“With or Without You” is without a doubt one of U2’s most well-known and praised songs. The Irish rockers released the track as the lead single on their iconic The Joshua Tree (1987) album and the song quickly rose to the top of the US charts. It marked the band’s first number 1 hit in the United States. In this article, we will discover the story, meaning, and legacy behind the iconic song.
The Story Behind the Song
The story of “With or Without You” starts in 1985, when the band resided in drummer Larry Mullen Jr.’s house to review work written during U2’s The Unforgettable Fire Tour. A rough version of the song, written by Bono, was recorded during this period.
In early 1986, U2 hired a mansion in Dublin to record their next album The Joshua Tree. They started working on “With or Without You” together with producers Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno, but failed to produce a likeable composition. Lanois and Eno even gave up on the song, and the band considered abandoning “With or Without You”.
But Bono’s friend – and fellow musician – Gavin Friday believed in the potential of the song. “He personally rescued ‘With or Without You’, Bono said in an interview. “He pulled it out of the wastepaper bin, organized it, structured it, and was the one who believed it could be a big hit when Brian and Danny had passed on it.”
Friday’s persistence brought Brian Eno back to the song, who turned Bono’s chord progression into keyboard arpeggios. During the same period, guitarist The Edge received an Infinite Guitar from musician Michael Brook. The guitar allows a note to be held with infinite sustain. Lanois suggested The Edge to try the guitar on “With or Without You”.
“Edge was working on his Infinite guitar, which makes a beautiful haunting ghost of a guitar sound,” Bono said. “And it was going on in one room while the bass chords were going on in another, and I heard them in stereo working together. We brought Edge in and started recording immediately.”
After finishing The Joshua Tree, the band decided they wanted to release “With or Without You” as the album’s lead single. The song was released as a single on 16 March 1987. Exactly one month later, on 16 May, the song topped the US charts. It marked the band’s first number-one hit in the US.
The Meaning of the Song
“With or Without You” is a song about Bono’s internal struggle between being a free-spirited musician and a domesticated family man. He wrote the song during a mentally difficult time.
“The lyric is pure torment,” He said in the book U2 by U2. “One of the things that was happening at that time was the collision in my own mind between being faithful to your art or being faithful to your lover. What if the two are at odds? Your gift versus domestic responsibility?”… “That song is about torment, about how repressing desires makes them stronger.”
Read more: The 10 Best U2 Songs of All Time
With his lover, Bono obviously refers to his wife Ali Hewson. The two got married in 1982 and have four kids. After all, the once doubtful Bono found a nice balance between being a musician and a family man.
To the listener, “With or Without You” portrays a troubled relationship. The narrator realizes he isn’t satisfied with or without his lover and is stuck in a lose-lose environment.
The Song’s Legacy
As said earlier, the song reached number 1 on the US Billboard Hot 100. “With or Without You” was also a major top-10 hit in Europe. The song is held in high regard to this day and is seen as one of U2’s finest tracks.
The album the song is on – The Joshua Tree – is held in even higher regard. Besides “With or Without You”, it also includes the hit singles “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” and “Where the Streets Have No Name”. The Joshua Tree is seen as one of the greatest albums of all time and has sold over 25 million copies.
“With or Without You” and The Joshua Tree solidified the legacy of U2 and secured the band’s status as rock legends.
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