BABOOSHKA / RAN TAN WALTZ

The Never for Ever single following "Breathing" was one of the most iconic songs out of Kate Bush's entire catalog, the very mature, tense and dramatic "Babooshka". Once again, I'm going to be looking at the music video as well, and... honestly, with the wild, queerly anthemic ("queer", I'm sure, in any way you want it to mean) chorus, this video is, I'm not afraid to say, ridiculously sexy... To the song's credit, great Art Pop. Essential. The basic story is of a perhaps otherwise embarrassed wife ("She couldn't have made a worst move"), finding herself in a hapless marriage. She tries "incognito" to make him "fall for her" all over again, and in this, during the verses, the video "Babooshka" shows a veiled Kate, wearing all black (I think even toting intense eye-liner and dark lips), dancing beside an upright bass. The chorus, literally in the video, breaks the glass of the wife's seemingly clever illusion, showing a backlit, hip-swaying Kate, in what I always thought was Valkyrie regalia, sporting a sparkling crown, chain mail bra and sleeves, a cloak, and a sword. We're all adults here. It's very hot haha.

Its B-side is the bold, of course 3/4-lilting "Ran Tan Waltz". This is very of the time for this era in Kate's career, most comparable to tracks like Lionheart's "Coffee Homeground" or The Dreaming's "Suspended in Gaffa". Regardless, very quirky and, by my estimation, quite proggy, despite its relatively static composition overall.

True Rate: 4.5/5.0