Explain 'Running Up That Hill" NOW

"It's a bit of a cliche at the moment, with so many songs called this, but it is very much about the power of love [Kate is referring to two then-recent pop singles, ``the power of love'' by huey lewis and the news, and ``the power of love'' by jennifer rush, both of which were big hits in england in 1985 - ied], and the strength that is created between two people when they're very much in love, but the strength can also be, um...uh...threatening, violent, dangerous as well as gentle, soothing, loving. And it's saying that if these two people could swap places - if the man could become the woman and the woman the man, that perhaps they could understand the feelings of that other person in a truer way, understanding them from that gender's point of view, and that perhaps there are very subtle differences between the sexes that can cause problems in a relationship, especially when people really do care about each other."

Coil, who once wrote a track called 'How To Destroy Angels', have on two separate occasions in interviews expressed a deep and abiding fear of Kate Bush.

http://shibuya.cool.ne.jp/beze/brai/brain03.html.

What are your memories of the Scatology period?

JB: First proper album, dealing with alchemy and pataphysics and Marquis De Sade and sexual experiences in Morocco. Produced by Jim Thirlwell - soundwise he had quite a lot of impact. From about halfway through anyway - we started it here at home on a Fairlight Two, same as Kate Bush used to use. I was really into Kate Bush at the time. You can hear that on the record - if you hear the machinery you can. I used to think that actually somehow she was stealing my ideas - talking about paranoia. I've got notebooks, this was about the time of The Dreaming, I'd write ideas for songs down and then when I heard The Dreaming they'd all be on the album. I think that possibly some kind of parallel psychic space is being carved up there.

Have you ever met Kate?

JB: No, no, I think I'd be too in awe to do it.

PC: She's only little.

JB: Yeah but she's powerful. . .

The cell phone is ringing, the pitbulls are barking, but Big Boi doesn't hear any of that. He paid a lot of money for his speakers, and they make it sound like Kate Bush is standing behind his chair, leaning forward to sing directly into his ear.

"Amd if I only could, I'd make a deal with God, and I'd get him to swap our places," she sings. Big Boi shakes his head and chuckles at this notion, then stares into the depths of his snifter. He can see the shark's tiny reflection circling in the cognac.

"Be running up that road, be running up that hill, with no problems..."

One of the most chilling stories I've ever heard.

Or LADY intacto anyway, I don't know, he might be into uphill gardening for all I know.

http://vimeo.com/3486161

damn i love her
― cutty (mcutt), Sunday, February 8, 2004 6:09 PM (5 years ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

aargh, horrible cover, horrible video, john forte is a horrible person.

i did, however, hear maxwell's "this woman's work" in a deli on saturday and it filled me with joy.

A friend of mine who used to live in San Diego told me a story once about how he was listening to an '80s call-in-request radio show. A woman called in to make her request: some months ago, she explained, she had been swimming (in the ocean, I suppose) when someone came speeding by on jetskis, hit her, and departed without checking on her. She was paralyzed from the neck down but survived ... and wanted to dedicate "Running Up That Hill" to the guy who'd wrecked her.

no, that was phil collins

the drums in this song are pretty big

this forte cover reminds me of Maxi Priest's "Wild World" until he starts rapping

I've always assumed it was clearly just that her Dad was in a wheelchair, and so if she could make a deal with God, then her Dad would be able to run up that road and run up that hill with no problem.

(Isn't there a wheelchair-bound scientists Dad in the Cloudbusting video or somewhere?)

donald sutherland is not wheelchair bound

hounds of love on now.

can anyone explain the kate bush-florian fricke connection in any detail??

they have both been remixed by mika vainio, for one

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JI1DJX9kiF0

'remixed'

thanks mika vainio, for ruining that song.

do u like vainio in general

cuz if u waited more than a minute to post, u could hear him ~properly~ 'ruin it'

fucking.
― g--ff (gcannon), Sunday, 8 February 2004 22:24 (6 years ago)

First answer nailed it, imho.

nakhchivan, i wrote this: http://www.xlr8r.com/reviews/mika-vainio/black-telephone-matter

so yeah, i like vainio, but i've only heard one 'version' of running up that hill other than kate's which i like, and it is here: http://www.mediafire.com/?97cou4a4zetgv56

nice....his installation stuff is a bit diffuse for me right now

wouldn't cite ruth (damn that acronym) as first rate vainio at all but it's a nice curiosity

greatness of original intact unless vainio's version gets xmas #1

A friend of mine who used to live in San Diego told me a story once about how he was listening to an '80s call-in-request radio show. A woman called in to make her request: some months ago, she explained, she had been swimming (in the ocean, I suppose) when someone came speeding by on jetskis, hit her, and departed without checking on her. She was paralyzed from the neck down but survived ... and wanted to dedicate "Running Up That Hill" to the guy who'd wrecked her.
One of the most chilling stories I've ever heard.

― Joseph McCombs, Sunday, February 8, 2004 9:08 PM (6 years ago) Bookmark

this is sort of how i interpreted it, someone has emotionally hurt her and she can't communicate it through words, he would have to experience it herself. and if she could have the nonchalance about the situation that he demonstrates, she'd feel free. but who knows

*should read: he would have to experience it himself. whoops

that's weird, cuz i've always heard it as a song about sympathy and empathy, not any desire to hurt someone in order to prove a point. more that they both feel and can't quite understand the other's feelings, and that she'd like to break through that barrier. not sex nor magik neither.

you don't want to hurt me,
but see how deep the bullet lies.
unaware, i'm tearing you asunder.

^ crux, imo.

yeah, contenderizer., i always read it that way too.

me too, and also sometimes thought "running up that building" was about the narrator's partner's job/career. amazing imagery

That may be the best-sounding Youtube clip I've heard.

(Thanks for it, btw.)

The Chromatics version is pretty damn good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzEy5WaQm0A

There is a wonderful simplicity to this song.

went for a run listening to the 'hounds of love' album last night, it was really nice.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HNUNLn8pgcI

they're like evanescence but even better

wow.

every time I listen to this version I get even more amazed at how Sharon den Adel completely ruins everything good about Kate Bush's vocal

this was great.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSdHgq3oBD8

The synth in RUTH is still one of my favorite things in music history