Kate Bush: “This Woman’s Work” (1988)
Written for the 1988 John Hughes film She’s Having a Baby, “This Woman’s Work” accompanies the film’s climactic scene, in which Jake (played by Kevin Bacon) learns that his wife Kristy (Elizabeth McGovern) is having life-threatening complications during childbirth.
The melancholy song’s lyrics match the subsequent montage in beautiful, heartrending fashion, and are sung from the point of view of a helpless Jake as he recalls their happy times together during what seems an interminable wait for news of his wife and baby.
Kate Bush wrote the song specifically for the film, and matched her words to visuals which had already been filmed.
A slightly edited version appeared on her album The Sensual World the next year, and when the song was released as a single it was tweaked yet again. A fourth version of the song appeared on Bush’s 2011 album Director’s Cut.
This is the original 1988 version from the She’s Having a Baby soundtrack. The film itself comes highly recommended too.
See also: https://edcyphers.com/2015/11/04/songs-you-may-have-missed-566-2/
