What words sung by Gloria Gaynor correspond to the line written in the lyrics of I Will Survive as "It took all the strength I had not to fall apart"?

Question

The lyrics of Gloria Gaynor's song "I Will Survive" include the line "It took all the strength I had not to fall apart".

You can hear here what she actually sings. With what words does she render this line?

Answer 1

Gloria Gaynor recorded two versions of ‘I Will Survive’. The original 1978 version has the lyric “It took all the strength I had not to fall apart” that is quoted on many lyrics sites. But in the early 1980s Gaynor became a “born-again” (evangelical) Christian. In her autobiography she wrote:

When I wanted to rerecord ‘I Will Survive’ for the Gloria Gaynor ’90 album that I recorded in Italy, which eventually went gold, I wanted to change some of the words to reflect my new Christian beliefs. I wanted to call Freddy Perren’s office to ask them if I could do that, because you have to have permission. So I was praying, “Lord, please give me favor with these people. I really don’t want to go through any changes with them.” I’d had a little difficulty with them in the past, when they had seemed to me to be quite unsympathetic and difficult to deal with.

Linwood† didn’t want to call them, so I said I would. When we were in the studio in Italy, getting ready to do it, I was trusting God to work it out for me, and Linwood got Freddy Perren’s office in Los Angeles on the telephone. He called, “Gloria, do you want to speak to them?” I came over and said, “Hi, Christine! How you doing?”

“Hi, Gloria! Freddy’s on the other line. I understand that you want to change some of the words to ‘I Will Survive.’”

“Yes, I do. I hope that’s not a problem for you.” I told her the change I wanted to make.

She said, “Oh, honey! When we heard that you were born again, we were so excited! Praise the Lord! Glory to God!”

They were born again too!

I said to the Lord, “God, when You fix it, You really fix it, don’t You?”

Only the Lord could give me strength
Not to fall apart

_{Gloria Gaynor (1997). I Will Survive, pp. 274–275. New York: St. Martin’s Press}

_{† Linwood Simon, Gaynor’s manager and husband.}