Cloudbusting

"Cloudbusting" is a song written, produced and performed by English singer Kate Bush. It was released as a single in October 1985, and was the second single released from her fifth studio album Hounds of Love (1985). The single peaked at No. 20 and spent 8 weeks in the UK Singles Chart. Taking inspiration from the 1973 Peter Reich memoir A Book of Dreams, which Bush read and found deeply moving, the song is about the very close relationship between psychiatrist and philosopher Wilhelm Reich and his young son, Peter, told from the point of view of the mature Peter. It describes the boy's memories of his life with Reich on their family farm, called Orgonon, where the two spent time "cloudbusting", a supposed rain-making process which involved using a machine designed and built by Reich – a machine called a cloudbuster – to point at the sky. The lyrics further describe the elder Reich's abrupt arrest and imprisonment, the pain of loss the young Peter felt, and his helplessness at being unable to protect his father. In 2014, the song was performed live for the first time and was also chosen as the closing encore track in Bush's 2014 live residency, Before the Dawn.