Bread – Everything I Own

This is another post for my sister. Bless her heart… she did introduce me to pop music and I do thank her for it. Now there were very few I really liked but Bread wasn’t a teeny bopper band…just a soft rock hit machine in the early seventies. So, Tammy, I hope you enjoy reading this. I’ve included my sister Tammy and another with her and a stupid little kid who wanted a JJ hat.

Tammy
Tammy with the author…I wanted a hat like JJ

This is a band I heard from my sister’s record collection. I have to admit when I hear one of their songs now…I know all of the lyrics and it is 1972 again.

I’ve always called them a guilty pleasure but hell…I like them. When I hear one of their songs I’m listening to them with my sister again. The thing about this band is that they could whip out an electric guitar and rock with songs like Mother Freedom. They could also do power pop…yes power pop with a song I’ll be posting soon. Here is a take on this song by my friend Matt.

David Gates is a wonderful songwriter and he wrote the hits basically but James Griffin and Robb Royer also wrote songs. Their songs were not bad at all but they were in a band with a great songwriter. He knew how to write a hook and a wonderful melody…and words we all can relate to.

David got started early. David’s girlfriend in the early sixties was the sister of singer/songwriter Leon Russell. Once he’d heard Leon’s material, he was inspired to write songs himself. He became a session musician and played on Jackie De Shannon’s demos. Six months had passed and he wasn’t making much headway until Johnny Burnette recorded his song The Fool Of The Year in 1962 and that was enough for him to keep writing.

This song was not romantic… it was written for Gate’s father after he passed away. Gates says that his father was a kind and gentle man and took the time to teach Gates to read and write music and play various instruments. He was influential in introducing Gates to classical music, which, in Gate’s words is his foundation. He attributes the song title to the kind words of his father after Gates sent his mother a gift of an orchid, which was more than he could at the time. Gate’s father was touched by the gesture and said that Gates could have “Everything she owned”.

They released a lot of material between 1970 – 1973 and constant touring caused fatigue to set in. All eleven of Bread’s charting singles between 1970 and 1973 had been written and sung by Gates. Elektra Records had always selected Gates’ songs for the A-sides of the singles, while Griffin felt that the singles should have been split between the two of them.

Something I didn’t know is that in 1996, after being broken up for years, reunited and toured the United States, South Africa, Europe, and Asia. After that, they went their separate ways.

Everything I Own peaked at #5 on the Billboard 100, #5 in Canada, #32 in the UK, and #9 in New Zealand in 1972.

A Jamaican singer Ken Booth also recorded a version of this song and it peaked at #1 in the UK

David Gates on his Dad: “My success would have been so special to him as he was my greatest influence. So I decided to write and record Everything I Own about him. If you listen to the words, ‘You sheltered me from harm, kept me warm, gave my life to me, set me free,’ it says it all.”

David Gates: “My father was kind and gentle and revered by everyone. People will do what you do, not what you say. He always had time for me and taught me to read and write music, play various instruments and introduced me to classical music, my foundation. One year I sent my mom an orchid for her birthday, she was so touched that my dad wrote to tell me I could have had ‘anything she owned’ in return. My 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, ‘I would give everything I own just to have you back again’ so 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.”

David Gates: “The recording session with Bread felt pressurized because I wanted to convey the emotion in the vocal that existed when I played it with an acoustic guitar,” Gates said. “The covers [by Rod Stewart, Shirley Bassey and Boy George] have all felt genuine, and it is magical to sing. Everything I Own has reached farther than any other song I’ve ever written. It’s a tribute to the song and Ken that it was able to go reggae.”

Everything I Own

You sheltered me from harm
Kept me warm, kept me warm
You gave my life to me
Set me free, set me free
The finest years I ever knew
Were all the years I had with you

And I would give anything I own
I’d give up my life, my heart, my home
I would give everything I own
Just to have you back again

You taught me how to love
What it’s of, what it’s of
You never said too much
But still you showed the way
And I knew from watching you

Nobody else could ever know
The part of me that can’t let go

And I would give anything I own
I’d give up my life, my heart, my home
I would give everything I own
Just to have you back again

Is there someone you know
You’re loving them so
But taking them all for granted?
You may lose them one day
Someone takes them away
And they don’t hear the words you long to say

I would give anything I own
I’d give up my life, my heart, my home
I would give everything I own
Just to have you back again
Just to touch you once again

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

56 thoughts on “Bread – Everything I Own”

  3. I was never a fan of Bread (or most LA rock of that era), but I support guilty pleasures. Everyone is entitled to a few. One of my favorite radio shows carries that title and it is one of the few shows left with an eclectic mix that ignores genres.

    Being a song about his dad and not the typical lost love song takes it to another level.

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      1. Ooh Max… Chevy Van… there’s guilty pleasures and then there’s wallowing in musical sins. Seriously though I get what you mean. For whatever reasons, personal, nostalgia, some songs resonate for us, stick in the brain forever, even if its not your genre at all- and you don’t want to like it.

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      2. lol… Yes…sometimes it trumps good taste or current taste…but Gates is a good songwriter…I have to give him credit on melodies.

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  5. Great post! I like Bread, they came out at the right time to appeal to my little ears I guess, and the melodies were good, lyrics a bit deeper than some banal AM stuff of the era…songs like ‘Guitar Man’ and ‘Diary’ are quite good in that respect.
    Cool pix- that hat on the little guy is Dy-NO-mite, LOL!

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    1. He wrote some good melodies and the other guys did as well…but their stuff wasn’t big hits. LOL…II loved that hat! It was reversable with a white background with little pictures on it…what I wouldn’t give for that hat.

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      2. Oh no…she was born in 1959 so she wasn’t arround…her middle name Faye is after my mom…hmmm…I’m seeing her Sunday…I need to ask who she was named after lol.

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  6. I like Bread as they are very easy to listen to. Gates mom told the world that she was pleased with her son’s success, but she didn’t understand why he had to call his new hit record, ‘Naked With You’.

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  7. Haven’t heard this one in quite awhile, Max. Brought back a lot of youngster memories when I played it just now. Wonderful song to be sure…as well as a really interesting backstory relayed here.

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    1. My sister had a greatest hits and a few of their albums so I know them well…but yes it did bring up a lot of memories for me also.

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    1. Thanks Matt…I haven’t heard from my sister yet …that means she hasnt’ read it…”Oh that picture is terrible”…. I can hear her now.

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  9. I think Gates was a talented songwriter and I did like some of their tunes. I had forgotten about that Ken Boothe version, #1 in the UK and he did a great job. Love those pics Max, your sister is lovely and you looked like a pretty cool dude.

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    1. Gates is a talented songwriter…his melodies to many of those old Bread hits are great. I didn’t know about the Ken Boothe version until I wrote this.
      I was a nerd lol…I’m just happy that I’m taller than her now and still…….younger.

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  11. After reading this song is about Gates’ dad, listening to it just now made the tears fall. You can feel the sincerity in his voice and in the lyrics. I was a young teenager when their “soft rock hit machine in the early seventies” was purring along. I felt that sincerity in every song they had on the radio. “If” and “Diary” are coming to mind. Music can be soothing and healing and these songs did both for me.

    Glad your sister was there to get you going on pop music. In that pic with her and you, I see she had those super bell bottoms on. I remember how they dragged along, over my tennis shoes, when I walked 3 miles (one way) back and forth to school each day. They got shredded for sure. That’s a sweet picture of you two ❤ Tammy grew to be a beautiful adult also!

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    1. It is a sad song and takes on a new meaning on what it’s about.
      Thank you Lisa…I have to say…I could probably count on one hand the argments we had growing up. She is a fantastic big sister…. now after we were grown we argued a bit…but never bad.

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  12. I had Bread’s first or second album and you’re right, they could rock out, but they’re best known for their love ballads, like this one. After a while, I changed the station when it came on.

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  13. I think this is their best song. Gates was a much better writer than Griffin IMO – Griffin tried to write bluesy rockers, but his best songs are ballads like ‘For All We Know’ and ‘Just Like Yesterday’.

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      3. I know that one, I have a 2CD Anthology that I bought when I missed Bread from classic rock radio. Gets a bit dodgy at the end with Gates’ solo stuff.

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  15. I didn’t want to like Bread but a few worked their way past my sneering defences’ The back story adds to the song.
    Your sister has that resigned look of a teen having to have their pic taken with the younger bro. I can’t see her eyes, but I suspect theres an eye-roll there! Times gone by, and thank God, Kodak and Ken’s 24 Hour Photo Shack for the memories.

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    1. I do like some of their songs….I really do.

      Yea I know…I somehow remember that picture and our mother taking it. Mom made her take me on dates…it was interesting riding in the trunk into drive inn theaters…then my sister would let me out…she saved a buck lol.

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      1. Max as chaperone! I won’t ramble on but as a kid in I spent 5 years slumming it in Adelaide, South Australia. We lived on the poorest side of the tracks, in a district called Gepps Cross- still less than salubrious- and just over the road was the Mainline Drive-In. My older brother and a friend would hang around by the turn in to the drive in and ask the driver to let us in the cars, we’d give ’em the entrance fee and once inside we’d get out and watch the movie leant up against a fence. I think about it now and break out in a cold shuddering sweat…

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      2. Whew…that is taking a chance. But I guess it worked out for you all.
        Yes…my mom I’m sure sent me to interupt any plans…I was a pawn but a happy one. I don’t think it worked well…my first R movie? Cheerleaders and I was 8.

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  16. I don’t know Bread in greater depth but certainly recall listening to various songs by them on the radio back in Germany, including “Everything I Own”, “Make It With You”, “Baby I’m-A Want You” and “Guitar Man.” David Gates definitely had an ear for catchy melodies.

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    1. He really does…they have been treated kinda bad…by me also! When you are in your 20s listening to rock…you don’t tend to bring up Bread lol…but I do like them.

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  17. Not to mention that Boy George also had a #1 with his version of ‘Everything I Own’ (though I prefer Ken Boothe’s). Add the fact that Telly Savalas covered ‘If’, then Bread have had some interesting takes on their songs…

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  18. I love ballad Bread and David Gates, always classy, tuneful and touching, but they usually didn’t get UK hits, sadly (5 in total and only one top 10), so cover versions very much a thing. Boy George also had a UK number one with this, but the original or the Ken Boothe version are the great ones.

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