How Can You Poll a Broken Heart - the Robin Gibb Memorial BEE GEES TRACKS POLL RESULTS

17 ballots received, thanks to everyone who voted! Eligible songs included any tracks written (either in part or in whole) or performed by the Bee Gees at any point throughout their 4-decade career. Even with such a small voting pool, there was not a single song that appeared on every ballot. And nowwwwww......

50. Woman in Love (writers: Barry and Robin Gibb)
Performed by Barbra Streisand on her 1980 album "Guilty"
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x1ys7l_barbara-streisand-woman-in-love_music

After the success enjoyed by the Bee Gees in the late 1970s, the band was asked to participate in musical endeavors for other artists, and Streisand asked Barry Gibb to write an album for her.[2] This album ultimately became Guilty. "Woman in Love", as the lead single, became one of the most successful songs of Streisand's music career. It spent a total of three weeks at the number-one position on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, Streisand's fifth (and last to date) number one on this chart. It also spent five weeks atop the adult contemporary chart, her sixth number one on that tally.[3] The song also proved very popular internationally, reaching number one in many countries, including the United Kingdom.

About midway through the song, Streisand holds a note for about 10 seconds while singing the line: I stumble and fall / But I give you it all (the word "all" is the one held for that duration). During the chart run of "Woman In Love", Casey Kasem claimed in an edition of the radio program American Top 40 that this was the longest unaltered note held by a soloist in a number-one song[citation needed], though it would be later surpassed by Whitney Houston in her smash single "I Will Always Love You".

sorry, I dunno how to embed non-youtube videos :(

oh also
34 points (2 votes)

49. (Love is) Thicker Than Water (writers: Barry and Andy Gibb)
36 points (1 vote)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqCmGQKmGnw

1977 7" single, the second of four consecutive US Number 1 singles penned by Barry Gibb (a feat unmatched to this day by any other writer)

Off to an interesting start! I'm not really familiar with their work for other artists, so this is shaping up to be very educational!

btw Shakey how many results will you be revealing today?

I'm so glad this poll finally LIVES!

This poll will live forever.

i'm going to get a lot out of these results.

thinking of going the bottom 20 today

TIE
49. A Very Special Day (Writer: Robin Gibb)
36 points (2 votes)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbjwR2GeztM

A cut from the second, unreleased Robin Gibb solo album from 1970 (the first being "Robin's Reign"). Reviewed here.

Less votes = more obscurities! Fun.

TIE
48. Chain Reaction (Writers: Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb)
37 points (2 votes)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFsS55TryZ4

Performed by Diana Ross, with the Bee Gees providing backing vocals. Released on the album "Eaten Alive" (1985). The single became her first #1 single in the UK since I'm Still Waiting in 1971, and was her last appearance on the Billboard Hot 100.

48. Throw a Penny (Writers: Barry and Robin Gibb)
37 points (3 votes)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Bcd-zmB4vk

The second single from the Bee Gees' 1974 album "Mr. Natural". Only released in the U.S., the single did not chart and continued a series of unsuccessful singles for The Bee Gees during this time. In the liner notes for the Tales from the Brothers Gibb box set, Barry Gibb commented on this song by saying "Where are we going?"

appreciate the explanatory blurbs. feel like this thread will remain a really useful tool for those of us who need to explore the catalog further.

47. An Everlasting Love (Writers: Barry Gibb)
38 points (2 votes)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GKRUtu8BXHM

From Andy Gibb's 1978 album "Shadow Dancing", with Barry providing vocals and an orchestral arrangement as well. Reached No. 5 in America.

Interesting that so far most are recorded-by-other-artists tracks

46. Black Diamond (Writers: Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb)
39 points (2 votes)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwfJs1937s0

The first track recorded for the Bee Gees' 1969 album "Odessa". Largely performed by the twins with Robin singing lead and harmony and playing the piano and mellotron, and Maurice providing backing vocals, bass, piano, guitar, and Mellotron. (Drums provided by their erstwhile drummer Colin Petersen). An ostensible "deep cut", never issued as a single.

Odessa is SO FUCKING GOOD!

TIE
45. Seven Seas Symphony (Writers: Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb)
40 points (1 first place vote)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CzYBcSdp1wc

One of three instrumental, orchestral tracks released on the Bee Gees' 1969 album "Odessa".

45. Don't Throw It All Away (Our Love)(Writers: Barry Gibb, Blue Weaver)
40 points (3 votes)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JUdT3s_fGM

Originally released as the third single from Andy Gibb's 1978 album "Shadow Dancing", reaching No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100. Andy Gibb's version of the song added a bridge section not on the original Bee Gees' version. The Bee Gees version of the song was recorded in 1977 during the sessions for Saturday Night Fever, but was not released until the compilation Bee Gees Greatest 1979. Singer/actress Jennifer Love Hewitt also covered the song on her 1996 self-titled album.

45. Indian Gin and Whisky Dry (Writers: Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb)
40 points (2 votes)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CcHfz61Aa0

A "deep cut" from the Bee Gees' 1968 album "Idea".

I should've voted for Chain Reaction and Woman In Love, glad they got a placing here

according to wikipedia the bros were initially worried that "Chain Reaction" was too "motown" for Diana and they were hesitant to offer it to her

the great thing is it still sounds like a Bee Gees song - like she's a guest singer.

44. I Laugh in Your Face (Writers: Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb)
41 points (2 votes)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MH2LXAWYyYY

Another non-single cut from the Bee Gees' 1969 album "Odessa".

a personal opinion - I didn't vote for this song but it is great in its oddness, one of the things the bros excelled at. Just the idea of having a big melodic pop song with the vocal hook being "I laugh in your face" is awesome.

The circus is coming to see you
The elephant smiles
Ev’rybody can hear you say that’s out of style
My brother is friendly for reasons, if I am the same
Just for four hundred seasons we all live in rain

So I laugh in your face. you're only one race
Yes I laugh in your face and I’m right
You lie just like the rest. but there’s nobody best
So I laugh in your face and I’m right

I’ll pull out your plug so your small
You’ll slide down the drain
On the steps of st. peter’s you all look the same

So I laugh in your face. you're only one race
Yes I laugh in your face and I’m right
You lie just like the rest but there’s nobody best
So I laugh in your face and I’m right

My first to place!

TIE
43. Kilburn Towers (Writers: Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb)
42 points (2 votes)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8n8S4HsArI

Non-single cut from the Bee Gees' 1968 album "Idea".

43. Edge of the Universe (Writers: Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb)
42 points (2 votes)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ZnZx1S7P2Y

From the Bee Gees' 1975 album "Main Course, and released as the b-side to the "Nights on Broadway" single. Recorded on the same day as "Fanny (Be Tender With My Love)" and "Jive Talkin'".

43. Nobody's Someone (Writers:
42 points (2 votes)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBYzNhudcSo

Originally recorded for inclusion on 1969's "Odessa" but shelved until the 2009 3-CD deluxe reissue.

43. Please Read Me (Writers: Barry and Robin Gibb)
42 points (2 votes)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4gU-I3w2Uo

From the 1967 album "Bee Gees 1st" (actually their third, but their first international release following their arrival in the UK). Also covered by Nina Simone on her 1968 album "'Nuff Said". Note: The brothers often spoke of their hits from "Bee Gees 1st" as having been written by all three rather than what was shown on the official writing credit.

lotsa ties itt!

Wow @ Nobody's Someone making it!

yeah the ties kind of level off once we get to tracks that received more than a couple votes

glad to see Please Read Me place, such a striking Beatles-pastiche - sounds like a Rubber Soul outtake.

I'm glad you're scoring on a liberal tie method (thus including many more songs in the "top 50").

(I don't do that in my own polls, but this poll is all about exposure)

Somebody voted "Seven Seas Symphony" as their #1? Wow!

This is off to an intriguing start!

hurrah to the other "Seven Seas Symphony" voter (my #1)

just to be clear, you were the lone voter for that one Euler

dammit, well, you are all wrong

I laugh in your face

LOL

Spotify playlist -- collaborative if I fail to keep up while at work.

http://open.spotify.com/user/124420673/playlist/54TCvvJ2yOMoYxl2fu6mQ5

I had a chance to listen to a fair bit of material for this poll in the end, & it's funny how bad they were as lyricists until the disco era. Like the Odessa songs, which I love, are pure nonsense lyrically.

e.g.

Your lips could never show a smile
You never tried, you just put me in a file
I never lived inside your hole, child
I thought you needed me, I never had no style

Never say, never say never again
Never say, never say never again
You said goodbye, I declared war on Spain
Never say, never say never again

Your eyes could never show a grin
You never tried, you just put me in a tin
I never lived inside your hole child
You know I needed you and look at the shape I'm in

Never say, never say never again
Never say, never say never again
You said goodbye, I declared war on Spain
Never say, never say never again

song's a jam btw

oh I see Shakey already posted the "I Laugh In Your Face" lyric for similar effect

"You said goodbye I declared war on Spain" is a great lyric fuiud

Yes, love their nonsense lyrics
Sort of a cross between a teenager's idea of poetry with added self-conscious psychedelic weirdness

not that I'm denying their penchant for nonsense... but I see them as keeping pace with Donovan and the Beatles and the Move et al in terms of going for this silly/surreal material. I think where it gets weird is that the Gibbs didn't really draw a line between their nonsense and their more earnest melodrama, often they're combined in the same song. And then occasionally they'd hit these story-in-song type things (like NY Mining Disaster or Gotta Get A Message to You) where the juxtaposition of bizarre historical details and genuine pathos actually complement each other.

xp

I love them too, as sung, but they scan hilariously.

"You said goodbye I declared war on Spain" is like some Wes Anderson dialogue

just reread the "Odessa" lyric & it's another doozy. something about an iceberg & a ship sinking & the Vicar? is "Odessa" the name of the ship? I constructed a story for the album, making it a concept album, about Stalin in Baku, but I dunno, 1899, maybe it's like Tommy, who can put that together.

lol yeah Odessa is very wtf. there was no HMS Veronica iirc.

would totally watch a staged opera of "Odessa" - would open with the shipwreck, maybe killing the parents of a child who lives in Barry's orphanage in Marley Purt Drive, Edison shows up and plays some records, kid escapes from the orphanage and falls in love with Melody Fair, she ditches him, he declares war on Spain, then Xmas and oops I'm old it's the 1st of May what have I done with my life

also there's a song sung around a lamppost in there somewher

ends with a huge international number, lots of flags

Anyone have recommendations for a good Andy Gibb comp? This poll made me realize that I need one.

The 4-CD Mythology box of the Bee Gees includes one disc per brother, with the last dedicated to Andy. Seems pretty comprehensive, but of course, you need the whole thing. Not sure what else is available.

Yeah, but then I'd also be saddled with a whole disc of Maurice.

(I KID, I KID)

I have a friend who grew up thinking this song ("I Started a Joke") was written from the perspective of Adolf Hitler, an interpretation which has always stuck with me.

.. this is awesome!

Finally put on the copy of Bee Gees Greatest I bought at a record show a few months ago. This was tucked inside:

http://i1059.photobucket.com/albums/t427/sayhey1/beegees_zps4bec8bc2.jpg

Not sure what the statute of limitations on these things is, but my checkbook's out. (There's an ad for this on the other side.)

Not sure how that happened...As ahead-of-their-time as they were, the Bee Gees were not selling website domains in 1979. Should have linked here:

http://www.amazon.com/THE-LEGEND-Illustrated-Legend-Maurice/dp/B00113HQP2

those tour shirts are sweeet

I like the look of those chains too.

ooh I missed that, I want one of those too

Send cash, check or money order to:

Official Bee Gees Fan Club
P.O. Box 9488
N. Hollywood, CA
91606

Go ahead, I dare you--I double-dare you.

Are you maniacs seriously telling me "Country Lanes" didn't place in this thing??

This thread was boss. Mad props to the Shakey Mo!

I have a friend who grew up thinking this song was written from the perspective of Adolf Hitler, an interpretation which has always stuck with me.

Lending some credence to that theory about 'AH' (I think you know who I mean) perhaps...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrg1UAixGaM

lol

49. (Love is) Thicker Than Water (writers: Barry and Andy Gibb) -- 36 points (1 vote)

this song is lame-o and awesome in equal measure.

missed deep cuts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apkDuq54SeQ

For venal reasons, I didn't participate, but here's my list.

no Bee Gees list without "Mr. Natural" can be considered complete. the perfect midpoint between their phases.

also the complete absence of even a MENTION of "Stop (Think Again)" on this entire thread hurts me deeply in my heart

the hbo doc was just ok, typical useless talking head segments from chris martin, justin, gallagher dude etc. disappointing about how they glossed over the breakup as if they all went their separate ways vs robin leaving and the other 2 continuing as the bee gees (there were other shortcuts and misleading parts as well). some nice footage tho

the sideman interviews were a lot more rewarding

the nicky siano bits were great. vince lawrence, too. a mini disco doc within the bee gees doc.

I did come away thinking that Barry really does miss his brothers. The other thing is that it does catch me that the Gibbs were a bit of why Miami became such a bling bling town, in a way. It would have been something to see Miami circa 76-78. Probably on real estate alone, those guys crushed some serious cash. The clip with them making the drum loop was some cool music geek stuff.

I really enjoyed the doc - most of the “talking heads” were the brothers or the band or ppl working close with them, so the odd naff chris martin or noel gallagher was tolerable. the studio stuff was so great, and the demo tapes add so much apprecication for the raw talent.

and yeah the disco sucks section was handled really well, i loved the way they told that.

Barry having had that amazing creative bond with his brothers & to be now left alone, the melancholy of that feeling must be so difficult to endure.

as the oldest of three siblings who are very close I think how utterly bereft I would feel if they died before me, it breaks my heart to think about.

I sometimes think about examples of musicians who went into a funk when their creative partner died, namely Bill Evans after Scott LaFaro died in a car accident and Buck Owens after Don Rich died in a motorcycle accident. There is still a naive part of me that will think "couldn't you just go on with the show?" but another part of me knows "nuh-uh."

I mean I guess Buck still showed up for Hee-Haw tapings, but still.

I actually kind of adored that documentary, which has to be the third or fourth I’ve seen by this point. The contemporary talking heads were minimized and used well (Noel Gallagher talking about sibling dynamics and how you don’t just buy family members’ vocal harmonies at a store was surprisingly relevant and well put).

Beyond that tho, they did a fabulous job on the early years and the tensions that built up between them. Notwithstanding no mention of Cucumber Castle, I hadn’t really seen that articulated very well elsewhere. The footage of Robin playing to that crowd in NZ angry that it was just him was incredible.

Iand yeah the disco sucks section was handled really well, i loved the way they told that.

Barry having had that amazing creative bond with his brothers & to be now left alone, the melancholy of that feeling must be so difficult to endure.

as the oldest of three siblings who are very close I think how utterly bereft I would feel if they died before me, it breaks my heart to think about.

There is also a similarity in how the whole family was involved in this big adventure, not dissimilar to what you see in that Australian TV documentary on AC/DC. Very similar history in some ways between those two bands.

I'm not sure if Barry Gibb still lives in here, but in the early '00s when I worked at a Miami Beach bookstore he was a regular -- you could easily spot him his tall, hunched form in the history section. Like NYC, nobody bothers stars here.

I ordered The Corrections for Iggy Pop a few months later (asked by the employee at the other store transferring a copy for a name, I said, "Osterberg, James." Iggy winked at me).

Ha! That’s a great story.

All the anecdotes I've read about Iggy being hyper-literate are true. He'd buy piles of books, a genuine miscellany: Nietzsche, art books, Bellow, Tolstoy.

Anyway, back to thread.

Yeah, him and Bowie.

I think I’m actually just starting to realize what an incredible song Stayin’ Alive is. Like, in addition to the opening groove and that great drum loop story, I’m not sure I ever fully appreciated how fucking boss and weird the chorus is on this song. I mean, we all know the “ha ha ha” part but that slurry syncopated line that leads into the ha ha ha’s is subtly strange and amazing (and not that it matters but I still have zero idea what they’re singing there). This realization is just another reminder that whole thing is just perfect from top to bottom.

Maybe it is their best song? I’m willing to be convinced here.

Or the way the strings kick in for the bleak-as-fuck "I'm goin' nowhere."

Hey now, there was a thread for that sort of thing but it was only Shakey and me on it most days!

The song by song rundown?

Sorry, couldn’t keep up.

Shakey did tend to press on regardless somewhat.

Oh right! I couldn’t keep up either. Which bummed me out. Was it before quarantine? I feel like it must’ve been because I imagine I would’ve looked forward to every next entry like my life depended on it.

Pretty sure it was. Could have done with some more contributors in the Bee Gees' imperial stage because I found I couldn't think of as many things to say about something like "Staying Alive" as opposed to, er, "I Have Decided to Join the Air Force".

Lol, check out the current last post on that thread

Ha, exactly. It’s good to know my self-hatred pre-dated COVID, I guess.

the Tropical Fuck Storm version of "Stayin' Alive" almost approximates the swagger level of the original, albeit from a scuzzier angle

Where we talking about the Barry Gibb duets record? So good.

i cant remember which thread but I LOVE IT SO MUCH OMG

play "Mr. Natural" at my funeral

Is there some bad news you're keeping from us?

no I'm remaining conscious for now

Literally everything is great about the duets album. The artists, the band, the sound — they recorded at RCA studios in Nashville with a live band in the room & it really shows, just has such a beautiful warmth & depth, i cant get enough

Didn't realize that about the live band but it totally makes sense.