Tonight’s song is a blues, slow and honest. A working man sees people with nowhere to live and a world in a mess. If he had money, he says, he would buy them a home. If he had magic, he would clean up the mess. But he’s just a working man.
Learn from Songs · Unit 9b: Second conditional · B1
If I Had Money
A blues song by the Canadian band Blues Delight: the second conditional for dreams of helping others (If I had money, I’d buy those people a place to stay), but all I’ve got is…, hope for the best, and what we can do even without money, with Philo, Sophia, Marcos and Demetria.
SOPHIA
MARCOS
So he can’t do anything?
SOPHIA
That’s the question the song leaves us with. He hopes for the best. But maybe there is something a person with no money can do.
DEMETRIA
There’s always something.
Before you listen: the song
Canada
Blues Delight are a Canadian blues band. “If I Had Money” was written by the members of the band, Dave Turner, Vincent Beaulne, Marco Desgagné, Gilles Schetagne and Laurent Trudel. It has been played on blues radio stations far beyond Canada.
The blues began among Black Americans in the southern United States, in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Many of the oldest blues songs are about having no money, no work and no home, and about carrying on anyway. “If I Had Money” belongs to that tradition.
In the song, the singer imagines: if he had money, he would buy people a place to stay; if he had faith, he would pray; if he had magic, he would clean up the mess. But all he has got is a dime, and he is hoping for the best.
You don’t need to be rich to help.
Listen: the three ifs
PHILO
Listen once. What would he do if he had money? Faith? Magic? What has he really got?
SOPHIA
Listen to the guitar. Then answer Section A.
🪙 Listen to the song: “If I Had Money” (Dave Turner, Vincent Beaulne, Marco Desgagné, Gilles Schetagne and Laurent Trudel), by Blues Delight.Find the recording →
📜 Read the words while you listen: “If I Had Money”, Blues Delight.Read the lyrics →
The second conditional for dreams
MARCOS
If I had money, I’d buy them a home. If I had magic, I’d clean up the mess.
SOPHIA
If + past simple, would + infinitive for things that are not true now: If I had money = I don’t have money. A list of second conditionals makes a strong pattern, like the three verses.
But all I’ve got is…
DEMETRIA
But all I’ve got is a dime. All I need is a chance. All I can do is try.
SOPHIA
All + subject + verb + is… = the only thing. All I want is a cup of tea. Note: is, singular, even with all.
Hope for the best
PHILO
He’s hoping for the best. Prepare for the worst. Make the best of it.
SOPHIA
hope for the best = hope that things will turn out well. prepare for the worst = be ready for problems. make the best of = do as well as possible in a bad situation.
Sophia’s comparison: the widow’s oil and Diogenes
PHILO
Elijah came to a poor widow in Zarephath, who had only a handful of flour and a little oil. She shared it with him, and the flour and oil did not run out until the rain came. She had almost nothing, and she gave.
SOPHIA
And Diogenes, who owned nothing but a cloak and a cup, threw away the cup when he saw a boy drinking with his hands. He said: a child has beaten me in simplicity. Riches aren’t needed for wisdom, or for kindness.
Sophia’s summary
| Words and forms | Use | Example |
|---|---|---|
| If + past simple, would + infinitive | second conditional | If I had money, I’d help. |
| all + subject + verb + is… | the only thing | All I’ve got is a dime. |
| hope for the best | hope it ends well | We’re hoping for the best. |
| prepare for the worst | be ready for problems | Hope for the best, prepare for the worst. |
| make the best of | do as well as possible | Let’s make the best of it. |
Practice
Listen to the song for Section A, then do the rest. Press “Check my answers” at the end. You can try again as many times as you like.
A · Listen: the song
Listen to the song and choose the best answer.
1. What would he do if he had money?
2. What would he do if he had magic?
3. What has he really got?
4. What is he?
5. Where are Blues Delight from?
6. Where did the blues begin?
B · Grammar and vocabulary
Write the missing word or words.
7. If I money, I’d buy them a home. (have)
8. If I had magic, I clean up the mess.
9. All I’ve got a dime.
10. He’s hoping for the .
11. Prepare for the .
12. Let’s make the best it.
C · Right or wrong?
Is the sentence correct English?
13. “If I would have money, I’d help.”
14. “All I need is a chance.”
15. “All I want are a cup of tea.”
16. “We’ll make the best of it.”
Talk and write
Discussion and writing
Three ifs. Write your own three-verse blues: If I had money…, If I had time…, If I had…, but all I’ve got is… Sing or read it to your group.
Discuss. 1. What can people do to help others without money? 2. Why are so many blues songs about being poor? 3. Is “hoping for the best” enough?
Write (100–120 words). If I had money. Write what you would do for others if you had money, and then what you can do now without it. Use the second conditional and all I’ve got is.
Now play the gamebook: a storm, a few coins, and what you can do.Play the gamebook →