If I Had The World To Give

Lyrics: Robert Hunter
Music: Jerry Garcia

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, long as you live
Lullaby
Or maybe a plain serenade
Wouldn't you laugh, dance and cry or be afraid
At the trade you made? (note 1)

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
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

Maybe I've got no star to spare
Or anything fine or even rare
Only if you let me be your world
Would I ever give this world to you (note 2)
Could I ever give this world to you

When the song was being developed, it had another verse, starting:

If I had a golden chime
And made it sing, in perfect rhyme

I believe this circulates as a studio outtake from the Shakedown Street sessions, but it's not on the outtake I have. If anyone has the full lyrics, I'd be very grateful.

Notes
(1) this is the lyric in Hunter's "Box Of Rain" and is what the Dead sang. But the sheet music in "Grateful Dead Anthology" has it as "... at the change you made" which is what I had originally on this site. (Thanks to Larry Bingo for pointing this out)
(2) Jerry sings "Could I ..." here, though the Hunter lyric is "Would I ...". (Thanks to Larry Bingo for pointing this out)

Grateful Dead Recordings
	Date	Album
	studio 1978	Shakedown Street
	21 Oct 1978	Road Trips Volume 1, Number 4 ("From Egypt With Love") (bonus disc)

Other Recordings
	Date	Album	Recorded By
	1997	Fire On The Mountain Vol 2	Reggae Celebrates The Grateful Dead (Ras Michael And The Sons Of Regus)
	2003	Grateful Guitar	David Cullen
	2005	Someday, Sometime	Jeni Fleming Trio
	2007	Dead Symphony	Lee Johnson
	2016	Day Of The Dead	Bonnie "Prince" Billy
	2019	Dead Air	David Wax Museum
	2023	Grateful Deadication 2	Dave McMurray

Further Information
For an online discussion of the lyrics to this song see the deadsongs.vue conference on The Well.
For more information on recordings see Matt Schofield's Grateful Dead Family Discography
For information on references in the lyrics see David Dodd's Annotated Grateful Dead Lyrics
For online chords and TAB see www.rukind.com
For sheet music, see:
Grateful Dead Anthology Volume 1 (piano arrangement)
Garcia/Hunter Songbook (vocal line and chords/TAB)