“Breathing” by Kate Bush

"Breathing" was the lead single from Never for Ever, Kate Bush's 1980 album, and it's sung from the womb: a foetus that knows exactly what's going on outside and is terrified of nuclear fallout, even soaking up the nicotine from its mother's cigarettes. Bush said most of what went into it came from a documentary on what nuclear war does, and the mood owed a debt to side three of Pink Floyd's The Wall. She called it her "little symphony" and her best work so far.

Bush wrote it and co-produced with Jon Kelly. Roy Harper sings backup, Larry Fast plays a Prophet synthesizer, John Giblin fretless bass, Stuart Elliott drums and Morris Pert percussion. Radio 1 premiered it on 11 April 1980, and it reached 16 in the UK, with "The Empty Bullring", her first non-album B-side, on the flip.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.