Her suitor hands over all of his belongings except for the gold ring Sovay had recently given him. In an interview with Colin Irwin, Bush cites the traditional English folk song and story of Sovay as her inspiration for “Babooshka.” There are many slightly different versions of Sovay’s story, but the central plot is as follows: a young woman decides to test the devotion of her suitor by dressing up as a highwayman and robbing him of his most valuable possessions at gunpoint. At this meeting, after noting an uncanny similarity between his wife and Babooshka, the husband immediately pledges his love for the latter, unknowingly betraying his own wife to her face. The husband, who “receive with a strange delight,” agrees. She then requests that they take things further and meet in person. This younger woman uses the pseudonym “Babooshka” and sends him dozens of perfumed love letters. ” In the song, Bush sings about a woman who decides to test her husband’s fidelity by posing as a younger woman who is completely infatuated with him. “Babooshka” by Kate Bush - English singer, songwriter, and avant-pop icon - was originally released as a single on June 27th, 1980, and it went on to be included in the album “Never for Ever. Recently though, standing by the bus stop and hearing the lines: “So she arranged a place to go/To see/If he/Would fall for her incognito,” something clicked - more on that later though. The novella in question is “Fantomina or Love in a Maze…” by Eliza Haywood (published in 1724), which features a young woman who disguises herself over and over and repeatedly seduces the same man. There was always something familiar to me about the story in Kate Bush’s “ Babooshka.” However, the first hundred times I listened to it, I was too busy shouting along with the chorus to notice a potential narrative parallel with a novella that I had read over a year ago for my British Literary Traditions class.

CONTENT WARNING: THIS ARTICLE INCLUDES DISCUSSION OF RAPE AND SEXUAL ASSAULT.

Shout it out babooshka