Know something about this song or lyrics?
Add it to our wiki.
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 eyes painted red
Under a 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.
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 eyes painted red
Under a 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.
Lyrics submitted by archmastermind
Track duration: 04:17
"Running to Stand Still" as written by Evans Hewson
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
Add your thoughts
Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.
Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!
My post got rather meaty so I decided to post it on my blog instead. You can read it here: thirteenthverse.wordpress.com/2013/02/06/analysis-of-running-to-stand-still-by-u2/
To summarize: I believe that the story presented in the song is that of a drug addict. There are themes in the song such as falling to temptation, and struggles with sin and with being human. A theme that also comes to light is the close relation of the addict; the boyfriend or parent who tries to get her out, and a few small hints at the kinds of choices he’s faced with.
This song and "Bad" are my favorite U2 songs.
Sweet the sin
Bitter, the 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...
Addiction is being caught, having been lured by a bait, whatever that was, but leading to being hooked. The needle chill likened to the barb of a hook that prevents escape. The sin goes in sweetly (the bait), but bitter when the barb takes hold in the mouth. This hearkens back to the original sin... the lure of the attractive fruit, appealing to the woman, to her eyes, to her taste, to her pride... the bait. The fruit is sweet sin, but there is bitterness in the mouth.
Seven towers reminds me of the curse of Cain, who departed from God, who then had to build cities, and whose offspring came up with musical instruments and industry... symbolic of man's attempts struggle to fill an empty soul... that is at the heart of all addictions.
But there is only one way out... crying out without weeping, which is the cry of the spirit that's bound, the cry to God... prayer. Psalm 107 is all about man's desperation in this world, the souls bound in chains in darkness, lost in a desert looking for a city of refuge, lost in a stormy sea, with but one possible way out...
27 They reeled and staggered like drunken men;
they were at their wits' end.
28 Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble,
and he brought them out of their distress.
29 He stilled the storm to a whisper;
the waves of the sea were hushed.
30 They were glad when it grew calm,
and he guided them to their desired haven.
You know I took the poison from the poison stream... the original sin was to be bitten by the viper, the serpent, and whose venom was the bitterness of the sweet sin... the needles are the fangs of the viper, and the heroin or addiction the viper's poison. But Jesus crushed the viper's head when he was on the cross; so just before he died Jesus cried out... "It is finished", meaning there was a way out, the only way out. Jesus took the poison out of the stream of mankind;
Then I floated out of here... then Jesus rose above this world and it's bitterness, providing a way for all who had ears to hear to follow him out.
Do you have to do something about where you are going? Run from the darkness in the night...
Singing ha la la la de day
Ha la la la de day
Ha la la de day
28 Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble,
and he brought them out of their distress.
Praise God who offers us these white pearls stolen from the raging sea.
REJOICE REJOICE REJOICE REJOICE REJOICE...
Verse one deals with:
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 la la la de day
Ah la la de day
She's come round after another heroin binge and done exactly what most addicts do after a session, feel complete guilt and want to stop the thing that makes them happy but is ultimitely killing them. Told from the man's point of view. darkness and driving rain are bad things and the steam train is a metaphorical vehicle to take her away from it all, to make her ultimately happy.
Verse two:
Sweet the sin
Bitter, the 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
Oooooh...
So this says that the sweet feeling of heroin is actually the only escape from the deprivation and the cirle of poverty and deciet they have got themselves in. Everytime she want's to break the addiction the reality of her life comes crashing back down and she knows that there is no way out and the only thing that makes life better is the heroin.
Verse three:
She runs through the streets with her eyes painted red
Under a 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
The addiction requires going out to find more drugs. Anyone who knows an addict will see how animated they become when scoring more. She is desperate and finds what she needs,brings it to him who needs it too, desperate, desperate, until she injects and heroin washes the pain and fear away, destroys the cravings. The ultimate line "running to a standstill" is simplistic. Despite her efforts to escape, her need to escape, she is going nowhere, trapped in the cyle. Trapped forever by the heroin.
There are no hidden meanings in this song. It's a simple paneon to the perils of drug addiction in a run down area of the city and the effect it has on young peopl's lives.