Running To Stand Still Lyrics

The friendliest place on the web for anyone that follows U2.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

SkeeK

The Original, Rock n' Roll Doggie, VIP PASS
Joined
Jun 8, 2000
Messages
4,163
Location
Hamilton, ON
I'm interested on what meaning you can give to these beautiful lyrics... especially the last verse.. what is the story it tells? It sounds beautiful but I'm not quite sure what it's all saying (i get the drug thing and the 7 towers reference). And for the record, I don't necessarily just care what Bono meant it to mean. What do the lyrics say to YOU? is also very interesting to know. Art is, after all, in the eye of the beholder.

And so she woke up
Woke up from where she was
Lying still
Said I gotta do something
About where we're going


Step on a steam train
Step out of the driving rain, maybe
Run from the darkness in the night
Singing ha, ah la la la de day
Ah da da da de day
Ah la la de day


Sweet the sin
Bitter taste in my mouth
I see seven towers
But I only see one way out


You got to cry without weeping
Talk without speaking
Scream without raising your voice


You know I took the poison
From the poison stream
Then I floated out of here
Singing...ha la la la de day
Ha la la la de day
Ha la la de day


She runs through the streets
With her eyes painted red
Under black belly of cloud in the rain
In through a doorway she brings me
White gold and pearls stolen from the sea
She is raging
She is raging
And the storm blows up in her eyes
She will...


Suffer the needle chill
She's running to stand...


Still.
 
I think that, judging from the very start and the very end of the song, it's about someone who tries to run away from drug addiction but ends up running to stand still...can't break away from the addiction. "I've gotta do something about where we're going"--doesn't he sing "where I'm going" live? And then at the end "She will suffer the needle chill, she's running to stand still." Very sad. I don't think there's much hope in this song.
frown.gif




------------------
Love is the heartbeat of the universe
 
Yeah there's a lot of desolation and pessimism there. I'm just thinking about this because I am going to do a prep sketch for my painting of the song soon. What I'm thinking of so far is a black outline of eyes with lot's of blue.. and some other stuff in the background but I don't know what yet.
 
To me, the song describes a vicious cycle that all people can relate to, whether it be drugs, abuse, eating too much, anything that is hard to quit or any situation where the thing that makes you feel bad is also the thing that makes you feel better.

Maybe you could do some symbolism re: infinity, circles, snakes eating their own tails, etc. The girl in the song is using the thing that is hurting her to get rid of her pain.
 
Originally posted by SkeeK:

She runs through the streets
With her eyes painted red
Under black belly of cloud in the rain
In through a doorway she brings me
White gold and pearls stolen from the sea
She is raging
She is raging
And the storm blows up in her eyes
She will...


Suffer the needle chill
She's running to stand...


Still.


This part has always been my favorite because it is so intriguing. The song gets really intense at this point and the story takes a turn for the worse.

What comes to my mind during this part is a woman who is strung out, struggling with her addiction, desperate for another fix ("she runs through the streets with her eyes painted run") ...
She is overshadowed, perhaps consumed by her troubles...by the mess that her life has become ("under a black belly of cloud in the rain") ...
all she has for her comfort her is this drug, a chemical, which provides immediate relief and unspeakable, but temporary, pleasures. Stolen pleasure, if you will, because it comes from an artificial, controlled source. ("in through a doorway, she brings me, white gold and pearls stolen from the sea") ...
Then she becomes consumed by this rush, overwhelmed by this overpowering sensation; in a state of ecstasy ... ("she is raging, she is raging.") ...
Now this is sort of a leap, but I get the feeling that She becomes overpowered by it all. The drug backfires...blows up in her face. ("and the storm blows up in her eyes")..
In seeking the ultimate high, she loses her life. Her heart stops. ("she will suffer the needle chill. She's running to stand .. STILL.")


------------------
when i first met you girl, you had fire in your soul.
what happened your face of melting snow?
 
Well knock me down with a feather skeeK. I painted a canvas of large eyes for my Year 10 major work. That was after my idea for the ascent of man thing went terribly wrong. Good luck, be free with yourself(Freddy quote)
RTTS is one powerful song IMHO, conjures so much pain. Substance abuse seems even more common, maybe not,but it remains a sad thing. So spread the word via your art.Good on you.
My first reaction was you should somewhere include a pearl. I was listening to the Emmy Lou Harris album today that my sister gave me recently. The opening song is called The Pearl,it is powerful too. I was wondering, did Emmylou write this? I read the cover notes for the first time today.She says "my thanks to Ken, Carol...the folks at Almo Irving, to Daniel Lanois for the push.." Cool indeed IMHO
smile.gif

I'm kinda in ecstacy here. I have just read on the Rage gig guide that they are showing the "Walk On" film clip for the first time at midnight.
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHoooooooooooooooooooo
Walk On, futbol, Brazil, who will only fly for freedom....I'm excited!!
This calls for a kind of celebration, like get off line and don't blow up the inverter. Peace 2U skeeK. See if you can work a pearl into your painting somewhere. Check out Emmylou's song one day too.

'.....Like falling stars from the universe, we are hurled
Down throught the long loneliness of the world
Until we behold the pain become a pearl..."
 
My favorite lyrics have got to be:
"You gotta cry without weeping, talk without speaking, & Scream without raising your voice."

That right there explains the magnitude of an addiction, and not just drugs for that matter. In order to let it go, she must complete the impossible, something so difficult that it seems way to far out of reach. And thats why ultimately in the end she succumbs to the addiction.

------------------
"You gotta put the women and children first, but you've got an unquenchable thirst for New York..."
 
Back
Top Bottom