FEATURE Image: Yellow Submarine was a British cartoon feature film in 1968 starring comic strip figures of the Beatles in a colorful and surrealistic musical adventure featuring Beatles hits. Though it was a box office flop in the U.K., it was wildly successful in the U.S. The film title and concept were based on the Lennon-McCartney song of the same name and the screenplay was by Al Brodax, Jack Mendelsohn, Erich Segal (who did Love Story in 1970) and Lee Monoff. In the kingdom of Pepperland that is being attacked by the Blue Meanies, Fred, the conductor of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, escapes in a yellow submarine. He surfaces in Liverpool where he meets the Beatles and they set off together in the yellow submarine through the Seas of Time, Monsters and Holes to restore music and color to Pepperland. With 11 Beatles’ tunes and eye-popping animation in a host of styles, the De Luxe Color film from United Artists and King Features Syndicate epitomized the pop music culture of the late 1960’s. PHOTO credit: “yellow submarine” by youngdoo is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.
Paradoxically, When I’m Sixty-Four about relationships as one grows older, is probably one of the first songs Paul McCartney ever wrote. He was 13 or 14 years old when he composed it sometime in late spring 1956 although, in the mid-1960’s, it fit into the current fashion of rock music looking back to emulate pre-war English pop music hall styles (i.e., New Vaudeville Band’s “Winchester Cathedral” in 1966). In 1967 and credited to Lennon–McCartney, the song was released on the Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band studio album. When I’m Sixty-Four was also included in the Beatles’ 1968 animated film and pop phenomenon, Yellow Submarine that is a landmark of the genre.
Released in June 1967, Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band included When I’m 64. One of Paul McCartney’s earliest compositions from the mid-1950’s and used by the Beatles as filler during their club days, it emerged again following Paul McCartney’s own father Jim turning 64 years old in July 1966. PHOTO Credit: “The Beatles” by John Oxton is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.
When I’m Sixty-Four, while seemingly just a cute and simple ditty, was the result of several recordings and mixing stages before it reached the album. It was recorded by the Beatles on December 6, 1966. Two days later, alone, McCartney dubbed his lead vocal onto a December 6 take. Two weeks later, the Beatles dubbed backing vocals and the sound of bells. A new mix of the song was then created by producer (and later Sir) George Martin (1926-2016). The next day, 3 session musicians overdubbed the clarinets which added a fuller and fatter focal point for the song. The magic of mixing carried forward until the end of the year when 24-year-old McCartney suggested speeding up the track, which raised the key, in an attempt to make him sound “younger” and enliven the tune. Released during the Summer of Love in 1967, this was at the height of the LSD influence around music culture so that some viewed the song’s lyric “digging the weeds” as another possible dope allusion.
In Yellow Submarine the cartoon characters (voiced by professional actors, not the Beatles) appealed to audiences as the artistic expression of their mythic celebrity status which was, as Jonathan Gould identified in Can’t Buy Me Love, “droll, mod, mock-heroic saviors, appearing out of nowhere to free a beleaguered population from the grip of repression and fear…” PHOTO Credit: “beatles-yellow-submarine-characters” by anathea is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
The animated film, Yellow Submarine, released in the U.S. in November 1968, had already caused a stir in London that July. With its 11 Beatles’ tunes, solid script, and direction by Canadian animation producer George Dunning (1920-1979), the United Artists’ and King Features Syndicate’s production was an almost effortlessly surreal animation and music experience. The film, originally intended for a juvenile audience, was attracting instead full-grown Flower Children which shocked its marketeers who now wanted to cancel, and, ultimately, delayed, its general release. Yet, unlike in Britain where the film was a box office failure – as the UK’s homegrown pop entertainments often were (even the Beatles wanted nothing much to do with the animated film project) – it was an immediate success at its release Stateside in November 1968.
The Beatles – The Beatles Book no. 64 (November 1968). For Yellow Submarine the voices of the cartoon Beatles’ characters were provided by professional actors. Wanting no involvement with the film project, the Beatles were available to appear for the project only at the last minute and at the fade-out of the 1968 landmark animation film. PHOTO credit:”68-1115-02 – The Beatles – The Beatles Book 64 (November 1968)” by Bradford Timeline is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.
In the U.S. there were more tickets sold for Yellow Submarine that year than any other film except The Sound Of Music. Though U.S. critics were unimpressed with Yellow Submarine, the film’s core audience of American teenagers and twenty-somethings bought tickets to see it over and over again and escaped for a time some of the late 1960’s turmoil of war, riots, assassinations as well as 1968’s divisive, razor-close presidential election. Over 55 years after its initial release, Yellow Submarine remains one of cartoon history’s landmark entertainments.
SOURCES: Revolution in the Head The Beatles’ Records and the Sixties, Third Edition, Ian MacDonald, Chicago Review Press, 2007, pp. 220-221.
Can’t Buy Me Love, The Beatles, Britain, and America, Jonathan Gould, New York: Harmony Books, 2007, pp. 484-486 and 505-507.
The United Artists Story, Ronald Bergan, Crown Publishers, Inc., New York, 1986, p. 243.
Marilyn Monroe (1926-1962) showed up in a bright pink dress for the release party of the song, Marilyn, in 1952. Though invited, she was the “surprise” stand-out guest who swooped in and out of the celebration fashionably in a wonky helicopter.
Bandleader Ray Anthony released the two-minute single Marilyn in 1952 with rising film star Marilyn Monroe (1926-1962) definitely in mind.
By the end of 1951 Marilyn Monroe had completed 13 films, mostly for 20th Century-Fox, and was on the cusp of major stardom.
In 1952, Marilyn made five additional movies – including Clash By Night (RKO) where she was identified as “the new blonde bombshell” by Kate Cameron in New York News. Marilyn also made in 1952 We’re Not Married for 20th Century-Fox where, according to Alton Cook of the New York World Telegram, “Marilyn supplies beauty. She is Hollywood’s foremost expert.” Also for Fox that year Marilyn made Monkey Business where Paul C. Beckley hints at the major transition that Marilyn was making to open the nation’s eyes to her rising star in 1952: “Not seen her before,” Beckley wrote in the New York Herald Tribune, “I now know what’s that about.” Marilyn rounded out 1952 with the Fox anthology film, O. Henry’s Full House where the critics stood up and noticed Marilyn’s “stunning proportions” (Archer Winston, New York Post).
In 1953, Marilyn Monroe’s star did not miss. Her next three films for Twentieth Century- Fox – Niagara (“seductive”), Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (“alluring”) and How to Marry a Millionaire (“magnificent proportions”) walked the walk to solidify her film acting career and her status as America’s enduringly iconic sex goddess or symbol.
Marilyn Monroe’s performance and appearance in Niagara in 1953 from 20th Century-Fox were highly praised. One critic observed: “Seen from any angle…Marilyn Monroe leaves little to be desired.” (A.H. Weiler, New York Times).
Ray Anthony (b. 1922) is one of the few surviving members of the post-war period of Old Hollywood (TV producer Norman Lear is another) that came to an end arguably with Marilyn’s death in 1962. Four years older than Marilyn Monroe, Anthony turned 100 years old in California on January 20, 2022.
Most of that exciting generation born in 1922 – including Ava Gardner, Jason Robards, Betty White, Judy Garland, Doris Day, Cyd Charisse, Kim Hunter, Eleanor Parker, Veronica Lake, and others – are today gone.
Starting in the early 1950’s, Ray Anthony led a very popular ensemble that put out dance record after dance record. Many became instantly part of the culture – such as The Hokey Pokey and The Bunny Hop which seemed to make their musical appearance at nearly every wedding reception throughout the 1960’s and 1970’s.
With Anthony’s single Marilyn, the world’s most famous sex symbol was unattached though being courted by New York Yankees baseball great Joltin’ Joe DiMaggio. They married two years later in 1954.
In 1952 Marilyn Monroe was declared the “It Girl” by Hollywood gossip columnists. Though not a major star yet, Marilyn’s career was fluttering at the verge which made the Marilyn release party particularly exciting.
Ray Anthony adored beautiful and sexy Hollywood blondes. He married one in 1955. Anthony met Mamie Van Doren (b. 1931) in 1955, they had a son, and divorced in 1961. In 1956, Anthony appeared with another popular Hollywood blonde bombshell, Jayne Mansfield, in the musical comedy, The Girl Can’t Help It.
Surrounded by all this beauty and great music it is no wonder that Ray Anthony received his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in the midst of this period in 1957.
Released in April 1970, Ride Captain Ride reached no.4 on Billboard charts in the U.S. and Canada. The song was no. 32 on the year-end Billboard chart for 1970. At 3:43 minutes, there was a shorter radio version.
Ride Captain Ride was a no. 4 hit in the U.S. and Canada in the spring and summer of 1970. It was written and performed by the Tampa, Florida-based rock band, Blues Image. The song is a fantasy about a captain and crew who, seeking laughter and freedom, take a trip on a mystery ship into an uncharted world.
Co-written by the band’s lead singer and guitarist Mike Pinera (b. 1948) and keyboardist “Skip” Konte (b. 1947), Ride Captain Ride sold over one million copies and was certified Gold in August 1970. Although best known for this song, Blues Image is much more than a one-hit wonder band.
Miami, Florida’s late 1960’s psych-rock music scene
Formed in Tampa in 1966, Blues Image relocated to Miami in 1968. They were key in helping promoters establish a popular new music club in Sunny Isles Beach (in a former bowling alley) called “Thee Image.” It became South Florida’s go-to venue for newly emerging psychedelic rock and it drew huge crowds.
The club featured three stages along with a meditation room and a black-light room. It booked local bands as well as name acts such as Blood, Sweat, & Tears, Cream, The Doors, the Grateful Dead, Led Zeppelin, the Lovin’ Spoonful, and Frank Zappa.
The club was brain-child, construction project, and congregant spot for most of the area’s hippies. The hippies brought love, peace, and sister- and brotherhood to beachfront Miami.
Jam sessions and love ins in the nearby public parks included one incident which involved the Grateful Dead, Blues Image, and about 3,000 impromptu fans. Blues Image also became one of the first rock groups to experiment with Latin-infused rock which exploded onto the wider rock music scene in the 1970s.
Ride Captain Ride is the 6th track on Blues Image’s second album, Open, released in April 1970. Written by bandmates Mike Pinera and “Skip” Konte, the song is about joining a cruise into an uncharted world. “Mystery ship” by Guru Sno Studios is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0.
The beginning of the end for Miami’s late 1960’s psych-rock music scene was The Doors’ concert appearance there in March 1969. Following the August 1968 Republican National Convention in Miami that nominated and elected Richard Nixon as U.S. president, local public opinion soured on the hippie subculture and Thee Image was shuttered.
That same year, in 1969, Blues Image moved to L.A., signed with Atco Records and released their debut album. Other bands relocated out of Miami – some to New York City. The cultural embers of Thee Image were transplanted to L.A. for a short time in another club – but South Florida’s psych-rock scene that featured rock’s greats had clearly ended.
In the summer of 1969, Blues Image drummer Manny Bertematti and Jimi Hendrix were seen jamming together at L.A.’s “Thee Experience,” the music club on the Sunset Strip evocative of Thee Image. In Melody Maker shortly before his death, Jimi Hendrix observed that Blues Image was “one of the best up and coming bands around.”
Then came April 1970 and Ride Captain Ride, Blues Image’s impromptu hit. Released as the 6th track on the band’s second album, Open, the main guitar solo and fills were provided by Kent Henry with the song’s final guitar solo played by Mike Pinera. Ride Captain Ride became the no.32 ranked single on 1970’s year-end Billboard chart. Since that era, the song has been covered many times, notably by Blood, Sweat, & Tears in 1975 and by Phish from 1987 to 2013.
When Pinera left Blues Image, the group quickly broke up in 1971. Skip Konte joined Three Dog Night. Others, including Pinera, played for memorable rock bands such as Iron Butterfly, Steppenwolf, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Manassas, Jackson Browne, Joe Walsh, Alice Cooper and more.
RIDE CAPTAIN RIDE LYRICS: Seventy three men sailed up from the San Francisco Bay Rolled off of their ship, and here’s what they had to say We’re callin’ everyone to ride along to another shore We can laugh our lives away and be free once more
But no one heard them callin’, no one came at all ‘Cause they were too busy watchin’ those old raindrops fall As a storm was blowin’ out on the peaceful sea Seventy-three men sailin’ off to history
Ride Captain Ride upon your mystery ship Be amazed at the friends you have here on your trip Ride Captain Ride upon your mystery ship On your way to a world that others might have missed
Seventy-three men sailed up from the San Francisco Bay Got off the ship, and here’s what they had to say We’re callin’ everyone to ride along to another shore We can laugh our lives away and be free once more
Ride Captain Ride upon your mystery ship Be amazed at the friends you have here on your trip Ride Captain Ride upon your mystery ship On your way to a world that others might have missed
Ride Captain Ride upon your mystery ship Be amazed at the friends you have here on your trip
“Sail on, Sailor” was released in February 1973 as the album Holland’s lead single. It peaked at no. 79 on the Billboard Hot 100. When it was re-released two years later, in 1975, it jumped to no.49.
Following Blues Image’s demise, in the summer of 1972, the Beach Boys—Al Jardine, Dennis Wilson, Brian Wilson, Carl Wilson, and Mike Love—decided to relocate themselves and their families to the Netherlands to record.
Once there they couldn’t find an adequate recording studio for their plans. Artistic integrity demanding it and money being no object, they imported a studio that was constructed to their specifications in a converted Dutch barn. Throughout the rest of that summer 1972, the Beach Boys, formed in 1961, recorded their 19th album entitled aptly Holland.
Producer Warner Bros. assessing that the new album lacked what they believed could be a hit single started fishing around for a possible hit song to replace another song on the album. Without a definable hit, Holland, the Beach Boys were told, was not releasable.
Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks, a collaborator on Good Vibrations and head of Warner Bros.’ new music video department in 1972, came up with Sail On, Sailor.
“I sailed an ocean, unsettled ocean Through restful waters and deep commotion Often frightened, unenlightened Sail on, sail on sailor, “ is the opening line. A sailing song for sure with deeper connotations of a searching journey with ups and downs which could be personal or professional.
The first-person narrator expounds on the individual and universal nature of the sail: “I wrest the waters, fight Neptune’s waters Sail through the sorrows of life’s marauders Unrepenting, often empty Sail on, sail on sailor.”
The music was remembered to have been drafted by Wilson in 1970 and, with Van Dyck Parks, into a fuller form in 1971. The song was then headed to Three Dog Night and had lyrics written by Ray Kennedy and Tandyn Almer.
Hearing the upbeat tune with its rich harmonies and delving backbeat as finally released, it can be easy to miss the tangle of the sailor’s story: “Seldom stumble, never crumble Try to tumble, life’s a rumble Feel the stinging I’ve been given Never ending, unrelenting Heartbreak searing, always fearing Never caring, persevering Sail on, sail on, sailor.”
In 1972, the Beach Boys’ manager Jack Rieley returned to L.A. and gave the song’s lyrics a going over. He was particularly fond of the line: ”lost like a sewer rat alone but I sail…” Officially, Sail on, Sailor listed Wilson, Almer, and Parks as its composers and Rieley and Kennedy as the lyricists. South African singer Blondie Chaplin, who had been working with the Beach Boys since 1971, became its lead vocal.
Composer Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys at the piano. At one point in the recording process, Wilson was barred from the studio for tinkering too much with “Sail On, Sailor,” the group’s intended hit song, “Rock Dreams: Brian Wilson” by Jim the Chin is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0.
By year’s end – it was November 28, 1972 – Brian Wilson was effectively banned from Village Recorders in L.A. Some thought he had been tinkering too much with Sail On, Sailor. Younger brother Carl Wilson was put in charge. During the hit song’s extended and close collaboration, a strong dose of these artists’ struggles is readily displayed in its words: “Always needing, even bleeding Never feeding all my feelings Damn the thunder, must I blunder There’s no wonder all I’m under Stop the crying and the lying And the sighing and my dying.”
Without an apparent hit single on the new album “Holland,” Warner Bros. wasn’t going to release it. Already in a draft form by Wilson, “Sail on, Sailor” was finished to replace another song and released in February 1973 as the album’s first single. “beach boys- holland” by cdrummbks is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
Sail On, Sailor was released in February 1973 as the album Holland’s lead single. It peaked at no.79 on the Billboard Hot 100. When it was re-released as a single two years later, in 1975, it jumped to no.49. The album, also a critical success, peaked at no.36 on the Billboard 200 Albums chart and in the top 20 albums in the UK.
Sail On, Sailor has been covered many times, including recently by Los Lobos on their 2022 Grammy-Award winning Native Sons album.
SAIL ON, SAILOR LYRICS: I sailed an ocean, unsettled ocean Through restful waters and deep commotion Often frightened, unenlightened Sail on, sail on sailor
I wrest the waters, fight Neptune’s waters Sail through the sorrows of life’s marauders Unrepenting, often empty Sail on, sail on sailor
Caught like a sewer rat alone but I sail Bought like a crust of bread, but oh do I wail
Seldom stumble, never crumble Try to tumble, life’s a rumble Feel the stinging I’ve been given Never ending, unrelenting Heartbreak searing, always fearing Never caring, persevering Sail on, sail on, sailor
I work the seaways, the gale-swept seaways Past shipwrecked daughters of wicked waters Uninspired, drenched and tired Wail on, wail on, sailor
Always needing, even bleeding Never feeding all my feelings Damn the thunder, must I blunder There’s no wonder all I’m under Stop the crying and the lying And the sighing and my dying
Sail on, sail on sailor Sail on, sail on sailor Sail on, sail on sailor Sail on, sail on sailor Sail on, sail on sailor Sail on, sail on sailor Sail on, sail on sailor
Rock ‘n roll has long shared a tuneful affinity with the seagoing life. Top rock artists followed Blues Image and the Beach Boys in their songs exploring sailing, sailors, and ships and, by turn, venturing into fantastic or rough waters.
There’s the Grateful Dead’s Lost Sailor (1980), Rod Stewart’s and Christopher Cross’s like-titled Sailing (1975 and 1980, respectively), and Crosby Stills & Nash’s Southern Cross (1981). In 1970 Van Morrison put out Into the Mystic and before that there’s Sloop John B, another Beach Boys’ performance from 1966.
Brian Wilson had adapted an actual Bahamian sea chanty for their rock version. Lyrics include “hoist[ing] up the [main] sail” and setting it. In the 21st century these classic songs still resonate on the lists of the “greatest songs of all time.”
Shut Down is a song by Brian Wilson and Roger Christian that appeared on a pair of 1963 Beach Boys’ albums: Surfin’ U.S.A. in March 1963 and Little Deuce Coupe in October 1963. The song was first released in March 1963 on side B of the Surfin’ U.S.A. single that climbed to no.3 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Six months later, Shut Down was released as its own single and peaked at no.23.
The lyrics of Shut Down describe the dangerous activity of drag racing that is also illegal. Drag races were once popularly held on the public streets of southern California using muscle cars. As these races attracted many enthusiastic supporters, streets were sometimes closed off for the race cars and even had the cooperation of local police though unofficially.
The Beach Boys’ lyrics are filled with technical and slang terms for drag racing.
IT HAPPENED ON THE STRIP WHERE THE ROAD IS WIDE (Oooo rev it up now) TWO COOL SHORTS STANDING SIDE BY SIDE (Oooo rev it up now) YEAH, MY FUEL INJECTED STINGRAY AND A FOUR-THIRTEEN (Oooo rev it up now) REVVING UP OUR ENGINES AND IT SOUNDS REAL MEAN (Oooo rev it up now)
One dragstrip in the early 1960s was Glenoaks Boulevard in southern California between Glendale/Burbank and San Fernando/Sylmar. It is a major thoroughfare which stretches over 20 miles. Since a drag race caused disruption to public traffic’s normal flow as well as likely increased harm to law-abiding bystanders, drag races were usually held at night when traffic volume tapered off and was low.
“Two cool shorts” refer not to some spectators’ bermudas, but the truncated length of the race cars.
In 1963, a “fuel injected Stingray” was very much the latest cool car feature. While computerized fuel injection became standard on passenger cars it was, from 1963 to 1965, a specialized mechanical feature found only on the Stingray. What fuel injection accomplished was to optimize the air-to-fuel mixture that made for powerfully efficient engine performance.
TACH IT UP, TACH IT UP BUDDY GOING TO SHUT YOU DOWN
“Tach it up” refers to the moments before the start of the race when muscle cars revved their engines to achieve high rpms. This idling pedal-to-the-metal stores energy in the car’s flywheel so that when the car accelerates it literally jumps off the start line with extra power. Tach it up too much and the car accelerates and does a wheel stand or “wheelie.” While the car’s front wheels lifting off the ground is cool, it is also quite dangerous as the car could more easily lose control.
BUT THE FOUR-THIRTEEN’S REALLY DIGGING IN… SUPERSTOCK DART IS WINDING OUT IN LOW…
The Dart is the other car in the Beach Boys song’s drag race. The 413 is a super-sized engine in the body of the 1962 Dodge Dart. The 413, also called a “hemmie” for its hemispheric dual combustion chambers, started being made by Chrysler way back in 1951.
BUDDY, GOING TO SHUT YOU DOWN.
“Shut Down” is slang for beating the opponent in the race by any and all means. After a car crosses the finish line it enters the shut-down lane. The first car in and out of the shut down lane is the winner.
Since its release in 1963, Shut Down has generated controversy—that it glorifies drag racing, an illegal activity and using what Cash Box at the time identified as “top rock-a-teen sounds.” But some believe the song’s greater scandal is that it seems to imply that the 327 fuel-injected Stingray beat the 413 Super Stock Dodge.
Dodge fans who really know what’s under the hood understand that that outcome couldn’t possibly be real.
In a recording career that spanned over five decades, the singer, actress, environmentalist and animal rights activist, won 4 Grammy Awards, had 5 no.1 hit singles and several Platinum-selling singles and albums.
In 1978 Olivia Newton-John starred in “Grease” which grossed over $150 million worldwide (over $680 million in 2022 dollars). The movie musical produced three hit singles that year: “You’re the One That I Want” sung with John Travolta (no.1), “Hopelessly Devoted to You” (no.3) and “Summer Nights” (no.5). Newton-John also appeared in 1978 in the film “Xanadu,” whose soundtrack went Double Platinum. With Totally Hot released in November 1978, Newton-John had another top-ten album (no.7) and single, A Little More Love (no.4). Though Totally Hot reinforced the singer’s new sexier image, it still reached No. 4 on the Billboard Country Albums chart.
A Little More Love is a song recorded and released as a single in October 1978 by Olivia Newton-John. It was her follow-up to her latest hit single Summer Nights, released in August 1978, which reached no.5 on the Billboard Hot 100. The single A Little More Love anticipated the release of Newton-John’s 10th studio album, Totally Hot, on November 21, 1978 where the song appeared as the lead track on side 2. .
A Little More Love became a worldwide top-ten hit single in 1979. Both the new album and single were another wildly successful collaboration for Olivia Newton-John and John Farrar, her record producer and songwriter, in the 1970’s and 1980’s.
A Little More Love peaked at no.4 on the Billboard Hot 100 in February 1979 and Totally Hot became Newton-John’s first top-ten album (no.7) on the Billboard 200 chart since Have You Never Been Mellow in 1975.
In the course of 1979, when My Sharona by The Knack, Y.M.C.A. by Village People, Ring My Bell by Anita Wood, Too Much Heaven by the Bee Gees, and Heart Of Glass by Blondie were some of Billboard’s year-end top 20 singles, Olivia Newton-John’s A Little More Love ranked no. 17.
Note: British-Australian singer Olivia Newton-John died of cancer on Monday, August 8, 2022. Newton-John was 73 years old.
How Deep Is Your Love (1977) by the Bee Gees ranks number 375 on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.1 It sits between White Room (1968) by Cream and Unchained Melody (1965) by The Righteous Brothers. Barry Gibb, the lone surviving Bee Gee today, reportedly said that How Deep Is Your Love is his favorite Bee Gees song. 2 In 2011 it was voted in a TV poll as the UK’s favorite.3 Recorded in the spring of 1977 in anticipation of the album and film Saturday Night Fever to be released later that year— How Deep Is Your Love was released in the U.S. as a single in September 1977. Three months later, after the smash-hit film Saturday Night Fever starring John Travolta was released, How Deep Is Your Love became the number one song in the U.S. on Christmas Eve 1977 and stayed in the top spot for three weeks. Although the song had started on the charts in October 1977, when it reached number one it stayed in the top 10 for four months until April 1978 which, at that time, set a longevity record. There are two official music videos for How Deep Is Your Love featuring the Bee Gees.4
Fig. 1. There are two official music videos performed by the Bee Gees of How Deep is Your Love. The music of the Bee Gees (left to right: Robin, Barry, and Maurice Gibb) and the 1977 film Saturday Night Fever starring John Travolta breathed fire into the disco music craze and helped define the disco era in the late 1970’s.
Fig 2. A huge international pop music hit starting in late 1977, How Deep is Your Love written and performed by the Bee Gees made its way into the Saturday Night Fever: The Original Movie Sound Track album that went Platinum on January 3, 1978 and was certified 16x Multi-Platinum on November 16, 2017. It remains one of the top ten-selling albums of all time.
When the Bee Gees were asked by film producer Robert Stigwood to provide five songs for a film tentatively titled Tribal Rites of the New Saturday Night based on the 1975 New York magazine fiction article about the urban disco scene, they didn’t want to compose music specifically for a film (although Barry did write the title song for Stigwood’s follow-up picture, Grease). It didn’t help that the Bee Gees were given neither a script nor hardly told what the movie plot was about. They offered Stigwood, their longtime manager, songs that they were already working on, namely, Stayin’ Alive, Night Fever, If I Can’t Have You (later sung by Yvonne Elliman), More Than A Woman, and How Deep is Your Love.5 At one early screening with John Travolta and director John Badham, among others, the Bee Gees were pleased though a little surprised when they saw for the first time scenes of the re-titled Saturday Night Fever with their music and lyrics to back it up. Although the music soundtrack at this juncture was demo cuts, the songs they wrote and performed meshed perfectly with the film’s scenes about which they had never been told very much. To be added to their astonishment—as much as anyone else’s there attending that rough cut – is that the Bee Gees had no idea they had embarked on a motion picture that would soon prove to be a milestone in film history. Saturday Night Fever would perfectly capture a moment in time and forever define the disco age.
Fig. 3. John Travolta attended the London premiere of Saturday Night Fever on March 22, 1978 with Kay Edwards.
Following its world premiere in Hollywood on December 7, 1977, Saturday Night Fever became an enormous success. It became Chicago film critic Gene Siskel’s favorite film—soon after, Siskel famously bought Tony Manero’s white suit at a charity auction in 1978 for $2,000. Colleague and friend Roger Ebert writing shortly after Siskel’s death in 1999, believed that Saturday Night Fever had struck Siskel mainly on an emotional level but also for its themes that had impressed him. Other influential film critics were similarly praiseworthy of the film’s subject matter. At the 50th Academy Awards on April 3, 1978 Saturday Night Fever had received only one nomination (John Travolta for Best Actor) in a year where Annie Hall and Star Wars dominated the competition.Robin Gibb later observed that Saturday Night Fever was made on a very low budget, released very late in the year and had no expensive promotion. The film’s word of mouth was good, however, which even included its star, John Travolta, who at its world premiere at then-Mann’s Chinese Theatre admitted watching the musical film on the big screen as if seeing a fantasy or dream for the first time.6
Fig. 4. Tony Manero’s shiny white polyester suit — bought off the rack in Brooklyn for the making of the film Saturday Night Fever— has been compared to a symbol of aspiration and hope in what is otherwise a dark movie.
Conceptually the song How Deep Is Your Love materialized when, working with collaborator Blue Weaver, Barry Gibb’s instigating question to him in beginning to compose it was: “What is the most beautiful chord that you know?”7 It was the first song the Bee Gees composed that ended up in the film Saturday Night Fever. After a creative hit-and-miss process at the piano – and further collaboration with Robin and Maurice – the song was put together in the middle of night in about four hours at the Château d’Hérouville studios in France.8 This was part of the Bee Gees’ usual working process – arriving into the studio around three o’clock in the afternoon and ending their workday near or after midnight – resulting in all of the film’s songs written quickly, with the lyrics finished later and the disco music taking longer.9 The Bee Gees’ falsetto singing had always been emotional, and it was often by way of collaborating with industry talent— other musicians, producers, and the like—that their music developed in new directions. By the time How Deep is Your Love came about, the Bee Gees had a reputation for being open to suggestions, including the personally emotional piano chords Blue Weaver offered the Brothers Gibb that night.10 The creation of How Deep Is Your Love followed a course already prevalent in the Bee Gees musical career – an attitude of collaboration and creativity in the studio that allowed ideas to be suggested, and beautiful melodies to quickly emerge as the result. Though How Deep is Your Love was composed in one sitting, its arrangement and production took longer which changed some of the song’s original structure. The title was based on what the Bee Gees simply maintained was the variety of connections listeners could make with the phrase How Deep is Your Love – and so providing the song with further universal appeal.11 Following the film’s U.S. release by Paramount Pictures on December 14, 1977 Maurice Gibb believed its ultimate success was the combination of its phenomenal 23-year-old star John Travolta and the music soundtrack whose album had already been certified Gold on November 22, 1977 and certified Platinum on January 3, 1978. The combination of star power and music – along with stunning word of mouth and critical acclaim – created a record-shattering synergy for both film and soundtrack album featuring Bee Gees songs making the cultural impact of Saturday Night Fever swift and enduring. How Deep is Your Love remains one of the most anthologized love songs of the modern era. As recently as November 16, 2017, the soundtrack album was certified 16x Multi-Platinum.12
Fig. 5. John Travolta in the 1970’s. Playing 19-year-old Tony Manero in Saturday Night Fever about a teen with a good job at the local hardware store in Brooklyn who is trying to dance his way to a better life. His performance earned the 23-year-old Travolta an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor in a Leading Role that year.
Fig. 6. Brooklyn-born Donna Pescow was a newcomer and played Annette in Saturday Night Fever. Annette is Tony’s former dance partner and would-be girlfriend.
Fig 7. Like Donna Pescow and others in the cast of Saturday Night Fever, co-star Karen Lynn Gorney, John Travolta’s love interest in the film, was a newcomer. Even Travolta who had a swelling fan base because of his ongoing role as Vinnie Barbarino in the popular late 1970’s TV sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter, was not seen as a dance man. Hungry to take his acting career to the next level, Travolta’s energetic dance scenes had critics praising his performance as among the best ever filmed.
Fig. 8. A two-minute scene of disco dancing by John Travolta thrust his energetic performance and the new star into the annals of film history. (This is a portrayal of Travolta as Danny Zuko in Grease.)
Fig. 9. “Robert Stigwood explained to the Bee Gees about this young guy, who every weekend blows his wages at a disco in Brooklyn. He’s got a really truly Catholic family, and he’s got a good job, but he blows his wages every Saturday night. He has his mates with him. Then he comes back and starts the week again, and this goes on every Saturday night. But it’s just this one Saturday night that’s filmed. So that’s what we knew (about a film we were writing music for) except it was John Travolta playing the part…” Maurice Gibb in Bee Gees: The Authorized Biography.
How Deep Is Your Love quickly reached number one internationally in countries such as Canada, Brazil, Finland, Chile, and France. In the Bee Gees’ native England it reached number three which delighted the newly–resurgent pop music group in that they had a top five hit in a country that by the mid-to-late 1970’s saw Punk and New wave rock in the ascendant.13 The Sex Pistols’ God Save the Queen, also released in 1977, was banned on the airwaves by the BBC for its “gross bad taste” though today it ranks number 175 on the Rolling Stone’s Greatest Hits list – 200 slots higher than the Bee Gees’ disco ballad, How Deep Is Your Love. How Deep Is Your Love and the Saturday Night Fever album provided superstar momentum for the Bee Gees’ next projects, but like their careers up to that point, the English-Australian pop-rock band simply continued their readiness to create music. In The Ultimate Biography of the Bee Gees, Blue Weaver understood the Bee Gees’ success during this period was not due to their “virtuosity,” although their falsetto vocals were “brilliant,” but their collaborative working method which they pursued until reaching the final product that satisfied them – and clearly satisfied some part of the rest of the world.14
Fig. 10. In 1978 Barry Gibb observed about Robin and Maurice and himself: “When we were kids, we’d sit on each other’s beds all night and plan our careers. We decided that when we got to the top, we’d have our own office. We wanted to get to a point where we wouldn’t have to ever work again so we could sit back and enjoy everything we had accomplished. A few years ago that seemed forever out of reach. Sometimes I think I’m living that dream now. We’ve never really made it before. If this is indeed the top, then it’s better than what we imagined. It’s a lot of fun.” Bee Gees: The Authorized Biography.As the Bee Gees, Barry and twins Maurice and Robin became one of the world’s biggest bands ever selling more than 220 million records. In 1997 they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Maurice died in 2003 and Robin in 2012. In 2017 Barry told CBS News: “So when I lost them all, I didn’t know whether I wanted to go on. ”
Fig. 11. 70-year-old Barry Gibb was honored during Stayin’ Alive: A Grammy Salute to the Music of the Bee Gees in April 2017 where he got up on stage to close out the show to perform a few hit songs.
During one visit to the hospital while Robin was in a coma, Barry sang a song that he had written for him called The End Of The Rainbow.
Song’s recording and release dates – Bee Gees Anthology (songbook) by the Bee Gees, Hal Leonard (1991) and Bee Gees The Authorized Biography, Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb (as told to David Leaf), Delilah Communications/A Delta special, 1979, p.116.
Didn’t want to compose music for a film – The Ultimate Biography Of The Bee Gees: Tales Of The Brothers Gibb, By Melinda Bilyeu, Hector Cook, Andrew Môn Hughes, 2001, Omnibus Press, London, pp. 411; Hardly told the film plot – Bee Gees The Authorized Biography, Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb (as told to David Leaf), Delilah Communications/A Delta special, 1979, p.110.
Surprised music with unseen film meshed – Bee Gees The Authorized Biography, Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb (as told to David Leaf), Delilah Communications/A Delta special, 1979, p.111; Ebert on Siskel’s favorite film – https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-saturday-night-fever-1977 – Retrieved January 24, 2018; other critics’ praise of film- see Pauline Kael, “Nirvana,” The New Yorker, December 26, 1977, pp. 59-60; film low budget, released late- The Ultimate Biography Of The Bee Gees: Tales Of The Brothers Gibb, By Melinda Bilyeu, Hector Cook, Andrew Môn Hughes, 2001, Omnibus Press, London, pp. 411. Regarding the white suit that had been bought off the rack in Brooklyn for the film, its symbolism in Saturday Night Fever has been postulated. Professor Deborah Nadoolman Landis, a designer and historian of film costume stated that the white suit was a symbol of aspiration and hope in an otherwise “dark little movie” – see https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2012/aug/06/john-travolta-white-suit-v-and-a – retrieved January 25, 2018.
Song’s musical concept – The Ultimate Biography Of The Bee Gees: Tales Of The Brothers Gibb, By Melinda Bilyeu, Hector Cook, Andrew Môn Hughes, 2001, Omnibus Press, London, pp. 411-412.
First song composed for Saturday Night Fever, Château d’Hérouville – Bee Gees The Authorized Biography, Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb (as told to David Leaf), Delilah Communications/A Delta special, 1979, p.109.
Songs written quickly – Ibid., p.109; lyrics later – The Ultimate Biography Of The Bee Gees: Tales Of The Brothers Gibb, By Melinda Bilyeu, Hector Cook, Andrew Môn Hughes, 2001, Omnibus Press, London, p. 415.
Open to suggestions – Bee Gees The Authorized Biography, Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb (as told to David Leaf), Delilah Communications/A Delta special, 1979, p.107. emotional piano chords – The Ultimate Biography Of The Bee Gees: Tales Of The Brothers Gibb, By Melinda Bilyeu, Hector Cook, Andrew Môn Hughes, 2001, Omnibus Press, London, p. 411-12.
song composing, arrangement, and production – The Ultimate Biography Of The Bee Gees: Tales Of The Brothers Gibb, By Melinda Bilyeu, Hector Cook, Andrew Môn Hughes, 2001, Omnibus Press, London, pp. 409 and 412. Title chose Ibid. p. 412.
Movie’s ultimate success – Bee Gees The Authorized Biography, Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb (as told to David Leaf), Delilah Communications/A Delta special, 1979, p.112. Costing $3.5 million to make, Saturday Night Fever earned an impressive $237.1 million –see “Saturday Night Fever, Box Office Information”. Box Office Mojo – retrieved May 26, 2014. Soundtrack album certified God and Platinum -http://www.beegees-world.com/bio_gplat.html -Retrieved February 1 , 2018. certified 16x Multi-Platinum on November 16, 2017 – see https://www.riaa.com/gold-platinum/- retrieved January 24, 2018.
