"Without Love" is a song from the 2002 musical ''

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''. It is a quartet song performed by Tracy, Link, Penny, and Seaweed, and is inspired by the duets of

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artists

Marvin Gaye Marvin Pentz Gay Jr., who also spelled his surname as Gaye (April 2, 1939 – April 1, 1984), was an American singer and songwriter. He helped to shape the sound of Motown in the 1960s, first as an in-house session player and later as a solo ar ...

Tammi Terrell Tammi Terrell (born Thomasina Winifred Montgomery; April 29, 1945 – March 16, 1970) was an American singer-songwriter, widely known as a star singer for Motown Records during the 1960s, notably for a series of duets with singer Marvin Gaye. ...

Synopsis

Taking place during the second act of the musical and the 2007 musical film, "Without Love" finds the four teenagers singing about how they have all broken down societal barriers in order to love one another, and the two boys free the girls from their entrapment, heading off to the ''Corny Collins Show'' TV studio. Answers.com explains: "In this song, the male lead, Link, reveals his love to Tracy, and Tracy's white friend, Penny, expresses her love for a black teen named Seaweed. The couples must literally fight through physical barriers in order to get to each other and rejoin the protest."

Analysis

Answers.com explains the lyrical prowess of the song:

Critical reception

CinemaBlend writes in a movie review that "we’ve lost some of the original picture's romance to the PG rating, so songs like “Without Love” don’t work as well". The New York Times named the song has "one of the film’s musical high points", explaining that "the two young couples express their yearning with the help of some ingenious and amusing special effects". The

Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

said "

Marc Shaiman Marc Shaiman (; born October 22, 1959) is an American composer and lyricist for films, television, and theatre, best known for his collaborations with lyricist and director Scott Wittman. He wrote the music and co-wrote the lyrics for the Broadw ...

's music is virtually wall-to-wall bliss, and some of the lyrics, written with

Scott Wittman Scott Wittman (born November 16, 1954) is an American director, lyricist, composer and writer for Broadway, concerts, and television. Life and career Wittman was raised in Nanuet, New York, graduated from Nanuet Senior High School in 1972 and a ...

, particularly in the romantic quartet "Without Love", remain surprising and clever no matter how many times you've listened to them." RecordOnline deemed it an "affirmative anthem", while The Column named it an "energetic and comic number". The

Daily Texan ''The Daily Texan'' is the student newspaper of the University of Texas at Austin. It is one of the largest college newspapers in the United States, with a daily circulation of roughly 12,000 during the fall and spring semesters, and it is among t ...

described it as "perhaps one of the musical’s most iconic songs".

References

{{Hairspray Songs from Hairspray (musical) 2002 songs Songs written by Scott Wittman Songs written by Marc Shaiman