Running Up That Hill by Kate Bush

Overview

Key: C minor · Chords used: 5 · Sections: 14

Form: Intro → Verse → Pre-Chorus → Chorus → Verse → Pre-Chorus → Chorus → Pre-Chorus → Bridge → Interlude → Chorus → Chorus ×2 → Outro

Where these chords come from: an expert transcription of the original recording made for the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). This page shows that transcription as-is: the analysis below is generated directly from it by code, not written by AI. Consecutive repeats of a chord are shown once, and the piano voicings are our playable arrangement of each chord symbol, not a note-for-note transcription.

Section by section

Intro

• Cm – A♭/C – B♭/C (×2)
  i – bVI⁶ – bVII (bass C)
• Cm
  i

Verse 1

• A♭/C – B♭/C – Cm – Cm9 (×3)
  bVI⁶ – bVII (bass C) – i – i9
• A♭/C – B♭/C
  bVI⁶ – bVII (bass C)

Pre-Chorus 1

• Fm7/C – Cm9 (×2)
  iv⁴₃ – i9
• Fm7/C
  iv⁴₃

Chorus 1

• A♭/C – B♭/C – Cm (×4)
  bVI⁶ – bVII (bass C) – i

Verse 2

• A♭/C – B♭/C – Cm – Cm9 (×5)
  bVI⁶ – bVII (bass C) – i – i9
• A♭/C – B♭/C
  bVI⁶ – bVII (bass C)

Pre-Chorus 2

• Fm7/C – Cm9 (×3)
  iv⁴₃ – i9
• Fm7/C
  iv⁴₃

Chorus 2

Same chords as Chorus 1.

Pre-Chorus 3

Same chords as Pre-Chorus 2.

Bridge

• A♭/C – B♭/C – Cm (×2)
  bVI⁶ – bVII (bass C) – i

Interlude

• A♭/C – B♭/C – Cm (×2)
  bVI⁶ – bVII (bass C) – i

Chorus 3

• A♭/C – B♭/C – Cm (×2)
  bVI⁶ – bVII (bass C) – i

Chorus 4

Same chords as Chorus 3.

Chorus 5

Same chords as Chorus 3.

Outro

• A♭/C – B♭/C – Cm
  bVI⁶ – bVII (bass C) – i

Chord vocabulary

Sources & accuracy

• Chords and sections: the McGill Billboard Project (Burgoyne, Wild & Fujinaga, 2011). Expert transcription by trained musicians (song 0531, CC0), via ChoCo.
• Not verified: only one expert transcription of this song is available so far.
• Rhythm and chord durations aren't shown; each step is one chord change.