Kate Bush - Running up that Hill (A Deal With God)
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| UK 12" maxi single, 1985. |
Contents
- A Deal with God
- The music video
- Recordings, performances & interviews
- Commentaries
- References
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1. A Deal with God
One of the writer's favourite Kate Bush live performances is of the 1985 hit Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) from London during March 1987, and featuring David Gilmour of Pink Floyd on guitar. It is a powerful, enthusiastic rendition, with slide guitar replicating the original synthesized refrain. Thirty seven years after the song's release, it achieved world-wide hit status and became Bush's first US Top 10 single as a result of its inclusion in the 2022 soundtrack of the Netflix series Stranger Things. During that year it went on to top Spotify charts with on average 6 million hits per day over a number of weeks (Picci 2022, Doyle 2024). Presented below are various versions of the song, both by Bush and other artists, alongside contemporary promotional material issued by distributor EMI during 1985. The Wikipedia entry linked above is recommended reading in relation to the song's recording history, subsequent versions, and contemporary significance. It will be noted that since 2022 a plethora of covers have appeared, by artists from around the world, and of all styles, ranging from quietly acoustic Celtic renditions through to angst-ridden thrash metal versions.
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| US promo 12" maxi single, rear of sleeve, 1985. Photo: John Carder Bush. |
Running up that Hill (A Deal with God) was written and produced by Kate Bush (b.1958) between 1983-5 at her Wickham Farm, England, studio. She described the background to the song as follows:
"[A Deal with God] was the first song I wrote when we moved [from London] to the country [in 1983]. I think it was perhaps an expression of freedom from the things that I'd felt before. But it's very much about love and the power of love, and the frustration of misunderstanding within relationships; and that if a man could become a woman, and a woman [become] a man within their relationship, that perhaps they'd understand a bit more about each other, and that's the deal with God." (Kate Bush, Music Box interview, 1985)
Or this later, expanded variant:
I had an idea of what I wanted to say in the song and I actually asked Del [Palmer] to write me a drum pattern, and he wrote this great pattern in the drum machine. So I just put the Fairlight on top of it and that was the basis of the song, with the drone which played quite an important part. [In A Deal with God] 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, and I think it would lead to a greater understanding.... Really the only way I could think it could be done was either, I thought, to deal with the devil, [then] I thought, "Well no, why not deal with God?" because in a way it's so much more powerful, the whole idea of asking God to make a deal with you.
For me it is still called A 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; Australia wouldn't play it; Ireland wouldn't play it, and that generally we might get it blocked purely because it had God in the title. Now I couldn't believe this. It seemed completely ridiculous to me, and the title was such a part of the song's entity. I just couldn't understand it. But nonetheless, 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 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 thought 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. Normally I always regret any compromises that I make. (Kate Bush interview, Hounds of Love episode, April 1992)
Bush's record company demanded the new title - Running up that Hill. The song is now known by the secondary title, though the original title appears on the single and LP covers and sleeve. The development of the song over a three year period was a collaborative process. The foundational drum pattern was written by Kate Bush's friend, musician and engineer Del Palmer to begin with; she then went on to add various instruments, including a Fairlight and drone, alongside other musicians. The single was released on RAK in the UK on 5 August 1985, and later overseas in two basic forms:
- 7 inch single - A side: Running up that Hill (A Deal with God); B side: Under the Ivy.
- 12 inch maxi single, with studio version (duration: 4.58 minutes) and extended version (duration: 5.45 minutes). Both versions also appeared on the album cassette release.
The song has since been subject to official and unofficial remixes, with one of the latter extending out to fifteen minutes. The singles were initially issued in a variety of covers / sleeves, including plain or gatefold, and with extras such as postcards. A number of small posters and magazine advertisements also appeared, created by Bush's UK-based record company EMI.
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| 11 x 17" promotional poster, EMI, 1985. |
Running up that Hill (A Deal with God) was the first single off the artist's fifth studio album Hounds of Love, which was subsequently released on 16 September 1985. The song reached number 3 in the UK charts upon its initial release and was her first hit after the breakthrough Wuthering Heights from 28 January 1978. It, along with three other singles, went on to drive sales of the LP.
As Bush only ever undertook a single British and European tour during her career - in 1979, prior to the writing of Running up that Hill (A Deal with God) - live performances are rare and only known to the present writer from 1987 and 2014. All her other performances of the song referenced below are mimed over the original studio recordings.
In association with the song's UK release, two dramatic photographs of Kate Bush appeared, taken from behind and with song text-on-body. The photographer was her brother John Carder Bush. The pose features in a number of variants of the single release and media advertisements. One is coloured sepia with red lettering and arms stretched out and holding a bow and arrow (reproduced below); the other is grey and shrouded in a mist (reproduced above).
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| Music industry magazine advertisement, EMI, 1985. Photo: John Carder Bush. |
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2. The music video
A distinct and significant element of Kate Bush's art from the beginning of her professional career was the music video which accompanied many of her single releases. The most famous of these was that for her first, Wuthering Heights (1978), followed by others such as Hammer Horror (1978), Babooshka (1980) and Running up that Hill (1985). The young (19+ years old) and attractive Bush combined her love of dance and performance - influenced by the work of British artist Lindsay Kemp - as a very successful promotional tool for her music.
Kate Bush - Running up that Hill (A Deal with God), music video, 1985, duration: 4.56 minutes.
The video featured the original studio version of the song in the background over a choreographed artistic dance performance by Bush and others. The choreographer was American Diane Grey who worked on many of her early videos. In the 1993 Egos and Icons interview Bush noted the following of the production of the Running up that Hill (A Deal with God) video:
Interviewer: My favorite video is running up that hill, and I have to ask you who did the choreography for that?
Bush: It was a lady called Diane Gray Kunet. She is an incredible, most beautiful dancer and she was a lot of fun to work with. We got on really well, and I think from the minute we started till we finished working together we didn't stop laughing. It was one of those really fun relationships.
Interviewer: The dance in it is just beautiful. I think it's one of the the best videos I've ever seen that is able to get dance in it and show it off to its best advantage.
Bush: It's really nice that you think that because very much what we wanted to try and achieve was to make it a serious piece of dance which I didn't feel I'd done up until that point. I'd played around with dance but in a very sort of theatrical way, and in some ways it was sort of saying goodbye to that dancing side of me by doing it in a very sort of pure way. It's very much a pure dance video without any theater or anything attached, because I feel very much a shift now from dance into film imagery. So they're two very different things. Not that dance couldn't still be incorporated, but it's not the same attitude.
The performance is a lyrical dance, where Bush and a male partner are clothed in simple grey and dance intimately together, their bodies at times as one and undifferentiated, as per the theme of the song. Later in the video - the filmic section - we see a crowd of Bush clones walking down a corridor. The video was not played on MTV at the time of its release (1985) due to the fact that the song was not sung by Bush; in its stead, the BBC Wogan clip (see below) was played.
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3. Recordings, performances & interviews
These are listed below chronologically, from oldest to recent, and include performances by Bush and other artists mixed in together. All videos are sourced from YouTube and its specific channels, unless otherwise indicated. It can be seen from this that the song was popular with other artists from its initial release, way before the 2022 exposure through Stranger Things.
1985
* Running up that Hill (A Deal with God), UK 12 inch Maxi single, 5 August 1985, duration: 5.52 minutes. Vinyl rip of the original extended version.
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* Kate Bush - Running up that hill (A Deal with God), Live on Wogan, BBC, 1985, Kate Bush Music, duration: 4.50 minutes. Mimed on BBC TV with a group of backing musicians. This was the premiere of the single. In the performance - which differs from the music video - Bush, dressed in dark brown robes and holding a bow and arrow, initially stands at a lectern as though presenting a sermon; behind her six musicians are similarly dressed as monks or followers, and the presence of two portable snare drums suggests she is leading them into battle, or on a crusade. Two men in the background carry large flags waving in the wind. The overall Celtic tone is reminiscent of Robin Hood and the Merry Men. The performance ends with Bush kneeling on the ground, bow in hand and arrow pointing towards the sky, about to be launched.
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* Running up that Hill (A Deal with God), Top of the Pops, 1985, duration: 4.58 minutes. Miming in the TV studio. Very good version with close ups of an animated Kate Bush and backing musicians. It is a simple performance, with no real theatrics apart from a single, unified step movement.
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* Kate Bush - Running up that Hill (A Deal with God), Peter's Pop Show, Germany, 30 November 1985, duration: 4.39 minutes. Mimed on TV with backing musicians, before a live audience. A simple performance with no real theatrics. No other "live" performances connected with the song's initial release are known, and there was no tour to support the Hounds of Love LP release.
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* Kate Bush Interview, Music Box, 1985, duration: 55.22 minutes. This interview took place within Bush's country studio, likely around the time of the release of Hounds of Love, during September.
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* Kate Bush - Interview, Live at Five with Sue Simmons, WNBC, New York, November 1985, duration: 6.23 minutes. Discusses Running up that Hill (A Deal with God) and features the music video.
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* Kate Bush - Interview, ET / Entertainment Tonight, New York, November 1985, duration: 2.57 minutes. Discusses Running up that Hill (A Deal with God).
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* Kate Bush Interview, CNN, New York, November 1985, duration: 3.00 minutes. Features Running up that Hill (A Deal with God) music video.
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* Unedited Kate Bush Interview, part 1 of 5, New York, November 1985, duration: 9.23 minutes. Five parts.
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1987
* Kate Bush - Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God), Live - Secret Policeman's Ball, London, March 1987, duration: 5.00 minutes. Featuring David Gilmour on guitar and Tony Franklin on bass + hair. Live concert with band. A dynamic performance.
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1990
* Blue Pearl, Running up that Hill (A Deal with God), 1990, duration: 4.55 minutes. The earliest known cover version issued.
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1992
* Kate Bush talks Hounds of Love 1985 track by track, BBC radio documentary, April 1992, duration: 24.03 minutes.
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1993
* Kate Bush: Egos and Icons interview, 1993, duration: 30.42 minutes. Discusses many of her music video performances, including the significance of her Running up that Hill (A Deal with God) video in her oeuvre.
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2003
* Within Temptation, Running up that Hill (A Deal with God), 2003, duration: 4.12 minutes. Cover of Kate Bush song, with an Asian (Japanese) feel.
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2009
* Placebo, Running up that Hill (A Deal with God), 2009, duration: 5.01 minutes. Cover of Kate Bush song.
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2011
* Chromatics, Running up that Hill (A Deal with God), 2011, duration: 6.11 minutes. Cover version.
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2012
* Kate Bush - Running up that Hill (A Deal with God) @ London 2012 Olympics, Olympics, YouTube, duration: 5.36 minutes. Closing ceremony. Remix of original recording only. No public performance by Bush.
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* Julia Henning, Running up that Hill (A Deal with God), Sydney Opera House, 2012, duration: 4.00 minutes. Live with full orchestra.
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2014
* August - October 2014 - Kate Bush performs the 22 date Before the Dawn residency at the Apollo Theatre, London, during which she sang Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) live before an audience (Young 2014). The following is audio only from one of those concerts, duration: 5.41 minutes.
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* Kate Bush at the BBC, TV special, 2014, duration: 59.20 minutes. A compilation of appearances on the BBC. Includes Running up that Hill from the Wogan Show in 1985.
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* The Kate Bush Story - Running Up That Hill, BBC documentary, 2014, duration: 59.45 minutes.
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* Trionale, Running up that Hill (A Deal with God), 2014, duration: 4.34 minutes. A Celtic acoustic cover version.
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* Placebo, Running up that Hill (A Deal with God), 2014, duration: 5.41 minutes. Live concert cover version.
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2017
* Jade Bird, Running up that Hill (A Deal with God), 2017, duration: 3.47 minutes. Piano version.
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2018
* Elevator, Running up that Hill (A Deal with God), 7 July 2018, duration: 3.57 minutes. Cover version.
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* First Aid Kit, Running up that Hill (A Deal with God), 14 July 2018, duration: 3.37 minutes. Live at Rock Werchter.
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2019
* Meg Myers, Running up that Hill (A Deal with God), 2019, duration: 5.03 minutes.
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* Candy Says & Marc Canhan, Running up that Hill (A Deal with God), 2019, duration: 5.08 minutes.
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2021
* Simon Neil (Biffy Clyro), Running up that Hill (A Deal with God), Celtic Connections, 2021, duration: 4.43 minutes.
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2022
* Max's Song (full scene - Stranger Things), 31 March 2022, Still Watching Netflix, YouTube, duration: 4.10 minutes. Original soundtrack recording as a backing to a film clip from the TV series.
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* The Wombats, Running up that Hill (A Deal with God, 24 June 2022, duration: 3.34 minutes. Australian cover.
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* Pub Choir, Running up that Hill (A Deal with God), 3 July 2022, duration: 4.40 minutes. Cover version by 1600 Australians. Incredibly moving .... though I don't know precisely why ..... :-) Kate Bush says: "utterly wonderful! .... I love it so much!" (Cain 2022).
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* Amarcord, Running up that Hill (A Deal with God) - extended mix, Amarcord Amarcord, 20 July 2022, YouTube, duration: 15.00 minutes. Remix of the original recording.
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* Lo Spirit, Running up that Hill (A Deal with God), 2022, duration: 3.16 minutes. Angsty, guitar and piano-based, heavy-metal cover, with lots of shouting.
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* Kim Petras, Running up that Hill (A Deal with God), 2 September 2022, duration: 4.49 minutes.
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* Boris Way, Running up that Hill (A Deal with God), 2022, duration: 3.10 minutes. Remix of original recording by French DJ.
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2023
* Torisutan, Running up that Hill (A Deal with God) - Torisutan extended version, Torisutan, 20 May 2023, YouTube, duration: 13.30 minutes. Remix.
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* Anne Clarke / St. Vincent, Running up that Hill (A Deal with God), Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame - Kate Bush induction ceremony, 3 November 2023, duration: 3.57 minutes.
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| UK 7" single, gatefold sleeve, 1985. |
4. Commentaries
The following are commentaries on the song and various versions by other artists.
* Why Kate Bush's viral success from Stranger Things is radical, PBS Origins, 10 August 2022, duration: 9.47 minutes.
* Kate Bush - The making of Running up that Hill, Nostalgic Explorer, 6 January 2025, YouTube, duration: 8.26 minutes.
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5. References
Doyle, Tom, Running up that Hill: 50 Visions of Kate Bush, Nine Eight Books, 2024, 320p.
-----, Inside the making of Kate Bush's Running up that Hill, Mojo Magazine, 6 August 2024.
Jovanovic, Rob, The biography: Kate Bush, Piatkus, 2015, 256p.
Picci, Aimee, Singer Kate Bush earned $2.3 million after "Stranger Things" popularized "Running up that Hill", CBS News, 1 July 2022.
Thomson, Graeme and Sinéad Gleeson, Under the Ivy: The Life and Music of Kate Bush, Omnibus Press, 2024, 432p.
Wikipedia, Before the Dawn, Wikipedia, accessed 4 June 2025.
-----, Kate Bush, Wikipedia, accessed 4 June 2025.
-----, Running Up That Hill, Wikipedia, accessed 4 June 2025.
Young, Alex, Kate Bush's first concert in 35 years: setlist + photos, Consequence, 26 August 2014.
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Last updated: 10 June 2025
Michael Organ, Australia
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