Without You (Badfinger song)

"Without You" is a song written by Pete Ham and Tom Evans of British rock group Badfinger, and first released on their 1970 album No Dice. The power ballad[1] has been recorded by over 180 artists,[2] and versions released as singles by Harry Nilsson (1971) and Mariah Carey (1994) became international best-sellers. Paul McCartney once described the ballad as "the killer song of all time".[3]

"Without You"
Song by Badfinger
from the album No Dice
Released9 November 1970 (1970-11-09)
Recorded15 & 29 July 1970
StudioAbbey Road, London
Length4:43
LabelApple
Songwriter(s)Pete Ham, Tom Evans
Producer(s)Geoff Emerick
Music video
"Without You" (audio) on YouTube

In 1972, writers Ham and Evans received the British Academy's Ivor Novello Award for Best Song Musically and Lyrically.[4]

Badfinger original

First recorded by the rock group Badfinger, the song was composed by two of its members. Pete Ham wrote a song originally titled "If It's Love", but it had lacked a strong chorus. At the time of writing, the band shared residence with the Mojos at 7 Park Avenue in Golders Green. One evening, in the midst of the parties, songwriting, touring, in Golders Green, Ham and his girlfriend Beverly Tucker were about to go out for the evening. But just as they were leaving Tom Evans said he had an idea for a song – Ham said, "Not tonight, I've promised Bev." But she thought he would be wondering if he had done the right thing later, if he went out, – she told him – "Go into the studio, I'm fine about it" ... He said, "Your mouth is smiling, but your eyes are sad." The song Ham wrote that night was called "If it's Love" and has the verse "Well I can't forget tomorrow, when I think of all my sorrow, I had you there but then I let you go, and now it's only fair that I should let you know ... if it's love". But Ham wasn't happy with the chorus.[5]

Evans' relationship with his future wife Marianne influenced his lyrics:

One evening he [Evans] went to her [Marianne's] friend Karen and told Karen, "She's left me. I need her back. I can't live without her." He flew to Bonn to find her – he wrote a song called "I Can't Live". Its chorus included "I can't live, if living is without you, I can't live, I can't give any more." And so the merging of the two songs,[6] Ham and Evans created the hit [with] Ham's verse, "warm, sweet, sentimental" and Evans' chorus, "intense, dramatic, heartbreaking."[7]

Both Ham and Evans said they did not consider the song to have much potential at the time Badfinger recorded it, and the track was slotted to close the first side of their 1970 album No Dice. Badfinger's recording of the song, which is more brusque than its successors' versions, was not released as a single in Europe or North America.

The two writers of the song, Ham and Evans, later committed suicide due to legal and financial issues. In Evans' case, it was a dispute over songwriting royalties for "Without You" that precipitated his action. Songwriting royalties had become the subject of constant legal wrangling for Evans, and in 1983, following an acrimonious argument with his bandmate Joey Molland over the royalties for the song, Evans hanged himself.[8][9]

Harry Nilsson version
"Without You"
Side A of US vinyl single
Single by Nilsson
from the album Nilsson Schmilsson
B-side"Gotta Get Up"
Released11 October 1971 (1971-10-11)
Recorded1971
StudioTrident, London
Length3:17
LabelRCA
Songwriter(s)Pete Ham, Tom Evans
Producer(s)Richard Perry
Nilsson singles chronology
"Me and My Arrow"
(1971)		 "Without You"
(1971)		 "Jump into the Fire"
(1972)

Background
Harry Nilsson (pictured in 1972) covered Badfinger's song "Without You".

Harry Nilsson, at the time best known for his hit "Everybody's Talkin'" and for composing "One", recorded by Three Dog Night, heard Badfinger's recording of "Without You" at a party,[10] and mistook it for a Beatles song.[11] After realising it was not, he decided to cover the song for his 1971 album Nilsson Schmilsson. The single was released by RCA in the autumn of 1971, and first charted on radio stations across the US in early December. "Without You" debuted (at 99) on Billboard's Hot 100 in the chart dated December 18, 1971, and on its tenth week, in the chart dated February 19, 1972, started its four-week run at number one. Billboard ranked it as the number four single of 1972.[12] The record topped Billboard's Easy Listening chart for five weeks.

The record spent five weeks at number one on the UK Singles Chart, beginning on 11 March, eventually selling almost 800,000 copies.[13] It went to number one in several other countries, including Australia (for five weeks), Ireland (two weeks) and New Zealand (two weeks).

The single, Grammy-nominated for Record of the Year, was produced by Richard Perry, who later explained, "It was a different record for its time. It was a big ballad with a heavy backbeat, and although many artists have cut songs like it since, no one was doing it then."[14] Gary Wright, who worked with Badfinger on George Harrison's projects, played the piano. Also featured are Klaus Voormann (bass), Jim Keltner (drums) and John Uribe (acoustic guitar). The string and horn arrangements are by Paul Buckmaster. In 1973 the single won Nilsson the Grammy award for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male.[15] While Nilsson rarely gave live concerts, he did perform the song with Ringo Starr and his All-Starr Band at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas in September 1992.[16]

Harry Nilsson track listing

Worldwide Single

  1. "Without You" – 3:17
  2. "Gotta Get Up" – 2:24

EP (Portugal)

  1. "Without You" – 3:17
  2. "The Moonbeam Song" – 3:18
  3. "Gotta Get Up" – 2:24
  4. "Jump Into The Fire" – 3:32

Chart performance

Certifications
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI)[32] Silver 200,000
United States (RIAA)[33] Gold 1,000,000^

^shipments figures based on certification alone
sales+streaming figures based on certification alone

Personnel

According to the 1971 LP credits:[34]

Mariah Carey version
"Without You"
Standard cover art; most of non-UK European releases omit "Never Forget You" on the front cover
Single by Mariah Carey
from the album Music Box
A-side"Never Forget You" (double A-side)
Released24 January 1994 (1994-01-24)
Recorded1993
Length3:36
LabelColumbia
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)
Mariah Carey singles chronology
"Hero"
(1993)		 "Without You" / "Never Forget You"
(1994)		 "Anytime You Need a Friend"
(1994)
Music video
"Without You" on YouTube

Background

American singer and songwriter Mariah Carey's version, based on Harry Nilsson's version rather than the Badfinger original, was released as the third single off Music Box in the first quarter of 1994, its U.S. release date of 24 January 1994 [35] falling just over a week after Nilsson had died following a heart attack on 15 January 1994. In the U.S. "Without You" was promoted as a double A-side with "Never Forget You". While she had heard Nilsson's version as a very young girl, Carey's decision to remake his hit was based on a chance hearing during the time she was recording Music Box: "I heard that song in a restaurant and just knew it would be a huge international hit" recalls Carey.[36] Carey's version has been considered very popular on talent shows.[37] "Without You" was later included on some non-U.S. pressings of her compilation albums #1's (1998) and #1 to Infinity (2015), and her 2001 compilation, Greatest Hits. "Without You" was also included on her 2008 compilation The Ballads.

Chart performance

"Without You" reached number three on the Billboard Hot 100 for six weeks, remaining in the top 40 for 21 weeks and on the chart for 23. It reached number two on both the Billboard Hot 100 Airplay and Radio & Records pop charts (ending Carey's streak of consecutive number ones on the latter chart; all ten of her previous singles had gone to the top), and number three on the Hot 100 Singles Sales. It was certified gold by the RIAA and sold 600,000 copies domestically.[38][39] It was ranked 16 on the Hot 100 1994 year-end charts.

"Without You" remains Carey's biggest hit across Europe. In the British Isles, where Carey had yet to score a number one hit, "Without You" made its UK chart debut at number one where it remained for four weeks in total, while in Ireland the track was number one for five weeks; "Without You" remains Carey's only number one solo hit in both the UK and Ireland although she has since topped both nations' charts with her 2000 collaboration with Westlife: "Against All Odds". "Without You" is one of five Carey singles certified Gold in the UK with combined sales of 548,000 copies.[40] "Without You" was a runaway success in Switzerland (with ten non-consecutive weeks at number 1), the Netherlands (number one for twelve weeks), and both Austria and Sweden (eight weeks at number one), also topping the singles chart in New Zealand for one week, in Germany for four weeks, in Scotland for two weeks and in Flemish Belgium for seven weeks, where Carey's success had previously been limited. In France "Without You" peaked at number two and in Norway at number three. "Without You" was certified gold in Germany and Austria by IFPI and in France by SNEP.

A number-three hit for Carey in both Canada and Australia, "Without You" was a number one hit in New Zealand: certified platinum in Australia by ARIA, "Without You" was also certified gold in New Zealand by RIANZ.

Critical reception

Aberdeen Press and Journal described the song as "inspirational".[41] David Browne of Entertainment Weekly called Carey's "Without You" a "by-the-numbers remake of Nilsson's melodramatic 1972 hit."[42] John Kilgo from The Network Forty wrote that "exhibiting her dynamic vocal range with powerful emotion, Mariah scores again with her rendition of Harry Nilsson's chart topper."[43] Pop Rescue noted that the song gives Carey "a ton of space to really let her vocals reach wherever they want to", adding it as "an epic track, and a fantastic showcase of her vocals."[44] Stephen Holden of Rolling Stone called this song "likeliest contender" for ballads like "I Will Always Love You" praising how "Carey dips into her lower register and is accompanied by backup singers (including herself) magnified to sound like a mighty gospel chorus."[45] Singer Chris De Burgh, who remade "Without You" for his 2008 covers album Footsteps, stated: "I loved the Nilsson song. I thought the Mariah Carey [cover] was a joke. She was missing the point. He meant it. She didn't."[46] In 2008 Carey herself stated of "Without You": "That song did a lot for me but it's not really representative of me as an artist."[47]

Track listing

Worldwide CD single

  1. "Without You" – 3:38
  2. "Never Forget You" – 3:45

European maxi-CD single #1

  1. "Without You" – 3:38
  2. "Never Forget You" – 3:45
  3. "Dreamlover (live from Here Is Mariah Carey)" – 4:09

European maxi-CD single #2

  1. "Without You" – 3:38
  2. "Vision of Love" – 3:28
  3. "I'll Be There" (Featuring Trey Lorenz) – 4:28
  4. "Love Takes Time" – 3:48

Charts

Certifications and sales
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[90] 2× Platinum 140,000^
Austria (IFPI Austria)[91] Platinum 50,000*
France (SNEP)[92] Gold 250,000*
Germany (BVMI)[93] Platinum 500,000^
Netherlands (NVPI)[94] Platinum 75,000^
New Zealand (RMNZ)[95] Gold 5,000*
Switzerland (IFPI Switzerland)[96] Gold 25,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)[97] Gold 548,000[40]
United States (RIAA)[38] Gold 600,000[39]

*sales figures based on certification alone
^shipments figures based on certification alone

Other versions

ASCAP and Ivor Novello recognition

On 15 May 1995, at ASCAP's twelfth annual Pop Music Awards in Beverly Hills, California, "Without You" was recognised as one of the 50 most-played songs of 1994 (due largely to Mariah Carey's recording). Discrepancies in ASCAP's books, resulting from a lawsuit against the Ham and Evans estates by their former manager, incorrectly attributed the song as being composed not only by Ham and Evans, but also by Badfinger's other bandmembers, Mike Gibbins and Joey Molland, and their former manager, Bill Collins. This designation and a lack of correction by ASCAP prompted the Ham Estate to boycott the ceremony. The song was also nominated for "Song of the Year" in London at the Ivor Novello Awards.[100]

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See also

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