"Give a Little Bit" | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Single by Supertramp | |||||||
from the album Even in the Quietest Moments... | |||||||
B-side | "Downstream" | ||||||
Released | May 1977 | ||||||
Format | 7" vinyl | ||||||
Genre | Progressive rock, folk rock, pop rock | ||||||
Length | 4:08 | ||||||
Label | A&M | ||||||
Writer(s) | Rick Davies, Roger Hodgson | ||||||
Producer(s) | Supertramp | ||||||
Supertramp singles chronology | |||||||
|
|||||||
|
"Give a Little Bit" | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Single by Goo Goo Dolls | ||||
from the album Let Love In and Live in Buffalo: July 4th 2004 | ||||
B-side | "Sympathy" | |||
Released | 5 October 2004 | |||
Format | CD, Download | |||
Genre | Acoustic rock, alternative rock | |||
Length | 3:35 | |||
Label | Warner Bros. | |||
Writer(s) | Rick Davies/Roger Hodgson | |||
Producer(s) | Goo Goo Dolls and Rob Cavallo | |||
Goo Goo Dolls singles chronology | ||||
|
"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.
Its writing credits are given to Rick Davies and Roger Hodgson, although it is a Hodgson composition. Hodgson and Davies shared writing credits from 1974 until 1983, when Hodgson left Supertramp. The song is characterized by the ringing tones of 12-string acoustic guitars, which is joined by a Hohner Clavinet through a Leslie speaker in the bridge of the song.
Drummer Bob Siebenberg recounted that "Roger had been working at Malibu for quite a while on this tune. I'd hear the song in hotel rooms and places like that. He had the song on a little tape when I first joined the band so I was quite familiar with the tune. We tried out various drum things and it seemed right to ride it along on the snare drum... giving it something almost like a train beat. So it's all on the snare and bass drum, with no tom-tom fills or anything."
A short snippet of the song is played in the film Superman shortly before Lois Lane's death scene. The song, however, is not featured on the movie's soundtrack.
The song was used interwoven with the final scenes and part of the end credits for the Ricky Gervais 2009 film The Invention of Lying.