Here's my transcription from a recording on Spotify. There are several extant recordings of Davis singing this song, made at various concerts and festivals. The words vary somewhat.


IF I HAD MY WAY
As sung by Rev. Gary Davis on "Classic African American Gospel from Smithsonian Folkways" (2008)

If I had my way,
If I had my way,
If I had my way,
I would tear this buildin' down.
If I had my way,
Oh, if I had my way,
If I had my way,
I would tear this buildin' down.

Delilah she was a woman, fine and fair,
Had good looks, God knows, and coal-black hair.
Delilah gained old Sampson mind
When the first he met this woman at the field this time.
{Delilah she gained Sampson mind
When the first he met this woman at the field this time.}*
Delilah she set down on Sampson knee,
Said, "Tell me where your strength lie if you please."
She spoke so kind, God knows, she talked so fair,
Sampson said his strength lie in his hair.
She shaved his head clean as his hand
And his strength come natural as any other man.

If I had my way,
If I had my way,
If I had my way,
I would tear this—ooh!
If I had my way,
If I had my way,
If I had my way,
I would tear this buildin' down.
(Talk to me—yeah!—uh-huh—yeah—yeah—talk to it—yeah.)

If I had my way,
If I had my way,
If I had my way,
I would tear this buildin' down.

You read about old Sampson how from his birth
He was the strongest man that ever lived on earth.
One day while Sampson was a-walkin' alone,
He looked on the ground and saw an old jawbone.
He stretched out his arm; God knows, it broke like thread,
And when he got to movin' ten thousand was dead.

If I had my way,
If I had my way,
If I had my way,
I would tear this—.
If I had my way,
I would tear this buildin' down.

Well, Sampson and the lion, he got in attack.
Sampson he jumped up on the lion back.
You read 'bout this lion had killed a man with his paws,
But Sampson got his hands in the lion jaws.
He reared(?) that beast until it killed him 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—ooh!
If I had my way,
If I had my way,
If I had my way,
I would tear this—ooh!

[* I suspect Davis got confused at this point and repeated 2 lines to temporize. These words are mumbled the second time he sings them.]