‘I'd Love to Change the World’ is a song by the British blues rock band Ten Years After. Written by Alvin Lee, it is the lead single from the band's 1971 album A Space in Time. It is the band's only US Top 40 hit, peaking at number 40 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was also a top ten hit in Canada. The song was written and sung by Alvin Lee and features a folk-inspired chord pattern to support the melody. It discusses the confused state of the world, covering a wide variety of societal complaints, until it finally addresses the Vietnam War.
‘I'd Love to Change the World’ was the band's highest charting single. It peaked at number 40 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1971. When it was released, "I'd Love to Change the World" was a staple of both FM and AM radio, a rarity for the time.
The song was written by guitarist Alvin Lee, who was the centerpiece of the group. "I'd love to change the world, but I don’t know what to do and I'll leave it up to you. I'm just saying the world does need changing," he said of the song in Vintage Rock. "I'd love to do it, but I haven't got the talent. I don't think I'm a world changer." The song is a good look at what were considered the big problems in the world in 1971: overpopulation, economic inequality, pollution, war. Alvin Lee often said in later interviews that the song remained just as relevant despite the passage of time.
Billy Walker of Sounds wrote that the "acoustic guitar, echoing vocals, and electric guitar build up the tempo with very good cool electric passages by Alvin [Lee], and while there's nothing new developing it's a very nice track". Matthew Greenwald of Allmusic highlighted Lee's guitar work as the "most expressive—and most tasteful—electric guitar performance of his career", and added "if there is a single song that can describe the overall vibe of the counterculture in 1969/1970, this may very well be it. The band and Lee never quite matched the song's supple power in their later efforts, but this song is representation enough of their awesome artistry."
Label – Columbia
Songwriter – Alvin Lee
Producer – Chris Wright
SONG LYRICS
[Verse 1]Everywhere is
Freaks and hairies
Dykes and fairies
Tell me, where is sanity?
[Verse 2]
Tax the rich
Feed the poor
Till there are no
Rich no more
[Chorus]
I'd love to change the world
But I don't know what to do
So I'll leave it up to you
[Verse 3]
Population
Keeps on breeding
Nation bleeding
Still more feeding, economy
[Verse 4]
Life is funny
Skies are sunny
Bees make honey
Who needs money? No, not poor me
[Chorus]
I'd love to change the world
But I don't know what to do
So I'll leave it up to you
[Ad-Lib]
Oh yeah!
[Verse 5]
World pollution
Is no solution
Institution
Electrocution
Spread them wide
Rich or poor
Them and us
Stop the war
[Chorus]
I'd love to change the world
But I don't know what to do
So I'll leave it up to you