Jig of Life by Kate Bush Lyrics Meaning – Dancing with Temporality in Bush’s Prophetic Vision
Lyrics
I know your face well
I know it well
She says
I’ll be sitting in your mirror
Now is the place where the crossroads meet
Will you look into the future?
Never, never say goodbye
To my part of your life
No, no, no, no, no
Oh, oh, oh
Let me live
She said
C’mon and let me live, girl
She said
C’mon and let me live, girl
(C’mon and let me live)
This moment in time
(She said)
It doesn’t belong to you
(She said)
It belongs to me
And to your little boy and to your little girl
And the one hand clapping
Where on your palm is my little line
When you’re written in mine
As an old memory?
Never, never say goodbye
To my part of your life
Oh no, no, no, no, no
Never, never, never
Never, never let me go
She said
C’mon and let me live, girl
(C’mon and let me live)
She said
C’mon and let me live, girl
(C’mon and let me live)
I put this moment here
I put this moment here
I put this moment
Over here
Over here
Can’t you see where memories are kept bright?
Tripping on the water like a laughing girl
Time in her eyes is spawning past life
One with the ocean and the woman unfurled
Holding all the love that waits for you here
Catch us now for I am your future
A kiss on the wind and we’ll make the land
Come over here to where When lingers
Waiting in this empty world
Waiting for Then, when the lifespray cools
For Now does ride in on the curl of the wave
And you will dance with me in the sunlit pools
We are of the going water and the gone
We are of water in the holy land of water
And all that’s to come runs in
With the thrust on the strand
The ‘Jig of Life’ stands as one of Kate Bush’s most enigmatic and underappreciated masterpieces. Tucked within her critically acclaimed album ‘Hounds of Love,’ this track weaves a tapestry of time, memory, and identity, marrying the historical with the personal in a musical invocation that defies the constraints of genre and era.
Through the labyrinthine melodies and cryptic lyrics of ‘Jig of Life,’ Bush beckons listeners into a contemplative reel. She dares us to confront the fold of time, urging an embrace of the life force that pulsates within our ephemeral existence. It is a song as much about life’s dance as it is about the dancer, entangled in the choices where past and future align in the mirrored reflection, now.
The Mirror in the Music: Facing Our Temporal Reflections
Bush begins with a confrontation, ‘Hello, old lady,’ as if addressing one’s future self or a guardian of time. The music is expansive and introspective, encapsulating our struggle with mortality. ‘I’ll be sitting in your mirror,’ implies a continuity of existence, reflecting on life as it flashes before our eyes, the decisions made, and those looming ahead, at the proverbial crossroads where every human inevitably finds themselves.
The mirror serves as a portal, a stark visual metaphor for the passage of time, and the lyric ‘Now is the place where the crossroads meet,’ confronts the listener with the immediacy of choice and the unavoidable truth that the present is where one’s life pivots – forwards or backwards, but never standing still.
Unraveling the Song’s Mysterious Message
‘Jig of Life’ thrums with an almost mystical energy, invoking a dialogue between the protagonist and an ethereal voice, perhaps her future self or a muse of time, beseeching her to never sever the thread of life – to keep the dance going. The repetition of ‘Never, never say goodbye to my part of your life’ reinforces a defiance against the fade of fleeting moments into the obscurity of the past.
‘This moment in time,’ one of the song’s most poignant lines, strips ownership of the present from the individual, suggesting that the now is a collective possession shared with past and future selves and kin, bridging the gap between personal legacy and the grand tapestry of universal experience.
The Eternal Dance: Choreographing Moments in Time
Music and dance are intrinsically linked throughout ‘Jig of Life,’ with Bush using the jig, a lively folk dance, as a symbol for the vibrant and ongoing movement of time. ‘Tripping on the water like a laughing girl,’ the lyrics exude a liberation through the aquatic metaphor, with water symbolizing movement, life, and a timeless flow unbound by temporal constraints.
Bush’s askance of ‘Can’t you see where memories are kept bright?’ suggests a crystallization of moments – a curation of life highlights that flicker with undimmed luster in the dancehall of our minds, urging us to immerse in the now with the same vitality that we recall our most cherished memories.
Decoding the Significance of the One Hand Clapping
One of the most enigmatic segments of the song, ‘And the one hand clapping,’ ushers in an element of Zen philosophy, a classic koan inviting contemplation of the sound of one hand. In the context of ‘Jig of Life,’ it poses an existential inquiry into the actions we take unilaterally, without the counterbalance of consequence or external acknowledgment.
It speaks to the notion of individual impact, the silent achievements, and personal reconciliations that map the creases of our existence. Bush seems to prod at our understanding of influence – how we resonate within ourselves and the world at large, even in apparent solitude.
Memorable Lines that Echo Across Generations
‘I put this moment here. I put this moment over here,’ these lines seep into the listener’s consciousness, imbuing a sense of authority over one’s narrative – the power to place and value memories, to stake claim on the instances that define us. It’s a declaration of ownership amidst the overwhelming tide of time that threatens to claim everything into its undertow.
Kate Bush’s ‘Jig of Life’ is a reminder that we are both the architects and the inhabitants of our lived histories. These lyrics, like the song itself, persist, echoing a haunting yet empowering call to recognize, seize, and dance with every moment life offers, before the music inevitably fades.
