Rate the Song Series: With or Without You

[An Cat Gav]

A 10 simply because I believe this song helped me notch so many girlfriends when I was 16 and this was #1 on the radio charts. Hell, I even had a 24hr gilrfriend that year. Glorious grade 10 year with all those school dances. I think U2 were my devil's magic back then in '87.

This is so true. I should have perhaps given it a 10, purely because the chicks love this song, it's helped me in the past!

 

[Saracene]

9. I never really connected with this song, but I can't give it anything less. A true classic.

 

[indra]

i can't think of any song by any band where it would be their only song in my itunes that would encourage me enough to keep checking out their forum, but that could just be me. i think you should give it 100, it must mean a lot to you!

Dear oh dear.

At least you have one U2 song.

Never fear, I have more than one U2 song. There was a time I bought everything of theirs that I could lay my hands on. Hell, I even have the Captive soundtrack around here somewhere. But I don't have an ipod (or other mp3 player) and often listen to music the archaic way (on a home stereo system ), so I don't have everything I listen to on my itunes.

How WOWY got on there -- one night I was online and thought "hmm, I'd like to hear WOWY" and being lazy I popped into the itunes store and bought the song rather than getting up and getting the album from the next room. I imagine a few other U2 songs will eventually join it there.

As for why I visit this forum -- 3 main reasons:

1) the cat thread. None of the other forums I visit have decent cat threads (and I don't go to cat forums because those people are crazy! ).

2) I enjoy some of the posters and conversations here, especially in off topic areas

3) While I enjoy discussing songs/albums/bands, I find it easier to do so about those I like rather than love. For instance my reaction to songs I love is emotional rather than logical, so discussing them can be too highly charged to be enjoyable. I know. I'm weird. But it works for me.

 

[Axver]

Well, I decided on a vote - 6.

I'm sure some will find this horrifically low. As I explained before, I'm voting on the basis of the song's entire history. I think 6 is a fair call between the song's glory days and its utterly dismal live performances from Popmart until now. I should state here that WOWY on the JT/Lovetown tours, and early on ZooTV too, is one of my favourite things that U2 have done. If U2 had retired WOWY live after ZooTV, I probably would have voted it a 10, definitely no less than 9.

But I feel pretty strongly about how badly it's been played recently. It was such a great song in its heyday, and to see it performed this badly, this lifelessly ... well.

I don't know, maybe I should've been generous and gone with the 7. But some recent performances are inexcusable, and in the end, there are enough 10s that the single point's difference will be negligible.

 

[Zoots]

How WOWY got on there -- one night I was online and thought "hmm, I'd like to hear WOWY" and being lazy I popped into the itunes store and bought the song rather than getting up and getting the album from the next room.

You gotta be kidding me! lol.

 

[Bono's shades]

Well, I decided on a vote - 6.

I'm sure some will find this horrifically low. As I explained before, I'm voting on the basis of the song's entire history. I think 6 is a fair call between the song's glory days and its utterly dismal live performances from Popmart until now. I should state here that WOWY on the JT/Lovetown tours, and early on ZooTV too, is one of my favourite things that U2 have done. If U2 had retired WOWY live after ZooTV, I probably would have voted it a 10, definitely no less than 9.

But I feel pretty strongly about how badly it's been played recently. It was such a great song in its heyday, and to see it performed this badly, this lifelessly ... well.

I don't know, maybe I should've been generous and gone with the 7. But some recent performances are inexcusable, and in the end, there are enough 10s that the single point's difference will be negligible.

Are we supposed to be basing our ratings partly on live versions of the song? That seems absurd to me. Just because the live versions of some songs aren't as good as the studio versions doesn't mean the studio versions cease to exist. And if the live performances are bad, that's the fault of the performer, not the song itself.