Cloudbusting - Kate Bush

Kate Bush wrote the song 'Cloudbusting' after she read the book 'A book of dreams', published in 1973. The book was written by Peter Reich, son of psychologist Wilhelm Reich, about his father's arrest and imprisonment through the eyes of himself as a young boy. Wilhelm Reich is the inventor of the 'cloudbuster', a rain machine that looks very much like the machine that is pictured on the cover of this single. It's an extraordinary book, which was re-released as a result of the success of this song. I bought it, and I still recommend it to everyone who loves this song.

The music video, in which Kate plays Peter and Donald Sutherland plays Wilhelm, retells the story in short and made quite an impression at the time. The single fared pretty well as a result: it reached number 20 in the UK singles chart and number 11 in the Dutch Top 40. The American single, released in 1986 in conjunction with the greatest hits compilation 'The whole story', has a different B-side. I bought it four years after its release.

My collection: 7" single no. 370 / no. 1344
Found: LP Top 100, Den Haag, 1985 / London, October 18, 1990
Cost: 6 guilders / 2 pounds
Tracks (no. 370): 'Cloudbusting' / 'Burning bridge'
Tracks (no. 1344): 'Cloudbusting' / 'The man with the child in his eyes'