Kate Bush and the Need To Be Understood

Amazingly, 80’s British pop star Kate Bush scored a #1 hit on the British charts last week - off a song that came out 37 years ago! She now holds the records both for taking the longest time getting to #1 and for being the oldest woman (63) to have a #1 hit. The springboard for this unlikely occurrence was the use of her song “Running Up That Hill” in a pivotal scene in the hit Netflix series “Stranger Things” which is set in the 80s.

Kate was one of the most original and creative artists of her day. Unlike many 80s tunes, her lyrics were deep, poignant, and literary. For my money, her song “Love and Anger” on the album “The Sensual World” is peak Kate. In it, she explores the idea of the need to be understood. I have long maintained that there are seven things that all human beings want and crave - Joy, Harmony, Unity, Transcendence, Peace, Love, and…understanding.

Being understood is one of the most significant needs in life. But Why? How does knowing that someone out there really “gets us” help us to survive and reproduce? It would seem entirely superfluous.

The fact remains that we want to feel that we are) good and b) have real significance. We like/need others to do that for us (and those people who do are generally the closest connections we have in life). Ultimately, however, to know we’re good (or that there even is a “good” or a “significance”) means to acknowledge the existence of an ultimate arbiter of those ideas - and the only one who can make us feel whole and fully understood. This ultimate transcendent understanding can not come from people - who do it very imperfectly - but rather from the perfect, Infinite Source of all knowledge.

It lay buried here, it lay deep inside me
It's so deep I don't think that I can speak about it
It could take me all of my life
But it would only take a moment to
Tell you what I'm feeling
But I don't know if I'm ready yet
— Kate Bush (Love and Anger)

For a full treatment of this song including the music please enjoy my podcast on it here.