"Eat the Music" is a song written and recorded by British singer-songwriter Kate Bush.

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

released it as the lead single from Bush's seventh album, '' The Red Shoes'' (1993), in the United States, while

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 201 ...

chose "

Rubberband Girl "Rubberband Girl" is a song by English singer-songwriter Kate Bush that was the first of five singles released from her seventh studio album, ''The Red Shoes (album), The Red Shoes'' (1993). The song marked Bush's return from her third three-yea ...

" everywhere else in the world. In the United Kingdom, a small handful of extremely rare 7" and promotional CD-singles were produced, but were recalled by EMI Records at the last minute. A commercial release followed in 1994 in the Netherlands and Australia, along with a handful of other countries. The single reached #10 in the U.S.

Modern Rock Tracks Alternative Airplay (formerly known as Modern Rock Tracks (1988–2009) and Alternative Songs (2009–2020)) is a music chart in the United States that has appeared in ''Billboard'' magazine since September 10, 1988. It ranks the 40 most-played ...

chart. Tricky included the song on his edition of the mix album series '' Back to Mine''.

Background

Bush commented on the song, saying: "Eat The Music was inspired by Madagascan music which I was fortunate enough to hear through Paddy, who gave me some tapes that I loved listening to. The music is so joyous and full of sunshine and it's good to drive to. Justin Vali came to Paddy's attention and soon after, they were both playing valihas to a specially written "Madagascan" song. I wanted it to feel joyous and sunny, both qualities are rife in Justin as a person – so I just had to provide the fruit I hope the result is a colourful one. Again, this was a lot of fun to work on and it features Justin's first lines of sung English which he found hilarious. We found both his singing and his reaction to it delightful."

Critical reception

Parry Gettelman from ''

Orlando Sentinel The ''Orlando Sentinel'' is the primary newspaper of Orlando, Florida, and the Central Florida region. It was founded in 1876 and is currently owned by Tribune Publishing Company. The ''Orlando Sentinel'' is owned by parent company, '' Tribune P ...

'' wrote in his review of the single, "The bizarre fruit metaphors on "Eat the Music" are exceedingly pretentious, but the song has a lilting, African high-life feel."Gettelman, Parry (3 December 1993). "Kate Bush". ''

''.

Track listings

All songs were written by Kate Bush, except where noted.

CD single (France)

EMI France - SPCD1716

CD single (US)

Columbia - 44K 77165 44T-77165

Cassette single (US)

Columbia - 44T 77165

CD single (non-US)

EMI - 7243 8 81317 2 8

Personnel

* Kate Bush – vocals, keyboards * Paddy Bush – vocals * Stuart Elliott – drums, percussion * John Giblin – bass guitar * Justin Vali – valiha,

kabosy The kabosy is a box-shaped wooden guitar commonly played in music of Madagascar. It has four to six strings and is commonly thought to be a direct descendant of the Arabic oud. The kabosy has staggered frets, many of which do not even cross ...

, vocals *

Nigel Hitchcock Nigel Hitchcock (born 4 January 1971) is an English jazz saxophonist. Biography Hitchcock began to play alto sax at the age of eight. In 1982 he and his elder brother Clive joined the National Youth Jazz Orchestra. After one year Nigel took the ...

– tenor saxophone *Neil Sidwell – trombone *

Steve Sidwell Steven James Sidwell (born 14 December 1982) is an English former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Sidwell was a product of the Arsenal academy, and after winning two FA Youth Cups, he had constructive loan spells at Bren ...

– trumpet *Paul Spong – trumpet

Charts

References

{{authority control 1993 singles Kate Bush songs Songs written by Kate Bush 1993 songs EMI Records singles