Walk Straight Down the Middle

Album: The Sensual World (1989)
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Songfacts®:

  • The most optimistic track on The Sensual World, the song is a bonus track on the CD edition of the album. It features some animal impressions from Bush. "My mother thought it was a peacock, she was looking for a peacock, isn't that sweet?" she told NME. "I fancied being Captain Beefheart at that point and it just came to me, standing out, calling for help in the middle. It just went 'BBRRRROOOOAAAAAAAA'."

    "It's the idea of how our fears are sometimes holding us back, and yet there's really no need to be frightened," Bush continued. "Like 'The Fog,' being scared because the water's deep, you could be drowned. But actually if you put your feet down the bottom's there and it's only waist high so what's the problem? Just get on with it, that's what I'm trying to tell myself."
  • Bush told International Musician how this came together in the studio: "That song was definitely the quickest I've ever recorded anything. We'd given ourselves a specific day to cut it, so I had to do it fast. The backing track I'd originally recorded ages ago. At the time I wasn't happy with the lyrics, and I felt the song needed more developing. When we came back to hear it again, both Del [Palmer, recording engineer] and myself were really impressed with the sounds and how together the song sounded; previously we thought it had been rubbish.

    I wrote the lyrics, recorded the vocals, backing vocals and synth overdubs in one day, which is totally unheard of for me. The next day we did some more overdubs, and then mixed. I'm glad it was tagged on. We made the gap longer, so that you could get a sense that the album was finished, it sounds okay, but I don't think it holds the same depths that the other tracks do."

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