“Without You”
The Chicks
Written by Natalie Maines and Eric Silver
Radio & Records
#1 (2 weeks)
January 19 – January 26, 2001
Billboard
#1 (2 weeks)
January 27, 2001
Among Chicks fans past and present, it seems like Fly is the consensus album.
It captured the band as they slowly matured from their girl power persona, while still actually fulfilling that image on many more tracks than they did on Wide Open Spaces.
As someone who still sees Home as the most astonishing leveling up of the current century, I can hear the promise of that upcoming set on several tracks on Fly, including “Without You.” But the song is so thematically and structurally similar to “You Were Mine,” that I can see it appealing to Wide Open Spaces-era fans as well.
I was lukewarm on “Mine,” but “Without You” remains among my favorite hits from their sophomore set. It feels less like a story written from an outside point of view, and more like a visceral expression of heartbreak, with stream of consciousness thoughts like, “I guess you got what you wanted…but what about me?”
Maines and company sounded a bit dreary to my ears on “Mine,” but here, they give me chills for the first time with their three part harmony going into the final chorus, right after Maines hits a twangy power note. When they sing together at that moment, it’s a preview of what I’ll love so much about their later work, triggering that same “hurts so good” feeling in me that happens when I hear Linda & Emmylou or Patty & Vince.
Fly also indicated that the Chicks were going to be album artists, as the most enduring hits from the album besides earlier chart-topper “Cowboy Take Me Away” have been “Goodbye Earl,” which missed the top ten, and “Sin Wagon,” which radio wouldn’t touch even after the Chicks swept the CMA Awards in 2000.
That a simple, heartfelt ballad like “Without You” got to the top warms my heart, and it’s a lovely record worth revisiting if you haven’t listened to it recently.
“Without You” gets an A.
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Yes, this is a great song. Great harmonies. This and Cowboy Take Me Away are probably the only songs I like by them. But this is beautiful and definitely deserves an A.
There are a number of beloved hit songs out there where I just don’t get the appeal. This is one of them. Both the lyrics and melody of “Without You” feel generic and interchangeable and it’s by far the least memorable of the eight singles The Chicks released from “Fly”. I don’t always agree with the oft-cited critique that songs need more specific details to sell the narrator’s respective adulation or heartbreak, but this is a perfect example of a song where the criticism fits like a glove. The only moment where I genuinely feel the narrator’s pain here is the one you cited, “I guess you got what you wanted…but what about me?”
And in further contrast to your take, I felt “You Were Mine” deeply in my bones, as well as future single Chicks’ single “Heartbreak Town”. This song feels like a thin-reed imitator of the former and an undeserved chart overperformer compared to the latter. The harmonies are strong and Natalie Maines does as good as can be expected on vocals selling a chorus as limp as “my heart’s stuck in second place…oooooo….without you”. I’m sure I’ll be in the minority here but this one falls flat as a pancake for me.
Grade: C
I’m not sure I’d go as low as a C, but I too think You Were Mine is the far superior song (it’s still one of my favorite Chicks songs). Without You is not without it’s positives (the harmonies, Natalie Maines’ lead vocal), but for me it’s one of Fly’s two weakest singles (the other being Some Days You Gotta Dance).
I’m with you. I much prefer “You Were Mine” as well, and frankly I prefer their debut album as a whole to Fly.
I’m pretty closely aligned with you on this one, Mark, though I do think the stellar instrumentation and the vocal harmonies elevate this to at least a solid B. Still, it was my least-favorite single The Chicks released since “I Can Love You Better,” and I agree that “You Were Mine” is the superior ballad.
I actually love the verses and middle eight on this one, but it’s the chorus that just isn’t up to par for me. The way Natalie articulates that “ooh-woo” after “second place” has always bugged me, and it strikes me as an awkward way to try to force the rhyme scheme when the song would’ve been just fine with a slant or blank rhyme.
Why does this feel like their most forgotten #1 hit? I don’t think I heard it even once after it fell off the charts, and I never hear it named among their popular songs. And it is every bit as good as any of the other songs that made Fly and Wide Open Spaces such compelling albums.
I feel like the hits from the entire first quarter of 2001, outside “Born to Fly” and “One More Day”, just fell off the face of the earth.
I actually feel this way about much of the mainstream country hits from 1997 to the first half of 2001, in general. From my experience, it seems like the majority of the songs from that period didn’t exist anymore by 2004-2005 according to our two main stations. The only station that still remembered more of them was WKIK in Southern Maryland, which had a lot more variety in recurrents, in general, and were independently owned at the time. The signal was often weaker due to it being farther from us, but it sure was a treat whenever it came in clear enough!
I am ok with this grade although it might be a slight stretch. Maybe an “A-“. The Chicks were always hit or miss with me. This is certainly a very good performance.
That music video especially that ending makes me cry. Such a beautiful song imo.
I agree – this is worth an A. Good song, well performed
This one, “Cowboy Take Me Away,” and “Heartbreak Town” are my most favorite singles off of Fly. I feel that people often take for granted or overlook just how traditional a lot of the Chicks’ music was during their first three album eras, despite them also being known to throw us some curve balls like “Goodbye Earl.” “Without You” is another perfect example of how traditional some of their singles were, even though some still tended to lump them in the pop country category along with the other popular female artists of this time.
Even when it first came out, the quiet intro alone, featuring gentle acoustic guitar and dobro was like a throwback to the early 90s for me. And I love how gentle and quiet it stays during verses as well, with more pretty dobro featured throughout. I always picture a woman lonely and longing for her significant other to return while at a farmhouse or a cozy little place on the prairie surrounded by beautiful country scenery thanks to the stripped down, dobro heavy arrangement. While I love that quiet first half of the song, boy do I love it even more when the record suddenly “goes to town” when the strings start slowly creeping in during second chorus and beautiful instrumental break and then they really let loose on the bridge and final chorus as the ladies deliver the climactic final chorus, perfect harmonies and all. I seriously still get chills during that last chorus, and I’m crying right there with Natalie. It’s just so perfectly executed and very well done. And speaking of that instrumental break, I just love how dreamy it sounds to my ears, or like how something dreadful is up ahead. Just simply beautiful, creative playing from Lloyd Maines on steel guitar and Martie on fiddle. I personally always picture a snow storm happening while driving on a road up a mountain as the instrumental break goes on. Love Lloyd’s steel during the choruses, also. Sonically, this was such a perfect single to release to radio during the Fall and Winter months in late 2000 and early 2001, and it was always such a pleasure for me to hear during that time. Such a beautiful melody all throughout, as well.
And Kevin is right on target when observing how mature Natalie’s vocals were getting by this point. For me, her performance here matches the greatness of “Travelin’ Soldier” and other gems on the next album. Despite her tendency to also be very twangy on faster material, I love how soft and gentle she can be on sad ballads like this, especially during the verses. And I definitely hear the pain, longing, and confusion in her voice here, as well. Lyrically, I love how it gets right down to the point on how heartbroken, confused, and empty the narrator feels. For me, the lines in the chorus, “Without you, I’m not okay. And without you, I’ve lost my way. My heart’s stuck in second place” say a lot on how one can feel devastated, lost, empty, and incomplete after they have lost that special someone in their life. I also think the line in the second verse, “It seems unreal to me, that the life you promised was a lie” does a good job in saying how confusing and unsettling it can be when a good thing you think will last suddenly goes away or how cruel empty promises can be for those who believe them. And yes, the line “I guess you got what you wanted. What about me?” just gets me every time, as well.
My biological dad, who was my only parent who also liked the Chicks during this time, loved this song, as well. I still remember him telling me how much he liked it as it was playing on the radio while we were together in his car one day and him singing along to it. He especially always loved the part at the end of the bridge when Natalie would belt out that high note before the last chorus. When I finally picked up a copy of Fly a few years later and played it in his car one day, he really enjoyed getting to hear it again, and he sung along just as if he’d only heard it yesterday. He remarked how he had not heard it on the radio in forever, which was definitely true by the mid 2000s, so sadly Bobby is not wrong about “Without You” undeservedly being one the the Chicks’ more “forgotten” hits.
And like many other late 2000 releases during the Fall and Winter of that time, this is another song that reminds me of weekend York and Lancaster, Pennsylvania trips my parents and I would go on during that time. The string laden second half of the song especially reminds me once again of us driving through the Maryland interstates at night with pretty sights of the tall office buildings all around lit up when on our way back to Virginia. It was also a song I’d occasionally get stuck in my head during the morning bus rides to school during my freshman year. Even during a few days when I was sick and had to stay home, I’d have this one going through my head.
By the way, the ladies look absolutely gorgeous in this picture! I love their smiles and how hip and trendy their fashion choices and styles were despite much of their music being more traditional flavored. For me, that contrast they had going on during this time just makes them even cooler. I just love the late 90s/early 2000s aesthetic and a lot of the fashion from that time! I love watching the late 90s/early 2000s country awards shows and seeing the cool outfits they wore during that period.
I like this song, but I do prefer “You Were Mine” I remember You Were Mine being the first Chicks single that I actively liked while one of my sisters was sold on them from their first single while I was not. She was right and I was wrong and I don’t mind saying so.