Post by tannis on Jul 30, 2009 0:00:33 GMT
Celebrity birthday for July 30: Singer-songwriter Kate Bush is 51.[/color]
Kate Bush ♫ Running Up That Hill ♫ (12" mix) ~HQ~[/color]
www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7OT1_BXB6w
"Running Up That Hill" is a song by the British singer/songwriter Kate Bush. It was the first single from her 1985 album Hounds of Love, released in the UK on 5 August 1985. It was her first 12" single. It was the most successful of Bush's 1980s releases, entering the UK chart at no.9 and eventually peaking at the no. 3, her second-highest single peak. The single also had an impact in the United States, providing Bush with her first chart hit there since 1978 where it reached the top 30, and featured prominently within the Dance Charts.
Originally titled "A Deal with God", representatives at EMI were hesitant to release the song, as they feared the religious connotations of the title could have prevented radio play, especially in the United States. Because the singles from her previous release, The Dreaming, had fared so poorly in the charts, Bush relented and changed the title, however the album version of the song is listed as "Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)". The executives of EMI initially wanted to release another song, "Cloudbusting", as the lead single from the album. Bush successfully convinced them to release "Running Up That Hill" first, citing that it was the first song to be written for the album, and felt that it better represented the broader feel for "Hounds of Love".
The song itself has often been misinterpreted. Bush herself has said, "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 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 its title. But we were told that if we kept this title that it would not 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."
The music video featured Bush and dancer Michael Hervieu in a choreographed performance, wearing Japanese hakamas. Bush felt that in most music videos "dancing happened around the artist, but never truly involved the artist at all". She wanted the dancing in "Running Up That Hill" to be more of a classical performance, and therefore enlisted Dyanne Gray, a dance instructor whom Bush had been working with. The dance 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). At the climax of the song, Bush's partner unexpectedly withdraws from her. In a surreal sequence, both are swept away down a long hall in opposite directions by an endless stream of anonymous figures wearing masks that are pictures of Bush and Hervieu's faces.
Alternative rock band Placebo also covered "Running Up That Hill", releasing it originally on the bonus disc of their 2003 album Sleeping with Ghosts and on the re-released Meds in 2007. Placebo's take on the song is more downbeat than the original. It has been described by Q Magazine as 'sound[ing] more like a pact with the Devil' than the original 'deal with God'.
Kate Bush & David Gilmour - Running up that Hill - Live SPB[/color]
www.youtube.com/watch?v=vl9OKddQBRg
Placebo - Running Up That Hill
www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KEEXyRL0qE
Kate Bush ♫ Running Up That Hill ♫ (12" mix) ~HQ~[/color]
www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7OT1_BXB6w
"Running Up That Hill" is a song by the British singer/songwriter Kate Bush. It was the first single from her 1985 album Hounds of Love, released in the UK on 5 August 1985. It was her first 12" single. It was the most successful of Bush's 1980s releases, entering the UK chart at no.9 and eventually peaking at the no. 3, her second-highest single peak. The single also had an impact in the United States, providing Bush with her first chart hit there since 1978 where it reached the top 30, and featured prominently within the Dance Charts.
Originally titled "A Deal with God", representatives at EMI were hesitant to release the song, as they feared the religious connotations of the title could have prevented radio play, especially in the United States. Because the singles from her previous release, The Dreaming, had fared so poorly in the charts, Bush relented and changed the title, however the album version of the song is listed as "Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)". The executives of EMI initially wanted to release another song, "Cloudbusting", as the lead single from the album. Bush successfully convinced them to release "Running Up That Hill" first, citing that it was the first song to be written for the album, and felt that it better represented the broader feel for "Hounds of Love".
The song itself has often been misinterpreted. Bush herself has said, "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 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 its title. But we were told that if we kept this title that it would not 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."
The music video featured Bush and dancer Michael Hervieu in a choreographed performance, wearing Japanese hakamas. Bush felt that in most music videos "dancing happened around the artist, but never truly involved the artist at all". She wanted the dancing in "Running Up That Hill" to be more of a classical performance, and therefore enlisted Dyanne Gray, a dance instructor whom Bush had been working with. The dance 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). At the climax of the song, Bush's partner unexpectedly withdraws from her. In a surreal sequence, both are swept away down a long hall in opposite directions by an endless stream of anonymous figures wearing masks that are pictures of Bush and Hervieu's faces.
Alternative rock band Placebo also covered "Running Up That Hill", releasing it originally on the bonus disc of their 2003 album Sleeping with Ghosts and on the re-released Meds in 2007. Placebo's take on the song is more downbeat than the original. It has been described by Q Magazine as 'sound[ing] more like a pact with the Devil' than the original 'deal with God'.
Kate Bush & David Gilmour - Running up that Hill - Live SPB[/color]
www.youtube.com/watch?v=vl9OKddQBRg
Placebo - Running Up That Hill
www.youtube.com/watch?v=4KEEXyRL0qE
