Suspended in Gaffa by Kate Bush Lyrics Meaning – Unveiling the Tapestry of Desire and Restraint
Lyrics
There’s half of a heaven
And we’re only bluffing
We’re not ones for busting through walls
But they’ve told us
Unless we can prove
That we’re doing it
We can’t have it all
He’s gonna wangle
A way to get out of it
She’s an excuse
And a witness who’ll talk when he’s called
But they’ve told us
Unless we can prove
That we’re doing it
We can’t have it all
We can’t have it all
“I caught a glimpse of a god, all shining and bright…”
Suddenly my feet are feet of mud
It all goes slo-mo
I don’t know why I’m crying
Am I suspended in Gaffa?
Not until I’m ready for you,
Not until I’m ready for you
Can I have it all
I try to get nearer
But as it gets clearer
There’s something appears in the way
It’s a plank in me eye
With a camel
Who’s trying to get through it
Am I doing it?
Can I have it all now?
I pull out the plank and say
“Thank you for yanking me back to the fact that there’s always something to distract…”
But sometimes it’s hard
To know if I’m doing it right
Can I have it all?
Can I have it all now?
We can’t have it all
“We all have a dream…maybe…”
Suddenly my feet are feet of mud
It all goes slo-mo
I don’t know why I’m crying
Am I suspended in Gaffa?
Not until I’m ready for you,
Not until I’m ready for you
Can I have it all
I won’t open boxes
That I am told not to
I’m not a Pandora
I’m much more like
That girl in the mirror between you and me
She don’t stand a chance of getting anywhere at all
Not anywhere at all
No, not a thing
She can’t have it all
“Mother, where are the angels? I’m scared of the changes”
Suddenly my feet are feet of mud
It all goes slo-mo
I don’t know why I’m crying
Am I suspended in Gaffa?
Not until I’m ready for you
Not until I’m ready for you
Can I have it all
Kate Bush’s ‘Suspended in Gaffa’ is a profound exploration of longing, limitation, and the human condition. Navigating through the labyrinth of this 1982 track, one finds themselves entwined in the very fabric of Bush’s rich lyrical tapestry—a tapestry that masterfully intertwines the existential with the deeply personal.
As we peel back the layers of ‘Suspended in Gaffa,’ we encounter a series of images and themes that envelop us in a world where mysticism meets the mundane, where desire clashes with reality, and where innocence is interrupted by the beckoning of experience.
The Garden of Earthly Limits
The song opens in a metaphorical garden, ‘half of a heaven,’ where the boundaries of human effort and celestial reward blur. This setting posits the central conflict of the song: the struggle to achieve wholesomeness amidst inherent restrictions. Bush suggests that even in our pursuits for transcendence, we are ‘bluffing,’ perhaps to ourselves or to some unseen judges who decree that unless we can prove our worth, we cannot possess totality.
‘Half of a heaven’ also serves as a metaphor for the duality within life—accessing only a fragment of bliss while the rest remains out of reach. The characters in the narrative, ‘He’ and ‘She,’ illustrate roles we often play in life: the schemer and the witness, both of which are embroiled in a cycle of proving and attaining.
When Desires are Grounded
‘Suddenly my feet are feet of mud,’ Bush sings, encapsulating the abrupt halt we face when our ambitions are thwarted. The ‘feet of mud’ invokes heaviness, the pull of gravity that brings celestial dreams crashing down to Earth. The slow-motion effect conveys the heightening of emotion, the slap of reality so intense and enveloping that time itself seems to dilate.
In this pause, Bush articulates a universal experience—the sensation of being overcome by emotion without understanding its root cause. It’s as if the heart knows what the mind cannot yet articulate. This suspension, a state where one is stuck in ‘Gaffa,’ reflects our deepest internal conflicts, caught between yearning for something beyond reach and coping with the tangible now.
Planks and Camels: The Barriers We Face
Bush employs biblical imagery of planks and camels to metaphorically address the impediments to our aspirations and the ludicrous nature of these challenges. Just as it’s absurd to imagine a camel going through the eye of a needle, these exaggerated images echo the futility we sometimes feel in our efforts to surmount obstacles.
The lines ‘With a camel who’s trying to get through it / Am I doing it?’ hint at the struggle for virtue and the pursuit of moral fiber, which often appear Sisyphean. The song’s protagonist talks of removing these barriers, only to face the reality that, despite being free of them momentarily, there’s always something else to distract or divert.
A Riveting Refrain: ‘Can I Have It All?’
This anchoring question resonates throughout the track, reverberating as both a plea and a philosophical musing. Bush’s voice, plaintive yet powerful, charges these words with a tension between desire and capability. This refrain is a siren call to listeners, urging them to contemplate the universal longing for completeness.
It is a poignant reminder of our limitations; it speaks to the heart of human desire—the persistent chase for a completeness that is perpetually out of reach. Bush doesn’t just ask this question; she howls it into existence, demanding an answer that never comes, perhaps because there isn’t one.
Unlocking the Song’s Esoteric Core
‘I won’t open boxes that I am told not to,’ declares Bush, alluding to the myth of Pandora and the dangers of unrestrained curiosity. This line crystalizes the central theme of restraint within ‘Suspended in Gaffa’. It’s the awareness of forbidden knowledge, the bittersweet restraint that comes with self-preservation.
The ‘girl in the mirror’ is a poignant image, someone caught between the observer and the participant, with no agency to affect her own destiny. The song lingers on this feeling of stasis, reflecting the times we find ourselves powerless to change our circumstances, only able to watch as life unfolds before us.
