My Life in the Bush of Ghosts (album)

Recording and production

Eno and Byrne first worked together while collaborating on More Songs About Buildings and Food, the 1978 album by Byrne's band Talking Heads. My Life was primarily recorded during a break between touring for Fear of Music (1979) and the recording of Remain in Light (1980), subsequent Talking Heads albums also produced by Eno, but the release was delayed while legal rights were sought for the large number of samples used throughout the album. Eno described the album as a "vision of a psychedelic Africa."

The "found objects" credited to Eno and Byrne were common objects used mostly as percussion. In the notes for the 2006 expanded edition of the album, Byrne writes that they would often use a normal drum kit, but with a cardboard box replacing the bass drum, or a frying pan replacing the snare drum; this would blend the familiar drum sound with unusual percussive noises. Rather than conventional pop or rock singing, most of the vocals are sampled from other sources, such as commercial recordings of Arabic singers, radio disc jockeys, and an exorcist. Musicians had previously used similar sampling techniques, but critic Dave Simpson declares it had never before been used "to such cataclysmic effect" as on My Life.

In 2001, Q magazine asked Eno whether he and Byrne had invented sampling. He replied:

The album was recorded entirely with analog technology, before the advent of digital sequencing and MIDI. The sampled voices were synchronized with the instrumental tracks via trial and error, a practice that was often frustrating, but which also produced several happy accidents.

According to Byrne’s 2006 sleeve notes, neither he nor Eno had read Tutuola’s novel before the album was recorded, but felt the title apt:

Samples

Notes below indicated the voices sampled, from the liner notes.

1. "America Is Waiting" – Unidentified indignant radio host (Ray Taliaferro of KGO NEWSTALK AM 810), San Francisco, April 1980.
2. "Mea Culpa" – Inflamed caller and smooth politician replying, both unidentified. Radio call-in show, New York, July 1979.
3. "Regiment" – Dunya Yunis [sic], Lebanese mountain singer, from The Human Voice in the World of Islam (Tangent Records TGS131)
4. "Help Me Somebody" – Reverend Paul Morton, broadcast sermon, New Orleans, June 1980.
5. "The Jezebel Spirit" – Unidentified exorcist, New York, September 1980.

6. "Qu'ran" – Algerian Muslims chanting the Qur'an. (same source as track 3)
7. "Moonlight in Glory" – The Moving Star Hall Singers, Sea Island, Georgia. (From The Moving Star Hall Singers, Folkways FS 3841), produced by Guy Carawan.
8. "The Carrier" – *Dunya Yunis. (same source as track 3)
9. "A Secret Life" – Samira Tewfik, Lebanese popular singer. (from Les Plus Grandes Artistes du Monde Arabe, EMI)
10. "Come with Us" – *Unidentified radio evangelist, San Francisco, April 1980

Packaging

The original package design was created by Peter Saville.

For the 2006 reissue, new artwork was designed by Peter Buchanan-Smith, with booklet cover images and studio photography by Hugh Brown.

Reception

In a 1985 interview, singer Kate Bush remarked that Bush of Ghosts "left a very big mark on popular music". The album enthused Rick Wright of Pink Floyd, "knocked me sideways when I first heard it – full of drum loops, samples and soundscapes. Stuff that we really take for granted now, but which was unheard of in all but the most progressive musical circles at the time... The way the sounds were mixed in was so fresh, it was amazing."

25th anniversary reissue

The album was reissued on March 27, 2006 in the UK and April 11, 2006 in the US, remastered and with seven extra tracks. To mark the reissue, two songs were made available to download online, consisting of the entire multitracks. Under the Creative Commons License, members of the public are able to download the multitracks, and use them for their own remixes.

The track "Qu'ran" was excluded from this release without comment. However, in an interview for Pitchfork about the 2006 reissue, Byrne said:

While discussing the re-release in 2006, the two began collaborating again on a new project that became the album Everything That Happens Will Happen Today, which was independently released in 2008. Byrne toured to promote his collaborations with Eno in 2008 and 2009, resulting in the release of the live EP Everything That Happens Will Happen on This Tour – David Byrne on Tour: Songs of David Byrne and Brian Eno featuring a performance of "Help Me Somebody" in 2008.

Track listing

All music composed by Brian Eno and David Byrne, except "Regiment" by Eno, Byrne, and Michael "Busta Cherry" Jones.

In the 1982 second edition, the track "Qu'ran"—which features samples of Qur'anic recital—was removed at the request of the Islamic Council of Great Britain. In its place "Very, Very Hungry" (the B-side of "The Jezebel Spirit" 12" EP) was substituted. The first edition of the CD (1986) included both tracks, with "Very, Very Hungry" as a bonus track. Later editions (1990 and later) followed the revised LP track order without "Qu'ran."

Ghosts

A widely circulated bootleg of outtakes was released in 1992 as Klondyke Records KR 21. Sound quality is nearly equal to the original CD release.

1. "Interview" – 3:03 (excerpt from Brian's February 2, 1980 KPFA-FM interview, where he discusses recording the album)
2. "Mea Culpa" – 4:56
3. "Into the Spirit Womb" [sic](actual title as spoken on the track is "Into the Spirit World") – 6:07 ("The Jezebel Spirit" with the original Kathryn Kuhlman vocals, which her estate refused to license)
4. "Regiment"  (Byrne, Eno, Jones) – 4:13
5. "The Friends of Amos Tutuola" – 2:01 ("Two Against Three" in the official 2006 re-release)
6. "America Is Waiting"  (Byrne, Eno, Laswell, Wright, Van Tieghem) – 3:42
7. "The Carrier" – 4:22
8. "Very Very Hungry" – 3:25
9. "On the Way to Zagora" – 2:43 ("Pitch to Voltage" in the official 2006 re-release)
10. "Les Hommes Ne Le Sauront Jamais" – 3:33 ("Number 8 Mix" in the official 2006 re-release)
11. "A Secret Life" – 2:34
12. "Come with Us" – 2:42
13. "Mountain of Needles" – 2:31

Except as noted, the tracks are the same mix as originally released.

2006 expanded issue

Remastered, with bonus tracks. 2, 3, 7 and 8 are longer than on the original album.

1. "America Is Waiting"  (Byrne, Eno, Laswell, Wright, Van Tieghem) – 3:38
2. "Mea Culpa" – 4:57
3. "Regiment"  (Byrne, Eno, Jones) – 4:11
4. "Help Me Somebody" – 4:17
5. "The Jezebel Spirit" – 4:56
6. "Very, Very Hungry" – 3:21
7. "Moonlight in Glory" – 4:30
8. "The Carrier" – 4:19
9. "A Secret Life" – 2:31
10. "Come with Us" – 2:42
11. "Mountain of Needles" – 2:39
12. "Pitch to Voltage" – 2:38
13. "Two Against Three" – 1:55
14. "Vocal Outtakes" – 0:36
15. "New Feet" – 2:26
16. "Defiant" – 3:41
17. "Number 8 Mix" – 3:30
18. "Solo Guitar with Tin Foil" – 3:00

Personnel