Running To Stand Still
by U2

Album: The Joshua Tree (1987)
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  • 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 than 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 Writer/s: ADAM CLAYTON, DAVE EVANS, LARRY MULLEN, PAUL HEWSON
    Publisher: Universal Music Publishing Group
    Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 12

  • Anonymous from EnglandI feel that this song can relate to whatever you feel it to be relevant.
    When I listen to it, I hear the feelings and thoughts taunting the person, the desperation, the depression, the many considerations of to do or not to do, the 'should I shouldn't I', the 'I've been pondering for too long', the need for escape. 'I know what I have to do, I have to put my thoughts into action'.
    The words, as I said, can be relevant to different things in ones life. For example, being somewhere you don't want to be, knowing that it is going to be challenging but the weighing of pro's and con's are saying, 'can't do it anymore, enough is enough, I've tried to be patient but I can't take it anymore, I need to escape from him/her, I need to get out'.
  • Jules from OregonBono indicates that it was related to a story about addiction that takes over your life...man or woman. Could have happened to any of us. Does it REALLY matter if it is male or female?!
  • Brian from Boston, MaAwsome song.I think it's cool u2wasnot into heroin.I have absolutally no problem with them smoking marijuana.Pot smoking is so far removed from heroin it's not even funny.
  • Lefty_2ndbaseman from Chicago, IlFavorite line is "She walks through the streets, with eyes painted red under a black-belly of cloud in the rain"...how desperate does THAT sound? Great song, great band, great lead singer!
  • Shawn from Frostburg, MdNo Brad in knoxville, I think you are actually the one on heroin. there are MANY references to to drug use in the song. Read them. it really isn't all that hard to figure out..
  • Lance from Greenfield, TnThis song is, now, one of my favorite songs to exist. I got The Joshua Tree for Christmas, and since then, I have so loved this song.
  • Heather from Los Angeles, CaThis song is so gentle. "Singin' ah, a la la la de day, a la la la de day a la la de day." It is like a lullaby for a girl in desperate trouble. But it is also testimony to her strength, "you've gotta cry without weeping, talk without speaking..." and because she woke up thinking, "I gotta do something about where we're goin'" hopefully she will make it.
  • Brad from Knoxville, Tnyou must be on harrowin,because thats not what the song is about sure it says "needle chill",but thats two words read the rest.
  • Brandon from Sterling, Vathis song is about a woman who smuggled heroin in not a man
  • Jujee from Marquette, MiOne of the best U2 tunes ever...very haunting.
  • Kiddo from Curramulka, IcelandIn reply to U2 being a generally anti-drug band, I do believe The Edge tried magic mushrooms sometime during the Zoo TV tour, although that pretty much ended there. Both Larry and Bono I believe have no history of using illegal drugs.
  • Mick from Chelsea, England"She will suffer the needle chill" is a reference to heroin withdrawal.
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