This is one of my favourite Kate Bush songs - and particularly underated. It's not on any of her main studio albums but it was on the soundtrack of the 1986 film Castaway starring Oliver Reed and Amanda Donahue. This was based on a real story about a middle aged man in his late 40s advertising for a 'wife' to share a year on a desert island. He gets together with a woman 20 years younger who answers his ad - and they both go to this desert island off the coast of Australia and almost starve to death. According to IMdB - Kate Bush was actually asked initially to star in this film but she declined. Instead she wrote this song.
Therefore the song lyrics are pretty straightforward - about trusting someone who you don't really know. They are both looking for adventure but they don't know if their personalities will match or clash. Therefore she is asking him to be kind to her potential 'mistakes' that he might take offense to. I think this can be taken as her personality generally - and - is vice versa. She also wants to be kind to any of his mistakes - or habits. If they are on this desert island then they are going to have to rely on each other and not lose their tempers as their survival depends on their cooperation.
Also she is hoping that this adventure will be love as her heart is needing. However as they don't know each other - they both may conceal secrets and certain baggage that they bring which may only come out later - if at all. Overall - going on this trip might be a big mistake in itself. So if she finds that she cannot love him as his wife - then he should be 'kind' in not being too hard on her as it was a gamble. Overall - I guess the world would be a better place if we were all kinder to each other mistakes.
This is one of my favourite Kate Bush songs - and particularly underated. It's not on any of her main studio albums but it was on the soundtrack of the 1986 film Castaway starring Oliver Reed and Amanda Donahue. This was based on a real story about a middle aged man in his late 40s advertising for a 'wife' to share a year on a desert island. He gets together with a woman 20 years younger who answers his ad - and they both go to this desert island off the coast of Australia and almost starve to death. According to IMdB - Kate Bush was actually asked initially to star in this film but she declined. Instead she wrote this song.
Therefore the song lyrics are pretty straightforward - about trusting someone who you don't really know. They are both looking for adventure but they don't know if their personalities will match or clash. Therefore she is asking him to be kind to her potential 'mistakes' that he might take offense to. I think this can be taken as her personality generally - and - is vice versa. She also wants to be kind to any of his mistakes - or habits. If they are on this desert island then they are going to have to rely on each other and not lose their tempers as their survival depends on their cooperation.
Also she is hoping that this adventure will be love as her heart is needing. However as they don't know each other - they both may conceal secrets and certain baggage that they bring which may only come out later - if at all. Overall - going on this trip might be a big mistake in itself. So if she finds that she cannot love him as his wife - then he should be 'kind' in not being too hard on her as it was a gamble. Overall - I guess the world would be a better place if we were all kinder to each other mistakes.