David Gates and Bread had a first major hit with "I'd Like To Make It With You,". The combination of Gates' sweet, delicate tenor voice inspired romance in young teen hearts. The guitar work was precise, unenhanced and authentic, with some light orchestration in the background (all live, all real, all human). The beat was steady. You could slow dance to it, even if you didn't know anything about dancing (I didn't).
It was another guitar player's dream, in E major, with a signature riff of guitar strings strummed upward in an E Major 7th chord to an A Major chord with a B in the bass...everybody learned how to play this...two chords and you knew where you were headed. To complement his voice, Gates used a great deal of "mellow" yet twangy guitar (overdubbed) in the upper fretboard, a very subtle wood block (like a heartbeat, clock or metronome in all of his songs), unobtrusive bass, and keyboard - usually with a harpsicord-like setting. Their songs were delicate, moving and romantic, filled with love, loss, pain and regret.
In "Everything I Own," the effect is totally angelic. The guitar, played with a full capo in high register, sounds like a harp gently plucked; the keyboard is classic frill; the dynamics (the way the verses are so soft, and the bridge is so powerful) force you to pay attention, and heighten the intensity of the pain the singer feels at the loss of the Love Of His Life.
I was dating my first "real" girlfriend (it lasted several weeks), who had braces. She sat behind me in English class and it took me three months to work up the courage to ask her to go to a movie with me. I don't remember the movie. I remember this song though. We listened to it together while we held hands. I remember every word of this song so clearly... I don't miss the loss of a young love too much, but I miss my innocence and my amazement that some girl would actually want to kiss me. After I had taken her home, I drove with all of the windows open, parked in my parents' driveway, got out and looked up at the stars.
The braces were not really a problem.
This is my favorite Bread song.
If the video player doesn't appear below, just click on this link to enjoy "Everything I Own":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Q1kB0R4Ijs
With your permission, I'd like to dedicate this song to: Vicky, Joyce, Lauren, Diane, Julie, Jan, Ray, Neil, Barry, Jay, the Late Mike DiBari, Stan, the other Stan, Frank, Mitch, Jack, Bennie, Eat The Lizard, Whip The Beanstalk, Captain O'Peelio, D'Antonio's, Merokee Bowling, Jones Beach, Limoli's, Mrs. Morse, Matt. Barbaras (3 of them), Larry, Jimmy, Jimmy's big brother (the Karate Expert), The United Mutations, Arnie, Freedy, Steve, Paul, Sigi, Gidget, Oldsmobile Cutlass, Mercury Cougar, Richie, Bruce!, Damon and Pythias, my cousins Stu, Steve and Sandra, my little sister, JFK (both the highschool and the man), Sandy, August, night-blooming jasmine, Foncy's, Bohack Supermarket, Shore Road School, the new house on Harbor Lane and the smell of the freshly-painted walls.....so many other people and places and things and feelings....Thank you all. I wish that I could have stayed longer. I apologize for growing up - I never meant to. I miss you all.
Radio DAZZ: Produced by Douglas Castle
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