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Captain Beefheart
(b. Don Van Vliet, 1941) Founder of Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band and a close friend of and collaborator with Frank Zappa, Don Van Vliet has lately retired from music and currently enjoys success as a highly-regarded painter. Appearing on BBC Radio One with host Paul Gambaccini on 31 December 1980, Kate enthused about his recordings as Captain Beefheart:
"When you look at a lot of the New Wave groups and the punk groups, they're really nothing compared to Beefheart. He's the original. And for me, he's a natural poet. I mean, he's incredible."After playing the song Tropical Hot Dog Night Kate challenged her host: "Let's play it again right now and get up on the table!"
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Carmilla
This is a provisional title given to a demo version of a song which was never released. It is available only on bootleg recordings; see the Phoenix section for more information.
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Castaway
A 1987 film directed by Nicholas Roeg, starring Oliver Reed and Amanda Donohoe, based upon the autobiographical book Castaway by Lucy Irvine. A middle-aged man places an advertisement in a London paper for a woman to spend a year with him on a desert island. The soundtrack of the film features the song Be Kind To My Mistakes.
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Celeste
A late-19th Century keyboard which uses metal hammers to strike steel plates, producing a ringing bell-like sound which is amplified by a resonator. Andrew Powell plays celeste on the song Wuthering Heights.
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Cello
The bass member of the Violin family. Johnathan Williams plays cello on the songs Hounds Of Love, The Fog, Heads We're Dancing, and Between A Man And A Woman.
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Celtic Harp
An Irish intsrument played by Alan Stivell on the songs The Fog and Between A Man And A Woman.
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Clapton, Eric
A moderately well-known British guitarist who regularly vied with Jeff Beck for the title of "God" to an entire generation of teenaged British blues enthusiasts, Clapton plays guitar on the song And So Is Love.
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Cloudbusting
A song on the album Hounds Of Love. This song was inspired by A Book Of Dreams, Peter Reich's autobiographical memoir of his father Wilhelm Reich.
According to Kate, concluding this song was difficult; it seemed to fall apart in the last ten bars, with each musical instrument dropping out at a different point. She chose to use a decoy tactic, concealing the dissolution with the sound of a steam engine, to suggest an arrival (or a departure). No suitable train sound was discovered, so Kate improvised one on the Fairlight. This diversionary strategy proved successful, and another classic recording was born.
This song is also listed in the Discography section.
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Cockney Rebel
A glam-influenced rock group known for such songs as Come Up And See Me (Make Me Smile), Mr. Soft, Judy Teen, and Sebastian. Led by singer Steve Harley, this group included Stuart Elliott on drums and Duncan Mackay on keyboards, both of whom were recruited by producer Andrew Powell for the recording of the album The Kick Inside. Bassist John Giblin also played in a later incarnation of this band.
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Coffee Homeground
A song on the album Lionheart. The lyrics were inspired by a ride with a paranoid taxi driver who believed someone was out to poison him. The vocals are in homage to the singing of Lotte Lenya.
The lines of German at the close of the song are:
"Noch ein Glass mein Liebling" ("One more glass, my darling")The last line is apparently difficult even for native speakers of German to make out, but it seems to make elegant sense in context. As the FAQ rightly points out, only Kate knows for sure...
"Es schmeckt wunderbar!" ("It tastes wonderful!")
"Dann sterb ich wohl" ("Then I will die")
This song is also listed in the Discography section.
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Collins, Phil
(b. 31 January 1951) A former child actor turned drummer, who first rose to fame as frontman of Genesis following the departure of Peter Gabriel, then went on to ever greater fortune in his own staggeringly lucrative solo career. Collins backed Kate on drums for her performance of The Wedding List at the Prince's Trust Rock Gala on 21 July 1982.
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Coltrane, Robbie
(b. 1950) A British comedian and actor. Among the more notable entries in his resume are lead roles in the films Nuns On The Run (co-starring with Eric Idle) and The Pope Must Die(t) (directed by Peter Richardson), the role of Falstaff in Kenneth Branagh's production of Henry V, and the television series Cracker. A friend of Kate's, his voice can be heard among those trying to rouse the heroine from sleep in The Ninth Wave.
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Come Up And See Me
A song by Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel, which Harley performed with Kate and Peter Gabriel providing backing vocals at a benefit concert for the survivors of Bill Duffield at the Hammersmith Odeon on 12 May 1979.
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Comedy
Although the executives at EMI and Columbia are unlikely to slot her albums next to those of George Carlin or Tom Lehrer anytime soon, the fact is that Kate Bush is a avid fan of British comedy, and uses humor in her work more often than is usually acknowledged.
Consider: the buried interjection "What about Edward G.?" in the song There Goes A Tenner; her performance of Do Bears... at a Comic Relief show; the extended dialogue ("That cloud looks like snow." "No it doesn't!") in the Meteorological Mix of The Big Sky; the involvement of Hugh Laurie, Dawn French, Lenny Henry, Tim McInnerny, Miranda Richardson, and Peter Richardson in various projects; her acting debut in the Comic Strip film Les Dogs; even the inexplicable moment in The Line The Cross And The Curve with the runaway electric fan. Is Kate a frustrated comedian, or does she just play one on TV?
Kate Bush on the subject of comedy, ca.1990:
"I can't think of anything braver than a stand-up comedian. I suppose you must learn a lot about yourself. Even if you get booed off you must get so much insight. I love all kinds of stuff. I still think Fawlty Towers is the best sitcom ever. I like Python, I like Ben Elton, I like what Rik Mayall and Ade Edmondson do. We've got a load of good comics here...and a lot of good comediennes, which is nice."
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Comic Relief
A British charity organization which supports the efforts of Oxfam and the Save The Children Fund in providing famine relief in Ethiopia and the Sudan. Kate appeared in a Comic Relief benefit concert held at the Shaftesbury Theatre, London, on 4-6 April 1986; Kate performed the song Breathing, alone on piano, and joined comedian Rowan Atkinson (who also directed the stage show) for a duet called Do Bears...; these performances are available on the recording of the concert, released as Utterly Utterly Live At The Shaftesbury Theatre.
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Comic Strip, The
A series of short comedic television films made by the team of Peter Richardson, Adrian Edmondson, Dawn French, Jennifer Saunders, and Nigel Planer -- with the asistance of Robbie Coltrane, Rik Mayall, Danny Peacock, Peter Richens, and Alexei Sayle -- for Britain's Channel Four. The series has been in production on and off since 1982, and has amassed a sizeable number of films. Kate Bush was involved with the Comic Strip productions GLC, Les Dogs, and Wild Turkey.
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Coming Up
This is a provisional title given to a demo version of a song which was never released. It is available only on bootleg recordings; see the Phoenix section for more information.
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Common Ground (Celtic Voices)
A 1996 album of Celtic music compiled by Donal Lunny. Kate contributes Mna Na h-Eireann, based on a popular Irish poem. Other artists on the album include Davy Spillane, Maire Brennan of Clannad, Sinead O'Connor, Elvis Costello, Christy Moore, and members of U2 and Crowded House.
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Concertina
A small octagonal accordion, played by Alistair Anderson on the song Rocket Man.
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Confrontation, The
A piece of incidental music recorded for the Comic Strip film GLC.
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Connors, Clare
Guest soloist appearing with the Balavescu String Quartet, providing strings on the song Reaching Out.
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Constellation Of The Heart
A song on the album The Red Shoes. Del Palmer has described this song as a homage to the classic soul group Sly And The Family Stone.
This song is also listed in the Discography section.
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Cook, Peter
(17 November 1937 - 9 January 1995) An influential British comedian who first reached public attention as a member of Beyond The Fringe, a group spawned from the Footlights society at Cambridge University which also included Dudley Moore, Jonathan Miller, and Alan Bennett. Cook and Moore spun off into a separate partnership, releasing a string of immensely successful comedy records, writing and starring in television programs such as Not Only But Also, and the film Bedazzled. In his later years, Cook remained in the public eye as benefactor of the British political satire magazine Private Eye. Peter Cook introduced Kate's appearance on the music television program Revolver on 21 May 1978.
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Covington, Julie
A British singer and actress. A member of the legendary Footlights Club at Cambridge University, which over the years has launched the careers of such figures as Peter Cook, Eric Idle, and Hugh Laurie, Covington is best known to television viewers around the world for her starring role in the 1970s series Rock Follies. A friend of John Carder Bush from their University days, Covington recorded a cover version of the song The Kick Inside for her self-titled debut solo album in November 1978.
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Craft Of Love, The
This is a provisional title given to a demo version of a song which was never released. It is available only on bootleg recordings; see the Phoenix section for more information.
This song is also listed in the Discography section.
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Crosby, Bing
(b. Harry Lillis Crosby, 1904 - 1977) A hugely famous American singer and actor, Crosby is known for developing a vocal style called crooning, well suited for singing with a microphone, and for his series of Road movies with comedian Bob Hope. Crosby is mentioned in the song December Will Be Magic Again:
"Bing Crosby sings White Christmas
He makes you feel nice."
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Curtis, Richard
A British comedy writer and screenwriter, having written for the television programs Not The Nine O'Clock News, Spitting Image, Blackadder and Mr. Bean, as well as films such as The Tall Guy and Four Weddings And A Funeral, the latter of which he also coproduced. Much of his work has been in collaboration with the British comedian Rowan Atkinson. Curtis wrote the lyrics for the song Do Bears... which was performed at a Comic Relief benefit concert by Kate and Atkinson.
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Cussi Cussi
This is a provisional title given to a demo version of a song which was never released. It is available only on bootleg recordings; see the Phoenix section for more information.
This song is also listed in the Discography section.