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

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

aaaaanyway

42. Shadow Dancing (Writers: Barry, Robin, Maurice and Andy Gibb)
44 points (4 votes)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ga8sDvcVvCo

Spent 7 weeks at the top of the Billboard charts in 1978, his third and final chart-topping hit in the US.

The song was written by Andy and his brothers (Barry, Maurice and Robin Gibb) in Los Angeles, while the trio of brothers were working on the film Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. "And one night," Andy would recall, "while we were relaxing, we sat down and we had to start getting tracks together for the album" (also titled Shadow Dancing, which would eventually hit #7 on the U.S. album charts). "So we literally sat down and in ten minutes, we had a group going, (singing) the chorus part. As it says underneath the song, we all wrote it, the four of us."

I didn't realize til after I submitted my ballot how great Shadow Dancing is, kicking myself for not voting.

such a great track

Yeah, it was my only Andy song. I went soft on the disco stuff, but "Shadow Dancing" is just undeniably great.

41. The Flag I Flew (Writer: Robin Gibb)
49 points (2 votes)

Unfortunately I can't find a youtube of this. here's a pic of Robin instead.

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2012/5/21/1337557346443/Robin-Gibb-life-in-pics-006.jpg

This is another track from Robin's unreleased "Sing Slowly Sisters" solo album from 1970, which was abandoned when Robin rejoined his brothers to work on "2 Years On".

40. For Whom the Bell Tolls (Writers: Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb)
51 points (2 votes)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMhF6dskM5k

Released as the Bee Gees' second single from their album "Size Isn't Everything" in 1993. It peaked at #4 on the UK charts.

For Whom the Bells Tolls is typical of post-80s Bee Gees, in that it sounds lush and good and but I never remember it when the song's over.

I had never heard of it prior to this poll (which goes for several of their other late-period tracks as well)

I am one of the votes on each of these. Love them both. Robin's vocal break in the chorus of "For Whom the Bell Tolls" is amazing. And "The Flag I Flew" is just heartmeltingly good.

39. Don't Wanna Live Inside Myself (Writer: Barry Gibb)
59 points (3 votes)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0L_3SehWCk

The second single from the Bee Gees 1971 album "Trafalgar". Even though this was the follow-up to the huge hit "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart", the song not chart. Robin, in the liner notes of Tales from the Brothers Gibb box set, described the song as "...the dawning, or the closing, of the 'gotta find out who I really am' era."

lol Robin

dawning..or closing...lol

beautiful tune from a really solid, underrated album imho

38. Paradise (Writers: Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb)
60 points, 2 votes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ho35ySu18QA

From the Bee Gees 1981 album "Living Eyes". "Living Eyes" was chosen to be the first ever album to be manufactured on CD, for demonstration purposes, and was featured on the inaugural issue of the Compact Disc trade magazine

Wow, I never knew that about the first cd thing!

Also, YAY! This was my #2!

TIE
37. I Can't See Nobody (Writers: Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb)
62 points (5 votes)

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

From the Bee Gees' 1967 album "Bee Gees 1st", and the b-side to "New York Mining Disaster 1941". Live footage above is from the 1973 Love Sounds Special (live in Japan).

Personally I would just like to interject that this clip is a great example of how insanely perfect their harmonies were, particularly live, surpassing the Beach Boys and pretty much any other vocal group ensemble in rock.

37. Sweet Song of Summer (Writers: Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb)
62 points (2 votes)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Ic0rPq30Vc

A "deep cut" from the Bee Gees 1972 album "To Whom It May Concern". In the 2010 documentary In Our Own Time, Maurice explained (in archival footage) that by 1972 they didn't really know who their audience was, hence the title.

37. Guilty (Writers: Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb)
62 points (3 votes)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xr-fOJdeUus

Released as a single from Barbra Streisand's 1980 album of the same name, "Guilty" peaked at #3 on the US Billboard Hot 100 pop chart. "Guilty" won a Grammy Award in the category Best Pop Vocal Performance, Duo or Group.

36. Too Much Heaven (Writers: Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb)
65 points (5 votes)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SINhvDM7qF4

"Too Much Heaven" was the Bee Gees' contribution to the "Music for UNICEF" fund. They performed it at the Music for UNICEF Concert on 9 January 1979. The song later found its way to the group's thirteenth original album, "Spirits Having Flown". The recording process was the longest of all the tracks on "Spirits Having Flown" as there are nine layers of three-part harmony, creating 27 voices.

oops forgot to note that Sweet Song of Summer had one #1 vote

Even tho Guilty is the beginning of Barry being the man in charge, esp. when it comes to writing and recording demos for other artists, I find it interesting that all the big hits ("Guilty, "Islands," "Heartbreaker") continued to have co-writing credits by all three brothers.

yeah I had assumed "Guilty" was a Barry/Barbra co-write

35. Odessa (City on the Black Sea) (Writers: Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb)
66 points (2 votes, 1 first place vote)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiQ6gHcrSiQ&feature=fvwrel

The title track of the Bee Gees' 1969 double album opus. Wikipedia says the geography of the song is "not to be taken literally."

please do not use Bee Gees for geographical reference points lol

34. Trafalgar (Writers: Maurice Gibb)
71 points (4 votes)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9qpERA1kJM

The title track to the Bee Gees' 1971 album "Trafalgar". Maurice is the sole band member to appear on the recording, singing and playing every instrument.

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.