“With or Without You” by U2

“With or Without You” by U2

Oh, it’s so easy to mock U2: the bombast, the shades, the pomp… But the band’s 1987 opus, The Joshua Tree, contains three of its mightiest songs in a row, of which “With or Without You” is its most affecting. The song’s bittersweet sentiment is perfectly matched by the music—at turns delicate and yearning, then surging and desperate. Anyone who’s driven through the desert will recognize its massive vistas in this blown-open sonic landscape. Play it somewhere you can howl along, loudly.

LYRICS 

See the stone set in your eyes
See the thorn twist in your side
I'll wait for you
Sleight of hand and twist of fate
On a bed of nails, she makes me wait
And I wait without you

With or without you
With or without you

Through the storm, we reach the shore
You give it all but I want more
And I'm waiting for you

With or without you
With or without you, ah, ah
I can't live
With or without you

And you give yourself away
And you give yourself away
And you give
And you give
And you give yourself away

My hands are tied
My body bruised, she got me with
Nothing to win and
Nothing left to lose

And you give yourself away
And you give yourself away
And you give
And you give
And you give yourself away

With or without you
With or without you, oh
I can't live
With or without you
Oh, oh
Oh, oh

With or without you
With or without you, oh
I can't live
With or without you

With or without you