| "With or Without You" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Artwork variant for 7-inch release | ||||
| Single byU2 | ||||
| from the albumThe Joshua Tree | ||||
| B-side |
| |||
| Released | 16 March 1987[1] | |||
| Recorded | 1986 | |||
| Studio | Danesmoate House (Dublin) | |||
| Genre | Rock | |||
| Length | 4:56 | |||
| Label | Island | |||
| Composer | U2 | |||
| Lyricist | Bono | |||
| Producers | ||||
| U2 singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Audio sample | ||||
| Music video | ||||
| Official Video onYouTube Alternate Video onYouTube | ||||
"With or Without You" is a song by Irishrock bandU2. It is the third track on their fifth studio album,The Joshua Tree (1987), and was released as the album's lead single on 16 March 1987. The song was the group's most successful single at the time, becoming their first number-one hit in both the United States and Canada by topping theBillboard Hot 100 for three weeks and theRPM national singles chart for one week, with a further three weeks at number two.
"With or Without You" featuressustained guitar parts played by guitaristthe Edge with a prototype of theInfinite Guitar, along with vocals by lead singerBono and a bassline by bassistAdam Clayton. Therock ballad[2][3] originated from ademo recorded in late 1985 that the group continued to work on throughoutThe Joshua Tree sessions. Ostensibly a song about troubled love, the track's lyrics were inspired by Bono's conflicting feelings about the lives he led as a musician and domestic man.
Critics praised the song upon its release. It is frequently performed on the band's tours, and it has appeared on many of theircompilation albums andconcert films. "With or Without You" is U2's second most frequentlycovered song.[4] In 2004,Rolling Stone magazine ranked the song 131st on its list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time".
In late 1985, U2 convened at a house that drummerLarry Mullen Jr. bought to review material the group had written duringThe Unforgettable Fire Tour. During this time, a roughdemo of "With or Without You" was written, with lead vocalistBono composing the song's chord sequence.[5] The band continued to work on the song at STS Studios, creating many permutations of the track, but not making any progress. Guitaristthe Edge considered the song at that point to be "awful".[5] The track consisted of aYamahadrum machine beat and a bass part played by bassistAdam Clayton using anIbanez bass guitar with a short scale.[6] According to Clayton, these early versions of the song sounded too sentimental[7] and "very traditional because the chords just went round and round and round".[5]
The sessions forThe Joshua Tree started in earnest in 1986, and U2 were recording at theGeorgian mansionDanesmoate House in Dublin. The group attempted to take the song in a different direction, although Bono was reluctant.[7] Under the direction of co-producersBrian Eno andDaniel Lanois, the Edge pursued more ambient guitar playing, Clayton turned up the volume on his bass, and Mullen experimented with an electronically enhanced drum kit.[7] Despite the work they continued to put into the track, the group considered abandoning the song, as they could not find an arrangement they liked.[8]
Bono and his friendGavin Friday continued to work on the song after Lanois and Eno declined to do so.[8] Bono credits Friday with rescuing the song and rearranging it, believing it could be a hit. Eno added a keyboardarpeggio, similar to the one from "Bad".[8] The song's fate was still in doubt when the Edge was sent a prototype of theInfinite Guitar by Canadian musicianMichael Brook, with whom he had collaborated for the 1986Captive soundtrack.[8] The instrument allowedsustained notes to be played, producing "a similar effect to theE-Bow", but with the ability to provide all the "mid-points between no sustain and infinite sustain" that the E-Bow cannot provide.[9] The prototype included elaborate assembly instructions and as the Edge recollects, "one wrongly placed wire and you could get a nasty belt of electricity. This piece of gear would have failed even the most basic of safety regulations."[8] On subsequent tours, his guitar technician occasionally receivedelectric shocks from the instrument when preparing it for performances.[8]
Listening to the backing track to "With or Without You" in the control room, Bono and Friday heard the sustained effect that the Edge was creating with the Infinite Guitar in the other room. The combination of the two playing simultaneously caught their attention. According to Lanois, "I said, 'That sounded pretty cool,' so we listened back and I said, 'Jesus, it's better than I thought.'"[6] The Edge immediately recorded an Infinite Guitar part in two takes.[6][8] The band considers the song's recording to be one of the album sessions' breakthrough moments, as it was recorded amid concerns that they had run out of ideas.[8]
Enosequenced the song's electronic drum beat on theYamaha DX7 synthesiser. Rather than connect it to the recording equipment via aDI unit and maintain the instrument's pristine sound, the producers plugged it into aMesa Boogieguitar amplifier and then miked it to give the sound more personality. As a result, Lanois said it sounded "more like people playing in a room". The sequenced beat was chosen to give the song a feeling of discipline, so that when Mullen's acoustic drums enter the song, "they mean something", in Lanois' words.[10]
ProducerSteve Lillywhite was hired by U2 in December 1986 to helpmix some songs forThe Joshua Tree;[11] "With or Without You" was one of them. While Lillywhite andengineer Mark Wallis were mixing it, Eno entered the room and told them that he wanted to change the introduction. Wallis said: "And it was kind of awe-inspiring because he said, 'Right, send this guitar through those ten effects over there and send that guitar through those ten effects over there and then feed them back to each other.' So what started as a traditional bit of rhythm guitar, bass, and drums suddenly became something quite otherworldly and spiritual, and the sound of the music you were hearing started to give you a feeling of where the song was going to go prior to the lyric. I thought that was really visionary."[12] Ultimately, "With or Without You" was the most debated song of those on which Lillywhite worked, as Eno and Lanois each had ideas different from his. Lillywhite, who wanted a more mainstream approach to his mix, favoured "a little more crash, bang" sound to Mullen's drums that enter later in the song, while Eno preferred that the drums remain "more mysterious and more supportive".[13]
Bono wrote the lyrics during his first night visiting theCôte d'Azur in 1986,[14] while struggling to reconcile his responsibilities as both a married man and a musician.[8]His wanderlust in belonging to a musical act was often at odds with his domestic life.[8] While writing the lyrics, he realised that neither facet of his life defined him, but rather the tension between the two did. He explained that the final lyric is about torment and how repressing desires only makes them stronger.[8]
"With or Without You" is written in a4
4time signature and is played at atempo of 110 beats per minute.[15] Although certain stanzas of lyrics are repeated, the song does not follow a traditionalverse-chorus form. Lanois says of it, "It has tension and builds like one of those greatRoy Orbison songs, where every section is unique and never repeats. I like that kind of sophistication [...]."[6]
The song begins with a minimal drum beat of eighth notes played by Mullen, while a backing track—Eno's synthesiser—plays a "rippling"triplet arpeggio of thechordD major.[9] A high sustained guitar part (played by The Edge's Infinite Guitar) enters, played "dry" in the left channel before reverberating on the right.[9] At 0:09, Clayton's bass guitar begins to play eighth notes in time with the kick drum, and the song's four-bar sequence of thechord progressionD–A–Bm–G, begins.[9] This chord progression is never explicitly played but is "implied" by theroot notes played by Clayton and the guitar parts of The Edge.[9]
"Notes actuallydo mean something. They have power. I think of notes as being expensive. You don't just throw them around. I find the ones that do the best job and that's what I use. I suppose I'm a minimalist instinctively. I don't like to be inefficient if I can get away with it. Like on the end of 'With or Without You'. My instinct was to go with something very simple [...]. I still think it's sort of brave, because the end of "With or Without You" could have been so much bigger, so much more of a climax, but there's this power to it which I think is even more potent because it's held back."
Bono's vocals enter at 0:28 in a lowregister, a stark contrast from Bono's typical singing style to that point in the group's career.[9] He stays below themiddle C for the first two and a half stanzas, centering his melody on themediantF♯. At the end of each of the first two stanzas, his vocals drop anoctave, from A to A. Author Susan Fast called Bono's vocals on "With or Without You" the first occasion on which he "extended his vocal range downward in an appreciable way".[17] At 0:58, an additional sustained guitar part joins the mix.[9] The drums increase in intensity at 1:45, before The Edge begins playing the song's signature guitarriff at 1:53. The riff, aperfect fifth opening to a sixth, features a prominent use ofdelay.[9] When the riff is played, it is answered by Bono singing "And you give yourself away", a line on which backing vocals appear at 2:06 and 2:32.[9]
A stanza begins in which Bono sings the song's title in a high, passionate voice as the drums get heavier.[9] At 3:03, the song bursts out in emotion as Bono begins open-throated "Oh-oh-oh-ohh" vocals, which are double-tracked, and the rhythm increases to play sixteenth notes on the guitar, cymbals, and tambourine.[9] After another stanza of Bono repeating the song's title, the music dies down at 3:38 to a similar state as it was at the beginning of the song.[9] Ten seconds later, Bono sings in afalsetto while a bass synthesiser doubles the bass guitar.[9] After the vocals complete, The Edge begins a simple guitarfigure. He explained that its understated nature was meant to resist the temptation to play an intricateguitar solo as an ending.[16] The second time the figure is played, the signature guitar riff from earlier re-appears and the song regains some of its intensity.[9] The song concludes with a fade-out.
The lyrics ostensibly describe a troubled relationship between two lovers, although the lyrics have been interpreted in religious contexts. TheWashington Post interpreted the song as both an acerbic love song and a tune lamenting the moral contradictions one faces with their religious faith.[18]Toby Creswell echoed these sentiments, saying it "can be read as a song about either marital romance or spiritual need".[19] Bono explained that the lyrics had romantic intentions, saying, "there's nothing more revolutionary than two people loving each other. One, 'cause it's so uncommon these days, and two, 'cause it's so difficult to do."[19] In 1987, Bono explained that "And you give yourself away" lyric refers to how he sometimes feels exposed being in U2, and that his openness, both to the public and music press, can do damage to the group. AuthorNiall Stokes interpreted the line as encompassing the theme of "surrendering the ego" to one's love and spiritual faith.[20] According to Bono, the song was heavily influenced byScott Walker's 1984 albumClimate of Hunter.[4]
The band's managerPaul McGuinness was resistant to U2 releasing "With or Without You" as a single, as he thought it was too sonically unusual for release. Gavin Friday, having helped the band complete the track, disagreed and thought it would be a "certain No. 1".[6] The song was selected as the lead single fromThe Joshua Tree. United States radio stations were allowed to play the song at 11:30 a.m. on 4 March 1987, with strong warnings byIsland Records against playing it earlier.[21] The single was released on 16 March 1987, two weeks after the album was released.[21][22] It was the group's first single to be widely issued oncompact disc.[4] Clayton referred to the song's nature as a challenge to radio, saying, "You don't expect it there [on radio]. In church perhaps."[20]
"With or Without You" debuted at number 64 on the USBillboard Hot 100 chart,[21] and on 16 May 1987,[23] it topped the chart to become U2's first number-one single in the US, proving Friday's prediction true.[6] The song spent three weeks atop the chart,[24] and 18 weeks in total on the Hot 100.[23] The song also toppedBillboard'sAlbum Rock Tracks chart,[25] Canada'sRPM Top 100,[26] and theIrish Singles Chart.[27] According toBillboard, the song was the group's breakthrough with American audiences.[24] The single peaked at number four on theUK Singles Chart, spending 11 weeks in the top 75 of the chart. The single also peaked at number two on the DutchMegaCharts Top 40.[28] In 2009, the song re-entered the UK Singles Chart at number 43 on the week ending 31 May, based on download sales due to Shaun Smith's performance of the song in theseries 3 semi-final ofBritain's Got Talent.[29]
Two videos were shot in Dublin in February 1987 and were co-directed byMeiert Avis andMatt Mahurin. The first includes abstracts shots of dancer (and Edge's future wife)Morleigh Steinberg edited in between shots of the band playing the song. A second alternative version can be found in the Super Deluxe version of the album.[30] On 15 March 2024, the song became the first U2 song to reach 1 billion streams onSpotify.[31]
"With or Without You" was first played live at the second show on theJoshua Tree Tour on 4 April 1987, and was a regular for the rest of that tour. It was played at most shows on 1989'sLovetown Tour. During these tours, two extensions to the song not present on the studio version were played: an extra verse with lyrics that typically read "We'll shine like stars in the summer night/We'll shine like stars in the winter light/One heart, one hope, one love" or modifications thereof,[32] which appears in the 1988Rattle and Hum movie; and a snippet ofJoy Division's "Love Will Tear Us Apart" (along with the "shine like stars" lyrics) which can be heard in the live album and concert filmLive from Paris. Since thePopMart Tour, it has been more common for Bono to repeat the "Ohh" at the climax of the song, with the "shine like stars" verse sung rarely.
"With or Without You" was played at mostZoo TV Tour concerts and every concert on thePopMart Tour. It was dropped from the set list during the third leg of theElevation Tour. It was initially a rare inclusion during theVertigo Tour - over the two months of the tour's first leg, it was only played four times.[33] It became a regular concert inclusion during stadium concerts on the second leg inEurope and remained in the set list for the third leg. It has been played on every night of theU2 360° Tour, occasionally with the "shine like stars" coda.[34] The song regularly closed out the main set on theInnocence + Experience Tour, again occasionally with the "shine like stars" coda. The song was performed at every concert onThe Joshua Tree Tours 2017 and 2019. It was also performed at all 40 shows of their 2023–2024 residencyU2:UVAchtung Baby Live atSphere in theLas Vegas Valley.
Live performances of the song also appear in the group's concert filmsZoo TV: Live from Sydney (1994),PopMart: Live from Mexico City (1998),Elevation 2001: Live from Boston,U2 Go Home: Live from Slane Castle, Ireland (2003),Vertigo 05: Live from Milan (2006),U2 3D (2008), andU2360° at the Rose Bowl (2010).
The song received universal acclaim from critics.Rolling Stone called it an "inventively arranged tune... that builds from a soothing beginning to a resounding climax".[35] Bill Graham ofHot Press praised the song, suggesting it may be Bono's "most controlled vocal, building from an almost conversational first verse over a bare rhythm section to a soul-baring confession". Graham suggested the lyric "And you give yourself away" was essential to U2's message.[36] TheSunday Independent suggested that the song was proof the band could be commercially accessible, yet not resort to rock clichés.[37]NME called it "some kind of love song" and found musical and lyrical symmetry between the song and the group's 1981 albumOctober.[38]
Mike DeGagne ofAllMusic praised the song for Eno's and Lanois's "gleaming" production work, Bono's vocals and "poetic deftness", and for The Edge's "astute but assertive" guitar playing. DeGagne described Bono's singing as "unleashing all his vocal power, moving from a soft, subtle intro and middle to an explosive burst of unyielding energy toward the end". He made religious comparisons to the musical arrangement, saying the "discerning air sounds almost church-like as it slowly unravels".[39] Tom Breihan ofStereogum described the song as apower ballad with a "beautiful" build. "It hits all the marks that power ballads are supposed to hit — the soft beginning, the slow ramp-up, the eventual catharsis — but it makes those beats feel instinctive, not cynical. Nothing about “With or Without You” feels cynical. It feels like a great unburdening, a pent-up howl at the heavens. It’s operatic nonsense, and it’s great spectacle."[40] Readers ofRolling Stone voted "With or Without You" the "Best Single" in a 1987 end-of-year poll,[4] while it finished in 15th place on the "Best Singles" list fromThe Village Voice's 1987Pazz & Jop critics' poll.[41]
"With or Without You" has become one of U2's best-known songs, and it often appears in music critics' rankings of the best songs of all-time. In 2000, the song appeared at number eight onRolling Stone's list of "100 Greatest Pop Songs", compiled byRolling Stone andMTV music critics to rank songs released sinceThe Beatles' breakthrough.[42] In 2005,Blender ranked the song at number 268 on its list of "The 500 Greatest Songs Since You Were Born".[43] The following year, readers ofQ voted "With or Without You" the 17th-greatest song in history.[44] In 2012,Slant Magazine listed "With or Without You" as the 40th best single of the 1980s.[45] Music television networkVH1 ranked the song number 13 on the "100 Greatest Songs of the 80s" countdown in its seriesThe Greatest.[46] In 2004,Rolling Stone placed the song at number 131 on its list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time";[47] the song was re-ranked to 132nd on the magazine's 2010 version of the list,[48] and to 211th on the 2021 version.[49] The song appeared as one of seven U2 songs inToby Creswell's 2006 music reference book1001 Songs: The Great Songs of All Time and the Artists, Stories, and Secrets.[19] Creswell said the song struck a perfect balance between the "vigour and spit and attitude" of the group's teenage years and their new-found appreciation for the "power of understatement".[19] In 2019,Rolling Stone ranked the song number seven on their list of the 50 greatest U2 songs,[50] and in 2020,The Guardian ranked the song number four on their list of the 40 greatest U2 songs.[51] U2 included the song on their compilation albumsThe Best of 1980–1990 (1998) andU218 Singles (2006) and reworked and re-recorded it forSongs of Surrender (2023).[52] In 2022,Vulture placed the song at number 12 on its ranking of all 234 U2 songs.[53]
In the NBC sitcomFriends, the song is the theme song of the relationship betweenRoss Geller (David Schwimmer) andRachel Green (Jennifer Aniston). It is first played in the 1995season 2 episode "The One with the List", wherein Ross apologizes to Rachel for the list he made in which he described the negative attributes of Rachel. Rachel then prevents the song from continuing after ringing up the radio station, informing them about what Ross did.
The song is featured in the 1994 filmBlown Away, as well as in "START", the 2018season 6 series finale episode of the seriesThe Americans.
A piano cover of the song featured in series 4, episode 6 of the seriesSex Education in 2023.
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "With or Without You" | U2 | Daniel Lanois,Brian Eno | 4:55 |
| 2. | "Luminous Times (Hold on to Love)" | U2, Brian Eno | Daniel Lanois, Brian Eno, U2 | 4:33 |
| 3. | "Walk to the Water" | U2 | Daniel Lanois, Brian Eno, U2 | 4:49 |
U2
Additional personnel
Weekly charts[edit]
| Year-end charts[edit]
|
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| Austria (IFPI Austria)[89] | Gold | 50,000* |
| Brazil (Pro-Música Brasil)[90] Digital | Gold | 30,000‡ |
| Brazil (Pro-Música Brasil)[90] DMS | Gold | 30,000* |
| Canada (Music Canada)[91] | Gold | 50,000^ |
| Denmark (IFPI Danmark)[92] | 2× Platinum | 180,000‡ |
| France (SNEP)[93] | Platinum | 200,000‡ |
| Germany (BVMI)[94] | Platinum | 600,000‡ |
| Italy (FIMI)[95] | 2× Platinum | 140,000‡ |
| New Zealand (RMNZ)[96] | 4× Platinum | 120,000‡ |
| Portugal (AFP)[97] | Platinum | 40,000‡ |
| Spain (PROMUSICAE)[98] | 3× Platinum | 180,000‡ |
| United Kingdom (BPI)[99] | 3× Platinum | 1,800,000‡ |
* Sales figures based on certification alone. | ||
Footnotes
Bibliography
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