Is it "Running to Stand Still," or "Running to Standstill"?
- Thread starter Rachel D.
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If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
Achtung_Bebe
New Yorker
touche!
Well, you successfully nullified my prediction by bringing us to page 3.
Well, you successfully nullified my prediction by bringing us to page 3.
Liesje
Blue Crack Addict
WalkOn21 said:
It does make sense to me. In fact, I always thought it was 'standstill', I never considered that 'stand still' means something else.
Running to standstill:
Normally, if you are going somewhere, say the station, you are 'running to the station'. If you are 'running to standstill', you are running nowhere, you've got no goal -> standstill. In this context I think it's a beautiful lyric. Running to standstill -> pointless running -> having no goal in your life.
At least, that's my interpretation.
It makes sense, we just interpret it differently. My interpretatation emphasizes the "...to stand..." and yours the "standstill". For example, mine would answer, why is she running? -> to stand still; and yours would answer, where is she running? -> to a standstill. Yours emphasizes the noun, the standstill (like your example, the noun "the station") and mine emphasizes the act of running itself.
Liesje
Blue Crack Addict
U2mixer said:
Or ran to a stand still.
standstill
BVS
Blue Crack Supplier
Achtung_Bebe said:
I think that whoever is in charge of editing U2 setlists and DVD covers at the U2 camp deserves all of the blame here... I mean, it's one of my fav U2 songs, it should be spelled correctly on officially released material
I think this should be the question, the one everyone is ignoring.
The website, setlist writer, and DVD artist are obviously not the same people.
It's not like it's one person doing all these things. Poor kid sitting behind a computer updating the website, following the band on tour making sure to type out the setlists, and then pulling all nighters to design the DVD cover.
How is it that three different entities, that probably have three different proofreaders all got it wrong?
That should be the question...
I don't quite see why there's still a debate here...
You get the picture that it's two words if from nothing else than how Bono sings it:
"She's running to stand
<pause>
still."
It's not a dramatic pause in the middle of a single word. "She's running to Buf <pause> falo" would sound pretty stupid. It's two words.
But that doesn't even matter. Here's the thing: Despite however people feel about the meanings, etc., of the song, the title has been printed as "Running To Stand Still" on every bit of official material for the last 18 years--all up until this year, a year in which we've seen a million editing mistakes on U2.com. I'll take the 18 years of official spellings over the 1 year of spellings from people who have shown that they can't edit.
You get the picture that it's two words if from nothing else than how Bono sings it:
"She's running to stand
<pause>
still."
It's not a dramatic pause in the middle of a single word. "She's running to Buf <pause> falo" would sound pretty stupid. It's two words.
But that doesn't even matter. Here's the thing: Despite however people feel about the meanings, etc., of the song, the title has been printed as "Running To Stand Still" on every bit of official material for the last 18 years--all up until this year, a year in which we've seen a million editing mistakes on U2.com. I'll take the 18 years of official spellings over the 1 year of spellings from people who have shown that they can't edit.
BVS
Blue Crack Supplier
Utoo said:
Doesn't explain the DVD...
Liesje
Blue Crack Addict
BonoVoxSupastar said:
Maybe it all originated from the same source? I've seen this a gazillion times because I run a website for the most famous gymnast, Nadia Comaneci. I am trusted by her husband and manager (who do all of the "business" side work for her) when making judgments about what to print, etc. Sometimes I spend more time doing clean-up PR work correcting people that print false information than I do working on the site itself. For example, say some article published by Time way back in the day published her name spelled incorrectly. Then you get three authors writing bios about her for their books or magazines and refer to this Time publication and viola! three new sources of mispellings. There's also been pleeeeenty of false information about her life that STILL circulates. For example, I was playing Trivial Pursuit one time and there was a question about Nadia Comaneci and the question itself was based entirely on a rumor/allegation that I know for a FACT is not true, but yet it got media attention a decade ago and whoever wrote the Trivial Pursuit questions assumed that when something is printed numberous times, it must be true.
If we really wanted the truth, we'd have to ask Bono or check his original lyric sheet.
WalkOn21
Refugee
We don't. Who was it that saidLivLuvAndBootlegMusic said:
If U2 would release a book 'U2: The Meaning of Lyrics', I wouldn't buy it. I prefer my own interpretations of the songs.
or something between those lines?
Anyway, I wholeheartedly agree with him/her.
BVS
Blue Crack Supplier
^To LivLuv's post.
Yes but those are all proofed by outside sources. That's understandable to a certain point.
But U2 or at least someone high up in their camp has final say in something like the DVD cover, I mean they have people just for this type of thing.
And I mean from all the complaining about the constant confusion on the website setlists, I know members here sent emails, I'm sure other in U2 camp would read the website every so often...I would of thought after all this time some flag from someone would have been raised.
Yes but those are all proofed by outside sources. That's understandable to a certain point.
But U2 or at least someone high up in their camp has final say in something like the DVD cover, I mean they have people just for this type of thing.
And I mean from all the complaining about the constant confusion on the website setlists, I know members here sent emails, I'm sure other in U2 camp would read the website every so often...I would of thought after all this time some flag from someone would have been raised.
BonoVoxSupastar said:
Well, that's not necessarily true. For all we know, it's the same person who sends the setlists to the people at U2.com that also sent the setlist to the folks who printed the dvd. Sounds pretty reasonable to me.
I can't honestly say that the printing on one dvd is going to make me think that everything else was wrong for 18 years.
WalkOn21 said:
Speaking of said book......"U2 Into the Heart: The Stories Behind Every Song" by Niall Stokes--officially sanctioned by U2 (they're interviewed by the author even)---states "running to stand still" on page 69 of the newest edition.
Liesje
Blue Crack Addict
BonoVoxSupastar said:
You'd hope
Ah well, I don't remember it standing out to me on my setlists, I'm too lazy to dig them out and check, and I haven't read the cover of the DVD, so I'll stick with Running To Stand Still.
BVS
Blue Crack Supplier
One thing we know is U2 is very careful and go to great lengths to make sure they are presented the way they want to be presented, probably more so than any other band. They talk about how they always have final say, so it just seems odd that they would just leave it in the hands of someone that incompotant.Utoo said:
Utoo said:
I can't honestly say that the printing on one dvd is going to make me think that everything else was wrong for 18 years.
I'm not claiming anything is wrong. In fact most of what I'm doing is devil's advocate because I just can't see that consitant of a mistake missing everyone's eyes.
Maybe they just changed their minds. Maybe this song has taken on new meaning to them so they decided to spell it different now, I mean they did take this song to a very odd place when they used it as a tribute to the troops.
Who knows...
Zoots
Blue Crack Supplier
U2mixer 
I can't believe this thread is still on the first page!
For fuck's sake, he sings...
She's running to stand..........*pause*......... still.
That should be enough to figure it out!
I can't believe this thread is still on the first page!
For fuck's sake, he sings...
She's running to stand..........*pause*......... still.
That should be enough to figure it out!
Zootlesque said:U2mixer
I can't believe this thread is still on the first page!
For fuck's sake, he sings...
She's running to stand..........*pause*......... still.
That should be enough to figure it out!
hehe - I think we're keeping this thread going by posting...doh!
What a song though
Achtung_Bebe
New Yorker
LMAO U2Mixer
Not only does the pause give this away "She's running to stand.... *pause*... still."
But also, the very beginning of the song starts off with, "And so she woke up, woke up from where she was lying still"
So the addict starts off still, until she starts walking through streets with eyes painted red, eventually getting another fix and being still once again.
whooo hooooooo I cracked the case it's official, let's notify U2.com
Not only does the pause give this away "She's running to stand.... *pause*... still."
But also, the very beginning of the song starts off with, "And so she woke up, woke up from where she was lying still"
So the addict starts off still, until she starts walking through streets with eyes painted red, eventually getting another fix and being still once again.
whooo hooooooo I cracked the case it's official, let's notify U2.com
westendgirl
War Child
U2mixer said:
OP
OP
Rachel D.
Rock n' Roll Doggie VIP PASS
I think that either the meaning of the song has changed or it's an error. After all, Edge wrote, "We win, we loose, it's perfect" in the HTDAAB booklet. Maybe these are hints of grammatical negligence in U2 World.
I think things are tolerable, as long as "With or Without You" doesn't become "Wit or Wit Out U."
(I can't stand song titles like that; they drive me nuts!
)
I think things are tolerable, as long as "With or Without You" doesn't become "Wit or Wit Out U."
(I can't stand song titles like that; they drive me nuts!
)
one4u2
ONE love, blood, life
Rachel D. said:The back of the Chicago DVD says "Running to Standstill," but the CD cover for The Joshua Tree says "Running to Stand Still."
What is going on?
It's whatever it wants to be it's that good!!
david
ONE love, blood, life
it's "Running To KICK ASS SONG!"
popmart86
Acrobat
i think it's "runningotstandstill"
WalkOn21
Refugee
On the ZooTV Washington (16/08/'92) bootleg, it sounds like Bono sings:
she's running to a standstill
Unless he sings 'tah', which is supposed to be 'to'. Nah, can't be, there's a pause between 'to' and 'a', that's proof they are two separate words.
she's running to a standstill
Unless he sings 'tah', which is supposed to be 'to'. Nah, can't be, there's a pause between 'to' and 'a', that's proof they are two separate words.
DreamOutLoud13
Blue Crack Addict
Also: "How far you gonna go, before you loose your way back home?" in the lyrics booklet of Achtung Baby for TTTYAATW.Rachel D. said:I think that either the meaning of the song has changed or it's an error. After all, Edge wrote, "We win, we loose, it's perfect" in the HTDAAB booklet. Maybe these are hints of grammatical negligence in U2 World.
Also, in the lyrics booklet in The Joshua Tree for WTSHNN: "The cities a flood", it's debatable, but shouldn't that be city's as in a contraction of "city is"?
Achtung_Bebe
New Yorker
DreamOutLoud13 said:
yes, unless Bono meant it as the plural of city... I guess his artistic license leaves that one up in the air.
it's funny that this thread is back on page 1
