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My Gen X Playlist: With or Without You – U2

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What technology would you be better off without, why?

I’m coming up with a big fat donut. So far, every piece of technology has made life more convenient. I don’t think I would cut out any of it.

I will say our cable bill has been creeping up on us. It makes me wonder if it really is worth continuing. I have friends who have eliminated cable altogether and now only stream. This is something we are considering. As a matter of fact, I’m suppose to research this this weekend and there is a strong likelihood we may go this route. There is plenty of content available and I mostly stream anyway. I just have to figure out how to watch my college sports. This isn’t a deal breaker, but it would be nice to have.

I’ve had a lifelong relationship with cable. If you would have asked me ten years ago, I’d say no way could I live without it. Now, I’m not so sure. It’s like the U2 song, With or Without You. There’s the sense of an impossible relationship one way or the other. It feels like a lose lose situation.

It’s a lose-lose situation, a “Should I Stay or Should I Go” predicament if you will. “With or Without You” is a song about an impossible relationship that the singer can’t escape. Nothing to win and/ Nothing left to lose, lead singer Bono sings.

– AmericanSongwriter

As odd as it sounds, there is comfort in the discomfort of staying. At the same time, it’s also difficult to leave for the unknown, even knowing you are leaving that discomfort behind. Logically, this hesitation to change doesn’t make sense. But sometimes decisions are emotional and logic is just a spectator in the process. There recently has been a shift inside me. I used to always lean on logic. Since having brain surgery five years ago, I’ve begun to have a different leaning. I’m not sure if this is an unintended consequence of the surgery or maybe my perspective has branched out in a knew direction. It just is in the new me since.

As I read more about the song, it turns out there is a deeper meaning of self.

While many have assumed that the meaning of this song is about a romantic relationship turned sour—and they would be correct—Bono occasionally offered a second meaning for the song’s lyrics. Bono . . . explained that the lyrics could be interpreted to be about his relationship with himself.

“I was at least two people: the person who is so responsible, protective and loyal and the vagrant and idler in me who just wants to run from responsibility,” Bono wrote in the book U2 by U2. “I thought these tensions were going to destroy me but actually, in truth, it is me. That tension, it turns out, is what makes me as an artist.”

Bono realized that the internal struggles he faced, those brutal internal battles, were what ended up defining him. Not the truth he wanted to find, but the one that found him nonetheless.

– AmericanSongwriter

This dichotomy of self doesn’t relate to my cable conundrum at all. But it does remind me of the times I’m literally pulling myself in two different directions. It’s difficult making peace when the two competing forces are me and myself. Maybe it’s not about satisfying both selves, but more accepting that this is who I am and sometimes I have to be OK with decisions that do not make both selves 100% comfortable. Bono discovered these brutal internal battles were what ended up defining him. So maybe there is a necessity in living through fraught times and navigating through internal struggles. As it turns out, molding myself into who I am is a continuous art project, never really ever quite complete. I’m in my fifties and at times, it feels like the clay still isn’t dry. Who would have thought I’d still be a work in progress at this stage of my life.

Well, I didn’t expect to go in this direction, but at the very least, it’s given me perspective. The decision to renew cable. . . it’s not a big deal. Don’t sweat the small stuff. With or without cable, I will survive just fine.

–

For a complete playlist, please click here.

For the Spotify playlist, please click here.

See the stone set in your eyes
See the thorn twist in your side
I'll wait for you
Sleight of hand and twist of fate
On a bed of nails she makes me wait
And I wait without you

With or without you
With or without you

Through the storm, we reach the shore
You give it all but I want more
And I'm waiting for you

With or without you
With or without you, ah-ah
I can't live with or without you

And you give yourself away
And you give yourself away
And you give, and you give
And you give yourself away

My hands are tied, my body bruised
She got me with nothing to win
And nothing left to lose

And you give yourself away
And you give yourself away
And you give, and you give
And you give yourself away

With or without you
With or without you, ohh
I can't live with or without you

With or without you
With or without you, ohh
I can't live with or without you
With or without you

22 thoughts on “My Gen X Playlist: With or Without You – U2”

  1. We switched from cable to streaming about three years ago. It saved us money in the beginning, but subscribing to each streaming service separately really adds up. In fact, I just analyzed how much we were spending per month and discovered it was $150! That’s more than we were paying for cable TV. So, we are canceling three of our streaming services that we don’t watch too often, which cuts our cost in half. If you decide to make the switch, just keep track of what you’re spending. The benefit of having streaming is the original content.

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  2. I love that song. Doug cut the cable tie a little bit ago and does the streaming thing. Me? I just stopped watching TV altogether. Ha! But he can’t do without his shows. I think though, that he mostly cut the cable ties because he doesn’t like the commercials and to save money.

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    1. Yes, the dreaded commercials! I once got rid of my tv for over a year. This was before all the streaming options and I found I had so much more time for everything else. I’m not sure if I can go cold turkey again.

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  4. Definitely one of my favourite U2 songs. And on the relatively minor conundrum on cable, well, we still have it too, though I switched providers for a better rate/faster internet… and besides, my sweety likes cable.

    Your description of the pulling of the self in different directions is profound, and I appreciate you sharing it. I have often felt similar things and (now in my sixties) think I have found the most clarity in the last six or seven years, roughly since the time of early retirement, when I gained more time and space to catch my breath after a wearing but satisfying career. But I still feel my “clay” is wet, and ready to be worked some more… and that feels okay. Anyway, maybe your sabbatical will offer such space too…

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    1. Thanks, Steve. This sabbatical has been really good. The time and space to catch my breath… has been a godsend. My health has benefited the most. It’s also given me a glimpse of what retirement might look like. There is a lot to look forward to when I ultimately pull the trigger. It’s comforting to know that I’m not the only one that is continuing to be molded. I appreciate your kind words.

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      1. You’re very welcome. And, for when the time for the R word is coming, the thing that benefitted me most was being deliberate about it. Finalizing the plan a year out and then looking at every experience with fondness as, “well, I’ve done xxxxxx for the last time ever in my career…” it actually made me go out and do things I might not have done normally.

        More free “retirement advice.” 😎

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  5. I still think that we are approaching the point where cable TV service is going to eventually be, just the physical cable coming into your house.

    Maybe, before that happens, we’ll see cable, TV packages finally go “à la cart“ because I can’t believe that these cable service providers can continue to add more channels and raise our prices without getting some blowback from the customers.

    I read somewhere recently were ESPN, and the ESPN related channels, make up eight dollars of your cable bill. It is, BY FAR, the most expensive TV channel that comes as part of our basic cable package.

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      1. When I got my subscription to Disney+, I just opted for the Disney/Hulu/ESPN plus package for a few dollars more.

        Sad to say that I almost never watch things on ESPN plus. Not that, but I saw this week where selected Hulu titles are becoming available on Disney+ now as well.

        I think Hulu is going to eventually merge with Disney+, one way or another. Unless they’re doing it for branding purposes, it makes no sense for the Mouse House to operate two separate streaming services.

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