Lake Tahoe Lyrics
Lake Tahoe
Cold mountain water
Don't ever swim there
Just stand on the edge and look in there
[Verse 2: Kate Bush]
And you might see a woman down there
They say some days, up she comes, up she rises
As if out of nowhere
[Verse 3: Stefan Roberts & Michael Wood, Kate Bush]
Wearing Victorian dress
She was calling her pet
"Snowflake! Snowflake!"
Tumbling like a cloud that has drowned in the lake
[Verse 4: Kate Bush]
Just like a poor, porcelain doll
Her eyes are open but no-one's home
The clock has stopped
So long, she's gone
[Verse 5: Kate Bush]
No-one's home
Her old dog is sleeping
His legs are frail now
But when he dreams
He runs...
[Verse 6: Kate Bush]
Along long beaches
And sticky fields
Through the Spooky Wood
Looking for her
[Verse 7: Stefan Roberts & Michael Wood]
The beds are made
The table is laid
The door is open
Someone is calling
[Verse 8: Kate Bush]
It's a woman
"Here boy, here boy! You've come home!
I've got an old bone and a biscuit and so much love
Miss me? Did you miss me?
[Verse 9: Kate Bush]
"Here's the kitchen - there's your basket
Here's the hall - that's where you wait for me
Here's the bedroom - you're not allowed in there
Here's my lap - that's where you rest your head
"Here boy, oh, you're a good boy
You've come home
You've come home
You've come home."
About
Both the second longest and second in the tracklisting of Kate Bush’s second album of 2011, “Lake Tahoe” tells the tale of a woman rising from the frozen depths of the lake as a ghost. A bare track containing not much more than drums, piano and vocals, it really pertains to the longer format of song Kate wished to explore on this album.
Similarly to previous track “Snowflake”, it makes use of the contrasting high male voice(s) against a lower female one to create a haunting chill which sets the tone of the narrative right from the outset.
A 5 minute segment of the track (from Verse 5 to halfway through Verse 10) was uploaded to YouTube with an accompanying puppetry animiation. Despite this, and the 10" picture disk released for Record Store Day 2012, the song was never officially released as a single. The limited edition picture disk features “Among Angels” as its b-side.
Q&A
Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning
It was because a friend told me about the story that goes with Lake Tahoe so it had to be set there. Apparently people occasionally see a woman who fell into the lake in the Victorian era who rises up and then disappears again. It is an incredibly cold lake so the idea, as I understand it, is that she fell in and is still kind of preserved. Do you know what I mean?
Kate speaking to John Doran of The Quietus.
They’re 2 friends of our’s who just have very beautiful voices, but quite unusual in that they sound quite sort of, em, I suppose a lot of people would think of early music. And I suppose I was trying to set up something that sounded a bit kind of haunting. So they would set up the narrative of the story, and then my voice would come in to continue the narrative. And also I quite liked this idea of playing a bit with men who had high voices, but my voice would be quite low.
Kate speaking in a 2011 interview with Jamie Cullum.
- 1.Snowflake
- 2.Lake Tahoe
- 3.Misty
- 4.Wild Man
- 7.Among Angels