Running Up That Hill

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“Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God)”
“Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God)” cover
Single by Kate Bush
from the album Hounds of Love
B-side "Under the Ivy"
Released August 5, 1985
Format 7" single / 12" Single
Recorded 1984
Genre Art rock
Length 4:56
Label EMI
Writer(s) Kate Bush
Producer Kate Bush
Kate Bush singles chronology
"Kate Bush" (EP)
(1983)		 "Running Up That Hill"
(1985)		 "Cloudbusting"
(1985)
Music sample
"Running Up That Hill"
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"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 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 was the most successful of Bush's 1980s releases, eventually peaking at the number three position in the UK singles chart, her second-highest single release there. 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.

Originally titled, "A Deal with God", representatives at EMI were hesitant to release the song, 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 B-side of the 7" single contains Bush's 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 can be heard during the final credits of the 1988 film The Chocolate War. The 1986 BBC children's television drama Running Scared is notable for its use of the song as its main theme. English band Coldplay claims the drum beat of this song inspired their single "Speed of Sound".

Contents

[edit] Themes

The song itself has often been misinterpreted. Kate Bush herself has said,

“ I was trying to say that, really, a man and a woman, can't understand each other because we are a man and a woman. And if we could actually swap each others roles, if we could actually be in each others place for a while, I think we'd both be very surprised! [Laughs] And I think it would be lead to a greater understanding. And really the only way I could think it could be done was either... you know, I thought a deal with the devil, you know. And I thought, 'well, no, why not a deal with God!' You know, because in a way it's so much more powerful the whole idea of asking God to make a deal with you. You see, for me it is still called "Deal With God", that was its title. But we were told that if we kept this title that it wouldn't be played in any of the religious countries, Italy wouldn't play it, France wouldn't play it, and Australia wouldn't play it! Ireland wouldn't play it, and that generally we might get it blacked purely because it had 'God' in the title.[1] ”

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. A less highbrow analysis reveals the drum pattern to bear a striking resemblance to Sylvia's 1970s R & B hit "Pillow Talk". Both songs deal quite frankly with the subject of lovemaking. The rhythm would show up again in 1987 on Fleetwood Mac's "Big Love" single, which also explores sexual politics in its lyrics.

[edit] Music video

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, chose not to show this video and instead used a live performance of the song recorded at a promotional appearance on the BBC TV show Wogan). This was possibly due to the fact that the original video contains no actual performance or lip-synching of the song, or more likely they simply felt the original video too highbrow or sexually charged for their audience.

[edit] Charts

Chart (1985) Peak
position
UK Singles Chart 3
German Singles Chart 3
Irish Singles Chart 4
Australian Singles Chart 6
Canadian Singles Chart 16
French Singles Chart 24
New Zealand Singles Chart 26
US Billboard Hot 100 Chart 30

[edit] Other versions

The song has been described as paving the way for the experimentation apparent in 1990s rock[citation needed]. As well as being covered by Placebo, it has also been covered by:

It has also been incorporated into other songs by artists in live performance:

  • Pink Floyd
  • 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.
  • Indie rock group The Hold Steady references the song on the first track on their critically acclaimed second record, Separation Sunday.
  • Armin Van Buuren plays an unreleased cover of the song in his weekly radio show A State of Trance espisode 237 under the title "Supersaw feat. Veronica Start - Running".

[edit] Placebo version

“Running Up That Hill”
Single by Placebo
Released 31 October 2006
Format Download
Recorded pre-2003
Genre Alternative rock
Length 4:54
Label Virgin Records
Writer(s) Kate Bush
Placebo singles chronology
"Meds"
(2006)		 "Running Up That Hill"
(2006)

British band Placebo covered "Running Up That Hill", releasing it originally on the bonus disc of their 2003 album Sleeping with Ghosts. The song had a fairly low profile for some time before attracting further attention in 2006 after Placebo began to include it in their set whilst touring to promote Meds. It was released as a single in October of 2006 and included on the re-released version of Meds in 2007 along with 'UNEEDMEMORETHANINEEDU', a B-side. It was then included on Covers, a rerelease of the Sleeping With Ghosts bonus disc.

Placebo's take on the song is more downbeat than the original, and focuses more on instrumentation. It has been described by Q Magazine as 'sound[ing] more like a pact with the Devil' than the original 'deal with God'.[2]

[edit] Lyrics

Lyrics from Wikiquote

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://gaffa.org/cloud/music/running_up_that_hill.html Radio 1 Classic Albums interview with Richard Skinner aired January 26, 1992
  2. ^ Q Magazine Issue 241, August 2006
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