Dead Songs in Depth

    
If I Had The World To Give
w: Hunter m: Garcia
AGDL: http://arts.ucsc.edu/gdead/agdl/2giv.html
LASF: http://www.whitegum.com/songfile/IFIHADTH.HTM
  

    
If I Had The World To Give 
Lyrics: Robert Hunter
Music: Jerry Garcia

Copyright Ice Nine Publishing; used by permission.

If I had the world to give
I'd give it to you, long as you live
Would you let it fall
Or hold it in your arms?

If I had a song to sing
I'd sing it to you, long as you live
Lullaby
Or maybe a plain serenade

Wouldn't you laugh, dance and cry or be afraid
At the change you made?
I may not have the world to give to you
But maybe I have a tune or two

Only if you let me be your world
Could I ever give this world to you
Could I ever give this world to you

But I will give what love I have to give
I will give what love I have to give
I will give what love I have to give
Long as I live

If I had a star to give
I'd give it to you, long as you live
Would you have the time
To watch it shine, watch it shine?

Or ask for the moon and heaven too?
I'd give it to you
Well maybe I've got no star to spare
Or anything fine or even rare

Only if you let me be your world
Could I ever give this world to you
Could I ever give this world to you
  

    


Diane Hesser writes:


Hello,
I'm getting married on 8/13/05 and was hoping you could help me out.
Is there any particular meaning behind "If I Had the World To Give " that I
may have missed ?
We are having a Grateful Dead cover band play our wedding and was wondering
if you thought that this song would be appropriate for me to dance with my
father to.
We would love to hear suggestions on a Dead tune for the father / mother
dance too.
Thanks !
  

    

Had my dad been at my wedding, that was the song we would have danced to.
  

    


Paul Keniston writes:



That's Beautiful !

Somewhere in a box in the house is a video of me singing this song to my
newborn daughter some fifteen years ago. I couldn't hit the high notes but
she just kept smiling at me and drooling all the same.

So even before reading your post this song has been THE Song of the love of
this father for his daughter.

I hope she lets me dance to it with her at her wedding.

It will mark the transition from letting your Dad "be your world" to letting
your new hubby "be your world."

May your world always be full of love and light and joy
( and perhaps the moon and heaven too ! )
  

    



Paul Keniston writes:



My vote for the Father/Mother dance is Crazy Fingers.

" Life may be sweeter than this   I don't know..."
  

    
I love this song so much.  I have no idea why Garcia stopped
performing it, but IMO, the song as performed in 1978 and published
on "Shakedown Street" seems kind of like an early draft of a tune
that could have become a masterpiece.  Musically, it's got a
fantastic hook, which repeats in the introduction and expands in the
tune.  Lyrically, it's gotta be the best first-person pure love
ballad Hunter wrote for the GD.

In the live performances, especially the 11/20/78 Cleveland
performance, Garcia seemed to have trouble singing the high notes in
the first two lines of the chorus.  These two: "I may not have the
world to give to you. But maybe I have a tune or two."  

Musically, the bridge ("I could give what love I have to give...")
is not great, IMO, and could use replacement, revision or
elimination.   The song could get to the first solo via another
path.

Here are links to the three live performances.  Garcia's soloing in
the finale is fantastic in the second performance (Winterland), but
I think Weir nailed his warbly, plaintive sustains in the final
performance (Cleveland).

https://archive.org/details/gd1978-08-30.s2.sbd.miller.110151.flac16/gd78-08-3
0d3t02.flac  (Red Rocks)

https://archive.org/details/gd1978-10-17.138919.sbd.gastwirt.miller.sirmick.13
8919.sbeok.flac16/gd1978-10-17s2t09.flac (Winterland)

https://archive.org/details/gd1978-11-20.sbd.miller.95244.sbeok.flac16/gd78-11
-20d2t07.flac (Cleveland)

https://open.spotify.com/track/3gDzuUk6CKVMmhutoqphhL?si=3658e67e5efe476f  (Shakedown Street LP)
  

    
I'll never forget being on the rail at Winterland for this one in
1978.

I used to sing it to my boys. I can totally relate.
  

    
I am prpetty sure I heard it live at least once!
  

    
aud, I love that you sang it to your sons.  I still feel warm and
fuzzy on the rare occasions I think about the lullabies that my mom
used to sing to me.

The two songs I sang to my kids are Terrapin Station and Friend of
the Devil.  Even though as older adolescents none of them listen to
the GD, they still pick up with the lyrics to those two tunes if I
get them started.  Their number one lullaby pop tune, however, is
"All My Lovin',"  which we still break out into sing-alongs from
time to time, usually at Christmas Eve dinner or on Christmas
morning.
  

    
Beatle songs are so ,uch fun to sing!