Kate Bush - Suspended In Gaffa
From her album - The Dreaming
(Please note the addition of the spoken lyrics - which changes the meaning of this song somewhat from the published lyrics).
Out in the garden
There's half of a heaven,
And we're only bluffing.
We're not ones for busting through walls,
But they've told us
Unless we can prove
That we're doing it,
We can't have it all,
And I want it all.
He's gonna wangle
A way to get out of it.
She's an excuse
And a witness who'll talk when he's called.
But they've told us
Unless we can prove
That we're doing it,
We can't have it all,
And I want it all,
And I want it all,
We can't have it all,
And I Want it all.
"I caught a glimpse of a god, all shining and bright."
Suddenly my feet are feet of mud.
It all goes slow-mo.
I don't know why I'm crying.
Am I suspended in Gaffa?
Not till I am ready for you,
Not till I am ready for you
Can I have it all?
I try to get nearer,
But as it gets clearer
There's something appears in the way,
It's a plank in me eye,
With a camel
Who's trying to get through it,
Am I doing it?
Can I have it all now?
And I want it all.
I pull out the plank and say
"Thank you for yanking me back
To the fact that there's
Always something to distract."
But sometimes it's hard
To know if I'm doing it right.
Can I have it all now?
And I want it all,
Can I have it all now?
And I want it all
Can I have it all?
And I want it all,
I can't have it all.
"We all have a dream...maybe."
Suddenly my feet are feet of mud.
It all goes slow-mo.
I don't know why I'm crying.
Am I suspended in Gaffa?
Not till I am ready for you,
Not till I am ready for you
Can I have it all.
I won't open boxes
That I am told not to.
I'm not a Pandora.
I'm much more like
That girl in the mirror.
Between you and me
She don't stand a chance of getting anywhere at all.
And I want it all,
Not anywhere at all.
And I want it all,
No, nothing.
And I want it all,
She can't have it all.
"Mother, where are the angels? I'm scared of the changes."
Suddenly my feet are feet of mud.
It all goes slow-mo.
I don't know why I'm crying.
Am I suspended in Gaffa?
Not till I am ready for you,
Not till I am ready for you
Suddenly my feet are feet of mud.
It all goes slow-mo.
I don't know why I'm crying.
Am I suspended in Gaffa?
Not till I am ready for you,
Not till I am ready for you
Can I have it all now?
Kate's notes:-
Whenever I've sung this song I've hoped that my breath would hold out for the first few phrases, as there is no gap to breathe in.
When I wrote this track the words came at the same time, and this is one of the few songs where the lyrics were complete at such an early stage. The idea of the song is that of being given a glimpse of "God"--something that we dearly want--but being told that unless we work for it, we will never see it again, and even then, we might not be worthy of it. Of course, everybody wants the reward without the toil, so people try to find a way out of the hard work, still hoping to claim the prize, but such is not the case. The choruses are meant to express the feeling of entering timelessness as you become ready for the experience, but only when you are ready.