One of my favorite all-time U2 songs has to be “Running to Stand Still” off The Joshua Tree. The song about heroin-addicted lovers struggling to deal with addiction and their hopeless desire to want to change their lives for the better. The line “I see seven towers and only see one way out” references Dublin’s seven Ballymun Flats tower block complex that was once one of the poorest sections of the Irish capital. Only one of the towers still stands in Dublin and is scheduled for demolition.For the song’s sake it could reference any major city in the world with public housing and they’re association with drug addiction be it Chicago, Paris, Mexico City, Moscow, or Capetown. Drug addiction is something people struggle everywhere and for that matter almost everyone has something in they’re life they’re addicted to that is bad for them.

The message is one that is universal and is delivered with a beautiful arrangement that moves with the song’s tale perfectly. The simple haunting three chord song is garnered with a rising piano, a Memphis slide guitar, and a growing electric guitar that rises as the storm in the song begins forms “Under a black belly of cloud in the rain”. The song starts slow with Bono’s low story telling voice and builds into a desperate plea in the final verse. The song may be about someone who is hopeless tied to a drug, but there is a beautiful sense of hope in the song. “Running to Stand Still” transcends the stereotypical junkie song. The track should resonate with anyone who sees someone they love veering off in a dangerous path. “Running to Stand Still” great song should do

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

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…

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