salomeU2000
The Fly
by Gregory Mc Guire
#1: Mar. 10th 2003
Welcome to the U2 classic album track!
Every fortnight we?ll be selecting one of U2?s more underrated classics and digging into them in detail. The tracks are not songs that got the radio-play they merited, nor the single release they deserved. In short, they are songs that never got full recognition (outside of serious U2 fans). This week we?re picking one of the lesser knowns from The Joshua Tree - ?Running to Stand Still.?
In 1987, U2 released what many have called ?the single greatest album of the 80?s? and, according to a recent Rolling Stone poll, the third greatest album of all the time (behind The Beatles, in first). The Joshua Tree took the world by storm, putting U2 on an irresistibly high pedestal and finally allowed Bono to back up his claim of the coveted ?best band in the world? title.
Reeling with hits and containing the perhaps the best three-track opening ever conceived, the album simply reeked of quality. Deeply influenced by American roots after extensive travelling around the States, The Joshua Tree gave way to instant hits like ?I Still Haven?t Found What I?m Looking For? and ?With or Without You? (the latter giving the band their first U.S. Number One), as well as the now-trademark ?Where The Streets Have No Name? and ?Bullet The Blue Sky.? But it?s track number five that gets out attention today.
The opening to ?Running to Stand Still? is everything The Joshua Tree incorporates, a bluesy acoustic guitar solo with heavy bends. Then, cue The Edge, playing soft piano chords. Like so many other of their songs (try ?Bad, for example), ?Running to Stand Still? starts off slow, before ending with a roar.
The lyrics are something heavy throughout. The main theme deals with heroin abuse. The song was Bono?s third, and most successful, attempt at the subject - following on from the lengthy ?Bad? and the lively ?Wire,? both found on the previous album, The Unforgettable Fire. From the experiences of various acquaintances over the years, Bono was able to draw reference to the pleasure-pain aspect of heroin usage, while at the same time redirecting his lyrics to stay personal.
The first verse deals with a mysterious ?she.? The woman who ?woke up, woke up from the way she was, lying still. Says ?I, I got to do something about where we?re going?? becomes so much clearer to envision when you imagine the tormented mind of a heroin abuser.
The attention swiftly turns to the first person for the second verse and mentions the ?seven towers,? of the Ballymun Housing Estate that Bono could see from his home. There is no doubt that the run-down structures represent the harshness, unemployment and despair of the time in Dublin.
The song builds up to a climax when Bono screams that ?she is raging, she is raging and the storm blows up in her eyes.? Then the instruments die down and, almost in a sympathetic whisper, he tells, ?she will suffer the needle chill. She?s running to stand still? - giving the song it?s name. It is in this line that his views on the subject become apparent and the title makes perfect since. For, in Bono?s eyes, using heroin is like running to stand still. It?s walking to go nowhere.
?Running To Stand Still? features heavily in the ?Joshua Tree? and ?Lovetown? tours, a similar yet powerful rendition of the version featured in the album. It however takes on a new life during the Zoo TV tour, a mid-set interlude between the roaring "Bullet the Blue Sky" and the always crowd-pleasing "Where the Streets Have No Name."
Bono appears on stage - in yet another one of his Zoo TV-era rolls - as a Vietnam commando and, after an improvised Edge riff that accompanies the song, a new ending with adapted lyrics ensues. Bono is seen to cry ?Hallelujah? to the Heavens as if seeking redemption from his addiction - although it is likely that it is not God he is praising through the biblical quote, but the drug. The ending is as powerful as ?Bad? on previous tours, and is capped with a terrific harmonica solo that sums up the entire hopelessness the song represents.
Unfortunately, it has scarcely appeared live since the early nineties, getting just one play, as a snippet in Zurich, during the entire ?Elevation Tour.? Whether or not it will feature on the next tour is a subject of debate, but most any hardened fans would welcome it as a regular setlist attendee. Many, of course, don?t realise the full lyrical implications of it, but that is the wonder of Bono?s writings. He can create a song that has a dozen different meanings to millions of different people.
I leave you now with my favourite line, and something to think over. This, in my opinion, is true of many situations and can be used in many songs. And that is one of the reasons why Bono is one of the most respected lyricists of our time.
?You?ve got to talk without speaking, cry without weeping, scream without raising your voice.?
See you next time.
#1: Mar. 10th 2003
Welcome to the U2 classic album track!
Every fortnight we?ll be selecting one of U2?s more underrated classics and digging into them in detail. The tracks are not songs that got the radio-play they merited, nor the single release they deserved. In short, they are songs that never got full recognition (outside of serious U2 fans). This week we?re picking one of the lesser knowns from The Joshua Tree - ?Running to Stand Still.?
In 1987, U2 released what many have called ?the single greatest album of the 80?s? and, according to a recent Rolling Stone poll, the third greatest album of all the time (behind The Beatles, in first). The Joshua Tree took the world by storm, putting U2 on an irresistibly high pedestal and finally allowed Bono to back up his claim of the coveted ?best band in the world? title.
Reeling with hits and containing the perhaps the best three-track opening ever conceived, the album simply reeked of quality. Deeply influenced by American roots after extensive travelling around the States, The Joshua Tree gave way to instant hits like ?I Still Haven?t Found What I?m Looking For? and ?With or Without You? (the latter giving the band their first U.S. Number One), as well as the now-trademark ?Where The Streets Have No Name? and ?Bullet The Blue Sky.? But it?s track number five that gets out attention today.
The opening to ?Running to Stand Still? is everything The Joshua Tree incorporates, a bluesy acoustic guitar solo with heavy bends. Then, cue The Edge, playing soft piano chords. Like so many other of their songs (try ?Bad, for example), ?Running to Stand Still? starts off slow, before ending with a roar.
The lyrics are something heavy throughout. The main theme deals with heroin abuse. The song was Bono?s third, and most successful, attempt at the subject - following on from the lengthy ?Bad? and the lively ?Wire,? both found on the previous album, The Unforgettable Fire. From the experiences of various acquaintances over the years, Bono was able to draw reference to the pleasure-pain aspect of heroin usage, while at the same time redirecting his lyrics to stay personal.
The first verse deals with a mysterious ?she.? The woman who ?woke up, woke up from the way she was, lying still. Says ?I, I got to do something about where we?re going?? becomes so much clearer to envision when you imagine the tormented mind of a heroin abuser.
The attention swiftly turns to the first person for the second verse and mentions the ?seven towers,? of the Ballymun Housing Estate that Bono could see from his home. There is no doubt that the run-down structures represent the harshness, unemployment and despair of the time in Dublin.
The song builds up to a climax when Bono screams that ?she is raging, she is raging and the storm blows up in her eyes.? Then the instruments die down and, almost in a sympathetic whisper, he tells, ?she will suffer the needle chill. She?s running to stand still? - giving the song it?s name. It is in this line that his views on the subject become apparent and the title makes perfect since. For, in Bono?s eyes, using heroin is like running to stand still. It?s walking to go nowhere.
?Running To Stand Still? features heavily in the ?Joshua Tree? and ?Lovetown? tours, a similar yet powerful rendition of the version featured in the album. It however takes on a new life during the Zoo TV tour, a mid-set interlude between the roaring "Bullet the Blue Sky" and the always crowd-pleasing "Where the Streets Have No Name."
Bono appears on stage - in yet another one of his Zoo TV-era rolls - as a Vietnam commando and, after an improvised Edge riff that accompanies the song, a new ending with adapted lyrics ensues. Bono is seen to cry ?Hallelujah? to the Heavens as if seeking redemption from his addiction - although it is likely that it is not God he is praising through the biblical quote, but the drug. The ending is as powerful as ?Bad? on previous tours, and is capped with a terrific harmonica solo that sums up the entire hopelessness the song represents.
Unfortunately, it has scarcely appeared live since the early nineties, getting just one play, as a snippet in Zurich, during the entire ?Elevation Tour.? Whether or not it will feature on the next tour is a subject of debate, but most any hardened fans would welcome it as a regular setlist attendee. Many, of course, don?t realise the full lyrical implications of it, but that is the wonder of Bono?s writings. He can create a song that has a dozen different meanings to millions of different people.
I leave you now with my favourite line, and something to think over. This, in my opinion, is true of many situations and can be used in many songs. And that is one of the reasons why Bono is one of the most respected lyricists of our time.
?You?ve got to talk without speaking, cry without weeping, scream without raising your voice.?
See you next time.
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