Running To Stand Still lyrics

This song was written about a heroin-addicted couple living in dublin's ballymun flats; the towers have since become associated with the song. Though a lot of time was dedicated to the lyrics, the music was improvised with co-producer daniel lanois during a recording session for the album. "seven towers" is the flats they lived in . "sweet the sin bitter the taste in my mouth" refers to taking heroin/crack. The strongest reference to drugs is " you no i took the posion from the posion stream then i floated out of here) . The song tittle is perfect meaning for the distillation of the dynamic of feeding on addiction. "she will suffer the needle chill no more " means she has od'd - powerful song cried when first heard it... U2 are fantastic for writting songs that mean something whether its political , religous the song is all about the herion epedemic in irland.

The meaning to this song jumped out to me immediately through the intensity of the song itself. It is a sure, but slow build up of emotion and thought that stays under control.

What it means to me mirrors the feeling i get listening to it... She is plagued with something in her life that she cannot control, and she has to keep her feelings to herself... So she just thinks and does not say how she is feeling. With all that emotion in her head, she has to keep calm, and the only thing she says outloud is "ha la la la de day
ha la la de day", so that no-one knows how she is hurting inside.

She is "running to stand still," because she is trying to get out of the situation, while going unnoticed... Almost like she is a battered woman, and put on a beautiful face, and happy and content front to her man, so that he won't beat her anymore... While planning her excape.. She is raging inside, but she will "suffer the needle chill," in order to protect herself. She cries without weeping, talks without speaking, screams without raising her voice... Because she is trapped in a life of pain.