Since the first volume of Stranger Things’ fourth season dropped in May, Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)” has been running up the charts. It’s been four decades since the track was released, but Bush is still showing the pop girlies how it’s done.
Earlier today, the legend herself appeared on BBC Radio 4’s “Woman's Hour” in a rare interview — her first since 2016 — to discuss the song’s “touching” use in the show and resulting success.
“[Stranger Things] is such a great series, so I thought that the track would get some attention but I just never imagined that it would be anything like this,” Bush said. “It’s so exciting. But it’s quite shocking really, isn’t it? I mean, the whole world’s gone mad.”
Ever since the song, which Bush calls “A Deal With God” — the name she originally intended the track to have before changing it due to pressure from her record company — saved beloved character Max (Sadie Sink) from Vecna (this season’s big bad) it has been shattering records like Vecna shatters bones.
The track reached No. 1 on the UK singles chart and is Bush’s first top 10 hit in the US. It also dethroned Wham’s “Last Christmas” as the single that’s taken the longest to reach the top spot on the UK charts — which is a bit poetic given the song’s original meaning.
Though Bush urged listeners to interpret “Running Up That Hill's'' meaning for themselves, she said it was originally written about the “idea of a man and a woman swapping with each other just to feel what it was like from the other side.”
Bush is also now the oldest woman to have a song in the No. 1 spot, a record previously held by Cher for “Believe.” Ever the good sport, Cher was more than happy to relinquish her title, sharing a sweet message for Bush on Twitter once news broke.
\u201cBravo Kate\ud83d\ude4c\ud83c\udffc\nRecords Are Meant 2 Be Broken\u203c\ufe0fRemember Back In The Day,When Women Had SHORT SELL BY DATES\u2049\ufe0fWe Had 2 Fight Our Way Through The Testosterone Curtain,& We Did it So The Girls Who Came After Us Could Sing As Long As They Want To.\nWith Mega Respect\n\ud83d\udc8b\nMe\u201d— Cher (@Cher) 1655514315
As the release of the second and final part of Stranger Things’ fourth season nears — the trailer for which also used “Running Up That Hill” — fans are already speculating about what song will receive the Kate Bush treatment this go-around. Another Bush classic, perhaps? (Fingers crossed for “Cloudbusting.”) Or maybe whatever song Eddie (Joseph Quinn) is playing in the trailer?
With a nearly four-hour runtime, there are bound to be at least a few bangers in the final two episodes, and if Kate Bush is tuning in, so are we.
Photo via Getty/ Koh Hasebe/ Shinko Music
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