This Woman's Work

Bush wrote it for a sequence in John Hughes's 1988 film She's Having a Baby, where it first appeared on the soundtrack, and re-edited and re-recorded it for The Sensual World. Released as a single on 20 November 1989, it reached number 25 in the UK. The B-sides were Be Kind to My Mistakes and I'm Still Waiting, and Michael Kamen arranged the orchestra. The song is written from the viewpoint of a husband helpless while his wife is in danger during childbirth, to match the film's visuals. She told NME it explores his sadness and guilt, and the point where he has to grow up. The scene's temporary soundtrack was This Mortal Coil's Song to the Siren, which could not be cleared.

Bush directed the video, with Tim McInnerny as the husband. Melody Maker's Chris Roberts called it a luscious, spiritually elevating ballad, and Music Week's David Giles said it almost amounts to a lullaby. She re-recorded it as a sparse piano-and-voice version for Director's Cut in 2011. It was used in a 2005 NSPCC television advert, a 2007 Extras Christmas special and the films A Man Called Otto and The Mother.

Covers

Maxwell performed it on MTV Unplugged in 1997 and released a studio version in 2001 that reached the US Hot 100 in 2002. A 2014 charity version by Hope for Isla and Jude reached number 79 in Australia.