Bush began writing songs at 11. She was signed to EMI Records after Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour helped produce a demo tape. Her debut album, The Kick Inside, was released in 1978. Bush slowly gained artistic independence in album production and has produced all her studio albums since The Dreaming (1982). She took a hiatus between her seventh and eighth albums, The Red Shoes (1993) and Aerial (2005). Bush drew attention again in 2014 with her concert residency Before the Dawn, her first show since 1979's The Tour of Life.
The TV series "Stranger Things" used Bush's "Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)" in Season 4. As a result of the resurgence of interest, in 2022 the song reached #1 on the UK charts, 37 years after its initial release, and generated 100s of millions of streams.
Bush's eclectic and experimental musical style, unconventional lyrics, performances, and literary themes have influenced a diverse range of artists. She has been nominated for 13 British Phonographic Industry accolades, winning for Best British Female Artist in 1987, and has been nominated for three Grammy Awards. In 2002, Bush was recognized with an Ivor Novello Award for Outstanding Contribution to British Music. Bush was appointed a CBE in the 2013 New Year Honours for services to music. She was nominated three times for induction in the 2018, 2021, and 2022 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Π
Kate Bush Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
With an obsessive nature and deep fascination
For numbers
And a complete infatuation with the calculation
Of π
Oh he love, he love, he love
He does love his numbers
In a great big circle
In a circle of infinity
3.1415926535 897932
3846 264 338 3279
Oh he love, he love, he love
He does love his numbers
And they run, they run, they run him
In a great big circle
In a circle of infinity
But he must, he must, he must
Put a number to it
50288419 716939937510
582319749 44 59230781
6406286208 821 4808651 32
Oh he love, he love, he love
He does love his numbers
And they run, they run, they run him
In a great big circle
In a circle of infinity
82306647 0938446095 505 8223…
The song Π by Kate Bush is an homage to a sweet and gentle man with an obsessive nature and deep fascination for numbers, particularly the calculation of π (pi). The lyrics describe his infatuation and love for numbers, which seem to run him in a great big circle of infinity, as he tries to put a number to it. The numbers recited in the song are the digits of pi up to the 102nd decimal place, adding to the overall hypnotic and mesmerizing effect of the song.
The lyrics point to the notion of the infinite, as pi is a never-ending and never-repeating number, and the man’s fascination with it seems to symbolize the human desire to comprehend and make sense of the vastness and complexity of the universe. The song is a beautiful expression of the beauty and mystery of mathematics and the human mind’s capacity to find wonder and fascination in the abstract and intangible.
Overall, Π is a meditation on the beauty and mystery of numbers and their infinite possibilities, as well as an appreciation of the human penchant for intellectual curiosity and the desire to comprehend the unknowable.
Line by Line Meaning
Sweet and gentle and sensitive man
The man being described is kind and soft-hearted.
With an obsessive nature and deep fascination
However, he has an intense fixation on something.
For numbers
That something is numbers and math.
And a complete infatuation with the calculation
He is utterly smitten with the process of working with numbers.
Of π
In particular, he is obsessed with the mathematical constant pi.
Oh he love, he love, he love
The man loves his numbers deeply, to an almost emotional level.
He does love his numbers
This line emphasizes the man's intense adoration for mathematics and numbers.
And they run, they run, they run him
The man's fixation ultimately takes control of him, running him in circles.
In a great big circle
This repetition of the idea of circles is symbolic of the infinite nature of pi.
In a circle of infinity
The never-ending nature of pi is further highlighted here.
But he must, he must, he must
Despite the endlessness of pi, the man feels compelled to put a number to it.
Put a number to it
This means that he feels the need to calculate pi to as many decimal places as possible, to try to capture its essence.
Oh he love, he love, he love
Reiterating the man's strong feelings for numbers.
50288419 716939937510
These numbers are the first 20 digits of pi, showing the man's interest in memorization.
582319749 44 59230781
This is another sequence of digits of pi, showing the man's fascination with the number itself.
6406286208 821 4808651 32
Yet another sequence of digits of pi that the man has likely committed to memory.
82306647 0938446095 505 8223…
This is another lengthy sequence of pi digits that the man may have memorized.
Contributed by John J. Suggest a correction in the comments below.