Sleight of hand and twist of fate

This week I will be comparing "With or Without You" by U2 and the cover done by Allred.

 

Musicality

The original by U2 is much softer and has a much slower pace and the vocals work better with the instruments and tone to really evoke powerful emotions. The version by Allred is done with an acoustic guitar, it has a faster pace and they make the song sound much more modern with their vocals and the use of their instruments. The song was originally released in 1987 so of course the original song has more of an 80s feel to it. However, I personally feel like the original is much more timeless and I still love it as much now as I did as a kid.

 

Lyrics

The lyrics are basically the same except that Allred incorporated the chorus from "Shadow of the Day" by Linkin Park closer to the end of their version. I'm not the biggest fan of mashups, I don't understand why some bands feel the need to do covers and mash two different songs together. Sometimes it sounds good sometimes not so much. However in this case it does work for Allred, I do like the original song by Linkin Park as well.

This song in general consists of very powerful lyrics. One of the stanzas that really stands out is: "Sleight of hand and twist of fate/ On a bed of nails she makes me wait/ And I wait without you." I always thought that was the first stanza in the song. But after looking at the lyrics it's actually the second stanza. I'm actually surprised I never noticed that before.

Another stanza that stands out to me is: "Through the storm we reach the shore/ You give it all but I want more/ And I'm waiting for you." I especially like the use of second person narrative in this song. It's as if the singer is referring specifically to the listener.

The song itself and the lyrics are pretty straightforward. He seems to be singing about not being able to live without the person he loves and that he's willing to endure anything and everything just to be with them. The stanza that seems to signify this is: "My hands are tied/ My body bruised, she's got me with/ Nothing to win and/ Nothing left to lose." Either he likes it kinky and rough or he's singing about how much he probably went through and the obstacles he faced to be with them. This specific stanza isn't really clear but I like to think of it as him saying that he would do anything.

The stanzas that Allred added from "Shadow of the Day" are: "And the sun will set for you/ The sun will set for you." "And the shadow of the day/ Will embrace the world in grey." "And the sun will set for you." These three different stanzas are the chorus of the original Linkin Park song. These lyrics give the song a bit of a more depressing feel. The song itself is a bit depressing, but the instruments in the original and even in the cover make you forget how depressing the song actually is. I'm not sure how relevant the additional lyrics are to the song as a whole. However, they made it work by choosing lyrics that also happen to use the second person perspective as well.

I think both versions are good, but I still prefer the original to the cover. I didn't even realize that there was a cover done on this song. I'm impressed that Allred managed to make it sound more modern without changing the lyrics. Instead all they did was add a set of lyrics at the very end of the song. The additional lyrics caught me off guard. I don't think they really needed additional lyrics and I'm still confused as to why they felt the need to do that. Other than that I don't see anything wrong with the cover.