‘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.
‘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. Hodgson said: “Even at an unwizened young age when I wrote this song, I saw that the world needed love. I believed in love – it was always for love – and I just felt that was the most important thing in life. This song has really taken on a life of its own, and I think it’s even more relevant today than when I wrote it. Because we really are needing to value love in a much deeper way, and also we’re needing to care.”
Ultimate Classic Rock critic Nick DeRiso rated it as Supertramp's all-time best song, calling it a "singalong paean to the Golden Rule." Gary Graff of Billboard rated ‘Give a Little Bit’ as Supertramp's 10th best song, praising its "chiming 12-string acoustic guitar and Hodgson’s keening vocals." Hodgson rated it as one of the top 10 songs he ever wrote.
The song has been adopted as a theme song to help raise funds for many worthwhile causes. Hodgson gets many requests to use it and has been generous in granting the rights to charitable efforts. Said Roger, "I'm very, very happy to lend it to any worthwhile fundraising or disaster relief. For Hurricane Katrina, it was used a lot and for the tsunami also and for many others, so it's very wonderful to have a song that can be used in that way. Very gratifying."
Label – A&M
Songwriters – Rick Davies, Roger Hodgson
Producers – Supertramp
SONG LYRICS
[Intro]Ooh, yeah
Alright
Here we go again
Neah neah, whoa no, da na, hey hey
Yeah
[Verse 1]
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
[Verse 2]
(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
[Bridge]
Oh, take it
Ah, yeah
Come along
Yeah, yeah yeah, yeah
Yeah, yeah yeah, yeah yeah yeah yeah
Aaaah aaaah aaaah aaaah
Aaaah aaaah aaaah aaaah
Aaaah aaaah aaaah aaaah
[Verse 3]
Give a little bit
Oh give a little bit of your love to me
I'll give a little bit
I'll 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
[Outro]
Ooh, going home
Don't you need, don't you need to feel at home?
Oh yeah, we gotta see
Ooh yeah, gotta get a feeling
Ooh yeah, come along too
Whoo!
You come along too, neah
Come a... come a... come a... come along
Check t... check t... check to yeah
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
Ooh yeah