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No songwriter\/performer in the early \u201870s combined melodic ease with sensitive, heart-tugging lyrics like David Gates of Bread. One of his peak efforts came with the 1972 smash single \u201cEverything I Own.\u201d It\u2019s a song that many hear as a love song, and it is, albeit one burdened by great loss.<\/p>\n
What is the song about? To whom was Gates referring? And what inspired him to write it? Let\u2019s take a look back at all the nooks and crannies of \u201cEverything I Own,\u201d from its creation to its meaning.<\/p>\n
A Band at a Peak<\/p>\n
You think your band is having a good year? Well, compare it to what Bread did in 1972. In that single calendar year, they released a pair of studio albums that contained six Top 20 singles. That included \u201cEverything I Own,\u201d which appeared on the first of those \u201972 albums (Baby I\u2019m-A Want You) and went to No. 5 on the pop charts.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
That year was the culmination of the band\u2019s ascent. Gates had knocked around in the \u201860s both writing for other artists and attempting some solo singles. Bread formed when Gates joined fellow songwriter\/multi-instrumentalists James Griffin and Robb Royer. Their first album did little, but the No. 1 hit \u201cIt Don\u2019t Matter to Me\u201d rocketed them into prominence in 1970, and the hits just kept coming from there for the next few years.<\/p>\n
By the time of \u201cEverything I Own,\u201d Larry Knechtel had replaced Royer in the band, and he delivered a key component to the song by playing the lovely harpsichord part that gives the song a bit of a flourish. Gates comes through with an emotional vocal, one that wanders into his falsetto into the verses before dropping back into more authoritative tones for the emotional refrain.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
A Tribute to Dad<\/p>\n
It\u2019s common for folks to hear \u201cEverything I Own\u201d as a kind of testament to what one would do to be with their significant other. Perhaps that\u2019s why it\u2019s been such sturdy cover material. In the United Kingdom, it\u2019s been taken to No. 1 by both reggae singer Ken Boothe and Boy George of Culture Club fame.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Yet Gates didn\u2019t have romance in mind when he wrote the song. Gates\u2019 father had passed away right as his music career was beginning. And, as he told The Guardian, \u201cEverything I Own\u201d was his way of paying tribute to his father and the powerful influence he exerted:<\/p>\n
\u201cMy father died in 1963 and I wanted to write a song in memory of him. He did live to see some of my early progress towards success, but not the major songs or stardom with Bread. As with all my songs, the music led and the words tried to keep up, but they came pretty quickly. I wrote the lyrics\u2014\u2018I would give everything I own just to have you back again\u2019\u2014so that they could be interpreted as a love song, but when I played it for my wife, she knew right away that it was about my father. She cried.\u201d<\/p>\n
What is the Meaning of \u201cEverything I Own\u201d?<\/p>\n
As Gates explained in the quote above, he managed to keep the emotional content of \u201cEverything I Own\u201d general enough so that it could apply to all types of relationships. He doesn\u2019t mince words (You gave my life to me \/ Set me free, set me free), but he also shows a little playfulness with the language to keep things from getting too somber (You taught me how to love \/ What it\u2019s of, what it\u2019s of).<\/p>\n
Gates does a wonderful job of finding unique ways to express the loss: Nobody else could ever know \/ The part of me that can\u2019t let go. In the bridge, any pretense that this is somehow a song about a still-ongoing love affair drops when Gates gives advice to his audience about telling people you love them while you can: You may lose them one day \/ Someone takes them away \/ And they don\u2019t hear the words you long to say.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
At that point, \u201cEverything I Own\u201d goes charging back into the chorus, Gates explaining what he would do just to have you back again. That the song works as both love poem and eulogy is testament to what the songwriter accomplished on this, one of Bread\u2019s surest emotional shots.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
No songwriter\/performer in the early \u201870s combined melodic ease with sensitive, heart-tugging lyrics like David Gates of Bread. One of his peak efforts came with the 1972 smash single \u201cEverything I Own.\u201d It\u2019s a song that many hear as a love song, and it is, albeit one burdened by great loss. What is the song 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