LogFAQs > #956539984

85. Kate Bush Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) (1985)
from the album Hounds of Love

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wp43OdtAAkM

Key lyrics:
Let me steal this moment from you now

Running Up That Hill is a love song of a different caliber. Kate Bush, though apparently happy with her lover, deeply wishes to swap places so they can better understand one another. No matter the power of love, she suggests the gender roles of our society create an impenetrable barrier. In classic Kate Bush style, she turns to mysticism over a direct discussion. This vision sets the stage for a grandiose piece.

A sustained note kicks things off, serving as a heavenly backdrop throughout the song. The opening pairs a synthesizer with a drum machine. A simple arrangement, but the synth-line is striking, introspective and playful as it warbles. Kate Bush begins running immediately out the gate, layering her voice to both echo and harmonize. The song subtly evolves from there. The layered vocals grow frantic as the synth changes tone. After the bridge, an actual drum set kicks off and a guitar joins in. Both of these elements are sparsely used, popping in only to emphasize a phrase here and there. The backing vocals become a ghastly wail throughout the last two minutes. Though Bush set the scene with a bombastic electronic presence, the true strength in Running Up That Hill is how that bombast allows the other elements to slowly grow to life.

Kate Bush has been an enduring figure because she crafts song as flashy as they are understated. The electronic elements immediately date this, but the complex arrangement similarly marks it as a high point for the era. Running Up That Hill reveals that showing age can be its own form of timelessness there is power in the ability to immediately conjure a bygone era.

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My top 100 games (with write-ups): https://foolfantastic.com/top-100-video-games-project/