Thanks to the angel's tears

tinmeigut

'I have to record this song,' I said to Mum. And that is exactly what I did with Giles when we came to work together on the album. The Decca bosses had other ideas, though, when they  heard the album. The ominous message came back: 'We just don't think that "Wuthering Heights" fits.'

I was not happy and I was not backing down.

There were an inordinate number of phone calls and then suddenly I was called into the Universal building, where all of the senior executives had turned out. There were a lot of them there, so it was just as well that I had brought along my whole family as my support crew. It was quite an intimidating environment for a fifteen-year-old girl to find herself in, but, strangely enough, I felt quite confident.

I was very firm with myself ahead of the meeting: 'Hayley, you're not to back down,' I instructed myself. 'Don't be nice. You believe in this song, so go for it.' I knew that I was resolute on this. There was nothing they could do to slay me.

They soon got the message when I started crying. The meeting had dragged on with the bosses going on and on about it, but I was quite sure of my opinion. I was not cynically turning on the tears. At the time, I didn't realise they would help me, but, of course, large group of middle-aged blokes always struggle to cope with a girl bursting into tears. The waterworks worked.

'I think that this meeting has come to an end, so we'll think about it and then we'll get back to you,' I was told. Later, Costa Pilavachi called me up.

'We now know that you feel really strongly about this song,' he said. 'And, if you feel this strongly about it, we don't feel we're in any position to stand in your way. One thing I always say is that the artist is always right.' As ever, Costa had been very diplomatic and very sweet. He always instinctively knew how to say the right thing at the right time.So 'Wuthering Heights' stayed on the album.

-Chapter 7, P88-89, Hayley Westenra: In Her Own Voice



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Wuthering Heights has to be one of the songs that I like most. The melody itself is good and it causes me to think of the book itself. Of course Hayley's rendition added a few extra points to the whole thing. Looking back, had the lady not held to her own stance, I wouldn't have known the song now, not to even mention reading the book.

So it's Hayley's tears that earned me the first glance into the classical world. Yes I knew long ago that Wuthering Heights was only there  upon the lady's strong insistence on letting it stay, but I didn't know it even caused tears to roll down the cheeks. Why, if the young diva could so boldly confront the Universal top guys that way, should they turn her down? No one would be cruel enough to do that.

Well, what can I say... I also feel strongly about Wuthering Heights, both the song and the book, and indeed I was extremely touched by the story too when I read it. Maybe it's all God's idea? The lady's tears that had been spilled 4 years ago at the end nearly resulted in a guy, whom she not know, ending up in tears too.

Without Hayley, I wouldn't have come across Wuthering Heights, and my interest in English wouldn't have boosted in such a short time. Indeed my skills are far from perfection and too much is waiting to be polished, but at the end of the day, there's no one I can thank but Hayley.

(The above passage was my entry for Xanga today, and also I hope you guys (and Hayley herself too) won't mind my copying a short segment from the book, because that is too sweet and too enchanting not to share with you guys here.)

Yang

Thanks tinmeigut! 我第一次聼 Wuthering Heights 覺得很特殊，風格和 Pure 中的其他歌曲相差很大，但是這麽久以來，Wuthering Heights 卻一直是我的最愛。相比 Kate Bush 的版本，我更喜歡 Hayley 的聲音，好像唱得音更准。

tinmeigut

當我第一次聽Kate Bush的Wuthering Heights時，有種恐怖的感覺，覺得她把Catherine演譯得太可怖了。Hayley就不同呢，多了份年輕的少女情懷。