L’Amour Looks Something Like You by Kate Bush Lyrics Meaning – Unraveling the Tapestry of Desire
Lyrics
Wearing a mask in white colour.
My eyes were shining
On the wine, and your aura.
All in order, we move into the boudoir,
But too soon the morning has resumed.
I’m hanging on the Old Goose Moon.
You look like an angel,
Sleeping it off at a station.
Were you only passing through?
I’m dying for you just to touch me,
And feel all the energy rushing right up-a-me.
L’amour looks something like you.
The thought of you sends me shivery.
I’m dressed in lace, sailing down a black reverie.
My heart is thrown
To the pebbles and the boatmen.
All the time I find I’m living in that evening,
With that feeling of sticky love inside.
I’m hanging on the Old Goose Moon.
You look like an angel,
Sleeping it off at a station.
Were you only passing through?
I’m dying for you just to touch me,
And feel all the energy rushing right up-a-me.
L’amour looks something like you.
Kate Bush, known for her ethereal voice and intricate lyricism, weaves yet another tapestry of desire and enigma in ‘L’Amour Looks Something Like You’. The song, nestled within her 1978 album ‘The Kick Inside’, ventures into a nocturnal landscape where love and longing blur into one.
Unpacking the multi-layered lyrics of this song requires a dive into the depths of romantic consciousness. Bush, ostensibly the queen of subtext, gifts us a piece that resonates on multiple emotional levels, challenging listeners to find reflections of their own experiences in its verses.
Masks and Moonlight: The Art of Obscured Desire
The song opens with a mysterious figure emerging ‘out of the night.’ This symbol of obscurity, clad in ‘white colour,’ sets the tonal stage for a song rich in metaphor and emotional masquerade. Through Bush’s vivid imagery, we peer into a scene that feels much like a dream or a fleeting encounter, magnified by ‘shining’ eyes and the intoxicating presence of ‘wine and your aura.’
Her precise detailing of the encounter—the move into the boudoir—speaks to a choreographed dance of intimacy, special yet fleeting. The way the night gives into morning encapsulates the transient nature of the meeting and of love itself.
The Eternal Wait: Clinging to the Old Goose Moon
The recurring reference to ‘hanging on the Old Goose Moon’ is a poignant image of yearning and suspended time. The ‘Old Goose Moon,’ a colloquial term for the full moon of late autumn, often associated with the passage of migrating geese, serves as a symbol for change and the passage of time, emphasizing the suspended state the protagonist finds herself in.
It evokes a sense of the celestial and timeless, as Bush’s lyrics seem to capture the mist-like nature of romance—a thing you cannot hold, only experience as it passes through.
Transient Affections: The Angel at the Station
Delving deeper into the narrative, we encounter the object of Bush’s affection described as ‘an angel, sleeping it off at a station’—suggestive of beauty and innocence but also impermanence. The station, a place of transit, embodies the essence of brevity in this love affair—a temporary stop in an ongoing journey.
With the phrase ‘were you only passing through?,’ we touch upon the heartache of ephemeral connections, rooting the song within the universal experience of fleeting love that seems angelic and unique while it lasts, yet leaves us questioning its longevity.
Unearthing the Hidden Meaning: A Quest for Connection
At its core, ‘L’Amour Looks Something Like You’ delves into the human condition’s dire need for connection. The desperation is palpable in ‘I’m dying for you just to touch me,’ as it speaks to the character’s craving for physical and emotional closeness, an ‘energy rushing right up-a-me.’
Bush acknowledges the explosive, transformative power of love, suggesting that sufficient proximity to it—or even the idea of it—has the ability to transmute and intoxicate. It’s a revelation of romantic idealism, of placing another on a pedestal to imbue them with redemptive qualities.
Cinema of the Mind: The Most Memorable Lines
Perhaps no phrase captures the song’s essence better than ‘The thought of you sends me shivery. I’m dressed in lace, sailing down a black reverie.’ Here, Bush taps into the visual quality of memory and imagination ‘sailing down,’ adopting a near-gothic romance aspect with her ‘black reverie.’
It gives us a glimpse into Kate Bush’s narrative prowess, as these lines paint a portrait that is tangible and ethereal in equal measure. ‘L’Amour Looks Something Like You’ becomes a cinema of the mind, where listeners are compelled to dwell in the imagery, texture, and ultimately the ceaseless quest for an ever-elusive love.
