11. Maxwell
I’ve probably thought about this song more than any other song in my life. This was written by Kate Bush for a scene in a film I have not seen, and is apparently about childbirth. But for me, it means something different. I came to it via Maxwell, and he’s got that really incredible soulful voice again, that falsetto which I love. For me, this song is about a son and his mother. I’m worried about saying this because it’s probably not what it’s about. But for me, it captures that feeling, if I capture the way I feel about my mum, and this kind of respect you have for the things that women go through, especially Indian women in my case. I think about my mum, I think about how so often the responsibilities in parenting are unequal, and how women hold families together, they hold society together. I think this is, for me, a man paying his respect to that. I don’t think there’s a word to describe that feeling, but this song fills that space. It’s a stunning song. I will never get tired of this song.
