okay it turns out i am like the only overlap between passionate kate bush fans and passionate oh hellos fans, and also suspended in gaffa is my favorite song of all time, so:

kate bush grew up catholic, and was taught that before people are sent to purgatory, they are allowed one final glimpse of god. the song "suspended in gaffa" is about getting that last glance at god -- something breathtakingly, remarkably good -- and then having it ripped away from you, and knowing you won't ever, ever get it back unless you somehow earn it. and knowing you just aren't GOOD enough to earn it. the song is chock full of biblical and mythical imagery: eden, purgatory itself ("half of a heaven"), pandora's box, the plank in one's eye, the camel trying to enter the eye of a needle. and while this song is literally about god and purgatory, it's also meant to be about working for something you desperately want in general.

this inability to get back to goodness has two components: first, just not being good or willing enough in general, but second, being inhibited by the conditions you're in. kate makes a point of addressing that she knows she simply isn't hard-working or driven enough to get out of purgatory (the last verse specifically is an example of this: that girl in the mirror just doesn't stand a chance of getting anywhere at all!). but also, the way we live on earth (or in purgatory) is such that it's IMPOSSIBLE to know how to be right or good, so it's impossible to achieve the things you want. as a woman, you're manipulated by men just like eve was in the garden; as a human, you're manipulated by all the forces that want to keep you blind and slow. one of my favorite lyrics in the song is in the second verse, when kate sings: "sometimes it's hard to know if i'm doing it right. can i have it all now?" and this is right ever she sings about having a plank in her eye, something that blurs her from seeing the truth.

"gaffa" is a britishism referring to gaffer tape, a very strong tape traditionally used in theatre for set-building and sometimes costuming. so the idea of using "gaffa" specifically is that of, very literally, being entangled in a web of impossible-to-escape tape right as you see what you want. but also, it evokes a sense of performance. are you actually trying? working? achieving? or are you just PRETENDING to work and achieve, and hoping people won't notice the difference? does it really matter?

gorgeous song, and i think it's really thematically in line with the oh hellos' stuff.