As a teenage… Read Full Bio ↴Andrew Poppy is a composer, pianist and music producer.
As a teenager Andrew Poppy experimented with musique concrete, played Beethoven on the piano and bass guitar in an improvising rock band before going on to study music at Goldsmith's College.
During his time at Goldsmiths he was active as a performer organising performances of Terry Riley's In C and other experimental works, as well as playing the piano in Webern's Concerto and giving a solo piano performance of Glass's Music in Fifths. His interest in an alternative contemporary music was especially stimulated by contact with American composers Christian Wolff and John Cage. On graduating in 1979 Poppy worked as an accompanist at The Laban Centre of Dance and Movement giving him an education into the world of contemporary dance.
In early 1981 Poppy became a founder member and pianist with The Lost Jockey, a large ensemble which explored in both composition and performance the pulse based techniques associated with the work of Glass, Reich and Andriessen. He wrote a number of works for the ensemble including, The Object is a Hungry Wolf.
Poppy's attempt to recontextalise this music and gain access to a wider audience came in the mid 1980's when he signed as a recording artist to Paul Morley and Trevor Horn's ZTT Records. Enthusiastically pursuing a post minimal aesthetic in the context of a pop label he recorded 2 CDs. The first, The Beating of Wings contains 3 fully notated works (including 32 Frames for Orchestra) and Listening In a type of studio work further developed in his second CD Alphabed. This album clearly merges traditional composition and studio production techniques in its use of sequencers, samples and electronic keyboards and includes a variety of singers including Annette Peacock, Ashley Slater, Udo Scheuerpflug and Dee Lewis. Two 12inch releases show the extent to which Poppy could use the studio to build new works out of the multi-track recordings of finished pieces. The Impossible Net remodel's 32 Frames whilst Kink Konk Presto, Kink Konk Adagio, East Fragment re invents Listening In.
During the 1980 Poppy collaborated on experimental/visual theatre pieces produced by The Institute of Contemporary Art in London such as Secret Gardens and Midday Sun. This interest developed into a number of music theatre or chamber opera works: The Songs of the Claypeople for Impact Theatre and The Uranium Miners Radio Orchestra Play Scene's From Salome's Revenge for Royal Opera House's Garden Venture. In 1991 The National Theatre Studio commissioned Baby Doll a chamber opera for 3 voices, adapted from a Tennessee Williams' screen play and in 1996 the composer wrote and recorded Ophelia/Ophelia an opera and version of Hamlet for one voice which was selected by the International Society for Contemporary Music to be part of the year of culture festival in Copenhagen.
In the 1990s a renewed interest in concert music produced 14 Poem and Toccatas for violin and piano, (performed at the Huddersfield Festival by Andrew Ball and Elizabeth Perry) and Ember: String Quartet for The Balanescu Quartet. Eight Movements for Piano Trio, Eleven Word Title, Sprung and Suspended and End Synch Sound (with a film) were commissioned by various chamber ensembles. In 1997 the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra commissioned Horn Horn a concerto for 2 alto saxophones and orchestra. Most recently New York pianist Jed Distler and UK based Tania Chen have performed selections from Fruits and Shavings 23 pieces for solo piano.
Over the last two decades Poppy has contributed to the creative projects of many other artists. This includes working in the studio with bands such as The The, Erasure, Nitzer Ebb as well as making theatre scores for Julia Bardsley's productions of Macbeth and Family Reunion and Kenneth Branagh's perfomance of Coriolanious. The list of choreographies provoked to make dances to Poppy's music include Ian Spink, Sally Owen, Michael Clark, Gaby Agis, Sue Davies, Linda Gaudreau, Julia Bardsley, Michael Popper, David Massingham and most recently New Yorker Heidi Latsky. He has also made music for TV and film - notably with Portugese director and producer Vitor Gonçalves - and between 1995-97 he was head of music at the National Film and TV School in the UK.
The year 2000 see the CD release of Time At Rest Devouring It's Secret a studio work of 35 minutes duration which once again connects the musical techniques of the minimalist project to an image from popular culture.
Andrew Poppy is currently preparing 'an environment with moments of performance' a collaboration with Julia Bardsley and developing a new ensemble work called Weighing the Measure or Why Pulse.
Running up That Hill
Andrew Poppy Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Do you wanna feel how it feels?
Do you wanna know, know that it doesn't hurt me?
Do you wanna hear about the deal that they're making?
You,
It's you and me.
And if I only could,
And I'd get him to swap our places,
We're running up that road,
We're running up that hill,
We're running up that building.
Say, if I only could.
You don't wanna hurt me,
But see how deep the wound lies.
Unaware and tearing you asunder.
There is thunder in our hearts.
Is there so much hate for the ones we love?
Tell me, we both matter, don't we?
You,
It's you and me.
It's you and me, you'll be unhappy.
And if I only could,
I'd make a deal with God,
And I'd get him to swap our places,
We're running up that road,
We're running up that hill,
We're running up that building.
Say, if I only could.
You,
It's you and me,
It's you and me won't be unhappy.
C'mon, baby, c'mon darling,
Let me steal this moment from you now.
C'mon, angel, c'mon, c'mon, darling,
Let's exchange the experience
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,
With no problems.
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,
With no problems.
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,
With no problems.
If I only could
Be running up that hill
With no problems
The lyrics of Running Up That Hill are a meditation on the human condition and the search for transcendence. The song opens with an assertion that the singer is impervious to pain, asking the listener if they want to know what it feels like. This leads into a discussion of a hypothetical deal with God, in which the singer suggests that they would exchange places with someone else in order to experience life from a different perspective. The chorus repeats the phrase "running up that hill" several times, with the implication that this is a metaphor for the struggle to achieve something difficult or unattainable.
The second verse continues the theme of emotional pain, with the singer asking why we sometimes hate the people we love most. They then make a plea for validation and recognition, asking if they and their unspecified companion "both matter." The chorus repeats the earlier motifs of running and swapping places with God. The final lines of the song seem to suggest that the singer desires some kind of resolution or escape from their struggles, perhaps through transcendence.
Line by Line Meaning
It doesn't hurt me.
I am not affected by this situation.
Do you wanna feel how it feels?
Can you imagine what it's like to be in my position?
Do you wanna know, know that it doesn't hurt me?
Do you want to understand that I am not emotionally impacted?
Do you wanna hear about the deal that they're making?
Are you interested in knowing the agreement that's being negotiated?
You, It's you and me.
The situation involves you and me.
And if I only could, I'd make a deal with God, And I'd get him to swap our places, We're running up that road, We're running up that hill, We're running up that building. Say, if I only could.
If I had the power, I would make an arrangement with a higher power to exchange our positions, and we would face uphill battles together.
You don't wanna hurt me, But see how deep the wound lies. Unaware and tearing you asunder. There is thunder in our hearts.
You don't intend to harm me, but the situation is harmful, and it's affecting us both deeply.
Is there so much hate for the ones we love? Tell me, we both matter, don't we? You, It's you and me. It's you and me, you'll be unhappy.
Why do we have such negative feelings toward those we care for? We both have value in this situation, don't we? You and I are in this together, and if we don't sort it out, you will be unhappy.
It's you and me, It's you and me won't be unhappy.
We are in this together, and we will make it through without causing each other further pain.
C'mon, baby, c'mon darling, Let me steal this moment from you now. C'mon, angel, c'mon, c'mon, darling, Let's exchange the experience
Let's take this opportunity to be together and share our experiences.
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, With no problems.
If I could, I would ask a higher power to switch our positions, and we would both face our challenges without any difficulties.
If I only could Be running up that hill With no problems
If only I had the power to run up that hill without any difficulties.
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: Kate Bush
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind