Kate Bush - Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God)

I'd make a deal with God. I'd get him to swap our places.

Album: Hounds of Love [5th album]
Recorded: Kent, England
Genre: Art Pop, Synth Pop
Album Release: September 16th 1985
Single Release: August 5th 1985 [lead single]
Length: 4.58
Producer: Kate Bush
Vocalist: Kate Bush [age 25]
Label: EMI

Music Video


Live in 1985


2012 version

Charts, Streams & Sales

In 2022 the song reached #1 in: Australia, Belgium, New Zealand, Sweden and the UK
Australia (singles): #6 in 1985 and #1 in 2022
Germany (single): #3
UK (singles): #3 in 1985 and #1 in 2022. [3x platinum]
USA (singles): #30 in 1985 and #3 in 2022
Spotify: Over 1 billion
YouTube Music: Over 250 million
Brit Award British Single of the Year Nominee 1986 (losing to Tears for Fears)
NME Best Tracks of 1985: #3
NME 500 Greatest Songs of All Time: #108
Rolling Stone 500 Greatest Songs of All Time: #60

Credits

Balalaika, bass, drum machine, drums, guitar, synthesizer (Fairlight CMI)

Details

• Bush released an updated version in 2012 that features her singing in a lower pitch.
  
• The song had a resurgence in 2022 when it was featured in season 4 of Stranger Things.
• In 1982, EMI allowed Kate Bush to produce her album 'The Dreaming' entirely herself. The resulting album sold so poorly she was nearly dropped from her label altogether. When it was time to make the follow up, 'Hounds of Love', Bush once again nominated herself as producer. EMI were understandably reluctant to agree but eventually acquiesced as Bush had built a studio at her families country estate in Kent, which drastically reduced costs.
  
  Bush's perfectionism had been a key driver in the rampant expense of The Dreaming. The singer, and now producer, goes to exacting lengths to make her music in such a way that, when you have to pay for studio time, creates time pressure that can result in a sub-par final product. Building her own studio solved that problem. Having ample time, coupled with returning to a comfortable, familial setting allowed Bush to create her music in her own painstaking way.
  
  When failing spectacularly many people would take it as a lesson learned and quit, so it's admirable that Bush tried again. 'Hounds of Love' would reach #3 in the UK album charts and serves as a lesson in persistence to those who of us who would fall at the first hardship.
  
  
• The label executives at EMI thought religious people would be offended by the songs original title 'A Deal with God' so they changed it to 'Running Up That Hill'. Kate Bush prefers the original title.
  
  
• 'Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God)' is an imaginative song about a woman in a difficult relationship who asks God to swap her body with her male partner so that she can experience things from his perspective. In recent years it has become an anthem for trans-rights activists. The 'Running Up That Hill' from the title refers to walking in someone elses shoes. "Running up that road, running up that hill" is about a woman running up the hill of masculinity or vice versa. It's about attempting to overcome the physical limitations that stop us from understanding each another.
  
  Towards the end of the song Bush sings "running up that hill" one more time, only her voice is lowered in pitch to make it sound masculine, which suggests God has accepted her deal.
  
  
• The album title 'Hounds of Love' is about how love can be a violent thing that tears you apart like a pack of wild hounds.
• Since 2016 Kate Bush fans have celebrated 'The Most Wuthering Heights Day Ever' in locations around the world. On some occassions hundreds of people gather to recreate the music video for the singers 1978 hit 'Wuthering Heights'. Gatherings have been held as far afield as Montreal, Tel Aviv and Adelaide.
  
  
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Artwork