This song is about a Dublin woman who is addicted to heroine. She "steps on a steam train...out of the driving rain." The "seven towers" reference verifies the Dublin setting. "She walks through the streets, with eyes painted red... she will suffer the needle chill."
Isaac Lee iclee
ucdavis.edu (contributed before the 20:th of February 1998)
I don't think it's about a woman. I think it's about heroin itself. She (heroin) will suffer the needle chill, thes she will run through the veins until the person dies, and the blood stands still.
Stefano Galandrini glicerinmbox.vol.it (contributed before the 20:th of February 1998)
i've got a bootleg (in U2 i trust) on which bono says that this song was a true story about that special girl like someone other said in his interpretation and bono explaines further that this song was not written only about drugs but about "everyone who is drifting" and he said that he thinks that everybody is addicted to something (he is addicted to be in appear, he said). yes and i think this girl who bono speaks about is only the symbol for someone who is addicted to whatever. in her case her addiction is to drugs.
Ingrid Petzer ingrid_petzerblackbox.at (contributed before the 20:th of February 1998)
In an interview, Bono talks about this song and how it is about a woman who lived in the Ballymena Seven Towers, an area in Dublin which is like the projects in the states. I see seven towers/but I only see one way out The drug use there is very widespread, and the one way out which he speaks of could be canning the habit, stopping the heroin, which the woman he sings about could not do.
Annie D mrs_chanandler_bonghotmail.com ( 3:rd of July 2001)
The song is indeed about the drugs problem in a town called Ballymena, although Ballymena is in fact a town about thirty miles north of Belfast in Northern Ireland. It is known as the City of the Seven Towers hence the reference. Ballymena has a deserved reputation for its drug problem and in considered one of the worst cases in Europe.
paddler_ni paddler_niyahoo.co.uk (29:th of August 2001)
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.
Ken Dockery Ken.Dockerycwcom.cwplc.com (19:th of July 2002)