“Everything I Own” is a song written by David Gates, for his rock band Bread, released for their 1972 album Baby I’m-a Want You.
The song, according to Gates, is about his late father who passed in 1963, before Gates achieved success with Bread. “My success would have been so special to him as he was my greatest influence,” Gates says. “So I decided to write and record ‘Everything I Own’ about him. If you listen to the words, ‘You sheltered me from harm, kept me warm, you gave my life to me, set me free’, it says it all.”
Despite it being written to be possibly interpreted as a love song, Gates' wife, Jo Rita, “knew right away that it was about [his] father. She cried.”
The title (and primary refrain in the chorus) comes from a childhood memory of Gates', he sent his mother an orchid even though he could barely afford it. “She was so touched – my dad wrote to tell me I could have had ‘anything she owned’ in return.”
The song reached No. 5 on the US Billboard Hot 100, and landed at No. 52 at the end of 1972.