Kate Bush: “The Whole World’s Gone Mad”
Kate Bush has given her first interview since the phenomenal resurgence of her 1985 song, Running Up That Hill.
Speaking to Emma Barnett of BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour, Kate said that the song’s success was: “just extraordinary … quite shocking really, isn’t it? I mean, the whole world’s gone mad.”
EXCLUSIVE: Kate Bush: ‘The whole world’s gone mad’@katebushmusic joined @emmabarnett to discuss her song #RunningUpThatHill topping the charts 37 years after it was first released. Listen here: https://t.co/5Y8OOvrP2q pic.twitter.com/cAycJOdxBF
— BBC Woman's Hour (@BBCWomansHour) June 22, 2022
“It’s such a great series, I thought that the track would get some attention. But I just never imagined that it would be anything like this,” Bush said. “The Duffer brothers created the series and actually we watched it from the first series onwards, so I was already familiar with the series. And I thought what a lovely way for the song to be used in such a positive way. You know, as a kind of talisman almost really for Max. And yeah, I think it’s very touching, actually.”
Kate also discussed her relationship with her old material, saying she hadn’t listened to Running Up That Hill “for a really long time” before its recent success, adding: “I never listen to my old stuff.”
Bush confirmed that the original title of the song was A Deal With God, but “I think they were just worried, the record company, that it wouldn’t get played on the radio. That people would feel it was a sensitive title.”
Kate also spoke of finding hope during a difficult time for the world, suggesting that 2022 is, “An incredibly exciting time … OK, so it’s an awful time on a lot of levels for people. Very difficult. But it’s also a time when incredible things are happening. Technology is progressing at this incredible rate. That’s pretty overwhelming, really. But, you know, there’s so many advances in medicine and there are positive things – you just have to look a bit harder to find them at the moment, I think.”
There was also some levity as Barnett asked Kate for her opinion on WitchTok, the TikTok craze partly inspired by Kate Bush music videos. The singer laughed it off, saying it sounded “ridiculous.”