Cloudbusting

About Cloudbusting

"Cloudbusting" is a song written, produced and performed by British singer Kate Bush. It was the second single released from her number one 1985 album Hounds of Love. "Cloudbusting" peaked at No. 20 in the UK Singles Chart. Taking inspiration from the 1973 memoir A Book of Dreams, the song is about the very close relationship between psychologist and philosopher Wilhelm Reich and his young son, Peter, told from the point of view of the mature Peter. It describes the boy's memories of his life with Reich on their family farm, called Orgonon, where the two spent time "cloudbusting", a rain-making process which involved using a machine designed and built by Reich – a machine called a cloudbuster – to point at the sky. The lyrics further describes the elder Reich's abrupt arrest and imprisonment, the pain of loss the young Peter felt, and his helplessness at being unable to protect his father. The song was inspired by Peter Reich's 1973 memoir, A Book of Dreams, which Bush read and found deeply moving. In a retrospective review of the single, AllMusic journalist Amy Hanson praised the song for its "magnificence" and "hypnotic mantric effects". Hanson wrote: "Safety and danger are threaded through the song, via both a thoughtful lyric and a compulsive cello-driven melody. Even more startling, but hardly surprising, is the ease with which Bush was able to capture the moment when a child first realizes that adults are fallible."In 2014, the song was performed live for the first time and was also chosen as the closing encore track in Bush's comeback live shows titled Before the Dawn, following her 35-year hiatus from the stage. more »