Standing Here

I'm standing on a hilltop
A hundred miles from home
I can see the light surrounds me
I want you to show me 'round

I'm standing here
I really don't think you could know that
I'm in heaven when you smile*

I'm drifting through the city
I'm swinging from a tree
I can touch, but you can't feel me
You hear me as you speak

I'm standing here
I really don't think you could know that
I'm in heaven when you smile
And I'm everywhere
I really don't think you could know that
I'm in heaven when you smile

But I don't think you think like I do
No matter how, how hard I try
Always thought I'd have the answer
Let me tell you what I've got

I'm looking through your window
I might just have the key
Over me my free-fall baby
You hear me as you speak

I'm standing here
I really don't think you could know that
I'm in heaven when you smile
I'm standing here
I really don't think you could know that
I'm in heaven when you smile

But I'm everywhere
I really don't think you could know that
I'm in heaven when you smile

But I don't think you think like I do
No matter how, how hard I try
I always thought I'd have the answer
Let me tell you what I've got
Oh let it rot I made them stop

I could park a juggernaut in your mouth
And I can feel a hurricane when you shout
I should be safe forever in your arms**
I should be safe forever in your arms

I could park a juggernaut in your mouth
And I can feel a hurricane when you shout
I should be safe forever in your arms
I should be safe forever in your arms

Lyrics by:
Squire / Brown

Music by:
Squire / Brown

Written:
1989

Personnel:
John Squire (guitar)
Ian Brown (vocals)
Gary Mounfield (bass)
Alan Wren (drums, backing vocals)

Produced by:
John Leckie

Format:
Released 1992:
Standing Here (Silvertone, JDJ-4201-2, US promo CD)
Judging by this advertisement for the Roses' Blackpool gig, Standing Here was originally scheduled to be released as a single in July 1989.

Also available on:
She Bangs The Drums single (as b-side)
The Complete Stone Roses (5.05)
Turns Into Stone (5.05)

First live performance:
In 1989.

Details:
Standing Here is influenced by 'Foxy Lady', from Are You Experienced, the debut LP by The Jimi Hendrix Experience.

'Cloudburst', the b-side of Oasis's 'Live Forever' (1994) single, takes inspiration from Standing Here.

The song is sung from the perspective of an omnipresent figure, who is "everywhere." The opening verse appears to derive from 'Jesus Taken Up Into Heaven' (Acts 1). When Jesus was about to leave His disciples standing on a hilltop (the Mount of Olives), and Himself go back to heaven, He told them that they should go back to Jerusalem and wait: "...you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you." (Acts 1: 8). The surrounding "light" in Standing Here, I propose, is the Holy Spirit, which would visit the disciples at Pentecost. From the footnote corresponding to (Acts 1: 12), we learn that Jesus and the disciples were about 3/4 of a mile from home, which becomes "a hundred miles" in the song. Pentecost follows their return, which appears to relate to the second verse (the Holy Spirit 'touching' the disciples, and the disciples hearing - welcoming - the Holy Spirit, as they began to speak in other tongues):

When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues*** as the Spirit enabled them.
(Acts 2: 1 - 4)

Top: The strong element of Abstract Expressionism in the Standing Here video (for example, the exploration of the subconscious using fridge magnets) suggests perhaps that Squire had some hand in its creation. The video is strongly influenced by Harry Smith (1923 - 1991), an artist whose activities and interests put him at the centre of the mid twentieth-century American avant-garde. A video entitled 'Early Abstractions (1941 - 1957)', from which a still is shown, has the following seven short films, played to the music of The Beatles. Numbers 1 and 2 especially appear to have influenced the Standing Here video:
No. 1: Hand-drawn animation of dirty shapes - the history of the geologic period reduced to orgasm length.
No. 2: Batiked animation. The action takes place either inside the sun or in Zurich, Switzerland.
No. 3: Batiked animation made of dead squares, the most complex hand-drawn film imaginable.
No. 4: Black and white abstractions of dots and grillwork made in a single night.
No. 5: Colour abstraction. Homage to Oscar Fischinger - a sequel to No. 4.
No. 7: Optically printed Pythagoreanism in four movements supported on squares, circles, grillwork and triangles with an interlude concerning an experiment.
No. 10: An exposition of Buddhism and the Kaballa in the form of collage. The final scene shows Agaric mushrooms growing on the moon while the Hero and Heroine row by on a cerebrum.
The music video accompanying the rerelease of New Order's 'Blue Monday' in 1988 may also have been an influence on the Standing Here video.
Bottom: Harry Smith.

Standing Here video stills (Thanks to Dave Roberts for capturing these):

 

Left: Standing Here CD front cover.
Right: Standing Here CD back cover.

* The line "I really don't think you could know that I'm in heaven when you smile" is a take on 'Jackie Wilson Said (I'm In Heaven When You Smile)' by Van Morrison (made famous by Dexy's Midnight Runners' cover on Top Of The Pops in 1982, with a backdrop of Jocky Wilson, the darts player !)
** The line "I should be safe forever in your arms" could also be interpreted as "I should be safer ever in your arms."
*** Or languages; also in verse 11.

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