Running to Stand Still
| "Running to Stand Still" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Song by U2 | ||||
| from the album The Joshua Tree | ||||
| Released | 9 March 1987 | |||
| Recorded | 1986 | |||
| Genre | Folk rock, acoustic blues | |||
| Length | 4:18 | |||
| Label | Island | |||
| Songwriter(s) | U2 (music), Bono (lyrics) | |||
| Producer(s) | Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno | |||
| The Joshua Tree track listing | ||||
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"Running to Stand Still" is a song by rock band U2, and it is the fifth track from their 1987 album, The Joshua Tree. A slow ballad based on piano and guitar, it describes a heroin-addicted couple living in Dublin's Ballymun flats; the towers have since become associated with the song. Though a lot of time was dedicated to the lyrics, the music was improvised with co-producer Daniel Lanois during a recording session for the album.
The group explored American music for The Joshua Tree, and as such, "Running to Stand Still" demonstrates folk rock and acoustic blues influences. The song was praised by critics, many of them calling it one of the record's best tracks. It has since been included in the regular set lists of four U2 concert tours, in two different arrangements and with several possible thematic interpretations.
"Running to Stand Still" was written by U2 in the context of the heroin addiction epidemic in Dublin of the 1980s, much like "Bad" (and to some extent "Wire") had been from their 1984 album The Unforgettable Fire. Bassist Adam Clayton has referred to the song as "Bad Part II".Thin Lizzy frontman Phil Lynott's decline and death from addiction also resonated with Clayton at the time.
Until their 2014 album Songs of Innocence, U2 had written relatively few songs directly related to their growing up in Dublin, often giving higher priority to works about The Troubles in Northern Ireland or to international concerns. When they have written about Dublin, allusions to it have often been disguised. But "Running to Stand Still" was one of those with specific Dublin connections:
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