With or Without You

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For the Kane album of the same name, see With or Without You (Kane album).
"With or Without You"
Song

"With or Without You" is the lead single from U2's 1987 album, The Joshua Tree. It has since become highly-acclaimed as one of the band's most popular songs. Released as a single in March 1987, it became the group's first American #1 hit, spending three weeks at the top; it also reached #4 in the UK. There are two videos shot for this song: 'basic' and 'alternative' videos, the rest is being released on 'The Joshua Tree' 20th anniversary super deluxe edition bonus DVD.

According to Bono, the song was heavily influenced by Scott Walker's album Climate of Hunter [1]. It was U2's first single to be widely issued on CD. The song is U2's second most frequently covered song.[1]

In addition to topping the Billboard Hot 100, the song reached #1 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart and was the second U2 song to enter any other Billboard chart (specifically, the Adult Contemporary chart), being "Pride (In the Name of Love)" the first song of the band to enter a Billboard Chart peaking a #33 in the Hot 100 back in 1984 [2]. In addition, the song spent eleven weeks in the top 75 of the UK Singles Chart. "With or Without You" is also widely considered one of U2's most overtly emotional songs.

In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine placed the single at number 131 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.[2]

Composition

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U2 "With or Without You" (1987)
30 second sample from U2's "With or Without You"
Problems playing this file? See media help.

Template:Sample box end "With or Without You" is written in the key of D major. There are large sections of the song where the harmony rests on the D chord; in the sections it does not, the band implies a D-A-Bm-G chord progression. This chord progression is implied by the roots notes played by bassist Adam Clayton and the guitar parts of The Edge. The Edge's sustained guitar part is achieved using a device dubbed "Infinite Guitar". The Edge explained, "It has a similar effect to the E-Bow, but the disadvantage of the E-Bow is that it's either on or off, whereas this gives you all the mid-points between no sustain and infinite sustain, and different levels of 'emergence' of the note."[3]

Live history

"With or Without You" debuted live at the second show on the Joshua Tree Tour on 4 April 1987. It then became a regular for the rest of that year's tour, and was played at most shows on 1989's Lovetown Tour. During this time, it became famous for two additions not present on the studio version. Although The Edge's solo fades out on the studio version, it would often build up to an extra verse live. The lyrics were typically a lyric which reads "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, and for this reason, fans often refer to this verse as "Shine Like Stars".[3] It can be heard on the Rattle and Hum movie. This verse would then sometimes be followed by the second non-studio addition, a snippet of Joy Division's "Love Will Tear Us Apart". From the PopMart Tour onwards, it has been more common for Bono to repeat the "Ohh" at the climax of the song, with "Shine Like Stars" being sung very rarely.

"With or Without You" was played at almost every single concert on the Zoo TV Tour and did not miss a concert on the PopMart Tour. However, it was dropped from the setlist during the third leg of the Elevation Tour, and was initially a very rare inclusion during the Vertigo Tour - over the two months of the Vertigo Tour's first leg, it was only played four times.[4] However, it regained its status of being a regular concert inclusion during stadium concerts on the second leg in Europe and remained in the setlist for the third leg. Notably, it was used to conclude one third leg show: the last time it closed a concert was in 1992.

Unlike most songs in U2's live catalogue, this song has been played with several different guitars, with Edge seeming to pick a new model (and subsequently, new sound) for each tour. Over the Joshua Tree Tour, Lovetown Tour and early legs of the Zoo TV Tour, he used a Fender Stratocaster. For later legs of the Zoo TV Tour, he switched to the Gibson Les Paul Custom. He started on the PopMart Tour his now trend of using Fernandes guitars to perform the song. On the PopMart Tour, Elevation Tour and Vertigo Tour, he has used (respectively) the Decade, Native Pro and Retrorocket Elite models. Each one is equipped with a special sustainer, which is why they are used for this song. The Fernandes models have frequently been the only guitars Edge purchases new, as opposed to the rest of his guitar collection, which are all vintage models.

Track listings

  1. "With or Without You" – 4:56
  2. "Luminous Times (Hold on to Love)" – 4:34
  3. "Walk to the Water" – 4:48

Chart positions

Chart (1987) Position
US Singles Chart 1
UK Singles Chart 4
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 1
U.S. Mainstream Rock Tracks 1
U.S. Adult Contemporary 23

Cover versions

Live cover performances

Sampling, parodies, etc.

Appearances in other media

  • The song was played during a scene in the Tommy Lee Jones movie, Blown Away, during a bomb building scene.
  • The song was used in an episode of Cold Case.
  • It was featured three times on the hit TV show Friends. It was the song for two of the characters Ross and Rachel and was played on both occasions when Ross and Rachel broke up. Ross sends in a request to local radio station for Rachel to hear, and also when Ross and Rachel go 'on a break' (though Rachel disputes this throughout the series, creating the catchphrase "We Were On A Break!") and Ross is in a bar dancing with the 'girl from the XEROX place', Chloe. Rachel later admits that it is "their song".The first half-minute was also played when they had their first kiss, in Central Perk.
  • It was also featured in the episode Valentine's Day of NBC's The Office in the background of an amateur video compilation of office life at Dunder-Mifflin entitled "Faces of Scranton".
Preceded by Billboard Hot 100 number one single
May 16 1987- May 30 1987 		Succeeded by
Preceded by United World Chart number one single
May 30 1987 		Succeeded by

Notes and references

  1. ^ U2.com
  2. ^ rollingstone.com
  3. ^ Rooksby, Rikki. Inside Classic Rock Tracks. Backbeat, 2001. ISBN 0-87930-654-8, p. 122
  4. ^ U2-vertigo-tour.com
  5. ^ (Hikaru Utada) With Or Without You [U2 cover - live]

External links

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