♫ Everything I Own ♫ (Redux)

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I am remarkably uninspired tonight.  It’s late, I’m tired and not in the best of moods, but nonetheless I went in search of something new to play, something I haven’t yet played.  Every single song that popped into my mind was one that I had already featured here!  HELP!  I’m running out of music!  (Bite your tongues, Herb Brown & Jerry Miller!!!)  Anyway, yes, I have played this one by Bread before, but it’s been a few years, so you’ve all forgotten, right?  RIGHT???

According to the book 1000 UK #1 Hits by Jon Kutner and Spencer Leigh, at his father’s funeral, a friend took David Gates aside and said, “Your dad was so proud of what you were doing.” David agreed by replying, “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.”

In 1974 at the suggestion of his producer Lloyd Chambers, Jamaican singer Ken Booth recorded a smooth reggae cover version, which topped the UK charts. Booth sang “Anything I Own” instead of “Everything” but retained the original title, making it one of the few UK #1s not to have the actual title featured in the lyrics. In 1987 Boy George recorded his electronic dance-pop version, this time singing “Everything” not “Anything,” and again it topped the UK charts.

I have only heard Bread’s version, and I’m of the old school that thinks, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”.  And frankly, although daughter Chris is a huge fan of Boy George (he is the background scene on her computer, and her bedroom walls are plastered with his mug!), I am not a fan of his music.  Last time ’round I only played the Bread version, but I like to think I’m more flexible now and so, I offer both Bread and Boy George this time!  In truth, I didn’t dislike the Boy George version … I just like Bread’s better.

Everything I Own
Bread

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,
Your 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

Songwriters: David Gates
Everything I Own lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

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36 thoughts on “♫ Everything I Own ♫ (Redux)”

    • Sigh. You can please some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can’t please all of the people all of the time. I didn’t even think of adding the Ken Booth version, but if I ever redux this song again, it WILL be added!!! Meanwhile, yeah … you can look it up yourself.

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  2. Wonderful song, esp the Boy George version! U’ve mentioned running out of songs… may I suggest Boy George/ Culture Club’s extensive discography. Any song from them is just faboo 🙂
    *Air kisses* ❤

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      • As u can tell, i’m a huge fan of boy george, but he’s an acquired taste. I very much appreciate all the new artists and groups u’v introduced me to over the years. Ur my go to source for the best oldies and rock classics!
        And as the saying goes, they don’t make them like they use to, and the supply is limited!
        Hugs and have a wonderful magical weekend ❤

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  4. Jill, I love Bread, even though their songs are more pop. They have great lyrics. I must confess I did not know the back story or the subject was his father, although that makes sense with the lyrics. Many thanks, Keith

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  8. A beautiful song, full of personal meaning for David Gates, and you can hear it in his voice. I think it’s a real shame that two very inferior covers of this both reached #1 here and the original didn’t even make our top thirty.

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  9. I LOVED Bread when I was a young teen & even though I became a punk & then a Deadhead before getting totally into Rush but always listening to & dancing to & singing all kinds of music, jazz, show tunes, country, classical… nowadays usually listening to my fav Beethoven … I still love Bread.

    & this song here … it really gets the whole love & loss thing … personally, I never had a love I didn’t lose. Now, when I hear this song & I sing it … it could be for any number of lovers … & too many of them are now dead.

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    • Whew! You’re speaking a foreign language to me with ‘Deadhead’, ‘Rush’, etc.. Nonetheless, I’m really glad you liked this song! It sounds like you’ve led quite an interesting life … I hope it has been a contented one, a fulfilled one.

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      • Deadhead = Grateful Dead fanatic. Rush = Only purely Canadian band in the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame (at last check. Even the Guess Who never made it!) Ah, Jill, what can Jerry Miller say?

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        • Gotta love Rush and the Dead. I still cannot believe three guys can make all that sound. I cannot believe The Guess Who is not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. They had a dozen or more hits and many more good songs. Burton Cummings and Randy Bachman were terrific together. And, I also love BTO.

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          • Yup, but according to the criteria, the band is supposed to make some kind of lasting change on rock directions. Apparently neither the Guess Who or BTO made any such changes. They only made great music, no big deal.

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            • Rawgod, those are nice criteria, but they have let in bands in with much lesser bodies of work. I would argue Cummings’ vocals added to Bachman’s music is fairly lasting. Just take the song which married two – A New mother nature and no sugar tonight. BTO broke the mold on some news songs with “Let it Ride” in how it begins and ends. But, what do we know? Keith

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              • But most of “those” bands are American, or British. Everyone knows Canada is a musical backwater. Names like Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Buffy St. Marie, Dennis Doherty, Zal Yanofsky, John Kay, Robbie Robertson, Gordon Lightfoot, and even Leonard Cohen et al just from the 60s have no place in the history of rock music. Nope, nothing here to write about. The Guess Who were the No.1 music draw around the world for two years running, but, big deal.

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