Running Up That Hill (Kate Bush cover)

i personally like the placebo version better than the kate bush version....=$

Well, Running Up That Hill is on the bonus disc of Sleeping With Ghosts, Zodin. Dunno if that helps.

I think people associate this too much with romantic relationships. I find the song to have a basic meaning of overcoming trials, and wanting to help loved ones do the same... by switching places with them.

i don't know about anyone else, but when i heard this song, i thought of someone who's loved one was sick or in pain, and they were asking God to swich places, i know people think otherwise, but thats just the story i think of when i listen to this song.

oh, and i like this version better than all the others, it's very haunting in a way.

eerie and beautiful -

I think it is in relation with carrying someone else's burden. The person wishes to exchange places, knowing well that he will have to bear the weight "running up that hill" over and over again. Yet the experience will be worth it.

i think this song is so good. i knew the kate bush version, but i never really understood it. once i heard it by placebo it completely changed my perspective on it. I love it so much the way he sings is really good. Basically, what I think is that something happened, maybe a breakup, whatever, and hes wishing that the person who made him this hated thing that he is now, would know what it feels like. He wishes for justice to what happened to him.

And if I only could, Make a deal with God, And get him to swap our places,

this other persons getting off easy, not realising the pain they have caused. So he wants them to know what it feels like.

I listened to this song on repeat when my son was in the hospital after he was born.

It hit me especially hard because my mom always told me when I was sick that she would take the sickness from me if she could, and live it herself.

If I could have swapped places with my son, I would have.

I interpret this song as a person's post-breakup feelings. I first heard this version on a trailer for the movie Daybreakers; terrible movie but the song really struck me. Just to put my two cents in, I think Placebo's rendition rips the original to shreds. Kate Bush's version has a WAY different tone, and so I think it's safe to say Placebo had a much different interpretation of the lyrics than what Kate originally intended.

First, the "road, hill, and building" represents the process of getting through a tough seperation from a significant other. Running uphill is never easy, and the only goal of running uphill is to eventually "get over" (in this song's case, get over a failed relationship).

I think the meaning of the first two verses is pretty evident; the narrator implies that his feelings are being overlooked by the other person ("You wanna feel how it feels?, You wanna know, Know that it doesn't hurt me?"), and wishes an act of God to reverse the roles so she can see from his point of view. This understanding she may gain would allow him to find closure, and then they could start the process of moving on ("You and me, be running up that hill").

The third verse stars off with the lines, "You don't want to hurt me, but see how deep the bullet lies." The narrator is saying, "This wasn't your intention, but look at how this is killing me inside." The next line, however, ("Unaware that I'm tearing you asunder") is implying how he is blind to the fact that she is experiencing the same feelings, that she is also being torn apart by their separation just as much as he. The "thunder in our hearts" represents the discontent they are both feeling, rupturing the love they once felt. In the line "Tell me, we both matter, don't we?" the narrator wants confirmation from her that "Our relationship has significance, right?"

If he gets that confirmation, then they could then (again) find closure and they "won't be unhappy" any longer.

I think it's also interesting to note the very first line "It doesn't hurt me" acts like a statement, and when it is juxtaposed with "you wanna feel how it feels?" it implies that on the outside, the narrator may act like he's fine (for whatever reason, pride maybe?), but on the inside he is experiencing torment.

Interestingly, the narrator's feelings mirror my own.

The heart-beat as drum beat in this song is chilling. Wanting to bear the pain of another, running up that hill for them only part of this song. Love in this song, like all love is complicated. There is 'thunder in our hearts' and the first line 'It doesn't hurt me' sounds like one side of an argument ewhere the person protests too much, and they might love the other person but also hurt them deeply with an imbedded bullet of words...

im confused as to what this song means, whether the singer is the person dying and condemming their lover to death, or if they want to save their lover from dying. hmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Because I heard this version on the OC so long ago and felt like explaining what I think it means here.. I think this song is about someone whose loved one is dying. The person is trying to convince the one who is dying that it doesn't hurt them, when in reality they're mad with pain. "If I only could make a deal with God and get Him to swap our places..." The person would much rather be the one dying as they cannot imagine living without the one who is dying. "You don't want to hurt me, but see how deep the bullet lies..." Finally the person is admitting how much pain they're in. "..C'mon darling, let me steal this moment from you now.." Everyone is surrounded by the person's deathbed, and the other one who isn't dying is pleading to get them to swap places one last time. Basically, I think it's about someone who would rather die then see their loved one die.