maybe too much talk...
I continued my boycott by not rushing out to buy How to Dismantle An Atomic Bomb. The hype! The hype!
Okay, it had nothing to do with the hype. I simply had a really long day a client site. Maybe tomorrow. Until then I'll just listen to the time-worn classics.
Speaking of which, help me with a long-running internal debate. "Wire" from The Unforgettable Fire is unquestionably about heroin use. Common opinion is that my favorite U2 track, "Running to Stand Still," is as well. I'm not so sure, though. I've always heard it as a song about redemption and doubt. Sort of in the same vein as "Bad." Bono vox once said something about it being about a specific woman in a Dublin housing project but that has always seemed like a red herring to me. I don't think it's that literal. Am I crazy? Lyrics in the extended entry if you're unfamiliar.
This song is not a rebel song...
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 her eyes painted red
Under 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.
Posted by mikewolf at November 23, 2004 10:38 PMThis line:
I see seven towers
is a direct reference to an infamous public housing project in Dublin that was a huge social failure. From what I remember reading at the time, "Running to Stand Still" is about heroin use. (I was obsessed with U2 around the time of "Unforgettable Fire and so read practically everything that was written about them...even the UK music mags).
Posted by: Leigh Anne on November 24, 2004 12:33 AMHmm. I guess you're right.
The song is about a housing development in Dublin called Ballymun (not Ballymena which is a large town in Northern Ireland). Ballymun was built in the sixties to re-house inner city slums on the outskirts of Dublin near the Airport. The 'seven towers' referred to in the song are the seven 18 floor tower block buildings central to the development which developed a serious heroin problem over the years. They also became notorious as a suicide location for hopeless addicts, hence the lyric 'I see seven towers, but I only see one way out'. Interestingly, all the towers are due for demolition this year (2002) and the entire Ballymun area is currently undergoing regeneration and re-development.Posted by: mrw on November 24, 2004 08:46 AM
This year? 2002? Ah, the good old days.
Posted by: Dennis on November 25, 2004 07:32 AM