David Gates – PowerPop… An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture

Bread – Down On My Knees

Bread was known as a light pop band in the 1970s. When I heard this I realized they stuck their toe in the power pop water. It sounded familiar when I heard it a few years ago. I then remembered…it was on their 1973 greatest hits album that my sister had.

Band members David Gates and James Griffin wrote this song at the Royal Lancaster Hotel during their first trip to London. Griffin wrote a lot of songs for Bread but the record company always seemed to pick David Gates songs for singles. This song was the B-Side to the song Diary.

The song was off their Baby I’m-A Want You album released in 1972. It was their fourth LP, which proved to be the highest-charting studio album of the band’s career and provided them with four top-40 hits. The hits were “Mother Freedom” – #37 “Baby I’m-a Want You” – #3 “Everything I Own” – #5 “Diary” – #15. That was quite impressive in the 70s when record companies usually didn’t release a lot of singles from an album. In the 1980s it became commonplace to squeeze as many singles as possible. Bread though…was more of a singles band to begin with.

It was their first album without founding member Robb Royer… Although his departure was due to increasing tensions between him and Gates, Royer continued to write songs with Jimmy Griffin, who remained in the band, hence Royer’s name still turning up in the credits as the co-composer of Dream Lady and Games of Magic. They replaced Royer with studio keyboardist Larry Knechtel who was a member of the Wrecking Crew.

James Griffin: “The lyric doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me – I think we were each writing about different things. But the song got a lot of airplay, and people seemed to like it.”

Down On My Knees

I’ve told you before
Don’t you hear what I say?
I won’t take it no more
no more making me stay

Down on my knees
You know I’m down on my knees, yeah
Yes I’ve been down on my knees, but I’m through begging please
I wont get back on my knees, yeah

Nobody knows what your putting me through
Nobody knows if it’s worth it for you
Nobody sees you got me down on my knees, yeah
Well I’ve been down on my knees, well I’m through begging please
don’t put my back on my knees, yeah

You know that I always loved you
Never placed myself above you
Don’t let me go with my ways that I could
Don’t tell me no with my ways that you would

Down on my knees
You’ve brought me down on my knees, yeah
Well I’ve been down on my knees, but I’m through begging please
don’t put me back on my knees, yeah

You know how I always loved you
There’s no time that I have tried to place myself above you

Down on my knees
You know that I’m down on my knees, yeah
Well I’ve been down on my knees, but I’m through beggin’ please
don’t put me back on my knees, yeah
Ya I’ve been down on, but I’m through begging please
don’t put me back on my knees

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

Bread – Mother Freedom

When I was 6 or 7 I thought this was a hard rock song. That distorted guitar sounded so good to those young ears. This is Bread letting their soft rock guard down and opening up a good electric riff. It took me a long time to admit that I liked this band but I do now. They did soft rock well but they also covered other genres. Most of the hits though were David Gates’s melody-driven soft rock songs.

This was one of Bread’s more upbeat songs and was usually played just before the encore that their concerts. The band was known for soft rock hits like Baby I’m-A Want You, If, and Everything I Own.

On this Gates written track, David Gates played the two rhythm guitars on the track, and James Griffin played the guitar solo. Gates sang lead, while Griffin sang backup.

David Gates had already been playing live in various bands for four years by the time he moved to Los Angeles in the early sixties. There, he began writing hits “Popsicles and Icicles” by the Murmaids and “Saturday’s Child” for the Monkees, and producing Glenn Yarbrough’s “Baby, The Rain Must Fall”.

In 1967, Robb Royer suggested to Gates that they form their own group, along with mutual friend Jimmy Griffin, and after being inspired by a bread truck passing by, the group Bread was born. Their debut album was released in 1969 and contained the song It Don’t Matter To Me.

Mother Freedom was on the Baby I’m-a Want You album released in 1971. The song peaked at #37 on the Billboard 100 in 1972. The album did well and peaked at #3 in the Billboard Album Charts, #9 in Canada, and #9 in the UK.

So dust off your door beads, fire up your Chevy van, check your mood ring, and crank up some Bread…

Mother Freedom

Freedom, keep walkin’
Keep on your toesand don’t stop talkin’ ’bout
Freedom, get goin’
Lots to be learned and lots to be knowin’ ’bout
People, gotta reach ’em
Sit ’em right down and then you gotta teach ’em ’bout
Freedom, gotta win it
Gotta put yourself smack dab in it

Hey tomorrow
Now don’t you go away
Cause freedom
Just might come your way

Freedom, keep tryin’
People stay alive and people keep dyin’ for
Freedom, so don’t lose it
Ya gotta understand ya just can’t abuse it
Freedom, get movin’
Never gonna stop till everybody’s groovin’ on
Love for, one another
Callin’ some friend and callin’ some brother

Hey tomorrow
You’re not so far away
Mother freedom
We’ll know you well someday

Bread – If …1970’s AM Radio Gold Week

Bread was one of the first bands I found out about. My sister loved them because every time she started to date someone or broke up with someone…out came the Bread albums. She is 8 years older than me so I was just 6 when she was 14 but I knew the dating cycle of a teenage girl rather well at that time.

My sister now…(she will kill me if she finds out I posted this)

Bread was a soft rock band that later on I probably would have never claimed that I liked…but I did…and still do. I called them a guilty pleasure (the guilt-o-meter peaks) for a while but hell…I like them. When I hear the opening guitar in this song, it’s the early seventies again.

The song peaked at #4 in the Billboard 100 and #6 in Canada in 1971. It also peaked at #1 in the Easy Listening chart in America and Canada. The song was on the album Mana that peaked at #21 in the Billboard Album charts and #16 in Canada.

David Gates was the writer who wrote most of the hits. Gates is a very good singer songwriter who knows how to write a good pop melody. In this song there is no chorus to speak of but it works well.

David Gates: “I wrote that one night at the dining room table, after my kids and my wife had gone to bed. It took me about an hour and a half, with an extra verse left over. If you look at it, there’s a few bizarre lines in there, like ‘you and I would simply fly away’ – that’s kind of an unusual thought. When I was done, I said, ‘That’s the best song I’ve ever written and probably will be the best song I’ll ever write.’ For me it’s really held up over time, more than any of the others.”

One odd fact about this song… Kojak actor Telly Savalas recorded a spoken-word version that went to #1 in the UK in 1975.

If a picture paints a thousand words,
Then why can’t I paint you?
The words will never show the you I’ve come to know.
If a face could launch a thousand ships,
Then where am I to go?
There’s no one home but you,
You’re all that’s left me too.
And when my love for life is running dry,
You come and pour yourself on me.

If a man could be two places at one time,
I’d be with you.
Tomorrow and today, beside you all the way.
If the world should stop revolving spinning slowly down to die,
I’d spend the end with you.
And when the world was through,
Then one by one the stars would all go out,
Then you and I would simply fly away