The music of The Bee Gees will always be timeless. The group, made up of siblings Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb, and Maurice Gibb, spent more than 30 years releasing music. Among their many, many hits are these three songs, which are so good that I still want to dance to them today.
“Stayin’ Alive”
It’s nearly impossible not to move, at least a little bit, to “Stayin’ Alive”. One of the biggest hits by The Bee Gees, “Stayin’ Alive” was written by the three Bee Gees members. “Stayin’ Alive” is on the soundtrack for Saturday Night Fever, starring John Travolta.
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“Stayin’ Alive” says, “You know it’s all right / It’s OK / I’ll live to see another day / But we can try to understand / The New York Times’ effect on man / Whether you’re a brother / Or whether you’re a mother / You’re stayin’ alive, stayin’ alive / Feel the city breakin’ / And everybody shakin’ / And we’re stayin’ alive, stayin’ alive / Ah, ha, ha, ha, stayin’ alive, stayin’ alive / Ah, ha, ha, ha, stayin’ alive.”
“You Should Be Dancing”
Any list of songs by The Bee Gees that are dance-worthy obviously needs to include “You Should Be Dancing”. Written by the Bee Gees, “You Should Be Dancing” came out in 1976. It appears on their Children Of The World album.
“You Should Be Dancing” says, “What you doin’ on your back? / What you doin’ on your back? / You should be dancing, yeah / Dancing, yeah / My baby moves at midnight / Goes right on ’til the dawn, yeah / My woman takes me higher / My woman keeps me warm.”
“Jive Talkin’” came out in 1975. On their Main Course record and written by The Bee Gees, “Jive Talkin’” became a Top 10 single.
The song says, “Oh, my child, you’ll never know / Just what you mean to me / Oh, my child, you got so much / You gonna take away my energy / With all your jive-talkin’, you’re telling me lies, yeah / Good lovin’ still gets in my eyes / Nobody believes what you say / It’s just your jive-talkin’ that gets in the way.”
“Jive Talkin’” actually began as “Drive Talkin’” instead. Their producer, Arif Mardin, suggested switching the word “drive” to “jive.” Still, the idea came while The Bee Gees were actually in the car.
“We’d already thought up the title for this song, but it wasn’t until Barry, Maurice, and I drove from Biscayne Bay to Miami that we realized what the tune was going to be,” Robin recalls. “We had the idea as we passed over a bridge. Some tar noises made a rhythmic sound on the wheels of our car, which created the feel to the type of song we wanted to write. We finished the song at the Criteria Studios that day.”
Photo by Richard E. Aaron/Redferns