Whether You're A Mother or Whether You're a Brother
Maybe it's because I only ate a rice krispie treat for lunch yesterday, or maybe it's because of the stiff gin martini I pounded right before dinner -- gulped from a proper martini glass, mind you, and not the usual styrofoam cup we've had to use to disguise our sin in front of Granny for the last five months -- or maybe it's because I'm just in a really weepy way, but I couldn't have been more giddy to watch an episode of "American Idol" last night featuring songs by the Bee Gees.
Before you get all up in my business about the Bee Gees, you should know that my parents made sure that I knew who Barry, Robin and Maurice were before I came out of the womb. They were the only records my father owned, plus a couple here and there from Abba and the seminal Anne Murray. And while it would have been so much cooler had I grown up listening to The Stones or Zeppelin or anything featuring men who don't sing like women, I can't say that I have any hard feelings about my Bee Gees upbringing, or the resultant 20-yr crush I've had on skinny, bearded men.
My father's favorite Bee Gees song was "Nights on Broadway," and he used to set the needle specifically to that point in the record to serenade his Saturday afternoon chores. I can remember those afternoons distinctly, because I loved it when he blamed it all on the nights on Broadway, and because he usually did his chores dressed in nothing but plaid shorts, the top to his white Heavenly Underwear, and a pair of mid-calf black socks. My favorite part was when he'd drop whatever he was doing as the song got to the chorus, scrunch his forehead like he had been kicked in the groin and scream, "BLAMING IT ALL!" For years I couldn't imagine the enormity of what must have happened on Broadway, something scandalous for sure, because they were blaming everything on that one road. And I couldn't wait until I could grow up and blame it ALL on Broadway, too.
My sister took her Bee Gees upbringing VERY SERIOUSLY and has instilled in her own five children a love for everything Brothers Gibb. Her 5-yr old son knows every word to "Jive Talking," and the twin 2-yr old boys go nuts when they hear the first notes of "Stayin' Alive." I don't know whether this is frightening or precious, but if you knew my sister this would seem perfectly normal. Of course, it's perfectly normal for the twin 2-yr old boys to take off their diapers and poop standing up in the middle of the living room.
I personally prefer the early Bee Gees, songs like "I've Gotta Get a Message to You," "I Started a Joke," and "New York Mining Disaster 1941." I like to think that this redeems me somewhat because I'm obviously keeping it real, appreciating their work before they went mainstream, even though I wasn't alive when that happened. I do, however, have a soft spot in my heart for the soundtrack to Saturday Night Fever which I played over and over in my car on the trip to and from high school. While other kids my age were listening to Nirvana, Soundgarden and Alice in Chains, I was blasting "How Deep is Your Love" and pining over imaginary relationships with men in white leisure suits.
Today I'm going to finish painting the back room, and instead of listening to the new CDs I bought yesterday in a storming hormonal freakout I'm going to dig out The Bee Gees Greatest Hits and a pair of black socks to get me cracking. Chuck should be barking in falsetto in no time.
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FM Living
April said:
Bee Gees, huh? That's a mighty big confession there. Very brave of you.
05.07.03 - 07:04 AM / 1Tremorr said:
You can't escape them, either. The Bee Gee's and Barry Gibb are everywhere as producers and songwriters, too. That was one of the great ironies of the bee gee's backlash! people stopped buying their albums but couldn't get enough of their music, whether it was sung by Streisand or Dolly Parton. I think they did a lot of the music on the Grease sound track, too.
05.07.03 - 07:05 AM / 2allisonic said:
Yes! Glad i'm not the only one. My parents lived Saturday Night Fever and I have fond memories of that soundtrack.
Particularly, "How deep is your love?"
05.07.03 - 07:06 AM / 3Jason said:
Dooce, I can completely relate. I have to admit that when I was a kid, I actually sat in front of the TV during Saturday Night Fever's network premiere with a lunchbox sized tape recorder. It took three 60 minute tapes to get it all. And April - I must say that I don't think it's a brave admission at all, I think it gives Dooce an even sexier (if you will) mystique (if you will). Nothing to be ashamed of there - it's retro, yo.
05.07.03 - 07:15 AM / 4melissa said:
Man, how I love the Bee Gee's. Because you wondered what my exact reation was: I thought it was a fabulous American Idol theme, but felt it was a major cop-out for Scrunchy-Face to sing "Grease". Come on! There's too much brilliance in the Gibb song catalog to go with "Grease".
05.07.03 - 07:16 AM / 5alex said:
It's not how deep your love is that matters, but how far you fall into it.
05.07.03 - 07:19 AM / 6bearcub said:
>>it’s perfectly normal for the twin 2-yr old boys to take off their diapers and poop standing up in the middle of the living room.
No. Please say it ain't so. For real?
05.07.03 - 07:25 AM / 7Summer said:
I love the Bee Gees and I'm not afraid to admit it.
I was alive when SNF came out and argued with my babysitter that disco did indeed not suck and that she and Supertramp could take a hike (even though I secretly liked them too). My kids know lots of their songs. They also know the Eagles, The Beatles, and Abba. I love it, those were things my parents cleaned house to.
I think my personal Bee Gee's fave for housework is "You should be dancin".
"Whatchya doin' on your back? Whatchya doin' on your back? You should be daaancin', Yeah!"
05.07.03 - 07:25 AM / 8alex said:
You know, I should give up being an English teacher. I obviously have a promising career awaiting me in the fortune cookie writing field.
05.07.03 - 07:25 AM / 9dayment said:
Ummm... hormonal freakout?
In a really weepy way?
Are these hints?
05.07.03 - 07:27 AM / 10s00ka said:
girl. i only wish. all throughout my early grade school years, i knew all the words and all the moves to my donny and marie osmund albums. that's just sick.
05.07.03 - 07:28 AM / 11dayment said:
....because I wouldn't recommend strong gin martinis. I'm just sayin'
05.07.03 - 07:28 AM / 12Angelique said:
Oh i hear ya.
my achilles heal?
dean martin and louis prima.
i had to secretly enjoy these icons in my room alone so my mom didnt hear,and never mention them tto my fellow tattooed and pierced classmates. yeah, it would have gone over well to play dean and louis on the way to see danzig. my mom was of the freebird era and couldnt stand that "oldie shit". to this day, i can't cook a meal just the same as if i have dean belting out a seranade to me. as for The Bees, no one else could look as damned nummy as those guys in skin tight white polyester.
05.07.03 - 07:29 AM / 13Yahmdallah said:
I hope your hits compilation includes "Tragedy." That's a great one to make up your own words to during the chorus. "Tragedy! When your _____ falls off and you can go on, it's Tragedy!"
05.07.03 - 07:30 AM / 14dooce said:
dayment: it's a hint that my body is adjusting after many many many years on a daily hormone regimen known as The Pill. no one told me it would be like this.
05.07.03 - 07:33 AM / 15Jay said:
I can't say that I've never cleaned the apartment with Abba - Gold blaring on the stereo. I also can't say that I didn't know "Super Trooper" made scrubbing the bathroom sink seem like the most important thing I'd ever done. So, far be it from me to say anything about your Bee Gees.
05.07.03 - 07:36 AM / 16Kyle said:
I admit I was a late-Bee Gees-bloomer, but that doesn't make the experience any less fabuloso. They're great.
P.S. I promise not to sing "More than a woman" to Chuck.
05.07.03 - 07:40 AM / 17christine said:
I, too was so excited last night during AI. My husband just doesn't get my love affair with the BeeGees. He only knows them as the Saturday Night Fever band. I'm going to pull out my record player and albums (in the spare bedroom with all of our unpacked boxes from 5 years ago) and play "Holiday" for him. That's one of my favorites. Ahhhhhhh.
05.07.03 - 07:45 AM / 18april (apparently, the other one) said:
I'm quite impressed with the Bee Gees. Ditto for the Monkees (thanks, Nick at Nite). My father, on the other, listened to total artists. Both crap. Ronnie Milsap and the Beach Boys. I understand the Beach Boys are very significant, and really aren't crap, but YOU listen to the Beach Boys In Concert for 6 straight hours on a van's cassette player at age 11 and see if you can ever rectify that first impression. On the other hand, whenever I hear "Stranger in My House", I still end up singing it under my breath.
05.07.03 - 07:51 AM / 19april said:
CORRECTION: ...a total of two artists...
I get excited when I type.
05.07.03 - 07:53 AM / 20Paula said:
See, I just listened to the Saturday Night Fever Soundtrack three days ago while scrubbing the toilet. The Abba Greatest Hits CD was next in line and then to redeem myself, I played The Pixies.
But really, if you want justification for why the Bee Gees can maybe be considered titans of an era, you need to watch the VH-1 special "Saturday Night Fever: Behind the Movie" (yes, it's true, they now have a Behind the Movie series). I couldn't tear myself away. Hehehe.
05.07.03 - 08:04 AM / 21christine said:
Thanks, dooce...now I'm all weepy, too. Had to jump over to amazon.com and buy the greatest hits cd. Can't wait to hear "Nights On Broadway" again. Can't get it out of my head now...
05.07.03 - 08:36 AM / 22aubs said:
I'm completely obsessed with the Barry Gibb/Barbra Streisand duet "What Kind of Fool" and have been known to sing it, off-key, of course, on various answering machines. Including my Mom's. At late hours. After quite a few stiff drinks.
05.07.03 - 08:36 AM / 23April said:
Jason, I grew up listening to a lot of the artists mentioned here, but I have a hard time confessing that, as I'm not brave enough to reveal my taste in music, lest someone make a judgment on me based on that. So yes, even though you don't think it's a brave admission to make, I think it's brave anyway. Especially if you're the first person online to admit to liking the Bee Gees.
05.07.03 - 08:37 AM / 24Erica said:
I can't really hop on the Bee Gees love train, but I will just state that Clay really needs to not do that hip twitching thing again.
05.07.03 - 08:39 AM / 25Chris said:
seminal Anne Murray
seminal Anne Murray
seminal Anne Murray
05.07.03 - 08:41 AM / 26chorizo said:
First Album I Ever Bought With My Very Own Money: Spirits Having Flown.
Of course there were long periods in my life where that record (yes, vinyl) hid in a box in the back of the closet, but I still have it. mmmmmmmm.
05.07.03 - 09:01 AM / 27andrew said:
i was watching a korean action film about a year ago, and the song "holiday" came on, and i thought, wow, who is that? some new young brit band? i had no idea about the early bee gees. i tracked that song down and then found the Greatest Hits with “I’ve Gotta Get a Message to You,” “I Started a Joke,” and “New York Mining Disaster 1941" on it. and now it's parked on my turntable. so great.
05.07.03 - 09:38 AM / 28dj blurb said:
Don't be hatin on Clay. He doesn't know he's gay. Yet.
05.07.03 - 09:47 AM / 29lordgoon said:
My god, is loving the Bee Gees really still the sort of thing that one can only whisper shamefacedly in a confessional? Are we really still mired in the 'Disco Sucks' phase of our culture that bolstered the careers of such luminaries as Triumph, Ted Nugent and 'Beatlemania'? These are beautiful songs, people! Comparisons with Gershwin and Robert Johnson and Dylan and Lennnon/McCartney would not be hyperbole, here. So what if they all sang like a bunch of girly-men?
05.07.03 - 10:05 AM / 30