"Babooshka" is a song by British singer Kate Bush

Kate Bush

Kate Bush is an English singer-songwriter, musician and record producer. Her eclectic musical style and idiosyncratic vocal style have made her one of the United Kingdom's most successful solo female performers of the past 30 years.In 1978, at the age of 19, Bush topped the UK Singles Chart...

, taken from her album Never for Ever

Never for Ever

- Personnel :* Ian Bairnson: Guitar, Bass vocals* Brian Bath: Acoustic & Electric Guitar, Background Vocals* Andrew Bryant: Vocals, Background Vocals* Kevin Burke: Violin...

. Released as a single in June 1980, it spent 10 weeks in the UK chart, peaking at number five. It was an even bigger hit in Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

, where it was the 20th best-selling single of the year.

Background

According to an interview Kate Bush gave to the Australian TV series Countdown in 1980 the song chronicles a wife's desire to test her husband's loyalty. To do so, she takes on the nom de plume of Babooshka and sends notes to her husband in the guise of a younger woman—something which she fears is the opposite of how her husband currently sees her. (Hence the barbed lines Just like his wife before she "freezed" on him/Just like his wife when she was beautiful.) The trap is set when, in her bitterness and paranoia, Babooshka arranges to meet her husband, who is attracted to the character who reminds him of his wife in earlier times. She thereby ruins the relationship due to her paranoia.

The music video depicts Bush beside a double bass (contrabass) which symbolises the husband, wearing a black bodysuit

Bodysuit

In clothing, a bodysuit, body-liner, or body is a unisex form-fitting garment that covers the torso. The bodysuit often has sleeves and varying collars. A bodysuit is distinguished from the similar leotard by the use of snaps or hooks at the crotch. A bodysuit may be worn as a top for the smooth...

 and a veil in her role as the embittered wife. This changes into an extravagant, mythlike and rather sparse "Russian" costume as her alter-ego, Babooshka. An illustration by Chris Achilleos

Chris Achilleos

Chris Achilleos is a painter and illustrator who specialises in fantasy artwork and glamour illustration. Born in Famagusta, Cyprus, his family emigrated to the United Kingdom in 1959, where he currently resides....

 was the basis for the costume.

The track features John Giblin

John Giblin

John Giblin is an internationally renowned session bassist who has worked with the following artists:*Eric Clapton, Sting, Mark Knopfler, Phil Collins * Peter Gabriel...

 on bass and marks the significance of fretless bass sounds as instrumental "male" partners through Kate's music in the early eighties.

Kate Bush said that's "something I didn't realise at the time," when she learnt that Babushka

Babushka

Babushka , babooshka, babouchka or baboushka may refer to:*A Western term for a woman's headscarf tied below the chin in the Eastern European manner.**Babushka Lady, who wore such a headscarf....

is the Russian word for "grandmother" (although the stress in Russian falls on the first syllable, not the second).

"Babooshka" became Bush's second top five hit in the UK and was certified silver for sales of over 250,000 by the BPI.

B-side

The B-Side contains her song "Ran Tan Waltz", her second non-album B-Side. This song is performed as a tragicomedy

Tragicomedy

Tragicomedy is fictional work that blends aspects of the genres of tragedy and comedy. In English literature, from Shakespeare's time to the nineteenth century, tragicomedy referred to a serious play with either a happy ending or enough jokes throughout the play to lighten the mood.-Classical...

, where Bush portrays a man bemoaning his bad luck in life being married to a wayward mother. This song uses the word "dick" in the first verse as cacophemism for penis).

Charts

Chart (1980)	Peak position
Australian chart	2
Dutch Single Top 100	24
German Singles Chart	14
Italian Singles Chart	5
Irish Singles Chart Irish Singles Chart The Irish Singles Chart is Ireland's music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association and compiled on behalf of the IRMA by Chart-Track. Chart rankings are based on sales, which are compiled through over-the-counter retail data captured...	5
New Zealand Singles Chart	8
Norwegian Singles Chart	4
UK Singles Chart UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...	5

External links

• [ Allmusic review of "Babooshka"]