May "gave" the song to the band after seeing how fond his bandmates Taylor, Deacon, and Mercury were of the track. Drums were programmed on synthesizer by May, and the keyboard-pads were added by the producer. An alternative version of this song appeared on the 1997 compilation album Queen Rocks, billed as the "'97 Rocks Retake". The "Queen Rocks" version was said to be more along the lines of how May and Taylor originally wanted the track to sound, with a harder, guitar-driven rock edge.
Interviews with Queen:
Brian May - August 1991, Guitar World:
"As time goes by I find I'm more concerned with the lyrics than ever. A lot of people say you can only create when you're in pain. But when I was really in pain, I couldn't create anything. I couldn't even get out of bed. When you're climbing out and beginning to get things in the right boxes again, that's when you can put it into music. There's quite a bit of that sort of thing on this album. There's some in 'I Can't Live With You'; it's very personal, but I tried not to make it autobiographical because that narrows things too much. I tried to express it in a form that everyone can relate to."
""For some reason, 'I Can't Live With You' was almost impossible to mix. It was one of those things where you put all the faders up and it sounds pretty good, and you think, 'We'll work on this for a couple of hours.' Then it gets worse and worse and worse. We kept going back to the rough mix. It's got an atmosphere to it. I think it sounds so special because we kept a lot of the demo stuff on it. Usually it all gets replaced."
I Can't Live With You
Queen Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
But I can't live without you
I can't let you stay
Ooh but I can't live if you go away
I don't know just how it goes
All I know is I can't live with you
Yeah I'm having a hard time
You may think that I don't care
But I traveled a long road to get hold of my sorrow
I tried to catch a dream
But nothing's what it seems
Love is saying baby it's all right
When deep inside you're really petrified
Lover turns to hater
On this escalator
I can't live with you, yeah
But I can't live without you
I can't breathe if you stay
But I can't bear you to go away
I don't know what time it is
All I know is I can't live with you
We're stuck in a bad place
We're trapped in a rat race
And we can't escape
Maybe there's been some mistake
We're trying to make a high score
We're walking through a closed door
And nobody's winning
We're just sinning against ourselves
Hold on baby tell me it's all right
Anger's breaking from the hurt inside
Passions screaming hotter
Doin' what we gotta do, yeah
I can't live with you I can't live with you
I can't live I can't live
I can't I can't live with you
But baby I'll never ever leave you
I can't live with you
But I can't live without you
Cause I'm in love with you
Ooh and everything about you
I can't live with you
No I just can't live I just can't live
I can't live with you
Yeah and I can't live without you
Through the madness through the tears
We've still got each other
For a million years, yeah
Ooh yeah
Yeah, I can't live without you, yeah yeah
I can't live without you
Yeah yeah, oh oh oh
I can't live without you
I can't live without you
I can't live without you
Oh oh, I can't live without you, baby baby baby
Without you
I can't live without you
The lyrics of Queen's song "I Can't Live With You" portray the mixed feelings of a person in a troubled relationship. The singer is torn between the love they have for their partner and the struggles they face when trying to live with them. They express the idea that they cannot let their partner stay and yet cannot bear the thought of them departing. The lyrics convey the sense of the singer's confusion and indecision, as they cannot seem to find a way to resolve the difficulties in their relationship.
The chorus repeats the title statement, "I can't live with you, but I can't live without you" emphasizing the complex nature of the relationship issues. The lyrics describe the roller coaster of emotions that the singer experiences in their relationship, showing moments of hope and despair, deep love, fear, anger, and passion.
The verses depict a scenario of a couple who are going through a rough patch in their lives. They are stuck in a bad place and a rat race, unable to escape the overwhelming difficulties they face. The lyrics convey the idea that the problems the couple faces are not due to external factors but because they are sinning against themselves. They know they are hurting each other, but they cannot seem to stop.
Overall, "I Can't Live With You" is a poignant and powerful song that speaks to the universal experience of the complexity of human relationships. It portrays the struggle to maintain a connection with someone we love, despite the difficulties and the pain that arise from being with them.
Line by Line Meaning
I can't live with you
I am struggling to deal with living with you
But I can't live without you
Despite my difficulties, I cannot imagine my life without you
I can't let you stay
I feel like you need to leave, but I can't bring myself to make you go
Ooh but I can't live if you go away
The thought of you leaving is unbearable and I do not think I can go on if you leave
I don't know just how it goes
I am unsure of how things are going to play out
All I know is I can't live with you
Despite not knowing what may happen, I do know that living with you is not easy for me
Yeah I'm having a hard time
I am currently struggling with my emotions
I'm walking a fine line between hope and despair
I am trying to maintain a balance between feeling hopeful and feeling completely hopeless
You may think that I don't care
You may be under the impression that I do not care about our situation
But I traveled a long road to get hold of my sorrow
I have been working hard to come to terms with my sadness and emotions
I tried to catch a dream
I attempted to achieve something, probably relating to our relationship
But nothing's what it seems
Things are more complicated than they appear
Love is saying baby it's all right
Even though things may not be perfect, love is assuring me that everything is going to be okay
When deep inside you're really petrified
Despite hearing comforting words, I am still deeply afraid and anxious
Lover turns to hater
Sometimes love can turn into hate due to the complexities of emotions
On this escalator
The situation is only getting more overwhelming and difficult to handle
I can't breathe if you stay
Your presence is suffocating and I feel like I do not have room to breathe
But I can't bear you to go away
Even though your presence is overwhelming, the thought of losing you is unbearable
I don't know what time it is
I am lost and unsure of what to do or how much time I have left
All I know is I can't live with you
Despite my uncertainty, I am sure that living with you is not something I can handle
We're stuck in a bad place
Our current situation is negative and unproductive
We're trapped in a rat race
We are stuck in a cycle that is difficult to break free from
And we can't escape
We have not found a way out of this negative cycle
Maybe there's been some mistake
Perhaps we made a mistake by getting involved in this relationship
We're trying to make a high score
We are trying to succeed or make our relationship work
We're walking through a closed door
Even though success seems unlikely, we continue to try and enter into something that is closed off to us
And nobody's winning
This situation is not benefiting either of us
We're just sinning against ourselves
Our actions and situation is harming us and our relationship
Hold on baby tell me it's all right
Please hold my hand and reassure me that everything is going to be okay
Anger's breaking from the hurt inside
I am feeling angry and upset because I am hurting
Passions screaming hotter
Our emotions are getting more intense
Doin' what we gotta do, yeah
We have to push through and do whatever it takes to make things work
I can't live with you I can't live with you
I cannot handle living with you anymore
I can't live I can't live
I cannot continue living like this
I can't I can't live with you
Even though I cannot handle living with you, I cannot bear the thought of losing you
But baby I'll never ever leave you
Despite our issues, I love you and will never abandon you
Cause I'm in love with you
I am deeply in love with you
Ooh and everything about you
I love everything about you
Through the madness through the tears
Despite all of the overwhelming emotions and struggles we face
We've still got each other
We still have each other to rely on
For a million years, yeah
I want to be with you through every obstacle and for a very long time
Without you
I cannot imagine a life without you
Yeah yeah, oh oh oh
Expressing strong emotions and a sense of passion and longing
I can't live without you
I cannot imagine living without you
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: DAMON E. THOMAS, HARVEY JAY MASON, JAMES EDWARD FAUNTLEROY II, JAMES EDWARD II FAUNTLEROY, STEVEN L. RUSSELL
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@vlastimir77
We can't live without Freddie Mercury!
@filippofrassineti4521
Freddie's voice is immortal
@hanasimackova8983
Freddie is immortal....
@raffeainkhalil9257
At this stage of aids, even breathing becomes hard af. Freddie was so strong. Rest in peace darling.
@rodger3352
Rip legend 💓🥺
@professerhairy8880
He couldn't walk, breath, barley open his jaw without it hurting and still Sang the show must go on in one take
@theofficialcman
His vocals we're really strong for someone literally dying of aids. Freddie was and still is the definition of resilient and power
@dolanduck4380
The show must go on!
@princelunairemetamorph6980
He was driven to write, perform and sing even up til the day he died, he was in such pain but as brian says he would beg to go to the studio and just keep putting out tracks it in the end was the only thing keeping him alive til he could n't sing anymore then when he lost that he died like 2 days later.
@jackdaw99
Agree! I believe that with the Innuendo album we’re listening to a man doing everything he can to keep himself together (and alive). He lived for this and needed it to handle everything.