Running Up That Hill
Gonna post two* versions of the song here. First, the original track from Kate Bush’s album Hounds of Love (1985). I was only 8 years old when this song came out. I think I might have been a teenager before I actually started to recognize it when it was played. Time passes and you hear less and less of some songs. A few years go by and then out of nowhere you hear it again and think “Wow, that is such a good song!” Well, to me, this would qualify as of those songs. Thanks to VH1 Classics, I could tune in and catch it every so often and recall my version of “The 80’s”. It’s not as if there was a certain event or person that was marked by this song. I mean, most songs that get lost in the shuffle can help you pinpoint some emotion or pivotal time in your life when it was popular. Maybe if I were a few years older when it came out, this post would be better. Sorry about that. Enjoy Placebo’s version of the song as well. A modern take on the song with a completely different, yet very-true-the-original take.
According to Kate “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 it’s 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.”
Kate Bush – Running Up That Hill
Placebo – Running Up That Hill (MP3)
Placebo – Running Up That Hill (Video)
In the age of Facebook, MySpace, and webcams in general, this is a haunting video shot by fans as part of a contest by Placebo. Seems like a lot of lost souls out there.
*For a very good live cover version, check out Tori Amos’ interpretation. Sometimes a voice like hers could hit you with goosebumps in seconds.
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