That Wuthering Heights Song

Now that Kate Bush is really on the news with the release of her new album "Aerial" next November after fifteen years of silence (although its first single "King of the Mountain" can be downloaded already), it's the right time to remember one of her first songs and probably, still today, her most famous one.


Obviously we're talking about "Wuthering Heights". The song appeared in 1979 in her first album, when she was just 19 years old, "The Kick Inside" and was an instant success. Her personality, and her Garbo-like avoiding of the media generated through the years an irreductible group of unconditionals that even celebrated "'Katemas - 30 July, Kate's birthday (the same day as Emily Brontë) - celebrated either on Glastonbury Tor or at Top Withens, site of Bronte's Wuthering Heights" (read the article here ). Later in 1986 in her compillation album "The Whole Story" she rendered another version of the theme.

But she is not the only one to have covered this mythical piece. A lot of artists covering practically all the imaginable styles have made their own versions. Look at this (not complete probably) astonishing and always growing list:

Pat Benatar (1980) (in Crimes of Passion) (rock)
Angra (1993) (in Angels Cry) (heavy metal)
Ataraxia (1996) (in Il Fantasma dell'Opera, named "La nuova Margherita") (gothic)
Jah Wurzel (really Michael Fischer) (1980) (in Hybrid Kids) (experimental)
Haley Wesntenra (2003) (in Pure) (pop)
The Decemberists (covered in their concerts but not recorded, as far as we know) (indie)
White Flag (1992) (in Freedom of Choice) (punk-rock) Sarah MacLachlan (live version)
Mr. Floppy (1993) (in The Unbereable Lightness of Being a Dick-head) (?)
James Reyne (2000) (in Andrew Denton Breakfast Show Musical Challenge ) (rock)
China Drum (1996) (in Goosefair) (punk-rock)
and others like Reaper, Sarah McLachlan (in a live version), Cristina Donà, Mia Martini... (but not John Sykes or Ferrara that sometimes are credited to have made covers of Kate Bush's song. Their songs are based in Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights but are original).

Categories: Music, Wuthering_Heights, Emily_Brontë