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I've pulled down my lace and the chintz.
Oh, do you know you have the face of a genius?
I'll send your love to Zeus.
Oh, by the time you read this,
I'll be well in touch.
I'm giving it all in a moment or two.
I'm giving it all in a moment, for you.
I'm giving it all, giving it, giving it.
This kicking here inside
Makes me leave you behind.
No more under the quilt
To keep you warm.
Your sister I was born.
You must lose me like an arrow,
Shot into the killer storm.
You and me on the bobbing knee.
Didn't we cry at that old mythology he'd read!
I will come home again, but not until
The sun and the moon meet on yon hill.
I'm giving it all in a moment or two.
I'm giving it all in a moment, for you.
I'm giving it all, giving it, giving it.
This kicking here inside
Makes me leave you behind.
No more under the quilt
To keep you warm.
Your sister I was born.
You must lose me like an arrow,
Shot into the killer storm.
Oh, do you know you have the face of a genius?
I'll send your love to Zeus.
Oh, by the time you read this,
I'll be well in touch.
I'm giving it all in a moment or two.
I'm giving it all in a moment, for you.
I'm giving it all, giving it, giving it.
This kicking here inside
Makes me leave you behind.
No more under the quilt
To keep you warm.
Your sister I was born.
You must lose me like an arrow,
Shot into the killer storm.
You and me on the bobbing knee.
Didn't we cry at that old mythology he'd read!
I will come home again, but not until
The sun and the moon meet on yon hill.
I'm giving it all in a moment or two.
I'm giving it all in a moment, for you.
I'm giving it all, giving it, giving it.
This kicking here inside
Makes me leave you behind.
No more under the quilt
To keep you warm.
Your sister I was born.
You must lose me like an arrow,
Shot into the killer storm.
Lyrics submitted by weezerific:cutlery, edited by Mellow_Harsher
Track duration: 04:29
"The Kick Inside" as written by Kate Bush
Lyrics © EMI Music Publishing
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Kate was and is incredibly close to her brother Paddy, who was her lifelong collaborator. This song can express the feeling that her artistic career (which was just about to take flight) will take her from him. I'm sure she must have thought of him when writing this.
It seems that she's taken the story of Lizzie Wan and expanded it in a way that it has more layers and resonances.
She's the greatest female songwriter I know. To have written this so young is jaw-dropping.
Apollo was the great Olympian god of prophecy, music, song, poetry, archery, etc. He is considered the ideal of manly beauty. To be 'Apollonian' is to be serenely high-minded, noble and bright, etc.
"I'll send your love to Zeus..."
Artemis was the sister of Apollo. They were the twin offspring of Zeus and Leto.
"You must lose me like an arrow
Shot into the killer storm..."
Apollo and Artemis were two great Olympian Archers. In old mythology, they are often shown equipped with hunting bow and quiver of arrows.
"The sun and the moon meet on yon hill...
Apollo was a Sun God and Artemis was a Moon Goddess.
Maybe the two opening lines remember the night of the tragic union. Her heavy belly brings insight, lucidity and shame. Driven by an heroic sense of responsibility, and by the now lucid horror of events, she elects to kill herself. She is forced now to suffer mythic horror, where once before she felt only tearful pity at that old mythology.
This tender song is not about adding horror to horror. KB makes us feel the pity and cry at their tragic mythic tale.
i agree that it is a suicide note from a girl who is pregnant with her brothers baby, and even though she loves her brother, she feels that suicide is the only way out
When the album TKI came out, Kate was shot into stardom (itself a potential killer storm - Joplin, Hendrix, Cobain, etc.).
The old Kate was lost and Kate the star was born. A very scary (suicide/rebirth) transition…
And by the time WE as fans read these lyrics, Kate had gone global (well in touch) and was working and learning among the Zeuses of Rock’s Hall of Fame.
From the start, Kate was determined to ‘be well in touch’ (creatively sensational) and to ‘give it all’ in her work… Her creative urges (This kicking here inside…) gave her no choice but to leave ‘her old self’ behind…
The song, The Kick Inside, can thus be seen as a goodbye thank you to the creative genius/influences that made a star… It is the birthing song of a star… About realising destiny and hitting the charts!
When will you return again,
My son, come tell to me?
When the sun and the moon set on yonders green hill,
And I'm sure that never can be.
Lici's idea is supported by:
---"I'll send your love to Zeus
Oh, by the time you read this, I'll be well in touch"
which pretty much undoubtedly means she'll be dead. She's killing herself.
---"This kicking here inside makes me leave you behind
No more under the quilt to keep you warm
Your sister I was born - you must lose me"
To me, "your sister I was born" means that they are brother and sister...under the quilt means sexual relations...the kick inside can very well mean a baby.
"You and me on the bobbing knee
Didn't we cry at that old mythology he'd read"
The bobbing knee is them when they were little and innocent on their father's knees, while he told them tales of a mythology, probably a Greek one, which explains why she'll give her love to Zeus and not the Christian God.
So I think I agree more with Lici. The clues are all there, and this is something Kate would definitely write about. Though Maruree could be right too.
Either way, beautiful song to end a beautiful album from a beautiful woman.
I think trhe kicking inside symbolises an urge to go out and explore the world, and that's why she has to leave him behind. When she says "your sister I was born" she doesn't mean they're blood relatives, but brother and sister in other ways.