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Supertramp - Give A Little Bit (Live in Paris 1979)




"Give a Little Bit" is the opening song on Supertramp's 1977 album Even in the Quietest Moments... The song was released as a single that same year and became an international hit for the band, peaking at number 15 on the Billboard Pop Singles chart. It was a chart hit in the band's native UK, reaching number 29 on the UK Singles Chart. The single was re-released in 1992 to raise funds for the ITV Telethon Charity event, but failed to chart.


Its writing credits are given to Rick Davies and Roger Hodgson, although it is a Hodgson composition. Hodgson and Davies shared writing credits from 1974 until 1983, when Hodgson left Supertramp. The song is characterized by the ringing tones of 12-string acoustic guitars, which were recorded in the metal and glass elevators of the studio where the band recorded the song. This was to add to the overall presence and brightness of the guitars, considerably. The song also features, in its bridge, a Hohner Clavinet played through a Leslie speaker.





"Give a Little Bit" was first written by Hodgson when he was 19 or 20 years old before it was introduced to the band for recording five to six years later. Hodgson stated that the song was inspired by the Beatles' "All You Need Is Love", released during the love and peace movement of the 1960s.


Drummer Bob Siebenberg recounted that "Roger had been working at Malibu for quite a while on this tune. I'd hear the song in hotel rooms and places like that. He had the song on a little tape when I first joined the band so I was quite familiar with the tune. We tried out various drum things and it seemed right to ride it along on the snare drum […] giving it something almost like a train beat. So it's all on the snare and bass drum, with no tom-tom fills or anything."





Lyrics


Alright

Here we go again


Give a little bit

Give a little bit of your love to me

I'll give a little bit

I'll give a little bit of my love to you


There's so much that we need to share

So send a smile and show you care


Alright, alright


I'll give a little bit

I'll give a little bit of my life for you

So give a little bit

Oh, give a little bit of your time to me


See the man with the lonely eyes

Oh, take his hand, you'll be surprised


Oh, take it


Come along

Come on


Give a little bit

Give a little bit of your love to me

I give a little bit

I give a little bit of my life for you


Now's the time that we need to share

So, find yourself, we're on our way back home


Going home

Don't you need, don't you need to feel at home?

Oh, yeah, we gotta see


You gotta get a feeling

You come along too


You can come along too, yeah

Come a—, come a—, come a—, come along


Cha, cha, cha

Ooh, yeah, come along too

Yeah, come along too, yeah

Sing Betty Lou


Come along too

What a long ride

Come a long way

Ooh, sing it tonight

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