Nov
4th
Wed
4th
With Or Without You.” Twice. Which I think really captured how he was feeling at the time. Or rather, the world perception of him as an artist, his brand identity at the time, like, not being able to live without Neil Diamond songs because they are everywhere you go, and not being able to live with them because they are not in the Rock Hall Of Fame yet. Or, another interpretation is that you can’t live with the songs because you don’t like them, but you can’t live without them, because you sort of do like them. The songs, you know, they creep inside your soul while you’re asleep through the radio waves even if the radio is off, so you’re both living with them, because they are inside your soul, and living without them, because you’re asleep when you’re hearing them. The second time round I sort of tried to change the lyrics a little bit, slowed down the tempo … I can live with you / I can’t live without you / Neil.
— Bono attempts to console a distraught Neil Diamond in the second edition of Liz Colville’s hilarious Corrections to Other People’s Music Writing.
