Without You | Chords + Lyrics (Harry Nilsson)
Intro
| Esus2 E | Esus2 E |
Verse 1
| Esus2 E | G#sus4 G#m |
No, I can’t forget this evening or your face as you were leaving.
| F#m | G#sus4 G# G#7 |
But I guess that’s just the way the story goes.
| C#m C#m7/B | F# F#7 |
You always smile but in your eyes your sorrow shows.
| E | B7 |
Yes, it shows.
Verse 2
No, I can’t forget tomorrow when I think of all my sorrows.
When I had you there but then I let you go.
And now it’s only fair that I should let you know.
What you should know.
Chorus 1
| E | C#m |
I can’t live, if living is without you.
| F#m | B7 |
I can’t live, I can’t give any more.
| E | C#m |
Can’t live, if living is without you.
| F#m | B7 | B7 |
I can’t give, I can’t give any more.
Verse 3
Well, I can’t forget this evening or your face as you were leaving.
But I guess that’s just the way the story goes.
You always smile but in your eyes your sorrow shows.
Yes, it shows.
Chorus 2
I can’t live, if living is without you.
I can’t live, I can’t give any more.
Can’t live, if living is without you.
I can’t give, I can’t give any more.
Outro
||: E | C#m | F#m | B7 :||
(Living is without you)
Without You | Chords + Lyrics (Mariah Carey, capo 4)
Intro
| Dsus2 D/F# | Dsus2 D/F# |
Verse 1
| Dsus2 D/F# | F#sus4 F#m |
No, I can’t forget this evening or your face as you were leaving.
| Em | F#sus4 F# F#7 |
But I guess that’s just the way the story goes.
| Bm Bm7/A | E E7 |
You always smile but in your eyes your sorrow shows.
| D | A7 |
Yes, it shows.
Verse 2
No, I can’t forget tomorrow when I think of all my sorrows.
When I had you there but then I let you go.
And now it’s only fair that I should let you know.
What you should know.
Chorus 1
| D | Bm |
I can’t live, if living is without you.
| Em | A7 |
I can’t live, I can’t give any more.
| D | Bm |
Can’t live, if living is without you.
| Em | A7 | A7 |
I can’t give, I can’t give any more.
Verse 3
Well, I can’t forget this evening or your face as you were leaving.
But I guess that’s just the way the story goes.
You always smile but in your eyes your sorrow shows.
Yes, it shows.
Chorus 2
I can’t live, if living is without you.
I can’t live, I can’t give any more.
Can’t live, yeah, if living is without you.
I can’t give, I can’t give any more.
Outro
| D | Bm |
Ooh, oh, ooh (no, I can’t live, no I can’t live)
| Em | A7 |
Oh, no, no, no, no.
| D | Bm |
I can’t live (no, I can’t live), If living is without you (no, I can’t live).
| Em | A7 |
I can’t live, I can’t give anymore.
| D | Bm |
Can’t live (No, I can’t live, no I can’t live).
| Em | A7 |
Oh…
Without You (Harry) Chords: Learn the progressions
Playing the chords for Without You, whether it be in the key of Harry Nilsson or Mariah Carey is surprisingly easy.
So easy in fact that I believe you should try both, this way, should the singer want to change the key, you got it covered.
Let’s start with Harry’s version, without a capo, thinking in the key of E.
The intro is a sus2 – major chord, although we don’t go up from the 2 to the 3rd, we go down, almost an octave.
Using TAB, I came up with this fun way to play the intro (which is also the beginning of the verse). Hre’s a link to that part of the lesson: Without You – Guitar Lesson with TAB.
The verse uses a similar idea of two chords per bar, like this:
| Esus2 (I) E | G#sus4 (III) G#m |
| F#m (II) | G#sus4 G# (IIIx) G#7 |
| C#m (VI) C#m7/B | F# (IIx) F#7 |
| E (I) | B7 (V) |
Using Roman Numerals, the verse is I – III – II – IIIx, VI – IIx – I – V. The IIIx (G#) leads to VI (C#m).
There’s TAB for how to play the verse in a similar way to the intro.
The chorus is super simple as it goes I – VI – II – V, like this:
||: E (I) | C#m (VI) | F#m (II) | B7 (V) :||
Again, there’s TAB for how to play this, all without a pick.
Coming back from the TAB lesson, this chord chart is all you need to play the chords for Harry’s version of Without You.

Without You Chord Chart | PDF + iReal Pro
Should you want to download this chart, here’s a PDF: Without You Chord Chart PDF.
This chord chart was created using iReal Pro, here’s a link to that file: Without You iReal Pro.
Using this and the iRealPro app, you can change the key, which is a great idea if you want to play Mariah Carey’s version (more on this below).
Without You (Mariah) Chords: Learn the progressions
Let’s now look at how you could play Without You’s chords in the key Mariah Carey does it in.
You could just fit a capo on fret 2 and think in E, what would come out is the key of F#. Just read Harry’s chords above.
However, I thought it would be fun to play in the key of D instead, moving the capo up to fret 4. This way, should the singer want to lower the key, you have options, all the way down below Harry.
Using different chord shapes to play Without You means some of the chords change, automatically giving you a different sounding part.
I want to describe the chords for the intro like this:
| Dsus2 D/F# | Dsus2 D/F# |
It’s slightly misleading to call it a D/F# but it’s worth it just to hammer home how the third is below the sus2, that’s the riff. Because of the small nature of the D-shaped chord, we can’t play a lower root.
As the verse starts, we play this when we think in the key of D:
| Dsus2 (I) D/F# | F#sus4 (III) F#m |
| Em (II) | F#sus4 F# F#7 |
| Bm (VI) Bm7/A | E (IIx) E7 |
| D (I) | A7 (V) |
There’s TAB available for how to play this too, it does move in different directions to how it was arranged in Harry’s key.
Here are the chorus chords for Mariah’s version of Without You.
||: D (I) | Bm (VI) | Em (II) | A7 (V) :||
The fact is that an E chord is the lowest we go on the guitar, and a D is the highest open-position chord. This means these two different ways of playing Without You’s chorus chords do sound different.
I believe you should practice in both keys as you’ll learn more that way.
Without You, the original version and covers
Most people think of Without You as either a Mariah Carey tune that singers belt out in auditions, or as that old Harry Nilsson tune that Mariah covered.
The fact is, Harry didn’t write it either, he did however make it famous in 1971, reaching #1 in seven countries, selling a million copies in the U.S. alone.
A year before Harry’s success, it was released by Badfinger, a British band signed to The Beatles label Apple, McCartney produced some of their tunes and the members of the band played on several post-Beatles recordings by Lennon and Harrison, for example, Imagine.
Badfinger’s original version of Without You was never released as a single.
There’s another, now somewhat forgotten version by country singer T.G. Shepperd in 1983.
However, it was Mariah Carey who knocked it out of the park in 1994 as her version went #1 in a staggering 13 countries. The release coincided with Harry’s death just a week earlier.
But there are more than these three famous versions, there are 180 released versions of the tune. The fifth best-known is more of an internet sensation.
From the Bulgarian talent show Music Idol in 2008, we find the hilarious “Ken Lee” by Valentina Hasan.
You can find all these in the playlist at the top of the page.
Without You Chords | Related Pages
Without You | Guitar Lesson + TAB
With this guitar lesson, you can learn to play Without You by Harry Nilsson and Mariah Carey using TAB and chord analysis.
| Esus2 E | G#sus4 G#m |
No, I can’t forget this evening or your face as you were leaving…
Five similar tunes | Chords + Lyrics
Mariah Carey tunes
Discovered by Record label boss and future husband, Tommy Mottola, Mariah Carey became one of the best-known singers of the ’90s.
Her best-known tunes include Without You, Hero, Emotions, Dreamlover, When You Believe, and Vision of Love.
Mariah Carey on the web
Harry Nilsson tunes
Known as the 5th Beatle, Harry Nilsson was a singer-songwriter from New York who moved to L.A. to pursue a recording career.
Harry is best known for the tunes EVerybody’s Talkin’, Coconut, One, Without You, and Spaceman.
Harry Nilsson on the web
About me | Dan Lundholm
This was a guitar lesson about Without You’s chords, by Dan Lundholm. Discover more about him and how you can learn guitar with Spytunes.
Most importantly, find out why you should learn guitar through playing tunes, not by practising scales or studying theory in isolation.