FEATURE:
C'mon, Angel, C'mon, C'mon, Darling…
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush and Michael Hervieu in the video for Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God)/PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush
Revisiting the Video for Kate Bush’s Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God)
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THERE are two reasons…
why I am coming back to Kate Bush’s track, Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God). I have explored it when I ranked songs from her studio albums recently. I have also singled out the track previously. The first track from her fifth studio album, Hounds of Love, Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God), it was released on 5th August, 1985. It is Kate Bush’s birthday on 30th July. Because it is her birthday very soon, I want to up the quota of Bush features for July. Also, Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) is a song that has been covered quite a few times through the years – including at least a couple of covers this past year. I am specifically going to dissect and discuss the beautiful and moving video. Before that, there are a couple of articles I want to source from. They explore the legacy and genius of a classic Kate Bush track. Salon discussed (among other things) a then-recent cover of Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God):
“In early 2020, Meg Myers rose to No. 1 on Billboard's Rock Airplay chart with her cover of Kate Bush's "Running Up That Hill." The milestone was a long time coming: As the magazine noted at the time, the song had been on that chart for 29 weeks. For good measure, right after topping the Rock Airplay chart, Myers also spent two weeks at No. 1 on the Alternative Songs chart.
This wasn't the only "Running Up That Hill" cover to make waves this year. In June, the metal talk show "Two Minutes To Late Night" released a ferocious take on the song featuring searing lead vocals from Emma Ruth Rundle (Marriages, Red Sparowes); back-up singing from the show's co-host, Jordan Olds; and instrumentation from members of Mastodon, Old Man Gloom and YOB.
IN THIS PHOTO: Kate Bush in 1985/PHOTO CREDIT: Guido Harari
Sonically, the two versions of the song are quite different. Meg Myers' approach is pop-leaning and hews close to the futuristic sounds of Bush's take: The song surges forward thanks to booming drums, pulsating keyboards and Myers' gutsy vocal delivery. The "Two Minutes To Late Night," version, meanwhile, tapped into the original's propulsive underbelly, swapping keyboards for jagged guitars and adding theatrical metal flourishes.
That malleability explains partly why "Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)" — which was released 35 years ago, on August 5, 1985, and appears on the "Hounds of Love" LP — is one of the most enduring singles of the '80s. It's been covered and interpreted by dozens of other artists, including Tori Amos (who pairs Bush's song with her own 1994 hit "God" during live performances), Placebo, Chromatics, First Aid Kit, and Jade Bird. Noted Kate Bush mega-fan Big Boi dissected the song for Pitchfork last year, praising the lyrics and production, while a remix of the song played in the closing ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.
Bush's catalog has many high points — and her songs "Cloudbusting" and "Hounds of Love" have also been covered quite a bit — but "Running Up That Hill" looms largest of all. It's her lone U.S. top 40 hit, peaking at No. 30 in 1985, and one of her biggest global singles. The song's origins date back to 1983, when Bush and then-boyfriend Del Palmer started working on the music that would emerge on "Hounds of Love."
Bush wrote the song using the cutting-edge Fairlight CMI, while Palmer contributed a Linn drum rhythm. Although these instruments were common in the '80s, Bush's production and songwriting approach elevates the song. "Running Up That Hill" is warm and enveloping, with galloping rhythms, those mysterious squiggly effects, and Bush's sturdy, conspiratorial vocals. The song hovers between the physical and spiritual worlds, suspended in gauzy, hazy consciousness that's akin to the dreams people have just before waking.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, "Running Up That Hill" was originally called "A Deal With God." However, Bush's label was worried about the commercial implications of the title's religious overtones. "For me, that is the title — but I was told that if I insisted [on calling the song that], the radio stations in at least 10 countries would refuse to play it because it had 'God' in the title," she told Q in 1989. "Spain, Italy, America, lots of them. I thought it was ridiculous”.
However, "Running Up That Hill" is no compromise: It's a singular statement made by a strong, confident protagonist asserting their worth. "It's very much about love, really — trying to keep it alive," Bush told Blitz in 1985. "I don't know that perfect love exists in any human being, but I don't think it can be encouraged enough."
In a separate interview with The London Times that same year, she added: "It seems that the more you get to know a person, the greater the scope there is for misunderstanding. Sometimes you can hurt somebody purely accidentally or be afraid to tell them something because you think they might be hurt when really they'll understand.
"So what that song is about is making a deal with God to let two people swap place so they'll be able to see things from one another's perspective."
Her assessment points to one reason "Running Up That Hill" endures: The desire to be heard and understood by other people — especially someone for whom you care deeply — is timeless, and transcends generations. No matter how old you are, it's deeply meaningful to feel like you aren't walking through life alone”.
I feel one reason why the video is so powerful is because of the interpretation of Bush’s lyrics. Some directors may have written a treatment that was too filmic or literal. David Garfath paired Bush with dancer Michael Hervieu in a sublime video. The two of them dancing together in harmony is so powerful. Choregraphed by Diane Grey, I think it is a perfect union. American Songwriter explored the song’s lyrics a couple of years back:
“Running Up That Hill” is a song about how a man and a woman might view their relationship roles differently if God gave them the ability to trade places. In a 1992 interview with BBC Radio 1’s Richard Skinner, Bush explained what the lyric was about, and how she initially had trouble getting the song accepted by radio pretty much all over the world.
“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 other’s roles, if we could actually be in each other’s place for a while, I think we’d both be very surprised! [Laughs] And I think it would be led 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 [meant] we might get it blacked purely because it had ‘God’ in the title. Now, I couldn’t believe this, this seemed completely ridiculous to me and the title was such a part of the song’s entity. I just couldn’t understand it. But none the less, although I was very unhappy about it, I felt unless I compromised that I was going to be cutting my own throat, you know, I’d just spent two, three years making an album and we weren’t gonna get this record played on the radio, if I was stubborn. So I felt I had to be grown up about this, so we changed it to ‘Running Up That Hill.’ But it’s always something I’ve regretted doing, I must say. And normally I always regret any compromises that I make.”
“Running Up That Hill” has since appeared on numerous greatest hits and compilation albums, and in 2012 Bush released a remixed version of the song for the album A Symphony of British Music: Music for the Closing Ceremony of London 2012, putting new vocals on the track from the extended-play 1985 12-inch single. The song has been covered by numerous other artists, including Placebo, Meg Myers, and even the still-active onetime teen queen Tiffany”.
Although Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) has been covered quite a bit, I don’t think that many artists have done anything too different or distinct. As good as some covers are, nothing beats the transfixing and beautiful original! A large part of the timeless appeal and allure of the song is that video. Prior to making Hounds of Love, Kate Bush had abandoned dance to an extent – it was certainly a little to the wayside when she was intensely focused on producing The Dreaming (1982). She, alongside changing her diet, got back into dance in preparation for the album. On videos like Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) and The Big Sky (which she directed), that training and reconnection comes through! From the lightning, costumes, chorography and cinematography of the video, I am transfixed by Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God). The Kate Bush Encyclopaedia took a closer look at the video:
“'Running Up That Hill' was intended as a fond farewell to dance, at least as far as Kate's video appearances were concerned. The music video, directed by David Garfath, featured Bush and dancer Michael Hervieu (who won an audition after Stewart Avon-Arnold was not available due to other commitments) in a performance choreographed by Diane Grey. The pair are wearing grey Japanese hakamas. The choreography 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), intercut with surreal sequences of Bush and Hervieu searching through crowds of masked strangers.
At the climax of the song, Bush's partner withdraws from her and the two are then swept away from each other and down a long hall in opposite directions by an endless stream of anonymous figures wearing masks made from pictures of Bush and Hervieu's faces. MTV chose not to show this video (at the time of its original release) and instead used a live performance of the song recorded at a promotional appearance on the BBC TV show Wogan. According to Paddy Bush, 'MTV weren't particularly interested in broadcasting videos that didn't have synchronized lip movements in them. They liked the idea of people singing songs'”.
I have been thinking a lot about Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) after hearing a recent cover version. In doing so, I’ve been watching the video and having my eyes and mind opened in new ways1 Whilst it is not my absolute favourite video of hers, it is close to the top. I feel Bush’s most impactful videos are where she is very much at the front and captivating us with dance. That is one reason why, in a different way, Wuthering Heights remains such an amazing and unforgettable video! As we inch closer to Kate Bush’s birthday (on 30th July), I am putting out a lot of features on a variety of things. The nature and quality of her music videos is never too far away. When it comes to those that engulf and seduce the senses and cause tingles, few are as powerful…
AS Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God).