Lyrics to
If I Had The World To Give

This version of If I Had The World To Give was released by Grateful Dead in 1978.

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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 all in your arms?

If I had a song to sing, I’d sing it to you
as 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

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.

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Grateful Dead has released many songs over the years besides If I Had The World To Give. Grateful Dead released songs from 1967 to 1989 spanning across albums like The Grateful Dead, Anthem Of The Sun, Live / Dead, Aoxomoxoa, American Beauty, Workingman's Dead, Grateful Dead (Skull & Roses), Europe '72, History Of The Grateful Dead, Vol. 1 (Bear's Choice), Wake Of The Flood, Grateful Dead From The Mars Hotel, Blues For Allah, Steal Your Face, Terrapin Station, Shakedown Street, Go To Heaven, Reckoning, In The Dark, and Built To Last. Decade Lyrics has over lyrics & songs by Grateful Dead.

If you're a fan of 1970s songs looking for more songs from 1978 or the 1970s overall, you've come to the right place!

About Lyrics and If I Had The World To Give by Grateful Dead

The lyrics for If I Had The World To Give are defined as the words making up the song released by Grateful Dead in 1978. It also includes the verses and words used by the background chorus in the song. Like many hit songs, the lyrics to If I Had The World To Give have different meanings to different people. While it is clear in some of the lyrics what the artist is trying to really say, only Grateful Dead and those working with them know all of the meanings behind all of the lyrics to their songs.

Some folks are interested in word and phrase etymology. It is easy to understand the lyrics to If I Had The World To Give by Grateful Dead if you think through it. The word "lyric" itself derives from the Latin word lyricus, with the actual English word lyrics applied to the definition "words set to music" listed in Stainer and Barrett's 1876 Dictionary of Musical Terms. Continuing the chain, the Latin word lyricus derives from the Greek word λυρικός or lyrikós. This somewhat means "poetry accompanied by the lyre" or "words set to music." You can easily see that by looking at the background of the word lyric, that the "lyrics to If I Had The World To Give" means the words set to the music of If I Had The World To Give, or poetry accompanied by the lyre played by Grateful Dead. The singular form "lyric" is still used to mean the complete words to a song. However, the singular form lyric is also commonly used to refer to a specific line (or phrase) within a song's lyrics. Hence, by this analysis of word structure, you could say that the lyric to If I Had The World To Give and the lyrics to If I Had The World To Give are both one and the same thing. None of this talk about the word Lyrics is really relevant to fans of Grateful Dead who came here looking just for the lyrics to If I Had The World To Give, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

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