Mixtape: Which Witch

For whatever reason, I recently got to thinking about witchy songs, witchy music. I’m not sure what to owe this to — it might’ve been that I recently went through a bit of a Kate Bush swoon, as I am occasionally wont to do. I was thinking about her song “The Sensual World,” her inspired adaptation of Molly Bloom’s mind-wanderings in the last pages of Joyce’s Ulysses, and how she had to rewrite it because the Joyce estate didn’t want her using text word-for-word from the book. I always knew that the song was mapped on to that last bit of Ulysses, I think that was general knowledge when the record came out, and it was definitely identifiable as coming from Molly’s perspective — and yet Kate manages to skate around the text and create something altogether new. She re-recorded the song in 2011 using the original lyrics, the ones the Joyce estate shot down, and I do think it’s a better version — at least lyrically. Here’s the 1989 version:

And here’s the one from 2011:

Of course, Kate Bush, in my opinion, is in the pantheon of rock music’s ur-witches. I recall when Taylor Swift’s record Folklore came out, everyone was calling it “witchy.” I remember being excited to check it out — to hear how this pop goddess would join the coven. I remember being disappointed. This isn’t witchy music! Witchy music is scary, disjointed, moody, ensorcelling. I felt none of those things listening to Taylor Swift, even at her most witchy

So here I’ve decided to plant my flag, to make a not-so-definitive mixtape of properly witchy music. I’m sure some will take issue; I’m sure there are omissions — to which (witch) I say: Make your own witchy mixtape!

You’ll notice that most of these songs are from women singers and songwriters. This seems appropriate — I’m no witch myself, but I believe that witchy songs, by their definition, should be speaking from the feminine divine. It doesn’t mean that it’s exclusively the domain of women, however, so I’ve included a few men in the mix who, to my mind, are women in their own right.

I’m only playing one other show this year, a solo show in Charleston, SC for the Spoleto Festival. Click on the image for tickets!