Tag Archives: Bread

♫ Guitar Man ♫

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I try to leave some space between songs by the same artist or group, and I do realize that I played Bread’s Lost Without Your Love on February 1st, but this song has been stuck in my head all day long, and it really needs to go!  And anyway, you all seemed to enjoy Bread, so surely you won’t mind one more, right?

David Gates

David Gates

The song, released in 1972 was, as most if not all of Bread’s songs, written by David Gates, and is a mixture of the sounds of soft rock, including strings and acoustic guitar, and the addition of a wah-wah effect electric guitar, played by Larry Knechtel.

According to Gates …

“James (Griffin) went out and tried to play a solo that wasn’t sounding right, and I went out and tried it and didn’t have any luck either. Larry plays a little guitar, so I asked him to try it. He hooked up a little wah-wah pedal, and came up with all those things on the spot. I bet that wasn’t more than two hours of work on his part.”

I found a pretty interesting interview with Gates from 2003, if you’re interested.

Guitar Man
Bread

Who draws the crowd and plays so loud, baby, it’s the guitar man
Who’s gonna steal the show, you know, baby, it’s the guitar man
He can make you love, he can make you cry
He will bring you down and he’ll get you high
Somethin’ keeps him goin’ miles and miles a day
To find another place to play

Night after night, who treats you right, baby, it’s the guitar man
Who’s on the radio, you go and listen to the guitar man
Then he comes to town and you see his face
And you think you might like to take his place
Somethin’ keeps him driftin’ miles and miles away
Searching for the songs to play

Then you listen to the music and you like to sing along
You want to get the meaning out of each and every song
Then you find yourself a message and some words to call your own and take ’em home

He can make you love, he can get you high
He will bring you down, then he’ll make, make you cry
Somethin’ keeps him movin’, but no one seems to know
What it is that makes him go

Then the lights begin to flicker and the sound is getting dim
The voice begins to falter and the crowds are getting thin
But he never seems to notice, he’s just got to find another place to play

Fade away
Got to play
Fade away
Got to play

Songwriters: David Ashworth Gates
Guitar Man lyrics © Kipahulu Music, David Gates D/B/a Kipahulu Music, KIPAHULU MUSIC CO

♫ Lost Without Your Love ♫

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Written and composed by David Gates, this song was originally recorded by the pop-rock group Bread, of which Gates was the leader and primary music producer.  It is the title track of Bread’s 1976 album, and became their final Top 10 hit once David Gates left to begin his solo career.

Lost Without Your Love
Bread

Lost and all alone
I always thought that I could make it on my own
But since you left I hardly make it through the day
My tears get in the way, and I need you back to stay

I wonder through the night
And search the world for the words to make it right
All I want is the way it used to be
With you here close to me
And I’ve got to make you see

That I’m lost with out your love
Life without you isn’t worth the trouble of

I’m as helpless as a ship without a wind
A touch without a feel
I can’t believe its real
And someday soon I’ll wake and find my heart won’t have to break

Yes, I’m lost with out your love
Life without you isn’t worth the trouble of
All I want is just the way it used to be
I need you here with me
Oh darling can’t you see
If we had love before we can have it back once more

Songwriters: David Gates
Lost Without Your Love lyrics © David Gates D/B/A Kipahulu Music

♫ Make It With You ♫

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This song, written by David Gates of the group Bread, first appeared on Bread’s 1970 album, On the Waters. Released as a single that June, it was the group’s first top-ten hit on the Billboard Hot 100.  It also reached #5 on the UK Singles Chart.

When group leader David Gates returned home to Tulsa, Oklahoma, where his mother was throwing a big reception party to celebrate the return of the young chart-conquering hero, the newspaper, television and radio press turned up, hoping to play up the whole “local boy does good” PR angle. In a widely circulated interview, Mrs. Gates proudly told the world just how pleased as punch she was with her son’s recent success. She then also told them – in complete candor – that she just couldn’t understand why he had to call his new hit record, “Naked With You.” 🤣🤣🤣

Make It with You
Bread

Hey have you ever tried
Really reaching out for the other side?
I may be climbing on rainbows
But baby, here goes

Dreams are for those who sleep
Life is for us to keep
And if you’re wondering what this song is leading to,
I want to make it with you

I really think that we could make it, girl

Though you don’t know me well
And every little thing only time will tell
If you believe the things that I do,
And we’ll see it through

Life can be short or long
Love can be right or wrong
And if I chose the one I’d like to help me through
I’d like to make it with you

I really think that we could make it, girl

Baby you know that dreams there for those who sleep
Life is for us to keep
And if I chose the one I’d like to help me through
I’d like to make it with you

I really think that we could make it, girl

Songwriters: David Gates
Make It with You lyrics © EMI Music Publishing, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

♫ If ♫

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A couple of weeks ago when I played a Bread tune, Everything I Own, everyone seemed pleased with it, and in the comments, at least two noted that this song is their favourite of the Bread collection.  ‘appens that it is also my favourite, or at least one of them … my music ‘faves’ tend to vary in accordance with my mood of the moment.

David Gates, then and now

Bread keyboardist David Gates says: “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.”

In the U.S., Bread’s version was the shortest song title to become a top ten hit until 1993, when Prince hit No. 7 with “7”, later matched by Britney Spears’ No. 1 hit “3” in 2009.  What … we just number songs now?  (Obviously neither Prince nor Britney are on my top 1,000 list)

If
Bread

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

Songwriters: David Gates
If lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC

♫ Everything I Own ♫

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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 don’t much care for his music.  So, I shall stick with the Bread version.

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