With or Without You

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Written by: Bono, the Edge, Adam Clayton, Larry Mullen Jr.
Produced by: Brian Eno, Daniel Lanois
Released: March '87 on Island
Charts: 18 weeks
Top spot: No. 1

The Joshua Tree was U2's ode to America: Its songs were inspired by folk, gospel and roots music, and its lyrics, as the Edge noted, were sparked by civil-rights heroes and the "new journalism" of the 1960s. Yet "With or Without You" -- with its simple bass groove and ethereal guitar hum framing Bono's yearning vocals -- was one of U2's most universal songs to date, a meditation on the painful ambivalence of a love affair. Bono insisted it was "about how I feel in U2 at times: exposed."

Appears on: The Joshua Tree (Island)

Next: Who Do You Love

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