Well, it’s a fantastic, uplifting, moment captured on video that’s had almost 100,000 views on Facebook and it’s probably about to have a lot more. Brisbane Pub Choir, in Australia, have caught Kate’s attention! As they describe it themselves: “What happens when 1600 strangers have a few drinks, then learn to sing Running Up That Hill in three-part harmony? Turn up the volume and find out! Singing is for EVERYBODY! Thank you to Kate Bush for writing this timeless tune and for letting Pub Choir sing it. We hope we did you proud. Feel like having a sing with us? Join us at the pub some time!”
Kate has just written her response directly to them:
Dear Brisbane Pub Choir,
I’ve been so busy that I’ve only just had the chance to watch you all singing RUTH. It’s utterly, utterly wonderful! I love it so much! Thank you everyone. You sing it really beautifully. I’m incredibly touched by your warmth and all your smiling faces. Thank you!
With lots of love,
Kate
The choir organisers were quick to express their delight on their Facebook page:
KATE BUSH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Cancel all your plans. Quit your job. Throw all your books in the bin. Just sit down a minute and get a load of this. Life as we know it is over, and this email is all that remains.
We really did that, Brisbane.
According to a report in The Brisbane Times choir maestro Astrid Jorgensen was about to go for a run on Thursday morning, “up that hill” as it happens, when she checked her email on her phone.
“There it was. A personal message from the zeitgeist-defining Bush. “I ran home pretty fast,” Jorgensen said. “When we sent off the request for the song, the response that we got back from the publishers was pretty much along the lines of ‘have a backup plan, because this is probably going to be a ‘no’ because she doesn’t approve requests very often for the use of her music’,” she said.
“Even getting the song felt like a massive deal, and I told the crowd that on the night. “I think everyone felt like that was really special for us, but yeah, this is obviously a pretty big icing on the cake.”
A brilliantly erratic chord structure and a chorus that comes out of nowhere makes Running Up That Hill a difficult song to master in 90 minutes, but that was exactly what the Brisbane crowd managed. “It is a really complex song and I think that’s why her music has been so interesting for so long,” Jorgensen said. “It’s not everyone’s cup of tea at all times, but it’s complex, it’s never boring.”
The song’s distinctive synth riff was replicated by a string section, courtesy of the Queensland chamber orchestra, Camerata. “The song itself is about a total breakdown of communication in a relationship and begging God to change places with the person so you can understand each other better, so I felt like that is a fairly big, heavy message,” Jorgensen said. “Strings are kind of similar to human voices in a spooky way, so it felt like a nice little extension of the choir.”
Cherry
As a fan since the beginning, and being a teenager then, Kate was, and still is my heroine. This brought me to floods of tears…..the World Kate Movement is starting……..
Len
She does notice. That message is kind.
Kindness works. It is the only thing that really does. It occurs to me RUTH expressed what Schopenhauer called hedgehog dilemma. The resolution is faith, acceptance of the irrational. God is within, the deal is with yourself.
Kindness is the expression of faith in God within, that the inevitable pain of intimacy is the cost but the reward is warmth.
Good on you, Kate.
Maya
Beautifully written – thank you .
As the Dalai Lama says “you can always be kind” .
Thank you Kate Bush for your kindness and thank you Len for your kind words
Jo jones
Absolutely awesome! This has been a favourite song of mine for the last 37 years since I was 14! Love Kate Bush! This was an amazing tribute to both her and this unique and haunting song! Well done Australia!
Raymond
So glad she saw it! It is so uplifting and joyful! ❤️
Caroline
My first thought upon hearing this, after having a little tear in my eye … :-), was ‘I wonder what Kate thinks of this. She must be moved.’ I’m so glad this has reached Kate, in the same way, I’m so glad her music reached the choir. They’ve done a wonderful job, and I’m already looking forward to hearing which song they will do next.
Janine Evans
It was such an amazing night and so proud to have been one little voice in a sea of utterly amazing voices. Thanks Astrid and the team for a great night.
Christine Burroughes
Oh I’m so glad that I wasn’t the only one who had tears. Super emotional as someone who loved it first time around all those years ago! Made me feel proud to be old. So glad that Kate loved it too! Great work and warmest wishes to you all xxxxx
Ann F
Just simply beautiful – a song and artist who just appears so timeless…memories of the first time I saw her on Top of the Pops. So incredible how we never forget the song or Kate Bush . That choir just made you smile from start to finish! Well done! I wish I had been part of it too!
Helen McDermott
Absolutely brilliant… arrangement, performance and energy!!
I SO wish you could do this here in England!!
Liverpool would make you very welcome!! 🥰
Alister S
““The song itself is about a total breakdown of communication in a relationship and begging God to change places with the person so you can understand each other better, so I felt like that is a fairly big, heavy message,” Jorgensen said.”
The song is about so much more than that. It is about the experience of women in a misogynistic, male dominated world. It is about inequality, and about rage. But more than anything, it is about looking beyond all of the societal and biological restraints that are imposed upon us. That’s why the line “Running up that building.” It represents the edifice.