FEATURE:
Get it Covered!
PHOTO CREDIT: John Carder Bush
we all heard enough covers of Kate Bush’s Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) last year. It is no wonder artists wanted to celebrate a song that got back in the charts and reached new fans and younger listeners. As a result, various artists gave their take on the classic Bush single. There were some dreadful attempts (the less said about Rita Ora’s mauling the better!), and some good ones. I don’t think there were that many that strayed too far from the original in terms of the vocal performance. Many gave the song a harder edge or more of a modern Pop sound, but most who were singing it did not really change the pace of the song or the delivery. I have included one below that is actually pretty good! Featuring Sweet Megg on vocals, it is a PostmodernJukebox take on the 1985 song. It has a Jazz feel to it. Maybe like it was being performed at a New York club in the 1950s or 1960s. Something that could be played loud at Ronnie Scott’s in London today. I really like the direction and take! I have been a bit down on the covers of Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) as there were so MANY of them! It seemed cynical for artists to cover the song, in the hope they might get some residual success and popularity. Few really gave it much of a stamp or new personality. I do like the most recent one I have found. They brand it as a Western style. It has that U.S. heart, but I also hear U.K. elements and other genres in there.
I hope we can put Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) to bed! It did its thing in 2022 and it meant Kate Bush has been back in focus and in the ears of people who might not have heard her before. Everyone from Halsey to The Wombats did their take of the Hounds of Love song. It is not the case there has only been one decent Kate Bush cover last year. It is hard to keep on top of all of them, but I have heard some interesting takes. If you look for Kate Bush covers from last year, most do relate to Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God). Through the years, there have been some great ones, and my favourite might be a live version of Moments of Pleasure (from The Red Shoes) performed live. A lot of the covers are of the better-known tracks, but there is opportunity to repurpose those and bring them to new fans. Maybe a fresh angle on Never for Ever’s Babooshka? An artist doing something fresh with Wuthering Heights. Even a song from an album as popular as Hounds of Love, The Big Sky, has been relatively untouched. I have said before how no Kate Bush cover surpasses the originals, but that is not to say artists shouldn’t cover and interpret on her songs. I think certain songs have been saturated. Nobody is going to do anything radical with Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) now. There are so many other options and rarer songs.
It is nice to be surprised and find a cover that takes a Kate Bush song in a new direction. As a unique and innovative artist, it is challenging doing something bold with her music! I have mooted the possibility of Kate Bush tribute and cover albums. I do think, especially as there needs to be a new documentary about Bush, having new covers would definitely add to that. I have a list of Kate Bush songs that I would love to see covered. One of my favourites, Them Heavy People (from The Kick Inside) is up there, but there are even tracks from Hounds of Love’s The Ninth Wave that would benefit new interpretation. Lesser-known songs like The Sensual World’s The Fog, and Get Out of My House from The Dreaming are in my thoughts. Artists can definitely bring magic from Kate Bush’s songs that were not there before. What the plethora of Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) covers last year showed is that artists are connecting with Kate Bush. She inspires artists of all ages and across all genres! Every cover brings the original to someone else - so one cannot complain. It also proves how relevant Bush is today. I am keen to see which songs are covered this year and, indeed, whether we get another Stranger Things moment. This could be yet another massive year for Kate Bush and her music. We cross our fingers, but let’s hope all this new love of her work compels Bush to gift us…
WITH some new music.