It Don't Matter To Me

Album: Bread (1969)
Charted: 10
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Songfacts®:

  • Bread keyboard player David Gates: "I wrote that song a year or so before joining Bread, mostly for my personal pleasure. I thought it would be good for the group - it has this unusual bridge that takes off and does some crazy things musically."
  • This wasn't released as a single until 1970. The single version was slower, in a different key, and had a string section added. It was the way David Gates thought it should be. >>
    Suggestion credit:
    Nick - Paramus, NJ, for above 2

Comments: 11

  • Brad from FlDavid Gates and Jimmy Griffin: has there ever been any better 2-part harmony?
  • Shawn from Bend OregonDoes anyone know the backstory of this song? I heard it the other day and grew very curious to know if she ever "found what she was looking for" or returned to "the empty room" that is waiting for her... a simply amazing song.
  • Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn September 20th 1970, "It Don't Matter to Me" by Bread entered Billboard's Hot Top 100 chart at position #78; and on November 8th, 1970 it peaked at #10 {for 1 week} and spent 11 weeks on the Top 100...
    Between 1970 and 1977 the quartet had thirteen Top 100 records; six made the Top 10 with one reaching #1, "Make It with You" for one week on August 16th, 1970...
    They just missed having a seventh Top 10 record when "Guitar Man" reached #11 {for 3 weeks} on October 27th, 1972...
    Sadly, three members of the group have passed away; guitarist Jimmy Griffin* {1943 - 2005}, drummer Mike Botts {1944 - 2005} and Larry Knechtel {1940 - 2009, he replaced keyboardist Robb Royer in 1971}...
    May all three R.I.P.
    * Mr. Griffin won the ‘Best Original Song’ Academy Award in 1970 as co-writer of "For All We Know" from the movie 'Lovers and Other Strangers'.
  • Barry from Sauquoit, NyThree of Bread's first four releases made the Top 10; "MAKE IT WITH YOU" peaked at #1, then "IT DON'T MATTER TO ME" hit #10, "LET YOUR LOVE GO" reached #28, and finally "IF" topped out at #4!!!
  • Rick from Belfast, MeBread and David Gates....the best "mellow" music ever from the 70's!!!!!!!!!!!!!!This was what helped make the 1970's the great decade of music it was!
  • Marie from Chicago, Il
    David Gates music is raw and honest. His heartfelt lyrics and complex melodies transcend time. It's a true dichotomy of pure bliss and provocative meaning. I hope he continues to make beautiful music in the near future. His contemporaries have a lot to learn...
  • Denise from Lakeland, Flthis is one of the best songs that i have ever heard by david gates of bread. bread is one of my favorite groups. denise esposito.
  • Joe from Laredo, TxIt don't matter to me showed up first in 1969 on Bread's first Album "BREAD". The Album cover had money thrown every where just so that you understood that bread - money same same. That was the "hippy" word used for money. The verson in this album is way different from when he went back into the studio and re-recorded the song. The only time you caught the new verson was on the Best of Bread. The 69 verson was so much slower and 60's. The other verson brought Mike Botts on the drums to bring some punch into the song. The vocals David Gates and James Griffin made a perfect match for this song.
  • L from Providence, RiOne of my all time favorites even after all these years.
  • Fred from Laurel, MdA curious gem. At once deep, sappy, trite, profound, innovative, evocative, provocative. A touchstone -- the kind of song that tells you more about he who offers his opinion of it than it tells you about its author. Everyone will tend to find in it the best or worst of what they look for in a song. Those who look for the best will love it; those who look for the worst will hate it. I don't know what this says about me, as I've found it, at different times, brilliant or naive. [Gals: I am male, writing from my own perspective, so please feel free to reverse all the genders in what I say, to put it into yours. The song itself, after all, is genderless, and works both ways.] The one you sing this to could be touched to the very depth of her soul ("He really see me as an independent person, not a possession."), or totally insulted ("He just doesn't care about me at all" or "He needs to grow up and figure out what he wants"). The one thing that comes through in the end is love, pure and simple, as in so much of David's work. A curious gem.
  • Dennis from Syracuse, NyGreat song by a great group.David Gates was a genius at writing beautiful lyrics-Dennis-Syracuse-NY
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