(Credits: Far Out / YouTube Still)
Tue 30 December 2025 13:55, UK
There is no greater way for an artist to show their appreciation for a song than by recording their own version of the composition. While Stevie Nicks is typically on the receiving end of the compliment, she has no issue with covering a track if she loves it so dearly.
However, as Nicks knows, covering songs is an art form which needs to be done correctly. Unless she can add a new dimension to the original recording that transports it to a new space while doing justice to the creator, there’s no need to record anything at all.
As a result, Nicks has shied away from covering her favourite Kate Bush song, ‘Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)’, despite holding it close to her heart.
Most notably, ‘Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)’ has been covered by Placebo, whose version of the track was almost unrecognisable from the original, and did everything that a good cover should do with its mission statement. Whereas Nicks felt her version would have just sounded like karaoke.
Nicks opened up about her love of Bush during an interview with BBC Radio 2 in 2011, a time when she was tasked with naming a series of her favourite songs. In the broadcast, the Fleetwood Mac vocalist selected ‘Running Up That Hill’, as well as beloved songs by artists she cherishes, such as the Eagles, The Beach Boys, and Chicago.
The mercruial brilliance of Kate Bush. (Credits: Far Out / Guido Harari / EMI America)
It’s a song that epitomises Buch’s ethereal nature and encapsulates the unique talent that took her to the top, which will undoubtedly still be listened to in 100 years.
Speaking to the BBC about the song in 1992, Bush said of its meaning: “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. 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! And I think it would lead to a greater understanding.”
When Nicks first heard ‘Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)‘, she instantly fell in love with the track, and it has maintained a special place in her record collection ever since. The Fleetwood Mac singer said to the BBC of her selection: “That song I really loved because, what a great writer she is, and ‘Running Up That Hill’ was one of those songs that, when I first heard it, I went, ‘Oh I wanna record that song someday.’”
However, ultimately, Nicks conceded that it wasn’t the wisest idea, noting, “As writers, we do that whenever a song comes on the radio that we love, we say, ‘Oh, I wanna record it and reinterpret it.’ Every once in a while, we do it, but you finally smarten up and go, ‘I can’t really do that song better than Kate Bush did, so I’m not gonna do it.’ Because if you can’t outdo her, then don’t bother”.
She then detailed precisely why she adores Bush so immensely and an artist that is simply too good to attempt to replicate, adding, “And I just really loved her because she was a woman songwriter, and she was really standing out from the fray… a real serious writer who could compare with any of the guys. And then you’d see her in her videos, she’s kind of like a ninja. So she was tough, and yet she was a beautiful dancer. And she wrote beautiful songs. She wrote interesting, on-the-edge songs. As a writer, I really respected her because of that.”
As much as hearing a version of ‘Running Up That Hill’ at a live show by Nicks would likely be spellbinding, there’s no other singular artist in the world that can deliver those lines with the same bittersweet sentiment as Bush.
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