"If"

In my teenage years there were several artists that were taboo in my friend circle. That is not to say that they were not awesome talents, I believe it actually speaks more to our limited cultural taste in our developing years. Yet there were artists that we would publicly ridicule and reject and then in the privacy of our bedrooms and stereo units we would then design our "mix tapes" with the songs of those artists being a big part of those mixes. And the king of this hypocritical stance during those years was my love for the group, Bread. 

Now I would love to confess that my appreciation of the music of Bread was a reflection of my growing musical sophistication, but that would run counter to the intent of this blog, which is transparency. So my truthful reason for including Bread songs was that it seemed like every girl I knew loved their music. 

And I mean they really loved Bread songs.

Favorite and dependable songs like Diary, Make It With You, Baby, I'm-a Want You, Everything I Own, Part-Time Love, and my personal favorite, If. 

I would tolerate, for the sake of the magical transformation that occurred to most girls while listening to Bread songs, but the song "If" held a special place in my heart. Even though lyrics were not usually the main reason I enjoyed music during that time of my life, the lyrics of the song "If" jumped straight from the radio into my heart.  

I mean, check this line out, "and when my love for life is running dry . . . you come and pour yourself on me". That line always resonated with me in a way that I don't think I really understood for years. I vaguely sensed a deeper type of love being expressed than I had ever experienced in this lyric but I truly had no idea the depths being explored in this song. David Gates, the lead singer and main songwriter of Bread, took a minimalist approach to most of their songs, usually a mixture of guitar, strings, and vocals with a light touch perhaps of bass and drum, not overly produced, and yet nearing perfection in their arrangements. [Note: Has there ever been a band with less need for any of the other members? All eleven of Bread's charting singles between 1970 and 1973 were written and sung by Gates. For further evidence see Gates solo albums.]

Let's close our time with a look at the entire lyric of "If" to appreciate the brilliance of this short but poignant song: 

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 to

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

David Gates | Music and Lyrics