Song Lyric Sunday: Blood Sweat & Tears, “Without Her”

Song Lyric Sunday, Song of the Day 1 Minute

Janis of The Momshie Diaries chose today’s theme for today, "Breakup Songs." At least that’s what Jim says. Anyway…

"Without Her" was written by Harry Nilsson for his 1967 album Pandemonium Shadow Show and covered by several, including Neil Diamond, Jack Jones, Glen Campbell, and Blood Sweat & Tears on their first album, 1968’s Child Is Father To The Man. Al Kooper gives it an almost bossa nova feel, and there’s some great flugelhorn and alto sax playing between Randy Brecker and Fred Lipsius in the middle.

The lyrics, from AZLyrics, with a few changes to make it the same as the video:

I spend the night in the chair
Thinking she’ll be there but she never comes
And I wake up and wipe the sleep from my eyes
And I rise, to spend another day without her

It’s just no good anymore
When you walk through the door of an empty room
You go inside and set a table for one
It’s no fun when you have to spend a day without her

We burst the pretty balloon, It took us to the moon
It’s such a beautiful thing,
But it’s ended now and it sounds like a lie
To say I’d rather die, than be without her

Love is a beautiful thing
When it knows how to swing and it grooves like a clock
But the hands on the clock tell the lovers to part
It’s breaking my heart, to spend another day without her

[instrumental break]

I spend the night in the chair
Thinking she’ll be there but she never comes
I wake up and wipe the sleep from my eyes
And I rise, to spend another day without her

Can’t go on without her
There’s no song without her
Can’t go on without her

And that’s Song Lyric Sunday (and Song of the Day) for July 18, 2021.

Published by John Holton

Internet disc jockey, lover of old TV (especially the commercials), inveterate wise guy.

Published

25 thoughts on “Song Lyric Sunday: Blood Sweat & Tears, “Without Her””

  1. Pingback: The End Of July (Already?!) Week That Was – The Sound of One Hand Typing

    1. This is from their first album, “Child Is Father To The Man.” It doesn’t get talked about much because most people think their second album, with “And When I Die” and “You’ve Made Me So Very Happy,” is their first. I found out about it when their first Greatest Hits album came out in ’71 and a couple of songs from “Child” were on it. If you run across it, it’s worth a listen.

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      1. I have that LP — I got it when I was in high school, back during the Nixon administration. Some years ago I bought it on CD so I could add it to my iTunes library. I’m always pleasantly surprised when I find someone else who likes it as much as I do. 🙂

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        1. There was a “Best of BS&T” album that came out after “BS&T 3” that had “I Love You More Than You’ll Ever Know” and “I Can’t Quit Her” on it. That was the first I had heard of it. I knew of Al Kooper and Steve Katz from the Blues Project, and had the “Supersession” album with Kooper, Mike Bloomfield (who I knew from the Butterfield Blues Band) and Steven Stills, so based on those two songs and the pedigree of the musicians, I just had to find it. And I did, in the back of a clearance bin (this was ’72 or ’73). Changed my life. By the way, I was a fan of The Buckinghams (who were from Chicago), who inspired Kooper to put together a band with horns…

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    1. BS&T’s first album was obscure enough when I bought it in ’72 and seems to have faded into complete obscurity in the years since. It’s a shame, because there was a lot of musical variety on it. Several of the songs sound like late Blues Project (Al Kooper and Steve Katz had both been in that band), and some are just crazy…

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  10. What a happy tune for such sad lyrics… this is my first time to ever hear this song and I like it so much, very unique. This is something I’d totally sing after a breakup 😆 …

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