U2: With Or Without You Meaning
Song Released: 1987
With Or Without You Lyrics
see the thorn twist in your side
i 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...
-
The song is about christ and the church. See the thorn twist in your side (trials that work faith,patience and perfection) stone set in your eye (no man has seen god) on a bed of nails she makes me wait (jesus crucified justifying everyone who comes to him no matter when or where until the time of completion comes) you give yourself away (unbelievers never really find themselves or know who they really are and give themselves to the lies and deceits of the devil)
-
I believe its about being married; the "twist of faith" is that when they were dating she was intimately eager to share the "bed", now she makes him wait on a "bed of nails"; and all he can do is wait, the nails are the resentful paybacks for his clumsiness before and during the marriage; thus the "stone sets" in her eyes is the resentment towards him.
Yet, he loves her, and so he waits; but deep within he knows it can't continue, so he knows that sooner or later he will have to stop this cycle, thus the "can't live with you" resonates within his soul... like a wolf howling at the moon...
Billy Madison's mom and my grandma were right, "she's of the debbo"! =)
-
It's the same old story, aint? I cant read up any reason why this should be a "love song" in seek of engagement...very hollywoodish interpretation to me.
Its the struggle between each other. One loves more than the other does. One gives everything even gives himself up - which still isnt enough from the other point of view. one breaks up as a rational consequence - the other is hurt deadly.
You part with each other but still desire the lost part. It hurts if you see her and if she's away. With or without her.
You think you cannot live anymore after a really emotional break up. time will heal. I know.
The extra lines "shine like stars in the summer nights..." show the highly idealized imaginations of love, which are even good because they feed your desire but also can comfort you.
-
I think it's about his relationship with america
-
This is one of my favourites. But now i got a totally new interpretation for this one i heared about, when i was talking to our drummer: It could be about a man falling in love with a prostitute.
"See the stone set in your eyes"
She already is broken in her heart. He can see the look in her eyes.
"See the thorn twist in your side"
He can see how she is suffering, of course she don't like doing this.
"Slight of hand..." it was his fault it came to this... "twist of fate..." This is really a bad situation, especially when you are married or already togeter with someone.
"Trough the storm..." .. don't need to explain this, do I?
"You give it all but i want more" -
And of course he wants more, but this is all she can give him. He wants love - she gives him all she can....only a job.
"You give yourself away.." speaks for itself.
"My hands are tied..." he already had a relationship.. ?
"My Body bruised she got me with" of course she's got him with that! Its her job!
"I can't live With or without you" - He can't live with her - remeber her profession, state of heart - she don't even LOVE him - she only act for an hour or so that she does. And he can't live without her because he admires her and always come back.
I think this is a really nice and also sad interpretation. -
This song to me is about a relationship between two lovers that has fallen appart. She has an affair, but he loves her so much still. But how can the relationship survive the affair. He loves her too much to let her go, but he can't go on with her anymore either, the pain is too great.
-
I dont beleive it has anything to do with marriage or proposal, a bed of nails is not a hand reference! Nails that you hammer into a wall, not that you have on the end of your fingers!
And the phrase 'my hands are tied' doesnt refer to tying the knot, it's a common phrase used to describe when you have to make a decision, but you cant.
^^Those just seemed like misunderstanding but the rest of the stuff you put just doesnt make sense... -
I think this song is about one-sided love.
The words 'And you give yourself away' refer to her flirting with other men, almost selling herself and just leading people on.
Secondly the Chorus, and the repeated line 'With Or Without You' is talking about how with or without her, he's always going to be there and he'll always love her, whether she's with him or not.
I think the 'bed of nails' refers to the fact that if he walks away, or tries to alter his situation, he's just going to get hurt, so he has to lie there and wait for her to help him up. As when you lay something or someone on a bed of nails, it doesn't hurt until you move or get up without assistance.
In verse 3- 'through the storm we reach the shore/you give it all but I want more/and I'm waiting for you'
I interpret this as they've been having trouble, he's somehow admitted he's unhappy with their relationship and they've finally reached a middle ground where she gives him all the attention of a relationship, but she's still sort of distant and flaunts herself to other men, so what they have doesn't feel real.
In the final verse it seems -to me at least- that he is stuck in his situation and he can't make the decision whether to stay or go. He's got nothing to win by staying and he's probably given everything up to be with her. -
It's about the pain of heroin addiction
-
Music is very much about interpretation and even those who wrote it may see a different meaning to it at different times in their life. It may still be what they originally felt but as life and time pass they see their own sub-consciousness come out in their own lyrics. This is why writing music for a lot of people is a spiritual catharsis. The song may very well mean all of these things people have said. My own interpretation ( and with music we are free to have are our interpretation) is that the song is about the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ and the forgiveness of our sins through Christ.
"See the stone set in your eyes
see the thorn twist in your side
i wait for you"
-stone & thorn symbolize Christ on the cross and in Christ's crucifixion "I wait for you" is an illusion of Christians waiting for the resurrection of Christ
"Sleight of hand and twist of fate
On a bed of nails she makes me wait
And I wait without you"
-as a couple of people said before, sleight of hand and twist of fate is in reference to trickery, hence, Judas' betrayal of Jesus and "the twist of fate" that lead to his crucifixion. I also do believe that "she" is sometimes in place of God because it's more "marketable" and does not alienate non-believers. But I think "she" is God... God makes us sinners wait on a bed of nails for the resurrection of Christ for our sins to be forgiven. As the crucifixion of Christ was to take away our sins.
"With or without you
With or without you"
-we can not live with Jesus walking among us because he had to die for our sins but we could not be here without him had he not died for our sins, hence, "I can't live 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"
-The storm I think is an illusion to the great flood, and those who survived on the ark even after reaching the shore and being saved by God, we still want more, God gives us all and we still want more. And then the coming of the messiah, Jesus, who will bring our salvation through his death.
"And you give yourself away
And you give yourself away
And you give
And you give
And you give yourself away"
-Jesus giving his life for our sins on the cross
"My hands are tied
My body bruised, she's got me with
Nothing to win and
Nothing left to lose"
-If we believe that Jesus lives in us, then I feel this is man's way of realizing that we too were on the cross with Jesus, our sins were on the cross with him, just as Jesus' hands are tied so too are our hands tied & our bodies bruised, "she's"/God's got us with Jesus.... when you have nothing to win and nothing left to lose, than you give everything, just as Jesus gave everything with his crucifixion.
Also if folks remember the video for the song there is a point in the video when Bono puts his arms and crosses his hands above this head like being crucified on the cross(as historians have said that Christ may have been crucified on a stake and would have had his arms and hands nailed to the stake above his head).... He does this in the video during the lyrics "my hands are tied, my body bruised" which always lead me to believe is was about the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ and the forgiveness or our sins.... NOW... That's just MY interpretation.... and for me ....I love the song either way. -
wtf is this interperation.... this is obviously wrong...Okay the song is not about someone proposing..its about unrequitted love... to me its about two people who love each other more than anything in the world. But there is some complication so they cant be together. They cant be with eachother but they cant live without each other... the lyrics explain how painful it is for them see the thorn twist in your side, bed of nails to be apart and to be together they have to give a little bit of themselves away.
-
Okay, well in my mind this song clearly is a referance to relationship, (of course!)However this is a relationship that has interweaved him to this person in a way that keeps him with her, even though it hurts him, because she does not appreciate him "On a bed of nails she makes me wait".
It's a song of his acceptance that he has become depandant of her, in a way so one sided but stong that he "can't live with, or without her"
Basicily he's completly head over heels in love with her, but she can't give him what he needs.
The "You give yourself away" lines really hit home with me especially given my personal experiances with this song;
You love someone, give them everything, you love them TOO much, they cheat and (or) take you for granted, you forgive them and still love them and stay with them, but they continue to be unfaithful and take advantage of you.
It takes a very long, dificult period of your life to finally realize that they won't change, and that you need to, for once, stand up for yourself. -
See the stone set in your eyes- means he's looking into her eyes as he is killing her
see the thorn twist in your side- he is stabbing her
i wait for you- stalking her
sleight of hand and twist of fate- her life is in his hands
on a bed of nails she makes me wait- he can anticipate how its going to feel to take her life
through the storm we reach the shore you give it all but I want more- means he finally got her and he wants her to put up a bigger struggle against him
my hands are tied my body bruised she got me with nothing to win and nothing left to lose- his hands are tied he can't let her go his body is bruised from the fight she put up aginst him he's not gaining anything by killing but whats he got to lose now the deed is done.
thats my interpretation take it or leave it -
I think the song is about a breakup...breakups are hard (we all know that). I think that he refers to a couple who are very much in love, but have been fighting a lot, and decided that to stop hurting each other, the best thing to do was to breakup. Maybe they tried to make it work, but sometimes you can't. Somehow he didn't forget about her, he can't move on, it's too painful, he's still in love with her. But he realizes that no matter what, he's no longer going to be with her. I mean, that he knows, that if they come back together, they won't make it work, because of all the fighting and resentment. And he can't be without her, because he loves her and misses her.
- "See the thorn twist in your side"- means that she started to have doubts about the relationship.
- "I wait for you"- he wants her back, and he'll wait for her to come back.
- "On a bed of nails she makes me wait"- it's painful, because he's not over her yet. It hurts when you breakup with someone, and you find yourself alone and everything reminds you about that someone.
- "Through the storm, we reach the shore"- after they fought, they came to the conclusion of breaking up.
- "You gave it all but I want more"- means that they tried, but gave up...he wants more, wants onether chance.
- "And you give yourself away"- you expose yourself, you become vulnerable with that person.
- "My hands are tied"- he can't do anything else...
------NV------
More U2 songs »
Latest Articles
-
A new era for Millennial favorite, Linkin Park -
Anime to watch for the soundtracks… and other reasons you’re undateable -
.jpg)
Dolly, we need you -
The Stranger Things Effect: How new media is drawing Gen Z and Alpha's attention to aging media -
The most underrated soundtrack of the early 2000s -
Buy the Soundtrack, Skip the Movie: Brainscan (1994)
Trending:
Blog posts mentioning U2
Duran Duran Finally Got Inducted 
Is Maroon 5 a Beautiful Mistake? 
These Bands Are All Older Than You Think 
Nothing Music : The Liminal Space of Corporate Sound 
The Curse of the Revenge of the Return of Henry Mancini 
Music News Wrap-Up: 6/21/13 
Five Songs You Didn't Know Were About Real Historic Events 
The Top Five Music Video Location Cliches 
There's A Song For Every Phobia 
All Grammy, No Oscar - Five songs from films where the song was a bigger succ... 
All You Need Is Four Chords Just Posted
| Amnesia | anonymous |
| Your Smiling Face | anonymous |
| You Should Be Dancing | anonymous |
| Washing Machine Heart | anonymous |
| Souvenirs | anonymous |
| Art Deco | anonymous |
| Let It Go | anonymous |
| The Greatest Show | anonymous |
| Vampire | anonymous |
| Vampire | anonymous |
| Sippy Cup | anonymous |
| A Place For My Head | anonymous |
| I Hope You Dance | anonymous |
| Metaphor | anonymous |
| Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now) | anonymous |
