thoughts on "Running To Stand Still"
[thoughts by khufu]

"Running to stand still"
[getting through a day in the life of mainline addiction]

"And so she woke up
From where she was lying still
Said we got to 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 La La La De Day
Singing Ha La La La De Day"

[our heroin[e] wakes up for another day, realizing for one lucid moment
that where they are going is nowhere, and that something should be done
about it. but what? take a train to another place and step out of the driving
rain of their current life, yes maybe they can run from the darkness of the
night, the darkness of their lives, and the day will be ok now, la la la de day]

"Sweet the sin
But 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
Singing Ha La La La De Day"

[initial drug use can 'taste' sweet, but the after effects leave quite a bitter
taste in one's mouth, a bitter taste in one's life, so much so that one might
consider suicide by jumping off one of the seven buildings round the town
(as has been suggested by others - it makes sense here), but suicide is
a permanent solution to a tempory problem, it is not a way out, it's giving
out, giving up. the only way out is through withdrawal, cry without weeping,
your body will be crying for more, talk without speaking, hearing yourself
and others when no one is speaking, hallucinating, scream without raising
your voice, your body will be screaming for more... but 'i' gave in again,
took the drugs (poison), and the day is ok now, floating off riding the high,
a la 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 is running to stand still"

[our heroin[e] runs through the streets with eyes painted red, the color
of prostitution the profession of choice, perhaps necessity, of many of the
the addicted, under black belly of cloud in the rain, the darkness and dreary
nature of their lives, she comes back from the street bringing home what
she has worked so hard to earn, "white gold and pearls stolen from the sea"
(a metaphor), the white heroin and cocaine stolen from nature's garden of
eden. she is raging, feverish for another fix, her eyes showing the desperate
craving, such so that she will suffer the chill she feels up and down her spine
when getting stuck with a needle, she will suffer the cold chill of the metal
needle piercing the warm flesh, she will suffer all this... she is running to
stand still. running a feverish pitch day in and day out to maintain the
addiction, it takes so much effort and resources, the rest of her life is not
progressing, it is standing still, feeding the addition is all there is, and they
lives are going nowhere, they are going nowhere fast. ("Nowhere Man
please listen, you don't know what your missing, nowhere man the world
is at your command, he's as blind as he can be, just sees what he wants to
see, isn't he a bit like me and you")(beatles of course). ]

[drug addicts are people too, u2 seems to know this, for those who want
to try and understand the humanity of those who do drugs a good movie is
"drug store cowboy" w/matt dillon, kelly lynch, winner of the 1989 best film
award of the National Society of Film Critics, 'two very enthusiastic thumbs
up. one of the years best films, this is a great movie' siskel & ebert. ]

[thoughts on running to stand still] by khufu
Copyright © 1996 by khufu/km
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