Since her unlikely leap back into the gaze of the mainstream as a result of the placement of her song Running Up That Hill in Netflix phenomenon Stranger Things’s fourth season, Kate Bush has captivated a new generation with her singularly exceptional canon of work.
“[It’s] just extraordinary, quite shocking really, isn’t it?” a bemused Bush told BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour on her unexpected return to global attention in 2022. “I mean, the whole world’s gone mad.”
It stands to reason that this magnificent song, which opened her fifth record, 1985’s epic Hounds of Love, comfortably sits atop her her list of most streamed songs.
But - we’re going to go out on a limb here - and assert that it’s actually that song’s original B-side, oddly currently unavailable on most streaming platforms, that we’d boldly suggest is better than Running Up That Hill (gasp!).
Controversial words maybe, but Under the Ivy is a truly special song. It's not just a curate's egg, it's frequently cited by many a Bush aficionado as their top pick in the pantheon of Bush's highest tier of tracks.
Its delicately-performed evocation of lost childhood innocence, secret meetings and the alluring magic of a lush, otherworldly garden make it a comforting, richly rewarding listen. It’s the very definition of a lost gem.
Despite the song's popularity in Bush-geek circles, the song is unfortunately, (scandalously!) unavailable to stream on many of the major streaming platforms, including Spotify and Apple Music. Meaning if you want to hear Under the Ivy, you really have to look for it.
Hopefully, its under-heard status will soon be rectified via the upcoming release of Best of the Other Sides (releasing 26th September 2025 digitally and on luxurious coloured 'Lothlorien' vinyl and CD from the 31st October).
With this release, newcomers can finally fully enjoy this diamond, alongside numerous other prime cuts from the obscurer-end of the Bush vault, including 1986’s best-of promoting Experiment IV, 1993’s top-notch The Red Shoes outtake You Want Alchemy and Bush’s fabulous cover of Elton John’s Rocket Man.
This release takes the place of the now out-of-print The Other Sides, first released back in 2018, prior to Bush's popularity explosion in the wake of that Stranger Things placement.
Back to Under the Ivy, then. And, we’ve made quite the assertion, but we’re prepared to back up our view that it’s one of Bush’s best. Let us explain…
Although the Hounds of Love sessions found Bush at her most technically creative and musically adventurous, the stunningly affecting - and straightforward - Under the Ivy was a reminder of Bush’s underlying gift for songwriting.
Its lyrical tone of child-like naivety and the ethereal, floating quality of its spacious production shared a spiritual through-line with The Man With the Child in His Eyes, that scintillating early example of her burgeoning brilliance, written when Bush was just 13 years old. Our piece on that song can be read here.
Like that foundational song, Bush kept things simple with Under the Ivy. Built around her intricate piano playing and a vocal performance that evolved gradually from tender and warmly nostalgic to more overtly emotive by the song's end.
It feels like this reminiscence is in some way difficult for Bush. A lost, timeless age of fairytale wonder that she is desperate to recapture.
Bush's lyrics paint, watercolour-like, a narrative of a besotted young girl, giving directions to her (what we can assume to be) lover, inviting him to meet her at an enchanting location. A secret spot for a secret liaison. Hidden deep within a verdant garden.
Go into the garden
Go under the ivy
Under the leaves
Away from the party
Go right to the rose
Go right to the white rose
It’s a song that with every listen imparts a meditative, calming effect on the listener.
It urges you to take Bush's hand and let her lead you through a storybook, parallel universe of idealised bucolic beauty.
It's the landscape of Charlotte Bronte, George Eliot and Jane Austen, of labyrinthine stately homes, hedge-mazes and the sweeping, life-altering promise of young romance.
“It’s very much a song about someone who is sneaking away from a party to meet someone elusively, secretly, and to possibly make love with them, or just to communicate, but it’s secret, and it’s something they used to do and that they won’t be able to do again,” Bush revealed to prominent fan and Gaffaweb Mailing List moderator, Doug Alan back in 1985.
“It’s about a nostalgic, revisited moment. I think it’s sad because it’s about someone who is recalling a moment when perhaps they used to do it when they were innocent and when they were children, and it’s something that they’re having to sneak away to do privately now as adults,” Bush further explained.
This melancholic subtext that Bush alludes to here is underscored on the track by her expressive vocal performance, which rises and falls with underlying anguish, before seemingly cracking with emotion near its end.
The chiming, stately piano movement frames the narrative with clock-like inevitability (particularly the emotive chorus in G minor). Another feature of the studio version is the vast natural reverb, spotlighting Bush as a lonely figure, lamenting the ghosts of yesterday.
It's an utterly sublime piece of work.
Surprising then, to hear that Bush created it very quickly.
“I needed a track to put on the B-side of the single Running Up That Hill so I wrote this song really quickly. As it was just a simple piano/vocal, it was easy to record,” Bush said of the track in her notes for the compilation.
“I performed a version of the song that was filmed at Abbey Road Studios for a TV show which was popular at the time, called The Tube," Bush recalled in her track notes. "It was hosted by Jools Holland and Paula Yates. I find Paula’s introduction to the song very touching.”
That performance - perhaps one of the most widely-known renditions of the song - can be heard and viewed below. Serving as the song's 'official video' on Kate Bush's official YouTube account.
Of that performance, Bush remembered, “It was filmed in Studio One at Abbey Rd. An enormous room used for recording large orchestras, choirs, film scores, etc. It has a vertiginously high ceiling and sometimes when I was working in Studio Two, a technician, who was a good friend, would take me up above the ceiling of Studio One. We had to climb through a hatch onto the catwalk where we would then crawl across and watch the orchestras working away, completely unaware of the couple of devils hovering in the clouds, way above their heads! I used to love doing this - the acoustics were heavenly at that scary height. We used to toy with the idea of bungee jumping from the hatch."
Under The Ivy, then, is THE lost Bush masterpiece. It’s a magic spell of a song, encapsulating Bush’s ability to blend wonder and innocence with adult feelings of longing, passion and regret.
The song's cherished status is further borne out by the aforementioned YouTube video of the song’s comments, which lay bare the level of adoration Under the Ivy has from Bush’s fans. The comments also reveals how new fans are continually bowled over upon first hearing it.
“I cannot believe that I have just heard this beautiful song for the first time,” wrote one user. “It has restored my faith that special music and honest songwriters are out there, even if they are seldom seen and heard.”
Another states, “The singularly most beautiful song ever written. I remember hearing this for the first time and knowing my life had changed in that moment. Exquisite.”
So, if you’ve not spent any time Under the Ivy before, then why not follow Kate out into the garden, and embrace your new favourite Kate Bush song.
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