"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 BillboardPop 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-stringacoustic guitars, which were recorded in the metal and glass elevators of the studio where the band recorded the song. This was to add to the overall presence and brightness of the guitars, considerably. The song also features a Hohner Clavinet played through a Leslie speaker in its bridge. "Give a Little Bit" was first written by Hodgson when he was 19 or 20 years old before it was introduced to the band for recording five to six years later. Hodgson stated that the song was inspired by The Beatles' “All You Need Is Love”, released during the love and peace movement of the '60s. 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-tomfills or anything."
Live performances
"Give a Little Bit" was recorded to be released on the live album Paris, but the song was dropped because the band members found all the available recordings of the song to be of unacceptable quality. After Hodgson had left Supertramp, the song was included in almost all his live performances. The song has also been performed by Hodgson during his tour with Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band in 2001; a recording appears on the album Ringo Starr and Friends. On Sunday 1 July 2007, Roger Hodgson sang this song as his finale for his short set at the Concert for Diana, held in Wembley Stadium in London. Princess Diana loved the song, and Hodgson said of the performance in her honor: "It was very wonderful when the audience all stood up, and the princes also, to sing 'Give a Little Bit' with me. That was a magical moment." "Give a Little Bit" can also be found on Hodgson's album Classics Live, a collection of his live performances from acoustic, band and orchestra shows recorded on tour in 2010. After Hodgson's departure from Supertramp, the band included the song for the first time in their set list in 2002 during their One More for the Road Tour. The song was sung by Jesse Siebenberg. They also played the song in their 70-10 Tour in 2010.
In 2004, the Goo Goo Dolls covered the song, releasing it as a single. It peaked at number 37 on the BillboardHot 100 chart in February, 2005. It was first covered in 2001, when guitarist/lead vocalist Johnny Rzeznik appeared in an ad for The Gap singing the song along with other artists. The song opened the live album , and later appeared as a track on their hit album Let Love In. In May 2006, their version of "Give a Little Bit" was honored by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers in recognition of being one of the most played songs in the ASCAP repertoire in 2005.
