This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines:
"Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet"
So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other:
"I had all and then most of you"
Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart
"Some and now none of you"
Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship.
This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
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
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
Lyrics submitted by yuri_sucupira
Running to Stand Still Lyrics as written by Dave Evans Adam Clayton
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Is there anyone here who believes this song has absolutely nothing to do with heroin? Raise your hands, please. Morons.
This song is certainly not about drug addiction, unless, losing love leads people to drug abuse. Which makes sense.<br /> <br /> I think it is about, quite simply, a man finding love outside of a love-less relationship, and trying to escape, "I see 7 towers, but i only see one way out."
yes there is actually moron!! The line about the "Seven Towers" refers to housing projects in Dublin where many drug users lived, Bass player Adam Clayton was arrested in Ireland for marijuana possession in 1989. The conviction was waived in lieu of a donation to charity.<br /> <br /> <br /> <br />
the song is about the cyclical nature of a heroin addiction and even refers to the girl prostituting herself and stealing in order to support the addiction. "And so she woke up" begins the song; she's waking up from where she was lying still... after the "needle chill" of the end. Her life repeats itself because of the addiction. And bringing the white gold and pearls stolen from a sea suggests pickpocketing and bringing it to a dealer to get drugs... running through the streets with her eyes painted red has multiple meanings (exagerrated makeup of a prostitute, crying, beaten)...
Yeah agreed it's not all about the drugs. A knowledge of Indian folklore might help in understanding, taking the poison being the sacrificial act of Shiva at the churning of the ocean, hence his blue throat. Likewise jewels spewing from the sea also figured. Kali the feminine aspect of Shiva is often raging. But it may well be about smack, who knows?
@NOBODY11 - I think you're a perfect example of how people can overinterpret a song, no offence. <br /> <br /> This song is most certainly about drug usage, the 7 towers refer to the housing projects in Dublin where prominent activies include drug abuse and prostitution. She sees seven towers, but she only sees one way out - I'm sure for alot of people in that situation, indeed drugs are the only method of escaping that life. Although the song is beautiful, and you may find it difficult to swallow in that it is about such a morbid topic, but you shouldn't disregard the blatant meaning of the song BECAUSE the topic is a difficult one. "Sweet the sin, bitter the taste" - perhaps a reference to the need to take drugs, the relief etc. that it brings, (sweet the sin) but also the pain and suffering, the dependency etc. that goes with it.<br /> <br /> So yeah, the song IS about drugs, it's not a glorification of using but a grim portrayal of the life of someone who does. Unless you can offer an alternative interpretation as opposed to calling everyone who does morons?
I realize that this comment is 11 years old, but it still pisses me off. Just because it's the most obvious interpretation of the song doesn't mean it's less valid or not correct.