Lyrics and music: Traditional
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If I had my way
If I had my way
If I had my way
I would tear this whole building down
Delilah was a woman, she was fine and fair
She had
good looks -
God knows - and
coal black hair
Delilah she gained old
Samson's mind
When first he saw this woman, she looked
so fine
Delilah she climbed up on Samson's knee
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, cleanse my hand
My strength comes as natural as any other man
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
He was the strongest man ever had 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 were dead
If I had my way
If I had my way
If I had my way
I would tear this whole building down
Now
Samson and the lion, they got in attack
And Samson he walked up on the lion's back
You read about this lion, he killed a man with his paw
Samson got hands up round the lion's jaw
He ripped that beast, killed it dead
And the bees made honey in the lion's head
If I had my way
If I had my way
If I had my way
I would tear this whole building down
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The first two verses of the Willie Johnson version go roughly as follows:
If I had my way
If I had - a
wicked wife?
If I had
I would tear this building down
Delilah was a woman fine and fair
Her pleasant looks, her coal black hair
Delilah gained old Samson's mind
When he first see the woman that looked so fine
When he went to
Timothy - I can't tell
Daughter of Timothy pleased him well
Samson told his father "Go and ..."
If I had my way
If I had my way
If I had my way
I would tear this whole building down
Samson's mother replied to him
"Can't you find a woman of your kind and kin
Samson, though it grieves your mother's mind
Go and marry that Philistine"
Let me tell you what old Samson done
He broke at the lion, the lion run
Samson was the first man the lion attack
He caught the lion and got on his back
Written that he killed a man with his paw
But Sampson had his hand in the lion's jaws
If I had my way
If I had my way
If I had my way
I would tear this whole building down
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Bob Weir learned 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". It was recorded in (possibly) 1923 by the
Paramount Jubilee Singers with the same title, and by
Rev. T. T. Rose in 1927 as "
If I Had My Way". The oldest currently available recording is by
Blind Willie Johnson under the title "
If I Had My Way, I Would Tear This Building Down."