By rights I shouldn’t have time for blogging today as it is indeed St Valentine’s Day and I should be spending it being all loved up with Mr WIAA – After being together for 28 years however, it is a bit hard to muster up the enthusiasm for a day of romance but I have just popped in past our local M&S to pick up one of their very delicious special occasion “Dine In For Two” meal deals (no expense spared here at WIAA HQ). I’m sure if we didn’t both have stinky colds it would all taste lovely, but what with the two cards sitting on the mantelpiece and the planned dinner, at least we’re making a bit of an effort.
The main reason I wanted to post something today however is that I have been feeling a tad guilty of late for the following reason – Of the 120 original posts that I’ve published since starting the blog 13 months ago, the only one I’ve “trashed” permanently is the one I wrote this day last year, featuring a song by The Bee Gees. Yes, despite the fact that I’ve written about some ropey acts since starting this blog, once I’d accumulated a few followers, the only one I was really embarrassed about having covered was The Bee Gees. I blame the sheer number of comedy sketches that were made about them during their heyday (that would be Kenny Everett then), as how else can it be that a group who has sold 100 million-plus records; penned the world’s biggest-selling soundtrack album; had 10 UK No. 1s; wrote 4 consecutive US No. 1s and were the first group to have UK Top 20s in 5 decades, be embarrassing? No indeed, today is the day to come right out and say it – I’m a Bee Gees fan and am proud to admit it!
For the record, this was last year’s trashed post (fortunately still in a Word doc as I do worry about the day WordPress crashes and we lose all our stuff):
“No long-winded post today as it’s St Valentine’s Day and I’m going to spend it with my lovely husband. (It was a Sunday last year.)
Last time I wrote about the “break-up song” but How Deep Is Your Love by The Bee Gees is from the other end of the spectrum (I think – although retrospectively I’m starting to doubt some of my interpretations of the lyrics). It is still however, my all-time favourite love-song. It was from the soundtrack to the film Saturday Night Fever (starring a young John Travolta) which was released in the summer of 1978. That turned out to be the best summer of my young life to date – School had finished in the June, and the four month period before University was due to start was filled with happy memories that have stayed with me forever. To use the parlance of American teen movies, for my friends and I, that was our coming-of-age summer.
Unusually for me I’m going to leave it there for today – Enjoy that wonderful intro and Barry’s amazing falsetto. Happy Valentine’s day!”
How Deep Is Your Love by The Bee Gees:
But I did say that the main reason for wanting to post something today was to right the wrong of “trashing” a post about this much-loved group of brothers but the second reason is that last night darling daughter and I watched the highlights of the 59th Annual Grammy Awards. Last year I wrote a post about the 58th Grammys where our own Ed Sheerin came away with a couple of awards and I would probably have been writing a post again this year but they have coincided with St Valentine’s Day and anyway, the big awards, yet again, went to Adele. It was pretty much a re-run of our own Brit Awards last year and my thoughts about that ceremony still ring true (The Brits, The “Suits” and Adele), so no point in covering the same old ground.
What was of interest however was finding there had been a Bee Gees tribute on the big night performed by an array of contemporary acts. It is now 40 years since the making of the “Saturday Night Fever” album and 60 years since the brothers first formed a band singing harmonies together. It did make me sad however to see Barry, the only brother still alive, sitting on his own in the front row watching the performance intently, but sometimes also quizzically. Not the way they used to perform these songs back in the day but here is what the 59th Grammys served up.
How Deep Is Your Love Lyrics
(Song by Barry Gibb/Robin Gibb/Maurice Gibb)
I know your eyes in the morning sun
I feel you touch me in the pouring rain
And the moment that you wander far from me
I wanna feel you in my arms again
And you come to me on a summer breeze
Keep me warm in your love and then softly leave
And it’s me you need to show
How Deep Is Your Love
How deep is your love, How deep is your love
I really need to learn
‘Cause we’re living in a world of fools
Breaking us down
When they all should let us be
We belong to you and me
I believe in you
You know the door to my very soul
You’re the light in my deepest darkest hour
You’re my saviour when I fall
And you may not think I care for you
When you know down inside that I really do
And it’s me you need to show
How Deep Is Your Love
What's It All About? 
A lovely post for Valentine’s Day, Alyson. So glad you are proud to state that you’re a Bee Gees fan. As I mentioned in my “No Guilt, Just Pleasure” post about two years ago, “you should never have to justify your enjoyment of anything for fear of being mocked…even though you should always be prepared for it.” I understood the backlash against Saturday Night Fever-era Bee Gees after they were so ubiquitous, but their catalog is packed with brilliant songs & performances. I assume you’re familiar with at least some of their earlier material, right? How sad that the oldest brother is the sole survivor, and the youngest (poor Andy…too young to be in the group) was the first to go.
I hope you & Mr. WIAA are feeling better soon. I’m sure you’ll enjoy Valentine’s Day as long as you’re together.
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Hi there and Happy Valentine’s Day – Hope you have a good one! Yes we have manfully made it through the dinner and now just plan to chill for the rest of the evening. (In case you don’t have them in the US, M&S Foodhalls have the nicest foodstuffs so not really slumming it!)
Thanks for your words about The Bee Gees although I’m thinking that their Sat Night Fever album will probably not pop up in your 40 Year Friday thread? Back to the difference between male and female tastes in music I think. I love their late ’60s material (I Started A Joke etc) and probably prefer it now to the late ’70s disco-inspired material which was very much of its time. Right up to 2001 they were making excellent albums (This Is Where I Came In) but soon after Maurice died so that was the end of The Bee Gees per se.
Interested in your post this week about drumming – My passion was dance and performance, but like you chose the regular paycheck route (or perhaps my parents chose it for me). Every so often we get the chance to put on “a bit of a show” however and hopefully will do for some time so the best of both worlds – Can be a brutal world that of being a full-time musician/performer and few ever “make it”.
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Hope you had a lovely evening and are feeling much better cold-wise!
I think it’s great that you decided to re-post this having ‘trashed’ it; as you and others have said before, there is no need to feel embarrassed about anything – no-one is judging (and if they are, then they don’t deserve the pleasure of reading it!) and there is no point in doing this really if we can’t be true to ourselves. It’s all valid, and it’s refreshing.
I’m not keen on later Bee Gees material but they were undeniably talented and prolific and I really do like some of their earlier stuff – ’60s tracks like New York Mining Disaster 1941 and Red Chair Fade Away – as a group they seemed pretty experimental and unusual really.
There was a great documentary about them not long ago (can’t remember where I saw it, prob BBC Four?) and I loved it. I often find I don’t have to be a fan of a band or artist to enjoy a documentary like that, they’re nearly always interesting regardless. And Saturday Night Fever remains a great film!
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Hi – No the colds are worse and now my daughter, who has a big weekend away planned, has it too. Don’t know about where you are but our entire home town seems to have come down with this horrid virus.
My tagline is “A Nostalgic Journey Through the Track of my Years” so it was wrong of me to “trash” that albeit very short post from last year – Even I however have tired of the late ’70s disco stuff now as over-familiar with it and it hasn’t really stood the test of time. My favourite era for them now is the late ’60s (1967 shock horror!) when Robin and Maurice were still only 17. Also liked the last album they did before Maurice died but always feel sad when I see the oldest brother Barry on his own – It was just always the 3 of them.
Yes Saturday Night Fever still a great film and very much of its time. The dancing now looks so tame compared to the “moves” of today but John’s pointing style of dancing (It’s up there, no down there, up there, no down there) really took off after that movie!
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I hope you are both feeling better and enjoyed your evening Alyson. Like C, my preferred Bee Gees period is a little before your own, though those 1970’s releases certainly became era (and career) defining and I enjoy them if they crop up on the radio. In terms of comedy send-ups, I’d argue that ‘Meaningless Songs in Very High Voices’ by The Heebeegeebees is pretty savage and right up there with the best of ’em, but as for yer actual Bee Gees, this is probably my fave tune by them.
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Wow, not seen that one before although ironically I just tried to insert a clip of I Started A Joke from the Idea album for C’s reply above – didn’t work for me somehow.
My reply to you is pretty much the same as the one above – Even I got a bit fed up of the late ’70s stuff and it hasn’t stood the test of time as much as their early period (when the twins were still just 17) and then their later period before Maurice died. Yes the KE sketches were very savage and didn’t help their case but I suppose by that time they were laughing all the way to the bank. Funny though that artists really all just crave credibility and I’m sure they would have happily traded in a lot of the cash just to stop the jokes and the parodies. 3 of the 4 brothers have died far too young so hope Barry can have a much longer life – Really don’t like seeing him on his own though at award ceremonies etc. – Just feels all wrong.
Thanks for dropping by – You are all being very kind as I didn’t expect much feedback on a post about The Bee Gees!
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Much like C, I don’t necessarily have to be a fan to enjoy a documentary (or in this case a skilfully written blog post) about a particular artist. Keep ’em coming Alyson – and get well soon to all the family.
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I would argue that the Bee Gees were as successful as David Bowie in changing their style and approach to move with the times and keep selling records by the bucket load. I don’t really rate one era of Bee Gees more than any other though: like C and The Swede I love those earlier, more guitar-based songs but the disco era stuff is iconic, and You Win Again is epic. And don’t even start me on Chain. Reaction…
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Good to hear you are also a bit of a fan – I think I’ve pretty much come clean now about all the artists I was a tad embarrassed about covering but all part of this “Nostalgic Journey Through the Tracks of My Years”. I think my next post will also be about a group of 3 brothers, one of whom you’ve covered recently!
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And I certainly prefer the Bee Gees to Valentine’s Day!
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Bah humbug.
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