By special request of Lisa Letto :-)
#Nilsson #Badfinger #Carey
Without You Capo 4
[Intro] Cadd9 C Cadd9 C
Cadd9 C Em
Well I can't forget this evening or your face as you were leaving.
Dm E7
But I guess that's just the way the story goes
Am C/G D7/F# Cadd9 G7
You always smile but in your eyes your sorrow shows, yes it shows.
Cadd9 C Em
No I can't forget tomorrow when I think of all my sorrow,
Dm E7
When I had you there but then I let you go.
Am C/G D7/F# Cadd9 G7
And now its only fair that I should let you know, what you should know.
C Am
I can't live, if living is without you.
Dm G7
I can't give I can't give anymore.
C Am
I can't live, if living is without you.
Dm G7
I can't give, I can't give anymore
Cadd9 C Em
Well I can't forget this evening or your face as you were leaving.
Dm E7
But I guess that's just the way the story goes
Am C/G D7/F# Cadd9 G7
You always smile but in your eyes your sorrow shows, yes it shows.
C Am
I can't live, if living is without you.
Dm G7
I can't give I can't give anymore.
C Am
I can't live, if living is without you.
Dm G7
I can't give, I can't give anymore x2
[Outro]
C Am
(if living is without you)
Dm G7 C Am Dm G7 C Am Dm G7
***************
Songfacts
This gut-wrenching ballad was originally released by Badfinger in 1970 and appeared on their second album, No Dice. Badfinger members Peter Ham and Tom Evans wrote it.
Ham had written a song called \"Is This Love?\" but wasn't happy with the chorus. Evans came up with the \"I can't live if living is without you\" chorus but had no verses for it, so they put the two songs together as one.
The Badfinger original wasn't released as a single, so most people weren't familiar with it. Nilsson's version, laced with lush orchestration, became a huge hit, climbing to #1 US in February 1972 and staying for four weeks. Nilsson was known as a songwriter and wrote most of the songs he recorded, but two of his biggest hits were covers: \"Without You\" and \"Everybody's Talkin'.\"
\"Without You\" is not the kind of song Nilsson, who died in 1994, would have written. His compositions were far more acerbic, and he took pains to avoid the topic of love (or lack of it).
Nilsson first came across this song at a Laurel Canyon party in 1971 and thought it was a Beatles song. Badfinger was signed to Apple Records, The Beatles' label, and their version of \"Without You\" was produced by Beatles associates Geoff Emerick and Mal Evans. Nilsson also had a Beatles connection: John Lennon helped launch his career when he referred to Harry as his \"favorite American group.\" He and Lennon enjoyed a destructive time together from 1973-1975 that became known as the \"lost weekend.\"
Nilsson's version added an orchestra and gave the song a dramatic production. When Nilsson recorded it, he initially played the song slow and dark, accompanied only by piano. Producer Richard Perry recalled to Mojo magazine April 2008 that he had to persuade an unwilling Nilsson to record it as a big ballad: \"I had to force him to take a shot with the rhythm section. Even while we were doing it, he'd be saying to the musicians, 'This song's awful.'\"
This song made a lot of money for a lot of people, but for those most entitled to the windfall, it had tragic consequences. As the song's writers, Peter Ham and Tom Evans should have been set for life, but Badfinger's label, Apple Records, collapsed in 1973 and they never got their due. Despondent over career setbacks and overwhelmed by myriad legal difficulties, Ham hanged himself in 1975. In 1983, Evans followed suit, hanging himself from a willow tree after a bitter argument with Badfinger guitarist Joey Molland about the royalties for \"Without You.\"
As for Nilsson, he didn't handle success well. Alcoholism ran in his family, and the fame and fortune from \"Without You\" triggered him to drink. He went into a downward spiral, and his career and health never recovered. Nilsson died of heart failure in 1994 at age 52.
