“Life Without You” by Stevie Ray Vaughan

The death of a loved one is a harrowing experience. Sometimes the grief is so overwhelming that it’s difficult to know the best way to honor them. Writing a memorial song commemorating your loved one who died is certainly a possibility for people who are confident and talented enough to compose original music. Blues-rock legend Stevie Ray Vaughan did just that with his song “Life Without You.”

Vaughan wrote the song after his good friend Charley Wirz died, according to numerous sources. Wirz was a guitar repairman in Dallas who serviced some of Vaughan’s guitars early in his career. The two remained close friends until Wirz’s death.

The song evidences Stevie Ray Vaughan’s grief following the death of his friend. His live performances particularly showcased this. Vaughan sings in the first stanza:

Oh now baby, tell me how have you been?

We all have missed you and the way you grin

The day is necessary every now and then

For souls to move on, givin’ life back again and again

“Life Without You” serves as a dialogue between Vaughan and his friend. He states first and foremost how much he and everyone else has missed his buddy, asking him, “How have you been?” Vaughan then mentions how, although they’re all grieving, they have to be able to continue living; though some days are easier than others.

“The day is necessary, every now and then” is a line that certainly resonates with many people. Everyone processes grief in different ways, and some days are certainly better than others. Grief does not follow a timeline. Sometimes the weight of it all can be too much, even years after. Some of the song’s later lyrics also bring up a phenomenon that is common in grievers’ worlds:

Long look in the mirror, we’ve come face to face

Wishin’ all the love we took for granted, love we have today

Credit: dmagazine.com

Vaughan mentions that he’s “face to face” with his friend in the mirror. Songs often employ metaphors to illustrate an idea. Stevie Ray Vaughan may have written this line as such, but it’s hard to know. These kinds of post-bereavement hallucinations occur in real life, and can even aid the grieving process. It’s one way that our brains can process the topsy-turvy world that is grief.

Perhaps the most moving part of “Life Without You” occurs after Vaughan has finished singing. A masterful guitar solo closes out the tune, and the way Vaughan wrote it is so emotionally charged that it’s hard not to feel his energy. He loved his friend dearly, and those feelings are on full display during the solo.

Art, of course, is open to individual interpretation. But for me, his riffs make it sound as though the guitar itself is crying, the conduit through which Stevie Ray Vaughan’s sadness is presented to us. It’s really quite amazing.

“Life Without You” does not contain too many lyrics. Vaughan seems to use the music itself to convey his feelings more than words in this song. But the ones he did choose resonate greatly. Perhaps he intended this to mimic the loss of words we may have following the death of a loved one.

The song takes on an even more profound meaning considering that Stevie Ray Vaughan died in 1990. He was only 35, but he had an immense impact on the blues and rock n’ roll communities. Many consider him to be one of the greatest guitarists of all time, and “Life Without You” could certainly be used as evidence of that.

You can watch Stevie Ray Vaughan perform “Life Without You” below.