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“Running Up That Hill” – Placebo
(Words/music: Kate Bush, available on Sleeping with Ghosts (Bonus Disc), Astralwerks 2003)

It must be hard to cover an iconic song.  For no other reason, your version of the song will cause plenty of skeptic ears to turn towards your band, many of which are experiencing your band for the first time.  Then there’s the question of interpreting the song – perform a faithful version and run the risk of being called derivative, or attempt a reinterpretation and run the risk of being called blasphemers.  Personally, I like to hear cover songs reinvented, at least slightly.  I’m not always a firm believer in the “make it your own” cover philosophy, but I think there’s value in highlighting a different part of the song, bringing that element to the listener’s attention and, in the best situations, approaching the original with a fresh set of ears.

Therefore, I have a lot of respect for Placebo for tackling “Running Up That Hill,” a song with at least two iconic elements – Bush’s distinctive vocals and that terrific thunderous drum beat running through the song.  Bush sings her divine request for men and women to switch places like an enthusiastic hymn, offering up this opportunity to see how the other sex lives as a tribute to the divine power.  Placebo’s take on “Running Up that Hill” slows the tempo down, replacing those distinctive drums with a subtler rhythmic pulse.  The main synthesizer melody in the original comes through an icy sounding piano and with the heartbeat bass drum and Brian Molko’s eerie voice it sounds more sinister than the original.  Where Bush’s original has a large, almost cavernous feel to it, the Placebo version sounds bleaker and desolate – the great cave replaced with a dark, snowy, seemingly endless field.  Similarly, whether a result of the slower tempo or the darker tones in the track, this version of “Running Up That Hill” sounds more despondent than joyous.  Perhaps this is the other side of the bargain – once we’ve earned the knowledge Bush desires, we’re haunted by these differences.  In this case, we’re running up the hill to try to evade these thoughts.  Even with this reinvention, it’s still a compelling song (so compelling that I often find one listen unsatisfactory and immediately repeat it).  It’s just interesting in a different way.

More on Placebo: Allmusic | Amazon MP3 | Emusic | Last.fm