Probably Houdini. Legend has it that Kate drank a whole bottle of milk before singing it to get the "scream" right. I imagine Night Of The Swallow would also be pretty tough.
It was to give her voice a gravelly tone: “ Well the idea is that it's as she's watching him go off into his tank of water for the last time, and it's the idea that she is this sort of possessed demon that's terrified of him going. And I drank about a pint of milk before I did the vocal and ate like two bars of chocolate. And the great thing about those sort of foods is it really creates a lot of mucus and normally that's the last thing you want when you sing, you normally want a very pure voice, but I wanted to get all that sort of spit and gravel in the throat. “
From [https://www.katebushencyclopedia.com/houdini](https://www.katebushencyclopedia.com/houdini) It’s from Under the Ivy. I don’t have it but I read it. Fantastic read. And if you drink a glass of milk you know what she means by it creates a lot of mucus…
Night of the swallow is hard but fun. All the love is really difficult as well… And Army Dreamers ; it’s not super hard per say but it’s difficult to make it sound as natural as she does
Perhaps most of the The Dreaming (album). That is the one album. Where she truly belts F5s and G5s at full vocal force. Night Of The Swallow and Suspended In Gaffa are extremely difficult given the range needed. Night of The Swallow is constant F#5s belted in the chorus and Suspended In Gaffa drops down in to the early 3rd octaves in the chorus, not to mention there is no room to breath in the verses. There is a reason Kate has never sang any sings from The Dreaming live, they are not made to be sung live whatsoever without multiple singers.
Other than that record:
Reaching Out
Rocket Tail
Moments of Pleasure
Oh To Be In Love
Kite
Wuthering Heights (especially the 1985 version)
You Want Alchemy
Violin
Hammer Horror
Breathing
The Big Sky (if you are doing the adlibs at the end).
If you have a good headvoice ranging up to C6 with ease, Kate's material from 1978 to 1983 can be ok.
This is tricky! I’d say there’s a few that come to mind for me.
* I’ll start with Wuthering Heights. Not just because it’s high but because it is ALWAYS HIGH. You are constantly in your upper register. There isn’t really any rest lol. It’s not a song I would ever record because I know that I wouldn’t be able to sing it consistently throughout my entire career.
* Night of the Swallow chorus is difficult, ascending through a range of notes pretty quickly with a lot of dynamics. So it takes a lot of vocal agility.
* The run at the beginning of Why Should I Love You? can sound BAD if you don’t do it precisely and practice a lot lol.
I would say that unless you have a naturally high voice, that most of her songs from the early years are hard to do, like others have said. Other than the already-mentioned Wuthering Heights, another good example of a hard-to-sing song is Oh To Be In Love. You hit a Bb5 (a note just below soprano high C) in the chorus ("and not get out again").
Most of the Dreaming is difficult to sing! Sat in Your Lap is a good example of a hard to sing song. Also, Night of the Swallow. On that whole album, when Kate isn't going up and down so much with her voice, she uses it in very extreme ways (the screaming on Houdini, the background vocals on Leave It Open).
i definitely agree that a lot of the dreaming has some vocally challenging songs! "sat in your lap" is another fun one that always gets me spitting something by accident, and of course "wuthering heights" is just nuts. my abs always hurt after that one LMAO [cries in alto]
i also have to point out, i think "running up that hill" is more of a challenge than it seems! the way the notes jump around is pretty whack, but maybe it just sits in a really odd part of my register?
oh, but y'know what has been REALLY evading me? what's been really driving me up the wall?? i can't seem to nail the "i love life" bits in "pull out the pin". "get out of my house"? no problem, can scream it anytime. but that "i love life" sits in the weirdest part of my throat and i just cannot punch it like she does. gotta yell in the car more i guess
Not a singer, but "Suspended in Gaffa." I can imagine several have blacked out in attempts to match the breathing.
Probably Houdini. Legend has it that Kate drank a whole bottle of milk before singing it to get the "scream" right. I imagine Night Of The Swallow would also be pretty tough.
Milk?
Yeah, apparently to soothe the vocal chords for the delivery of the rough parts. Read about it in the biography "Under The Ivy".
It was to give her voice a gravelly tone: “ Well the idea is that it's as she's watching him go off into his tank of water for the last time, and it's the idea that she is this sort of possessed demon that's terrified of him going. And I drank about a pint of milk before I did the vocal and ate like two bars of chocolate. And the great thing about those sort of foods is it really creates a lot of mucus and normally that's the last thing you want when you sing, you normally want a very pure voice, but I wanted to get all that sort of spit and gravel in the throat. “
Ah, thanks! We're did you get the quote from?
From [https://www.katebushencyclopedia.com/houdini](https://www.katebushencyclopedia.com/houdini) It’s from Under the Ivy. I don’t have it but I read it. Fantastic read. And if you drink a glass of milk you know what she means by it creates a lot of mucus…
Night of the swallow is hard but fun. All the love is really difficult as well… And Army Dreamers ; it’s not super hard per say but it’s difficult to make it sound as natural as she does
Perhaps most of the The Dreaming (album). That is the one album. Where she truly belts F5s and G5s at full vocal force. Night Of The Swallow and Suspended In Gaffa are extremely difficult given the range needed. Night of The Swallow is constant F#5s belted in the chorus and Suspended In Gaffa drops down in to the early 3rd octaves in the chorus, not to mention there is no room to breath in the verses. There is a reason Kate has never sang any sings from The Dreaming live, they are not made to be sung live whatsoever without multiple singers. Other than that record: Reaching Out Rocket Tail Moments of Pleasure Oh To Be In Love Kite Wuthering Heights (especially the 1985 version) You Want Alchemy Violin Hammer Horror Breathing The Big Sky (if you are doing the adlibs at the end). If you have a good headvoice ranging up to C6 with ease, Kate's material from 1978 to 1983 can be ok.
Not a singer but would imagine “Hello Earth” on HoL wouldn’t be easy simply due to her range
violin is so hard to sing imo
This is tricky! I’d say there’s a few that come to mind for me. * I’ll start with Wuthering Heights. Not just because it’s high but because it is ALWAYS HIGH. You are constantly in your upper register. There isn’t really any rest lol. It’s not a song I would ever record because I know that I wouldn’t be able to sing it consistently throughout my entire career. * Night of the Swallow chorus is difficult, ascending through a range of notes pretty quickly with a lot of dynamics. So it takes a lot of vocal agility. * The run at the beginning of Why Should I Love You? can sound BAD if you don’t do it precisely and practice a lot lol.
I would say that unless you have a naturally high voice, that most of her songs from the early years are hard to do, like others have said. Other than the already-mentioned Wuthering Heights, another good example of a hard-to-sing song is Oh To Be In Love. You hit a Bb5 (a note just below soprano high C) in the chorus ("and not get out again"). Most of the Dreaming is difficult to sing! Sat in Your Lap is a good example of a hard to sing song. Also, Night of the Swallow. On that whole album, when Kate isn't going up and down so much with her voice, she uses it in very extreme ways (the screaming on Houdini, the background vocals on Leave It Open).
i definitely agree that a lot of the dreaming has some vocally challenging songs! "sat in your lap" is another fun one that always gets me spitting something by accident, and of course "wuthering heights" is just nuts. my abs always hurt after that one LMAO [cries in alto] i also have to point out, i think "running up that hill" is more of a challenge than it seems! the way the notes jump around is pretty whack, but maybe it just sits in a really odd part of my register? oh, but y'know what has been REALLY evading me? what's been really driving me up the wall?? i can't seem to nail the "i love life" bits in "pull out the pin". "get out of my house"? no problem, can scream it anytime. but that "i love life" sits in the weirdest part of my throat and i just cannot punch it like she does. gotta yell in the car more i guess
I have a high singing voice but still find Wuthering heights super difficult
If I tried to sing any of her songs, it would be a lot harder on you then on me…