Song Information
Originally titled "A Deal with God", representatives at EMI were hesitant to release the song as titled due to possible negative reception due its use of the word "God." 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 other's place for a while, I think we'd both be very surprised! And I think it would 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. | ” |
Read more about this topic: Running Up That Hill
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