In 1980 or thereabouts a song that played on the radio a lot caught my attention. I may or may not have known the musician – Peter Gabriel – at the time, but the song was catchy and I’d sing along with the chorus:

She is So Funqular
She is So Funqular
She is So Funqular

My boyfriend said funqular was a French word, but didn’t know what it meant. I imagined it meant sexy in a cool way or something. We were happy in our ignorance, and sang along with the lyrics – none of which made any sense, but that was fine with us.

At some point we purchased the album and realized we were wrong about the lyrics in the chorus, but it took me a while to realize exactly what the song was about. I’d even been to a Jeux San Frontiers heat on one of my visits to England in the 1970’s and had a bright yellow “It’s a Knockout” poster among my souvenirs of that trip.

I must have carefully read the lyrics, or perhaps took the poster out of storage, or maybe just saw the video, but it finally occurred to me what the song was about. I remember putting the poster up in the basement and smiling every time I saw it or heard the song played on the radio or on our stereo. It wasn’t until later that I learned that it was Kate Bush singing the chorus.

To this day, when I hear that song, I smile, and sing along with the chorus:

She is So Funqular
She is So Funqular
She is So Funqular