Running Up That Hill
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| "Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God)" | ||
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| Single by Kate Bush | ||
| from the album Hounds of Love | ||
| B-side(s) | "Under the Ivy" | |
| Released | 5 August 1985 | |
| Format | 7" single | |
| Recorded | 1984 | |
| Genre | Art rock | |
| Length | 4:56 | |
| Label | EMI | |
| Writer(s) | Kate Bush | |
| Producer(s) | Kate Bush | |
| Chart positions | ||
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| Kate Bush singles chronology | ||
| "Suspended in Gaffa" (1983) |
"Running Up That Hill (1985) |
"Cloudbusting" (1985) |
"Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God)" was the first single from Kate Bush's 1985 album Hounds of Love.
Written by Bush, it features highly literate lyrics and impassioned vocals. It was released as a single in the UK on August 5, 1985, with the album appearing on shelves on September 16, 1985. It was her first 12" single, and her second single to feature gatefold packaging. It eventually reached the number three position in the UK singles chart. The single also had a great impact in the United States, providing Bush with her first hit to chart since 1978. It reached the top 30, and featured prominently within the Dance Charts.
- Kate Bush - "Running Up That Hill" (file info) — play in browser (beta)
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The song itself has often been misinterpreted as meaning that Bush would like to swap places with God himself. Instead it deals with the trials and tribulations of a floundering relationship, telling her lover in the song that if she "...only could I'd make a deal with God and get him to swap our places." She has described the song as being about the power of love, in that it can create such intense emotion that all rational thought is overpowered.
Musically, the background vocal chants ("e-yo") are almost identical to singing in classical Japanese musical theatre such as Noh, and the prominent drumming pattern appears to be influenced by Japanese taiko.
Originally titled, "A Deal with God", representatives at EMI were hesitant to release it, as they feared the title could have prevented radio play, especially in the United States. Because the singles from her previous release, The Dreaming, had done so poorly in the charts, Bush relented and changed the title. The executives of EMI initially wanted to release another song, "Cloudbusting", as the lead single from the album. Bush successfully convinced them to release "Running Up That Hill" first, citing that it was the first song to be written for the album, and felt that it better represented the broader feel for "Hounds of Love".
The music video featured Bush and dancer Michael Hervieu, in a tightly choreographed piece. Bush felt that in most music videos, "dancing happened around the artist, but never truly involved the artist at all". She wanted the dancing in "Running Up That Hill" to be more of a classical performance, and therefore enlisted Dyanne Gray, a dance teacher Bush had been working with.
The dance draws upon contemporary dance with a repeated gesture suggestive of drawing a bow and arrow (the gesture was made literal on the image for the single in which Bush poses with a real bow and arrow). At the climax of the song, Bush's partner unexpectedly withdraws from her. In a surreal sequence, both are swept away down a long hall in opposite directions by an endless stream of anonymous figures wearing masks that are pictures of Bush and Hervieu's faces.
MTV however, decided to play a live version rather than the studio version due to the fact that there was no lip-synching.
The B-side of the 7" single contains her song "Under the Ivy". The 12-inch single is an extended remix of "Running Up That Hill", and the B-side also has an instrumental version, as well as "Under the Ivy".
The song has been described as paving the way for the experimentation apparent in 1990s rock, evident in its being covered by the British rock band Placebo and by Faith and the Muse. It was later covered again by Dutch symphonic metal band Within Temptation and in 2004 was covered by the Portuguese love metal band Icon and the Black Roses. American alternative rock singer-songwriter and pianist Tori Amos has also sung verses of the song during her live tours, often working certain lines of the song into her cover of The Cure's "Lovesong" in her 1996 tour, and sometimes playing a part of the song before and another part after performing her own song "God" in her 2005 tour. Leeds quintet Four Day Hombre have incorporated lines from the song into the live performance of their hit single 'The First Word is the Hardest', which can be seen on their recent DVD release Night at The Theatre
The song has been covered by cult-favorite cabaret performers Kiki and Herb throughout their career, and was the closing number in their sold-out "farewell performance" at Carnegie Hall in 2004. A recording of the show, including the cover, can be found on Kiki and Herb Will Die for You: Live at Carnegie Hall.
The song also has been covered by the following artists in their own style of music:
Within Temptation (Rock Gothic)
Placebo (Rock Alternative)
Elastic Band (Trance)
