‘Running Up That Hill’ on ‘Stranger Things’ Introduces Kate Bush To Today’s TikTok Teens

Spoilers for Stranger Things Season 4 past this point, and Episode 4 “Dear Billy” in particular.

Have the kids of Hawkins, Indiana found the vicious Vecna’s weakness? In the fourth episode of Stranger Things Season 4, “Dear Billy”, with Max (Sadie Sink) under attack, it’s a race against time to stop their friend from dying in 24 hours. And at the last second, they find the key to saving Max’s life: a Kate Bush song, specifically “Running Up That Hill”. But why that song specifically? And how does Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill” play into Stranger Things Season 4?

What Is The Song Max Listens To In Stranger Things Season 4?

That would be “Running Up That Hill” off Kate Bush’s 1985 album Hounds of Love. It was the first single off the album, and peaked at number 3 in the UK, and hit the Top 30 on Billboard’s Hot 100 in the United States. Later releases of the song titled it as “Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)”, and in 1986 it was used as the main theme for the BBC1 children’s show Running Scared. It’s also a big enough hit that Max would know about it, but not such a big hit that it’s not, you know, uncool for her to note as her favorite song. Good choice, Duffer Brothers slash music supervisor for Stranger Things!

Why Does Max Listen To Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)” In Stranger Things Season 4?

After discovering that, like other residents of Hawkins, she’s been cursed by Vecna, Max and company desperately search for some way of stopping her impending doom. While Nancy (Natalia Dyer) and Robin (Maya Hawke) head to an insane asylum to question Victor Creel (Robert Englund), the sole survivor of a previous Vecna massacre decades earlier, the rest of the gang takes Max on a tour of Hawkins to leave goodbye letters, in case things go south.

True to the title of the episode, the last person Max visits is her brother Billy (Dacre Montgomery) — or rather, his grave. While there, she’s sucked into Vecna’s portion of the Upside Down, sees the reanimated corpse of Billy, then briefly manages to evade Vecna, making her way to a strange, blown apart house. Meanwhile, Nancy and Robin put together the clues based on what they find out from Victor Creel and realize music is the way to break Vecna’s spell.

Thankfully, Lucas (Caleb McLaughlin) knows exactly what Max’s favorite song is, and they flip the tape into her walkman and put it on her head, just as in the “real” world Max’s body starts floating over Billy’s grave. That song, of course, is the thematically resonant “Running Up That Hill”, and as it plays, it breaks open a portal from the Upside Down, allowing Max to escape.

Subsequent episodes find Max continuing to listen to the song on a loop, and worrying that listening to her favorite song so many times might dampen her love for it. But as of the end of Episode 7, at least, it’s still working. Whew!

What Are The Lyrics To Kate Bush’s “Running Up That Hill (A Deal With God)”?

You can find the full lyrics as well as some helpful notes over at Genius, but here’s the chorus:

And if I only could
I’d make a deal with God
And I’d get him to swap our places
Be running up that road
Be running up that hill
Be running up that building (Iyoh)
Say, if I only could, oh

Given that Max is running to the safety of Hawkins, and trying to make a deal with God to save her life, I’d say those lyrics are pretty on the nose!