The song was performed live for the first time as part of the 2014 Before the Dawn residency, in which the lyrics were slightly altered.Įnglish post-punk band the Futureheads covered the song in 2005, scoring a UK Top 10 hit with it. 21 in its list of the 50 greatest British songs of all time. In October 2004, Q magazine placed this song at No. The words 'it's in the trees, it's coming!' heard at the beginning of the track are sampled from the British 1957 horror film Night of the Demon and are mouthed by an actor from the film, Reginald Beckwith, who plays a medium channelling a character played by Maurice Denham, who provides the voice. The versions worldwide differ slightly: the US single mix included an additional chorus just after the second chorus. It is perhaps the only cover here that comes close to rivalling Bush’s.The song is about being afraid to fall in love in the song this feeling is compared to being chased by a pack of hounds. And I think it would lead to a greater understanding.” It is this notion that Molko is so easily able to transmit with authenticity and aplomb. 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. In Bush’s own words, “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. It adds a gothic tone to the song’s content that makes the track feel more akin to dealing with the Devil than making a deal with God. It tips its hat to the original in sentiment and sound but otherwise takes the song and us as the audience on a brand new adventure.īrian Molko’s vocal performance is jagged and razor-tipped, while the sonics that backs him is equally dark and menacing. Ignoring the new spate of covers of the song owing to the aforementioned spot in Stranger Things, the cover is the definition of what a great cover needs to be.

The kind of song you’d expect to be soundtracking a Bladerunner remake, this cover is what taking on a classic should be about-reimagining, not regurgitating.Ī lot of these lists will be topped by a surprise inclusion, but to ignore Placebo’s cover of ‘Running Up That Hill’ as the definitive Kate Bush cover would be a travesty. Though lacking the softness of Bush’s original, what the band lose in curves they make up for in glitchy edge. Taken from the band’s 2007 album Night Drive, there’s something dystopian yet beautiful about their rendition of the song. If you were expecting a song from Chromatics to be anything but a synth-driven pop masterclass, then you’ll be sadly disappointed by their cover of ‘Running Up That Hill’. The best Kate Bush covers of all time: 8. It’s what connects us to the songs in the first place and the line the artists below have pulled on to create their own versions of the work. One thing Bush did put in all her songs, however, is a thread of humanity. It means that some of her songs, even the songs that have sewn themselves into the fabric of British culture, are largely inimitable. Ever since she has sporadically dropped albums that are both experimental and comforting naturally gifted in the art of songwriting, her gift is in her individualism. When she burst onto the scene in the late 1970s with her stunning literary hit ‘Wuthering Heights’, there was truly nobody like her around. Kate Bush’s uniqueness is what made her a star in the first place.

Futureheads hounds of love video