#15 - Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God) / Kate Bush

‘When I was little, I really wanted to be a psychiatrist. That's what I always said at school. I had this idea of helping people, I suppose, but I found the idea of people's inner psychology fascinating, particularly in my teens.’ This is Kate Bush, talking about what she wanted to do before becoming a musician. In this episode I explore whether the trace of ideas from contemporary psychology can be found in the songs she would go on to write and what light it might shine on the meaning of on...

Om Podcasten

Award-winning music analysis podcast, The Secret Life of Songs, returns with a new series exploring classic songs from the 1970s and 80s. Hear how the fallout from the disappointed hopes of the 1960s was explored in the work of Sly Stone and Joni Mitchell, how the unearthly new sounds unlocked by radical new music technology was used to express both utopian and dystopian impulses by Giorgio Moroder and the originators of Detroit Techno, and how the era’s most divisive cultural concept - postmodernism - was uncannily reflected in the output of the era’s most divisive pop band - ABBA. All of this - and more - is presented by host Anthony in his inimitable style: deftly weaving fine-grained musical analysis, historical context and philosophical reflection with his own impassioned recreations of the music to produce embodied, thoroughly grounded and deeply personal insights into these wonderful songs. 

Winner of the bronze award in 'Best Arts & Culture Podcast' at the British Podcast Awards 2021.