Kate Bush: Running Up That Hill Meaning

Running Up That Hill Lyrics

If I only could, Id be running up that hill.
If I only could, Id be running up that hill.

It doesnt hurt me.
Do you want to feel how it feels?
Do you want to know that it doesnt hurt me?
Do you want to hear about the deal that Im...

1. 1TOP RATED

   #1 top rated interpretation:
   anonymous

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   Jan 27th 2012 !⃝

   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

2. 2TOP RATED

   #2 top rated interpretation:
   anonymous

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   Aug 14th 2020 !⃝

   This is probably a song about the sex act of pegging. It's a woman talking about using a strap-on dildo or something similar to penetrate a man so they both know about the "other" side of sex in some form.
   
   You want to know 'it' doesn't hurt me,(penetration, curiosity about being penetrated held by one who is conditioned to normally fear and avoid it as wrong, and is probably concerned that if it's bad then he should not do it to someone he cares about even if they seem to want him to, thus the reverse "shows" him it's not a bad thing if done carefully)
   
   Make a deal with God, to get him to swap our places (role reversal, so She pitches he catches, she finds out what it's like to do the thing, and he learns what it's like or similar at least to have her do do the thing to him)
   
   running up that road, running up that hill
   (going against the usual order of things, fighting the gradient of the usual)
   
   See how deep the bullet lies
   (c'mon... it's about penetration)
   
   lot of imagery there that subtly but directly conforms to a discussion of a couple looking into pegging.
3. anonymous

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   Apr 4th 2022 !⃝

   Mental totally under stand I thought it was about sex that it don’t hurt her he wasnt the man she wanted but totally different story
4. anonymous

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   Feb 21st 2013 !⃝

   Someone close to her is ill or has died and caused her great pain which she will never fully get rid of. She loved/loves the person so much that she wishes she could get God to swap her place with the other person. Then she would be the ill or dead person and the person she loves would still be alive and healthy. If she could make this deal with God she would not wait or hesitate, she would be running up that road, running up that hill, running up that building, to save the person she cares so much about.
   It's really a sad song although many people say it isn't , but when you listen to the song properly and take in the words, you will understand how sad it actually is.
5. anonymous

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   Aug 12th 2012 !⃝

   Kate Bush was quite clear; it's about the difficulty of the genders in communicating. I'd read it as perhaps being about forgiveness for sexual infidelity or even sexual incompetence or selfishness. a higher interpretation is that it'sabout death and beyond... but hey, who are we to impose our interpretations. whatever the meaning, its ambiguity is partook its enduring appeal
6. anonymous

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   Jun 6th 2012 !⃝

   Surely it's about the death of a loved one?
   
   the person you love is dead or dying and you wish you could take their place.
7. anonymous

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   Feb 29th 2012 !⃝

   Heartless Bastards - Marathon
   
   staring out at the city skylights
   a marathon is going down the street
   and we're all racing for our own reasons
   and sometimes in the middle we all meet
   on this long race home
   on this long race home
   
   came to another fork in the road
   that's where we decided to part
   and no one said anything for hours
   we were under the same familiar stars
   on this long road home
   on this long road home
   
   and we all want to belong
   to something more than
   more than ourselves
   cause you can't always do it alone
   sometimes you just need a
   need a little help
   on this long way home
   on this long way home
   
   and oh I ran so far
   that I forgotten what I was running from
   and time it takes you so far
   and I am longing to be back home
   on this long way home (x3)
   I'm on my way (x5)
   
   She was running in a very lengthy marathon with many people in her town. It was a bit like The Bay To Breakers b/c everyone was wearing costumes & masks so she could not decipher precisely with whom she was running. She had to guess who was saying what to her.. Who was pushing her down... Who was cheering her forward... Who was calling her a slow-poke fatbottomed jogger. When they came to the fork in the road she didn't decide anything. The forkers were the deciders. It was then she was sent to a mental ward for not running fast enough. People told her she was a slug and a junkie. They threw a sink at her face. Off she went. She was confused as to whether she was being set up for some result in her life via The Positive Pygmalion Effect, The Old Setting Up For Failure Shtick, Severe Psychological Trauma Tactical Maneuvering, A Big Pharma Parkinsonian Tremor Horror Show and/or The Tedious Moving Goal Posts Strategy Situation. She didn't say anything for hours because she was rendered catatonic. It's what happens to marathoners sometimes. She was suspicious of the tactics of everyone shouting at her BUT if she were to mention any of it, it would have only fueled a "crazy", "paranoid" and/or "delusional" diagnosis. Hence, once she got out of the psych ward, she simply had to ignore all of the other marathoners for fear of her actual life. She ran in blind silence amid all of the shouting & chaos. Every now and then she'd throw out some gestures in sign language as she shrugged her shoulders. She didn't know who was hearing what or which & from whence she was whomforth. She wants to be a part of the fitness crowd but she is shunned. The roadies provide her with soup as she lurchingly trudges in a forward motion. A dirty vagabond offers her a banana for potassium. Needless to say, she has been on a very perplexing & exhausting road home. She is in total Love with a very Long Clown running in the marathon. Every now and then she catches a glimpse of the clown and then poof- he disappears. She knows that she wants to trap this clown inside of her, yet she has no idea how to do this as it is quite complicated. Hm. That is the meaning of this song called "Marathon" by The Heartless Bastards.

   This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
8. anonymous

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   Feb 29th 2012 !⃝

   it doesn't hurt me.
   Do you want to feel how it feels?
   Do you want to know, know that it doesn't hurt me?
   Do you want to hear about the deal that I'm making?
   You, it's you and me.
   
   (shes been hurt and someone she's in love with is getting married and she making a deal with God, probably costing her her soul, to swap herself with the bride)
   
   And if I only could,
   i'd make a deal with god,
   and i'd get him to swap our places,
   be running up that road,
   be running up that hill,
   be running up that building.
   Say, if I only could, oh...
   
   (if only this were a real option and she could do it)
   
   You don't want to hurt me,
   but see how deep the bullet lies.
   Unaware I'm tearing you asunder.
   Ooh, there is thunder in our hearts.
   
   (tearing you "asunder" is a bible reference to breaking up a marriage. the bullet is so deep she'd sacrifice her soul to break them up)
   
   Is there so much hate for the ones we love?
   Tell me, we both matter, don't we?
   You, it's you and me.
   It's you and me won't be unhappy.
   
   (she hates him, but loves him so much, and she knows he'd hate to be with her and that he's happy but she's delusional and thinks theyd still be happy together)
   
   C'mon, baby,
   C'mon darling,
   Let me steal this moment from you now.
   C'mon, angel, c'mon, c'mon, darling,
   Let's exchange the experience.
   
   
   (she's looking to steal the marriage, possibly at the alter, and possibly even the exact moment such as he might pull up the veil at the alter and that it would be her. exchange the experience is hoping he will feel the heartache as she does)
   
   
   be running up that road
   be running up that hill
   with no problem.
   
   (and she'd do it in a heartbeat)
   
   
   Mark Label

   This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
9. anonymous

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   Jul 9th 2011 !⃝

   No idea about a lot of the song but I feel there is some religious imagery to be considered. The singer is in a desperate situation and is asking God to change places,not with some one else but with God himself in the person of Jesus: so bad is her situation that she would welcome crucifixion as alternative. Indeed,she would "be running up that hill" i.e. Calvary to embrace, as she sees it, the lesser predicament. This is a little bit out there, I grant you, but Kate is well read and more than capable of making some very bold statements

   This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
10. anonymous

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    May 8th 2011 !⃝

    anonymous--you had me all the way up until the revenge part. I do not sense a vengeful anger in the lyrics but more of a desire for the other person to undertsand what they are putting the writer through, perhaps on the idea that they may stop.
    
    That said it is a noble idea but alas, ppl who hurt others, whether intentionally or unintentionally, seldom learn how to mend their ways--experiencing another's pain will probably not change them...
11. anonymous

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    Feb 27th 2011 !⃝

    I believe this song is about the denial of pain is almost frustrating the singer. It's like the song is their last shot to try and, without this song, they have given up. Obviously they want to be happy but they simply can't be happy with the person doing what they're doing (hurting, without realizing it!) They clearly want to switch places and run away from their feelings; almost give them to the deserved person (causing the pain).
    
    the feeling could be inflicted through love and breakup, death or anything but it is almost defiantly about someBODY!
    
    The emotions shows that they would literally do ANYTHING to swap... even "make a deal with God" and "be running up that hill"; a "hill" is a struggle and they would face the struggle, in order to almost seek revenge.
    
    The song just shows how they are dealing with the pain but would do next to anything to see what it's like to not be the victim and have the cause in their shoes!
    
    Lovely song, overall! :)
12. nthrcrpusrnme

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    Aug 19th 2006 !⃝

    This song's about how things would/could be if they went the way we wanted them to.
    
    It's also an ironic song because of the way she's telling her feelings, but they aren't the real reasons. Whatever she's trying to say she still believes that herself and her partner can still "be" they can still "happen", and that's why she wants to make a deal with god. She wants to change the way things are happening in her life, the obstacles, the trials, the problems. I like the line in it when she says 'you don't want to hurt me...But see how deep the bullet lies'. I can't interpret what that meant for kate when she wrote the song, but for me it means someone who was perhaps not intentionally trying to hurt someones feelings just didn't understand how much they did. Without even trying (or did they?)
    
    it doesn't hurt me.
    Do you want to feel how it feels?
    Do you want to know, know that it doesn't hurt me?
    Do you want to hear about the deal that I'm making?
    You, it's you and me.
    
    And if I only could,
    i'd make a deal with god,
    and i'd get him to swap our places,
    be running up that road,
    be running up that hill,
    be running up that building.
    Say, if I only could, oh...
    
    You don't want to hurt me,
    but see how deep the bullet lies.
    Unaware I'm tearing you asunder.
    Ooh, there is thunder in our hearts.
    
    Is there so much hate for the ones we love?
    Tell me, we both matter, don't we?
    You, it's you and me.
    It's you and me won't be unhappy.

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