Mark, a story you once told about "Running Up That Hill" forever altered my understanding -- and appreciation -- of the song.
Well me too. It was one of those special requests on 91X in San Diego, where the Deejay reads the letter/email before playing the song. The gist of it was that the requestor, a mid 20's female, had been in the water of Mission Bay, maybe fell off her sailboard or something like that, and had been run over by a jet ski (if you've ever been to Mission Bay, this is a big problem to this day). She was struck in the head & nearly killed. The driver of the jet ski never stopped & by the time her friends rescued her and got her to the hospital there was no chance of identifying who had done it. She suffered brain damage and various attendant physical ailments, her life changed forever by that jet ski.
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,
Say, if I only could, oh...