Running To Stand Still

Christ, this song is hardly ambiguous is it? It's about two people's struggle with heroin addiction. There is no hidden meaning behind the words, they are so obvious.

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.