th best-selling single of the year.

The song chronicles a wife's desire to test her husband's loyalty. To do so, she takes on the nom de plume of Babooshka and sends notes to her husband in the guise of a younger woman -- something which she fears is the opposite of how her husband currently sees her (Hence the barbed lines: "Just like his wife before she "freezed" on him / Just like his wife when she was beautiful...").[3]
The trap is set when, in her bitterness and paranoia, Babooshka arranges to meet her husband, who is attracted to the character that reminds him of his wife in earlier times. She thereby ruins the relationship due to her paranoia, according to Kate Bush's 1980 interview with the Australian TV series Countdown.
The music video depicts Bush beside a double bass (contrabass) which symbolises the husband, wearing a black bodysuit and a veil in her role as the embittered wife, alluding to a definition of the word babooshka - a headscarf. This changes into an extravagant, mythlike and rather sparse 'Russian' costume as her alter-ego, Babooshka.
The track features John Giblin on bass and marks the significance of fretless bass sounds as instrumental "male" partners through Kate's music in the early eighties.
The B-Side contains her song "Ran Tan Waltz", her second non-album B-Side. This song is performed as a tragicomedy, where Bush portrays a man bemoaning his bad luck in life being married to an alcoholic mother. This song also signifies Bush's first use of an expletive in one of her recordings (the word "dick" as euphemism for penis).[4]
Babushka is the Russian word for "grandmother" (albeit the stress in Russian falls on the first syllable, not the second), and sometimes indicates in English a garment worn over women's hair, much like a bandana. The name of the song is repeated throughout the chorus and is harmonised at the end of the line with ya-ya, which is the Greek word for grandmother. [info courtesy: wikipedia.org]

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Kate
• Bush
• Babooshka

[WolfieTed]

She has a real craze in her eyes sometimes. The kind of girl you would expect to be hovering over you, staring, when you wake up the next morning.

Wouldn't stop me falling in love with her when she looked like that in her prime so to speak.

[MrAugustus88]

the most beautiful woman in the world, in my opoinion, i absolutely love her.

[muertecivil]

а ещё так назывались платки

[muertecivil]

Короче, для тех русских, что не вкурили про какую бабушку речь =) Бабушкой капиталистические свиньи называют нашу русскую матрёшку.

[VossaBygde]

@kirstyms03 i was thinkin the same thing :p

[privateabstract]

I wonder when the last time I word like "pseudonym" was used in a song.

I bet Justin Bieber doesn't even know what a pseudonym is.. BABY BABY BABY~ stfu and die.

[bykarti]

anyone else thinking of the Adams when listening to this?

[ameliamaramusic]

I feel like I was born in the wrong era, I lovelovelove Kate Bush and hardly any of my friends have even heard of her - I'm 13! I'm also a singer, to any of you Kate Bush fans PLEASEPLEASEPLEASE! will you click on my channel to listen to my cover, I'd love to have some more views! I'm not one of those people who goes 'thumbs up and I will cover this' I just would like to have my music heard. Of course, it isn't better than the amazing Kate! But back to her, she is just my idol. xxx

[689797zi5]

I love this song

[rednef4is]

Это чё за бред.Тёлка в купальнике и с мечом поёт про бабушку?Вот ведь ахинея.

[kirstyms03]

She's like a 1980's Lady Gaga :P

[777gard]

@uraloborona Это платок, только и всего :)))