On a bed of nails she makes me wait/
And I wait, without you.

U2’s “With or Without You” sounds like a lover’s quarrel has turned into a semi-breakup. The man tells the woman he’ll wait for her to figure her shit out, but at the same time he is thinking to himself “I can’t live with her and I can’t live without her”. In his particular case, he keeps giving a lot of himself to the relationship, when it is not clear that he is receiving the same love back. He realizes the absurdity of it but can’t break the pattern yet.

“With or Without You” was U2’s biggest hit. For one, its veiled lyrics allowed you to take from the song whatever you wanted to, really.  It is a great 80s power ballad, with excellent vocals and instrumentation but without the cheesy experimental production methods that were used on many 80s records.

“With or Without You” is very much a rock song in the rock tradition, in a decade that was fairly light of it. Bono’s voice sounds emotional and vulnerable on this song; I believe this was the song that catapulted him to superstardom. While this was their most famous song, I believe there is one song that is better.

With or Without You 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
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’s 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
I can’t live
With or without you
Oh

With or without you
With or without you
I can’t live
With or without you
With or without you

written by U2

But soon the world
Had its evil way
My heart was blinded
Love went astray.

Black Sabbath’s “Changes” is a song about a man with a broken heart. Who knew that Ozzy Osbourne can do tender love songs? He was blinded by lust and tempted by another woman and he cheated on the woman he loved. His best friend. His life will be different now because he knows that he lost her love.

The changes that Ozzy describes are typical in a breakup: he feels sad, lonely. What makes it worse is that he knows he did this to himself. If only he could go back and change the man he is. Not just his actions, but his character.

The instrumentation in Black Sabbath’s “Changes” is fairly simple, and that helps it pack an emotional punch. The piano combined with the mellotron create a vibe similar to something out of a funeral procession in a church. The most surprising aspect of the song is the amazingly crisp, intelligible vocals from Ozzy. For those of us who knew Ozzy the personality before Ozzy from Black Sabbath, it is quite a welcome shock.

Changes Lyrics

I feel unhappy, I feel so sad.
I’ve lost the best friend, that I ever had.
She was my woman, I love her so.
But it’s too late now, I’ve let her go.

I’m going through changes.
I’m going through changes.

We shared the years, we shared each day.
In love together we found a way.
But soon the world, had it’s evil way.
My heart was blinded, love went astray.

I’m going through changes.
I’m going through changes.

It took so long, to realize.
And I can still hear her last goodbyes.
Now all my days, are filled with tears.
Wish I could go back, and change these years.

I’m going through changes.
I’m going through changes

written by Black Sabbath (W.T. Ward / John Osbourne / Tony Iommi / Terence Butler)

I don’t wanna hurt no more…/
We’re breaking things we can’t repair/
None of us will take them blame.

In “I Don’t Wanna Hurt”, Anouk has come to the realization that her relationship has come to an end. Once there may have been love between them, now there is only bitterness and sadness and they are clearly not right for each other.

There is nothing more to talk about…just some minor logistics to settle like who leaves who. So, in the morning Anouk will leave.

Why can’t she get the life she’s dreamed of? Will she ever be happy? All she knows it that they bring each other pain and it is time to end. Hopefully this will end the pain as well.

The great thing about “I Don’t Wanna Hurt” is the emotion in Anouk’s voice when she sings this song. We believe her words and we know these are her feelings she is expressing. She sounds exhausted from the relationship and sounds like she needs a break.

She feels resolute in her decision and will not be changing her mind. She always kind of felt it might end this way. But does this mean she will never have the life she always wanted? That remains to be seen.

I Don’t Wanna Hurt Lyrics

We’re breaking things we can’t repair,
None of us will take them blame,
No nothing can be done this time.
All the memories that we’ve made,
I threw them all away,
There’s no need to talk it over.
Don’t let me get you down,
Let’s just move on,
I am setting you free.

‘Cause I don’t wanna hurt no more.
I don’t wanna make you go
Through one more rainy day.
No I don’t wanna hurt no more.
Strange enough I always knew
I’m taking off today.
Don’t wanna hurt no more.

Darkness you left in my soul,
Now do we know how much we’ve lost?
Will the moon be shining as bright as before?
And as I am singing this song,
The tears went up in my eyes.
And I will always wonder
Why I will never have the life I wanted-
Now I’m letting it go.

‘Cause I don’t wanna hurt no more.
I don’t wanna make you go
Through one more rainy day.
No I don’t wanna hurt no more.
There’s not much more to say
‘Cause it’s to late now
I won’t hurt no more.

So I’ll wait till morning comes
You made it clear it’s been only pain loving me.
Things that we don’t do for love,
I am setting you free.

‘Cause I don’t wanna hurt no more.
I don’t wanna make you go
Through one more rainy day.
No I don’t wanna hurt no more.
Strange enough I always knew
I’m taking off today.
I’m letting you go.

written by Anouk Teeuwe / Daniel Hill