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
I would give anything I own,
Give up me life, my heart, my home.
I would give everything I own,
Just to have you back again.
You taught me how to love, what its of, what its 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. Chorus
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
Chorus Just to touch you once again...
Although initial listeners may have interpreted it as a song about a broken relationship, David Gates revealed that it was written in memory of his father who died in 1963 before he achieved his success with Bread. 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, "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, you gave my life to me, set me free', it says it all."
As for the title, Gates said that he once sent his mother an orchid for her birthday at a time when he could barely afford it: "She was so touched - my dad wrote to tell me I could have had "anything she owned" in return." Gates typically wrote the lyrics after the music. Although the lyrics were written so it could be interpreted as a love song, Gates said: "When I played it for my wife, she knew right away that it was about my father. She cried."
