Pre Sketch – Prep Sketch – Large – Full Size
The pictures of this one are of second-rate quality because the painting is in the possession of an ex-girlfriend. This is one that overall I am slightly pleased with, but over time my opinion of it has lowered. The song itself is definitely one of my favourite songs, but the painting doesn’t quite nail it. The figure was a big problem (it’s modelled after a picture of Bono in the live performance of the song), and the face was a huge problem, which you can see was solved by removing it entirely. I can’t entirely figure out the meaning to the lyrics; but the way I see it, in the meta-story of U2 songs, Running To Stand Still comes right before Where The Streets have No Name, when the protagonist is still caught in the mire, struggling to break free; Streets is the sunrise—the breaking free.
Lyrics:
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.