Samson and Delilah

Lyrics: Traditional
Music: Traditional

Sung regularly by Bob Weir with the Grateful Dead from the mid-1970s onwards. He varied the lyrics a little: the main differences are noted below.

If I had my way
I would tear this whole building down (note 1)

Delilah was a woman, she was fine and fair
She had good looks - God knows - and coal black hair (note 2)
Delilah she gained old Samson's mind
When first he saw this woman, she looked so fine (note 3)

Delilah she climbed up on Samson's knee (note 4)
Said tell me where your strength lies, if you please
Then she spoke so kind, she talked so fair
That Samson said, Delilah you cut off my hair
You can shave my head, clean as my hand
My strength become as natural as any old man

Chorus
If I had my way
If I had my way
If I had my way
I would tear this whole building down

You read about Samson, all from his birth (note 5)
He was the strongest man ever has lived on earth
One day while Samson was walking along
Looked down on the ground he saw an old jaw bone
Then he stretched out his arm and his chains broke like threads
And when he got to move, ten thousand was dead

[chorus]

Now Samson and the lion, they got in attack (note 6)
And Samson he crawled up on the lion's back
You read about this lion, he killed a man with his paws
Samson got hands up round the lion's jaws
He ripped that beast, killed him dead
And the bees made honey in the lion's head

[chorus]
[chorus]
I would tear this whole building down

Notes
(1) it isn't easy to tell whether Weir sings "tear this whole building down" or "tear this old building down". (thanks to Aaron Donovan for drawing this to my attention). The very early versions by others simply have "tear this building down". The Gary Davis version has "whole" or "old" but again it isn't easy to hear which.
(2) "She had lovely looks ..." in some versions
(3) in some early versions (eg 17 June 1976), Bob Weir sings "When first he saw this woman, could be the last time." In later versions, it sounds as if he sings "... he couldn't believe his mind"
(4) sometimes "Delilah she sat down on Samson's knee"
(5) in some versions, Bob Weir sings "... all from his works."
(6) It's unclear to me from what Bob Weir sings whether this is "they got in attack" or "they got in a tack". Other lyric sites have "a tack" for the Rev Gary Davis version, as do many sites with Grateful Dead lyrics. I think "attack" makes slightly better sense, though "got in attack" is slightly awkward. I note that the Blind Willie Johnson version (see below) has "Samson was the first man the lion attack". [Thanks to Ben Anderson for help with the lyrics to this song].

Grateful Dead Recordings
	Date	Album
	9 Jun 1976	Road Trips Volume 4, Number 5
	10 Jun 1976	June 1976 Box Set
	11 Jun 1976	June 1976 Box Set
	14 Jun 1976	June 1976 Box Set
	15 Jun 1976	June 1976 Box Set
	17 Jun 1976	Dave's Picks Volume 28
	18 Jun 1976	Download Series Vol 4
	19 Jun 1976	June 1976 Box Set
	17 Jul 1976	Dave's Picks Volume 18
	2 Sep 1976	30 Days Of The Dead (2019) (studio outtake)
	24 Sep 1976	Dave's Picks Vol 4
	27 Sep 1976	30 Days Of The Dead (2022)
	28 Sep 1976	Dick's Picks Vol 20
	3 Oct 1976	30 Trips Around The Sun
	9 Oct 1976	Dick's Picks Vol 33
	10 Oct 1976	Dick's Picks Vol 33
	31 Dec 1976	Live At The Cow Palace
	studio 1977	Terrapin Station (note a)
	26 Feb 1977	Dave's Picks Volume 29
	25 Apr 1977	30 Trips Around The Sun
	3 May 1977	Dave's Picks Volume 50
	7 May 1977	May 1977: Get Shown The Light Box
	11 May 1977	May 1977 Box Set
	12 May 1977	May 1977 Box Set
	13 May 1977	May 1977 Box Set
	15 May 1977	May 1977 Box Set
	17 May 1977	May 1977 Box Set
	19 May 1977	Dick's Picks Vol 29
	21 May 1977	Dick's Picks Vol 29
	22 May 1977	Dick's Picks Vol 3
	26 May 1977	Dave's Picks Volume 41 (note e)
	28 May 1977	To Terrapin: Hartford '77
	7 Jun 1977	Winterland June 1977 - The Complete Recordings
	9 Jun 1977	Winterland June 1977 - The Complete Recordings
	3 Sep 1977	Dick's Picks Vol 15
	2 Oct 1977	Dave's Picks Volume 45
	4 Nov 1977	Dave's Picks Volume 12
	5 Nov 1977	Dick's Picks Vol 34
	6 Nov 1977	Dave's Picks Volume 25
	22 Jan 1978	Dave's Picks Volume 23
	5 Feb 1978	Dick's Picks Vol 18 (note d)
	6 Apr 1978	Friend Of The Devils: April 1978
	8 Apr 1978	Friend Of The Devils: April 1978
	11 Apr 1978	Friend Of The Devils: April 1978
	14 Apr 1978	Friend Of The Devils: April 1978
	16 Apr 1978	Friend Of The Devils: April 1978
	18 Apr 1978	Dave's Picks Vol 15
	14 May 1978	30 Trips Around The Sun (note c)
	5 Jul 1978	July 1978: The Complete Recordings
	8 Jul 1978	July 1978: The Complete Recordings
	31 Dec 1978	The Closing Of Winterland (DVD & CD)
	3 Dec 1979	Dave's Picks Vol 31
	9 Dec 1979	Dave's Picks Vol 47
	10 Oct 1980	Dead Set
	30 Oct 1980	Dead Ahead (DVD)
	30 Nov 1980	Dave's Picks Volume 8
	30 Sep 1981	30 Days of the Dead (2023)
	9 Mar 1981	In And Out Of The Garden
	21 Sep 1982	In And Out Of The Garden
	20 Apr 1984	Dave's Picks Volume 35
	20 Oct 1984	30 Days Of The Dead (2017)
	24 Jun 1985	30 Trips Around The Sun
	1 Nov 1985	Dick's Picks Vol 21
	27 Mar 1987	Dave's Picks Volume 36
	31 Mar 1988	Road Trips Volume 4, Number 2
	5 Apr 1988	30 Days Of The Dead (2012)
	9 Jul 1989	Giants Stadium 1987, 1989, 1991 Boxed Set
	15 Mar 1990	Terrapin Station (Limited Edition)
	22 Mar 1990	Spring 1990 (note b)
	25 Mar 1990	Spring 1990 (The Other One)
	6 May 1990	30 Days Of The Dead (2011)
	8 Jul 1990	View From The Vault (video/DVD & CD soundtrack)
	16 Sep 1990	Dick's Picks Vol 9
	31 Mar 1991	Dick's Picks Vol 17
	16 Dec 1992	Dick's Picks Vol 27
	26 May 1993	Road Trips Vol 2, No 4
	19 Oct 1994	30 Days Of The Dead (2024)
	5 Jul 2015	Fare Thee Well (CD and DVD)

Other Recordings
	Date	Album	Recorded By
	1993	Roots Of The Grateful Dead	Rev Gary Davis
	1996	Music Of The Grateful Dead	David Murray Octet
	1997	Pickin' On The Grateful Dead	David West et al
	1999	Terrapin	Joe Gallant & Illuminati
	2005	The 1000th Show	Dark Star Orchestra
	2010	Blottopia XI Day 1	Mr Blotto
	1 Dec 2012	A Buckdancer's Choice	Mickey Hart Band
	7 Dec 2013	Dos	Grateful Grass

Notes
(a) also on the compilation "The Arista Years"
(b) also on the compilation So Glad You Made It
(c) also on the compilation 30 Trips Around The Sun: The Definitive Live Story 1965-1995
(d) also released on 30 Days Of The Dead (2018)
(d) also released on 30 Days Of The Dead (2016)

Roots
Bob Weir learnt this song from Rev Gary Davis, and the version the Dead do is based closely on Davis's. But the song's origins go back much further than that. It is first known of as a song sheet ("ballet") sold on the street in the early decades of the century - with the title "Samson Tore The Building Down".

I have seen references to the Paramount Jubilee Singers having recorded this in 1923. But I think this is in fact a reference to their recording of "My Soul Is A Witness For My Lord", which includes the lyrics:

You read about Samson from his birth
He could have been the strongest man on earth
Way back yonder in the ancient times
He killed ten thousand Philistines

Samson was a man, been wandering about
No one found his strength without
Not until his wife fell on her knees
Said, tell me where your strength lies, if you please

Samnson's wife she talked so fair
Samson said the strength lies in my hair
You cut off my hair, clean as my hands
My strength will become as a natural man's

Samson is a witness for my Lord
Samson is a witness for my Lord
Samson is a witness for my Lord
My soul is a witness for my Lord

The best-known early recording of the something nearer the Gary Davis song is by Blind Willie Johnson under the title "If I Had My Way, I Would Tear This Building Down," from 1927. But there are at least three other recordings available from about the same time: "If I Had My Way I'd Tear The Building Down" by Rev T.E.Weems; "Samson And The Woman" by Rev J.M.Gates; and "If I Had My Way" by Rev T.T.Rose.

This is the version by Rev. T.E.Weems (thanks to Eric Levy for the transcript):

Brothers and sisters, I'm gonna sing a song tonight.
And the subject of this song is, "If I had my way (Amen)
I would tear the building down" (Yes).
That old building of sin that troubled the Christian past (Yes sir),
I will tear it down (Amen).
I want the whole congregation to sing with uplifted voices.

If I had my way (Lordy Lordy Lord)
If I had my way (Lordy Lordy Lord)
If I had my way
I would tear this building down

Delilah was a woman she was fine and fair
Pleasant looks, and her coal black hair
Delilah gained old Samson's mind
When he first saw the woman she looked so fine (Amen)

Whether he went to Timothy I cannot tell
But the daughters of Timothy pleased Samson so well (Yes)
Samson told his father just to go and see
If you can get that beautiful woman for me (Amen)

Cryin' if I had my way (Lordy Lordy Lord)
If I had my way (Lordy Lordy Lord)
If I had my way
I would tear this building down

Samson went to town and he stayed too late
They wanted to kill him so they made him wait (Yeah)
Now wasn't Samson very strong
He pulled up the gate boards and he carried them along (Amen)

Samson he burned down a field of corn
They looked for Samson but he was gone (Yes)
So many thousand they formed a plot
It was not many days before he was caught (Yes sir)

They bound his hands while walking along
He looked on the ground and saw an old jawbone (Amen)
He moved his arms and the ropes popped like thread
When he got through playin' three thousand was dead (Amen)

Cryin' if I had my way (Lordy Lordy Lord)
If I had my way (Lordy Lordy Lord)
If I had my way
I would tear this building down

Samson was a man very large in size
They overpowered Samson and they plucked out his eyes
Oh just listen to this tale
They taken old Samson and they put him in jail (Amen)

Let me tell you what the Philistines done
They took him to the building for to have some fun (Yes)
I was told that the building was high from the ground
Samson braced against the building and it tumbled down (Amen)

Cryin' if I had my way (Lordy Lordy Lord)
If I had my way (Lordy Lordy Lord)
If I had my way
I would tear this building down

This is the later, and better known, version by Blind Willie Johnson (thanks to Anita Cantor for the transcription):

Well, if I had my way
I had-a, oh wicked ones
If I had-a, ah Lord, tear this building down

Weh-ell!
Delilah was a woman fine an' fair
Her pleasant looks-a, her coal black hair
Delilah gained old Samson's mind
A-first saw the woman that looked so fine

A-well went Timnathy, I can't tell (note aa)
A daughter of Timnathy, a-pleased him well
A-Samson told his father, 'I'm goin a-a-a'
(Help) me Lord

If I had my way
Well, if a had-a, oh wicked ones
If I had-a, ah Lord, tear this building down

Weh-ell!
Samson's mother replied to him
'Can't you find a woman of your kind and kin?'
'Samson, will you please your mother's mind?'
Go'd and married that-a Philistine

Let me tell you what, old Samson

Well, he roared at the lion, the lion run
Samson was the first man the lion attack
He caught the lion and got upon his back
A-written that he killed a man with his ...
And Sampson had his hand in the lion's jaws

If I had my way
If I had-a, oh wicked ones
If I had-a, ah Lord, tear this building down

'Well, your riddle please, a-tell it to me'
'A-how an eater became forth meat?'
'Well, your riddle please, a-tell it to me'
'A-how strong of it came forth sweet?
Deliah got his army after him
Well, the bees made-a honey in the lion hair

Well, if I had my way
Well, if I had-a, oh wicked ones
If I had-a, ah Lord, tear this building down

So men in Sorek a-formed a plot
Not many days 'fore Samson was caught
A-bind his hands whilst a-walkin' along
A-looked on the ground and found a lil' jawbone
He moved his arm, ropes a-pop like thread
Dropped those threads, three thousand were dead

Lord, If I had my way
Well, if I had a, oh wicked ones
If I had a, ah Lord, tear this building down

Weh-ell!
Samson's strength though they never found out
'Till they began to wonder about
A-'till his wife sat up upon his knee
'A-tell me where your strength lie, if you please?'

Samson's wife she a-talked so fair
Told his wife cut off-a his hair
'Shave my head, clean as your hand
'Till I become a natural man!'

Lord, If I had my way
Well, if I had a, oh wicked ones
If I had a, ah Lord, tear this building down

Notes
(aa) it sounds as if Johnson sings "Timothy", but the Bible (Judges 14) says "And Samson went down to Timnath, and saw a woman in Timnath of the daughters of the Philistines."

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 online chords and TAB see www.rukind.com