Bee Gees: In Our Own Time

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♪ (audience cheering) ♪ (explosion) ♪ (audience cheering) ♪ ♪ ♪ My baby moves at midnight ♪ ♪ Goes right on till the dawn ♪ ♪ My woman takes me higher ♪ ♪ My woman keeps me warm ♪ ♪ What you doin' on your back, aah ♪ ♪ What you doin' on your back, aah ♪ ♪ You should be dancing, yeah ♪ ♪ Dancing, yeah ♪ What you doin' on your back ♪ ♪ What you doin' on your back, aah ♪ ♪ You should be dancing, yeah ♪ ♪ Dancing, yeah Come on!

(audience clapping) ♪ ♪ ♪ My baby moves at midnight ♪ ♪ Goes right on till the dawn ♪ ♪ My woman takes me higher ♪ ♪ My woman keeps me warm ♪ ♪ What you doin' on your back, aah ♪ ♪ What you doin' on your back, aah ♪ ♪ You should be dancing, yeah ♪ ♪ Dancing, yeah Come on!

(audience clapping) ♪ ♪ You should be dancing, yeah ♪ ♪ Aah, aah ♪ You should be dancing, yeah ♪ ♪ Aah ♪ ♪ You should be dancing, yeah ♪ ♪ Aah (audience applauding) ♪ (audience applauding) ♪ (audience applauding and cheering) ♪ Well, it's one for the money ♪ ♪ Two for the show ♪ Three to get ready, now go, cat, go ♪ ♪ But don't you step on my blue suede shoes ♪ ♪ You can do anything ♪ But lay off of my blue suede shoes ♪ BARRY: I just think we were intensely affected by the beginning of rock-n-roll, by Elvis Presley and Lonnie Donegan, and Tommy Steele, the Don Lang Five... MAURICE: But I really felt the love, the real love of it is when I heard "Wake Up Little Susie" by the Everly Brothers.

♪ ♪ Wake up, little Susie, wake up ♪ ♪ And I kept on playing it over and over again, and I kept on hearing these harmonies.

So, when they were singing songs, or we heard any of the Everly Brothers songs, the three of us would just add a third harmony, so it would be three-part.

♪ The movie's over, it's four o'clock ♪ ♪ And we're in trouble deep ♪ ♪ Wake up, little Susie ♪ Wake up, little Susie So we perfected it from listening to those guys and Neil Sedaka, where he'd actually triple with himself, you know, so it was these three- part harmony songs, anything like that, well we could sing them.

BARRY: Oh yeah, we just wanted to get up and play.

ROBIN: Yeah.

We just wanted to have fun.

In tha- in that degree, it was a hobby.

INTERVIEWER: W- when did you first get together and discover you could- you could harmonize like you- like you can?

MAURICE: The first time I remember, Robin and I were about six.

BARRY: Yeah.

MAURCE: Barry was nine, and we sat in the little lounge room and Barry'd got his first guitar for his birthday and the first thing we sang was "Lollipop."

INTERVIEWER: "Lollipop?"

MAURICE: Which is... the Mudlarks sort of thing.

It was the only one... We just automatically harmonized.

(Barry laughs) Don't ask me where we got the "Lollipop" from but it was the only one that helped seem to have the harmonies at each step.

INTERVIEWER: Can you remember it?

(vocalizing) ♪ Lollipop, lollipop oh, lolli-lolli-lolli ♪ ♪ Lollipop, lollipop oh, lolli-lolli-lolli ♪ ♪ Lollipop, lollipop oh, lolli-lolli-lolli ♪ ♪ Lollipop, my lollipop INTERVIEWER: Oh dear.

(laughing) (clapping) MAURICE: We would just sing songs like "Lollipop."

The things like that.

We would just sing them and just try and get them better.

And, I remember Dad coming in and saying, "I thought you had the radio on."

BARRY: That was the beginning of the harmonies.

They became instinctive for us because we loved the oldies.

ROBIN: And it's incredible, considering how young we were.

BARRY: I was about nine and Maurice and Robin were about six.

ROBIN: We often thought we were triplets at one time because we all had the same goal, the ultimate goal of just singing together.

And I would say we'd be more three brothers than twins and an older brother.

BARRY: Musical creativity ran right through our family.

Our father was a band leader during the war, and he then led the band on the ferry between Liverpool and the Isle of Man.

ROBIN: Work was pretty difficult in the late '50s for my dad to come up with.

And he needed a fresh start, and he was still young enough to do that for himself.

And he had a responsibility for us, so we...

It was natural kind of move to Australia.

MAURICE: He was a very ambitious man and I like that.

And we all went.

And it was like a six-week trip across the world.

BARRY: For us, it was an adventure.

We didn't know where we were go- where we were going.

And we got us on a ship called the Fairsea with our parents, and baby Andy, and our sister, and traveled for five weeks to Australia, with very little money.

MAURICE: Well we had a ball.

We were singing every day on the front of the boat.

We would get in the Sun.

BARRY: And you crossed... ROBIN: We went on the Fairsea.

BARRY: The Indian Ocean.

You went through the Suez Canal, and the Red Sea and- and you saw things that children our age would... ROBIN: It was great!

BARRY: Never have seen.

ROBIN: And where we settled was Brisbane, which is quite tropical, and, you know, passion fruit on little streets and banana trees in everybody's garden.

MAURICE: And then we started working.

You know, we found out different places that we could go and sing and... BARRY: And we got the opportunities to sing in a racing arena.

MAURICE: We got to know a driver called Bill Goode.

He said, "You can come and sing."

And we sang at the Redcliffe Speedway on the back of a flatbed truck and collected about 14 pounds, something, I remember, off the track.

People threw money on the track.

And that was our first, sort of, public engagement.

The racing driver who got us the gig, he knew a disc jockey called Bill Gates, and he told him about us.

And he came, he heard us sing, and he invited us to the station.

ROBIN: He was a- a drive-time DJ.

And he christened us the Bee Gees as a sort of temporary name, his initials, Brothers Gibb, Barry.

And he asked us to go into his radio station and record some songs, original compositions that Barry actually had written.

It was "Let Me Love You," "Time is Passing By," and "The Echo of Your Love."

And he recorded these on acetate.

MAURICE: Because in those days, the acetates were the thing.

They didn't have tape.

ROBIN: And he played it on his drive-time show for quite a while.

But of course, we didn't have a recording contract, but we were on the radio.

And we were only kids and we got the bug, and we wanted to keep going.

MAURICE: My father then got an agent because we were getting work.

Work in the pubs in- in Brisbane.

BARRY: And our lives changed, I think, at that point, because we worked and did about two to three shows per night.

It sustained our family, but we never thought we'd get rich doing it.

DESMOND: Now you all sing together, right?

BARRY: That's right.

DESMOND: And your brother Barry plays.

Now come on up- come on up here.

BARRY: Our first television shows, I had become very lanky, very tall and lanky and thin, and Maurice and Robin were still their same height.

So, what they decided to do was to get two tea chests and put Robin and Maurice on each tea chest, so that we'd all be the same height for the camera.

DESMOND: You're going to stand up on the higher level.

That's the thing.

Now, is it true you write your own pieces, Barry?

BARRY: That's true, Desmond.

ROBIN: And what was the song that we sang?

BARRY: "Time is Passing By."

(both vocalizing) (all vocalizing) ♪ Come swing along and sing along ♪ ♪ This time is passing by ♪ I'll drift along and breeze along ♪ ♪ Just like a butterfly ♪ 'Cause as long as I'm living ♪ ♪ I'll always be giving ♪ You, my love MAURICE: So, we stood there.

I remember, we had to- Robin and I we stood like this with our hands behind our backs going like this.

And we- (laughs) we didn't know what to do with our hands.

And just standing there going... and singing away.

♪ And sing along as time is passing by ♪ BARRY: We used to do all these, like, pop shows, but they were very live, and there was no such thing as taping shows.

ROBIN: We did various songs that we'd either written or he- or songs that were hits at the time.

There was "Lollipop," of course, and songs that people sang in harmony.

♪ You'll always be the one ♪ ♪ The only one my heart will ever know ♪ ♪ So I'll... ROBIN: We were quite regulars on those shows for a while as- as kids, but we weren't by any means a- a really professional act.

BARRY: And it was great experience because- because you were- you were on the spot.

You didn't- nothing was pre-recorded, you know.

You picked up your guitar, and you went on, and you- and you played, and you sang.

♪ You're my life (audience applauding) BARRY: Between 1960 and 1965 was the era of rock- n-roll in Australia.

With its- its own environment, its own TV stars, its own pop stars, rock stars, totally unknown to the rest of the world.

♪ Wine and women and song will only make me sad ♪ ♪ ♪ Love and kisses and hugs the things I never had ♪ ♪ ♪ If this should end, I don't mind ♪ ♪ If this should end, I will find ♪ ♪ What shall I do ♪ What shall I do ♪ What shall I do ♪ What shall I do ♪ Cars and buses and trams make a lot of noise ♪ MAURICE: We were like on an adventure together, we were loving everything we were doing.

We were just hoping we could get more recognition, but I don't think it was till the Beatles came along that we realized how much we wanted to do to have the approval they had.

♪ Come on ♪ Come on ♪ Come on ♪ Come on ♪ Come on ♪ Come on ♪ Come on ♪ Come on ♪ Please, please me, whoa yeah ♪ ♪ Like I please you ♪ When the Beatles came to Sydney, the magic was unbelievable.

I mean the whole city was... like, in this mood of Beatlemania.

I'd never seen anything like this before.

And I remember going down Pitt Street and getting a- a fan club b- the Beatle Fan Club books, and looking through what gear they've got, what boots they were wearing, what outfits, what clothes, the amps, the guitars, the recording session pictures, all this stuff.

I was- I was mesmerized by them because they were doing something that we loved to do and they were successful at it.

♪ Like I please you (audience applauding) BARRY: So we began to believe in ourselves.

We began to believe, "Well, OK, if- if they can do it, "then- then we should be able- we should be able to have a go at doing it."

ROBIN: It was just like- not born out of arrogance, but... BARRY: No.

ROBIN: But it was just a blind belief that "Hey, you know..." BARRY: Yeah, "Why can't we have a shot at that?"

(audience noises) ♪ ♪ Where is the sun that shone on my head ♪ ♪ The sun in my life it is dead ♪ ♪ It is dead ♪ ♪ Where is the light ♪ That would play in my streets ♪ ♪ And... MAURICE: So, we felt a little bit left out of the Mersey boom.

We wanted to be a part of that.

We- There was so much energy and so much excitement about it.

That was our world.

We wanted to be a part of- We're from Manchester.

You know, as far as we knew, we knew- we knew we were Isle of Man born, but brought up as kids in Manchester, and we were Northern, just like the Beatles.

You know, "What are we doing here?"

MAURICE: Righto, chaps, let's have a check.

Flaps?

BARRY: Check.

ROBIN: Check.

MAURICE: Rudder.

BARRY: Right.

ROBIN: Right.

(plane engine rumbles) ♪ Where is the girl ♪ I loved all along ♪ The girl that I loved ♪ She is gone ♪ She is gone ROBIN: You have to remember, this was an era where the UK was dictating what happened in the world... BARRY: What happened in the world.

Culturally, musically.

ROBIN: And we had to be where the action was.

London was the hub.

BARRY: Yeah.

MAURICE: As much as we loved Australia, we'd had 13 records in a row not doing that well at all, record-wise.

So we released our last record, which was Spicks And Specks, in Australia, and we decided we're gonna go back to England.

BARRY: Because we didn't want to miss out on the Mersey boom.

What we didn't know is it was coming to an end.

We were going to make a shock.

I was about 18.

ROBIN: Maurice and I were about 15 or 16.

Yeah.

BARRY: We went and told our mother and father that.

We remember that night as being fairly turbulent.

They weren't completely in agreement.

And they weren't completely in disagreement.

And so it was very difficult for Mum and Dad to think, "Well hang on, we're going to have to give up "making a living in order to take this chance, "In order to get on- back on a ship "and sail for five- five more weeks "back across the world to England "on the chance that our three sons think they can be stars or think they could be famous."

But- but we told them that, "This is what we're going to do, Mum and Dad."

ROBIN: Yeah.

BARRY: "This is what we're going to do.

"And you've got to go with us.

You've got to do this with us."

MAURICE: We left, but a week out we found out that Spicks and Specks had gone to number one in Australia.

(laughs) And we- it just blew us away, and we're a week out now, you know?

(laughs) And we're thinking, "Oh great," you know?

The only people who knew it were the rest of the Australians on board the ship, you know, going, "Aye, great, nice one, you got a number one."

We said, "Yeah, great for us now."

So we ended up going back.

So we came back to England, and kissed the docks of Southampton when we got off.

BARRY: There was a pop group standing on the docks dressed like the Beatles were dressed in "Help!"

And they said to us, "Don't go any further, go back to Australia."

MAURICE: "Go back.

Groups are dead.

Clapton lives."

(laughs) ROBIN: "Groups are out."

BARRY: "Groups are out."

"Groups are out."

And that- that became- that became the main- the- the mantra that we heard no matter where we went, "Groups are out."

ROBIN: Yeah.

BARRY: "You haven't got a chance."

"You haven't got a chance."

♪ ROBIN: We ended up in Hendon, in February of 1967, sleeping on floorboards with the dream of hopefully somebody would discover us.

MAURICE: We'd been 'round to managers and they were all saying, "Groups are out.

It's all solo artists now."

BARRY: The comment that was made to us was, "It's all- it's all Eric Clapton now."

MAURICE: So, we got home and Mum had said, "A Mr. Stigweed called."

We'd never heard of Mr. Stigweed.

So when Dad returned the call, it was NEMS, which was Brian Epstein's organization.

ROBIN: We sent tapes and records to the Beatles' manager Brian Epstein and his partner Robert Stigwood.

We didn't know whether or not they- they would hear them.

Robert Stigwood spoke to us.

And he had heard the records, he had heard the tapes.

He wanted- Brian actually played the songs to him that we'd sent from Australia.

He said, "I- I hear you write your own songs.

I like what I hear.

Can we do business?"

MAURICE: So, we go to the Saville Theatre in London.

Robert came in supported by two gentlemen.

(laughs) And he looked a bit weary-for-wear, and he'd had a late night, obviously.

BARRY: And we were still performing our nightclub act.

MAURICE: Even the Peter, Paul and Mary section we do.

We did this whole act, and he said, "Right, be in my office at five."

Got up and staggered out.

(laughs) So we thought, "OK...

I wonder if he liked us?"

So, that afternoon we went in and then he offered us a five-year contract to be signed to NEMS.

And I remember walking in there and we saw Ringo for the first time.

(indistinct) BARRY: We weren't full- fledged rock stars.

We- we were- we were- we were a pop group and there was only three of us, so it wasn't really a band, and Robert Stigwood brought in Vince Melouney and Colin Petersen to help us become a band.

ROBIN: It was two months after that, we were in the American Top 20 and the British Top 20 with our first single, "New York Mining Disaster."

It was boun- Robert Stigwood was- was actually, you know, the champion in- and the jewels in our crown as far as our career goes, because if we hadn't met Robert at that particular time, I don't know which way we could have gone.

♪ ♪ In the event of something happening to me ♪ ♪ There is something I would like you all to see ♪ ♪ It's just a photograph of someone that I knew ♪ ♪ Have you seen my wife, Mr. Jones ♪ ♪ Do you know what it's like on the outside ♪ ♪ Don't go talking too loud ♪ ♪ You'll cause a landslide, Mr. Jones ♪ MAURICE: Well I remember doing the demo first of "New York Mining Disaster."

And Robert thought it'd be a good idea before we actually go in and make the album, "If you've got any more songs to write, go in and use the studio."

BARRY: To see what we'd written or what we'd had since what he'd heard.

And we came up with about eight to ten songs, and there was still that missing song that he thought he could turn into a hit.

MAURICE: All of the sudden there was a blackout.

We had no power at all.

So we went outside, and while we were waiting for the power to come back on, and in the area where the cages, where the elevator goes down, there were steps on either side, we just sat on the steps and Barry was playing his guitar, and this was so echoey, a wonderful echo in this place, and it was like being in a mine.

♪ Don't go talking too loud ♪ ♪ You'll cause a landslide, Mr. Jones ♪ ♪ ♪ In the event of something happening to me ♪ BARRY: And the premise was the Aberfan mining disaster.

It had- it had broken everyone's heart.

And then... ROBIN: It was only six months before we actually wrote the song.

MAURICE: It wasn't until years later, we found out there was a New York mining disaster, in 1939, I think, in the state of New York.

♪ Have you seen my wife, Mr. Jones ♪ ♪ Do you know what it's like on the outside ♪ But that was just the title.

A lot of people referred to it as "Mr. Jones," the song "Have you seen my wife, Mr.

Jones?"

♪ Mr. Jones But that was the birth of that, it was the total echo effect, the- the hauntingness of it.

BARRY: But it also started us writing about drama and pulled us away from the Beatles' "Me to You" syndrome.

And, like them, we started writing in abstraction, we started writing about situations and characters.

♪ Take this in hand ♪ Said he who stands ♪ Behind the chair ♪ A broken table there ♪ ♪ Every christian lion hearted man will show you ♪ BARRY: We were working at IBC Studios, which was the place in fact where the Beatles used to record, I believe, up to Abbey Road.

ROBIN: Yeah.

BARRY: And, on its own stage, there was the Mellotron.

And for the first time in our lives, we'd ever seen a Mellotron.

Well, Maurice, of course, was immediately- ROBIN: Mm-hmm.

BARRY: Immediately on the Mellotron and- and- e- the song "Every Christian Lion Hearted Man" came from that song, and that was on the BARRY and ROBIN: Bee Gees' first album.

BARRY: Yeah.

But we were in the same studio and we were- we were in the same space.

♪ ♪ I walk the lonely streets ♪ ♪ I watch the people passing by ♪ ♪ I used to smile and say hello ♪ ♪ Guess I was just a happy guy ♪ ♪ Then you happened, girl ♪ This feeling that possesses me ♪ ♪ I just can't move myself ♪ ♪ I guess it all just had to be ♪ ♪ I can't see nobody, no, I can't see nobody ♪ ♪ My eyes can only look at you, you ♪ BARRY: Robert allowed us to do what we wanted to do.

He put us in the studio with- with great engineers, and, knowing our voices, and knowing what we liked to do and knowing our level, where we'd reached experimentally, where we were gonna move from there.

And we would do that, and Robert allowed us to do that.

♪ Don't ask me why, little girl ♪ ♪ I love you and that's all I can say ♪ ♪ You're ev'ry, ev'ry breath that I take ♪ ♪ You are my nights; my night and day ♪ ♪ I can't see nobody And at the end of a week, he would come into the studio and listen to what we'd done.

He wouldn't say, "Do this" or "Do that."

He would just listen to what we'd done.

♪ Baby ♪ I don't know why you're off my mind ♪ And his opinion would be, "Yes, OK, but maybe this needs that or this needs that."

Or the opposing opinion would be, "Stupendous."

MAURICE: But he was always right.

♪ My eyes can only look at you ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ Certain kind of light ♪ That never shone on me ♪ I want my life to be lived with you ♪ ♪ Lived with you ♪ There's a way ROBIN: We remember a time at 2 a.m. in the morning, Robert would come in and "To Love Somebody" was playing, and he would call up New York and play it in the speaker to Ahmet Ertegun, the head of Atlantic Records.

Dial the phone.

"Listen to- listen to this.

This is- this is- this is their next single."

♪ Baby ♪ You don't know what it's like ♪ ♪ Baby, you don't know what it's like ♪ ♪ To love somebody ♪ To love somebody ♪ The way I love you ROBIN: And- and that's how it was done.

It was very gor- organic, it was very gut- gut instincts.

It's so different to the way things are done now.

I mean, what- what was really fantastic about that first year is that New- "New York Mining Disaster" and then "To Love Somebody" were charting in the American Top 20, which, you know, which was very unusual even by today's standards for first-time records and British artists.

That was due to Robert Stigwood and Ahmet Ertegun at Atlantic, working together.

BARRY: We had the NEMS team.

We had- we had the Beatles' team behind us.

And that's what really kicked it all off for us.

MAURICE: To crack America was the ultimate dream.

I mean, you've got to remember, when you're from that generation of kids that are growing up in Liverpool or Manchester, or wherever, America's pavements are gold.

Everything is two cars per family, huge houses.

You know, I mean, television like, five, ten channels, you know?

We had two.

(laughs) ♪ You don't know what it's like ♪ ♪ Baby, you don't know what it's like ♪ ♪ To love somebody ♪ To love somebody ♪ The way I love you BARRY: "To Love Somebody" started with Otis Redding.

MAURICE: Well, Barry and Robin wrote that with- with Otis in mind and hoped that we could get it to him to record.

We were going to do it anyway, but we felt like, "Wouldn't it be great if Otis Redding could sing this?"

♪ To love somebody ♪ To love somebody ♪ The way I love you ♪ No, no, no, no, no, no ♪ You don't know So we were influenced a lot in our writing in those days, even today sometimes, by the artists that were around us, of, "Who- who could do this song?"

We'd write the Beatles' new record.

We'd write the Rolling Stones' new record, the Hollies' new record, the- whatever groups that were out there.

"What would they release?

What would they do?"

And we'd sing it and it would be us.

ROBIN: I think our career's built out of jealousy and envy.

"We gotta beat that."

It's not a bad thing.

BARRY: It was a sense of desperate need to be acknowledged.

And when anyone rejected what we were doing, that would make us work harder.

MAURICE: Because we felt that we could do something better.

"Let's try and beat that one."

♪ HOST: Tonight, "Massachusetts" from the Bee Gees!

MAN: Yeah!

(audience applauding) MAURICE: I remember doing Top Of The Pops for the first time.

That was a great dream, because that's the show to do.

You're made if you do Top Of The Pops.

♪ Feel I'm going back to Massachusetts ♪ ♪ Something's telling me I must go home ♪ ♪ And the lights all went out in Massachusetts ♪ ♪ The day I left her standing on her own ♪ BARRY: There became a melodramatic element in our songs as opposed to an up, celebration-type record.

and I think "Massachusetts" was like that.

We began to love melodrama, and we began to love what the Beatles were doing with orchestras.

We began to recognize that full orchestra was just as important to rock-n-roll as electric guitar was.

♪ And the lights all went out in Massachusetts ♪ ♪ They brought me back to see my way with you ♪ ♪ It was the first time we'd ever had a number one record.

MAURIECE: I remember being told "Massachusetts" was number one.

We did such a bad show that night.

(laughs) We- we were on one of those sho- places up north where they had the- the turning stage that goes around, the revolving stage.

And we were on the other side getting ready, all plugging in and getting set up.

Dick runs up and goes, "'Massachusetts' has just gone to number one."

"What?"

And we all looked at each other.

"Oh, my God, it's gone to number one."

And just as that happened, the stage started going 'round, and we weren't all plugged in or set up.

And we just started the show and we sang what the hell we wanted to.

We couldn't believe it.

We were so over the moon, we thought we could get away with murder.

And to have a number one in England, you have no idea how much we'd dreamed of this in Australia, to have a number one in the UK charts.

We felt like we'd arrived.

(audience applauding) ♪ REPORTER: The Bee Gees, the most exciting sound in the world.

♪ ♪ Living tomorrow ♪ Where in the world will I be ♪ ♪ Tomorrow ♪ How far am I able to see ♪ ♪ I've just got to get a message to you ♪ ♪ Hold on, hold on ROBIN: We were very, very ambitious and we were very anxious to make our mark.

And if it was a choice between partying and being in the studio, it was definitely gonna be the studio.

And it wasn't about having a good time, a good time to us was actually being in the studio.

BARRY: A good time to us was a good woman.

ROBIN: Yes.

BARRY: And- and in those days the idea of women crept into our lives.

ROBIN: Still is.

BARRY: And- and- and up up to that point... Yeah, and... Up to that point, women had not.

It began in Australia just before we left, that women became the sort of (vocalizes).

Music, women.

So women became a confliction between the two subjects.

It was going out with a girl or it was writing a song or it was being a group or going out with a girl.

So we began to fall in love.

We began to have girlfriends.

ROBIN: Actually, you need that to be an artist, to get that extra sentiment.

BARRY: Yeah.

So, suddenly, we were no longer kids.

♪ ♪ ♪ I been thinking sitting on a pole ♪ ♪ I'm getting sick of doing what I'm told ♪ ♪ Just me and the mirror and my brain ♪ ♪ But that was when I got an idea ♪ ♪ Came like a gun and shot in my ear ♪ ♪ Don't you think it's time you got up ♪ ♪ And stood alone MAURICE: There was a lot of hits in that short time.

All the things were happening.

I mean, there was a lot of money all of a sudden, and cars, and girlfriends, and love interests were happening, and jealousies were happening, you know, so, the drink came more.

The- the money became more.

And when you're 19- 18, 19 years of age, you know, and after all the work we had done, through clubs and everything, I felt grown up, I felt like I'd been through the mill.

♪ But that was when I got an idea ♪ ♪ Came like a gun and shot in my ear ♪ ♪ Don't you think it's time you got up ♪ ♪ And stood alone BARRY: In 1967, we became members of a club called the Speakeasy which was an underground club which was only for the Beatles, and the Stones, and the Who, and Otis Redding, and Sam & Dave and the- (indistinct) Yeah, Ahmet Ertegun and Robert and Brian Epstein.

It was- it was virtually a closed club.

And you went downstairs and- and there was a coffin, and if you were allowed in, if you were somebody they knew and- and you were supposed to go in, the c- the wall would turn 'round and the coffin would turn 'round.

And in you would go, and there'd be George Best playing the machines and there'd be the Stones would be lying around all over the place.

And... ROBIN: Great days.

BARRY: It was- it was one of those days that I met John Lennon from the back.

I never met John Lennon from the front.

♪ ♪ Last night, I got an idea ♪ ♪ Last night, I got an idea ♪ And it was Pete Townshend who introduced me to John Lennon and what I remember is, "Barry, I- I'd like you to meet John Lennon."

John Lennon, "Pleased to meet you."

And carried on talking to somebody else.

So I thought to myself, "Well, I've met John Lennon."

MAURICE: I had John Lennon's black-windowed Mini Cooper S. I bought that car off him.

And so I was involved, I actually became part of the inner circle of all those guys, and I was going to parties and Magical Mystery Tour and- it was like a wild world for me.

When you think that five months before all this was going on, I was in a- in Pitt Street buying the Beatle Fan Club book, the same time, and now here I am partying with these guys, my- my heroes.

ED: Let's have a wonderfully warm reception for the attractive Bee Gees and the soloist Barry Gibb.

(audience cheering and applauding) ♪ ♪ Smile an everlasting smile ♪ ♪ A smile can bring you near to me ♪ ♪ Don't ever let me find you down ♪ ♪ 'Cause that would bring a tear to me ♪ ROBIN: We did Ed Sullivan.

BARRY: Yes, Dick Cavett and Mike Douglas.

Merv Griffin.

ROBIN: Johnny Carson.

BARRY: Johnny Carson.

We did eleven Johnny Carson shows over the years.

ROBIN: Yeah.

There wasn't any decisive point where we moved to America, because it was an international scene from 1967 onwards.

Wherever you were based, you had to go to America.

BARRY: Well, it was England or America.

ROBIN: Yeah.

It had to be one or the two.

No other country in the world could give you international fame.

♪ It's only words and words are all I have ♪ ♪ To take your heart away ♪ (audience applauding) ♪ ♪ ROBIN: It's hard to speak about Odessa in any coherent way, because it wasn't actually a planned album, it was just a- a collection of songs that we- we thought we were going to do a concept album.

BARRY: Yeah.

Because of Tommy and because of Robert's- Robert's connection to these types of things, he wanted us to do a rock opera.

And we wanted to put it on the stage.

And instead of writing a rock opera, we- we just came up with a mish-mash.

We just came up with a... ROBIN: Yeah.

BARRY: A bunch of songs that we thought we were- we were going somewhere with it.

But I think we were extremely weary.

I think even at- even at such a young age, we'd been through quite a number of albums very quickly.

We could no longer deal with each other, we could no longer deal with each other.

And that- the three of us drifted apart.

In fact, I'd say the four of us drifted apart, including Robert.

Robert went off to make his movies and... ROBIN: There were distractions.

BARRY: All the distractions that success brings for someone like him, you know?

And so, we did- we let that lie.

That album never really got finished, it never really got finished.

ROBIN: No.

MAURICE: Everyone was doing real well, you know?

And there was the jealousy thing going on and- and what really happened is First of May, the record, was coming out, and everybody sort of went for "First of May" as the A-side, and Barry was singing the lead on that.

And on the other side it was "Lamplight," which Robin wound up singing lead, and everybody thought "Lamplight" should be the single, so.

Robert chose "First of May" and, thinking he was biased towards Barry, Robin said, "That's it.

I've had it."

'Cause he thought it was done on purpose.

BARRY: And following that, I think we went through about two or three years of being unable to communicate, being unable to be brothers or friends or w- unable.

REPORTER: Robin, we've heard rumors that the group is splitting up.

Would you like to verify those rumors?

ROBIN: If I were to say that was true, then I would be the premier of Russia.

MAURICE: And then Robin decided to leave, while we were doing the Cucumber Castle film.

♪ Don't forget to remember me ♪ ♪ And the love that used to be ♪ ♪ I still remember you ♪ I love you ♪ In my heart Then Barry left after that (laughs) and I was all of the sudden the Bee Gee.

So, but it was all part and parcel, that part of it, as I say, we had to go through all that crap 'cause, you must remember, we'd been together for so long by the time we were 19, 20, 21, it's like, you know, we need a break.

You know, we'd been together since Robin and I were five, singing.

ROBIN: I don't think there was actually a design in the breakup in itself.

It's just that we just wandered off and it was- it was a crazy period because we didn't know each- what we were each doing unless we read the trades.

BARRY: We sort of tried to get together, but every time we tried, we sort of knew it was the wrong time.

MAURICE: It was ine- inevitable, I think inevitable that this would happen, because it was- it was something that was growing anyway.

But being young as well, you don't know how to handle it.

BARRY: Course we were excited.

We were very high on ourselves, and it was a dream come true.

MAURICE: Yeah.

I mean, I had, like, seven Aston Martins and six Rolls-Royces before I was 21.

I don't know where they are now, (laughs) but, I mean, that's how crazy it was.

The "first-fame" syndrome, we call it, you know, when you go through that, and if you survive it, it's great.

And we managed to have the foresight and the strength to say, "This is stupid, let's get back together again."

ROBIN: So the first time we got together right after the breakup was Addison Road in Kensington.

BARRY: Yes.

ROBIN: Which was...

BOTH: "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart" ROBIN: And "Lonely Days."

BARRY: And that, basically, is the story, because "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart" really does reflect how we felt.

ROBIN: Yeah.

(audience applauding) ♪ ♪ I can think of younger days ♪ ♪ When living for my life ♪ Was everything a man could want to do ♪ ♪ I could never see tomorrow ♪ ♪ But I was never told about the sorrows ♪ ♪ And how can you mend a broken heart ♪ ♪ How can you stop the rain from falling down ♪ ♪ How can you stop the Sun from shining ♪ ♪ What makes the world go 'round ♪ ♪ How can you mend MAURICE: We had about 15 months apart.

I ended up doing a musical, but it was a very strange, strange situation.

Barry had left and the group was over.

♪ Ever win But what happened is that Robin had called him and said, "Let's get together and talk," and stuff.

And we eventually did.

And I remember the time that Robert Stigwood's company was going public, and the three of us were in this room, and we all- I had my lawyer, Robin had his lawyer, Barry had his lawyer, and all we were talking about is what we can do together, when all these lawyers are thinking about, "Well, you know, I represent my client privately and separately from the others," and all this stuff.

And the three of us were planning our next album.

And no one knew about it, in the room.

♪ Please help me mend my broken heart ♪ ♪ And let me live again (vocalizing) (vocalizing) (audience applauding) It was a little nervous working together again and getting used to each other again, the writing process.

"Lonely Days" was an instrumental I was playing on the piano.

And Barry and Robin came 'round, and we started singing it, and before we knew it, the song was taking shape.

♪ Lonely days, lonely nights ♪ ♪ Where would I be without my woman ♪ ♪ Lonely days, lonely nights ♪ ♪ Where would I be without my woman ♪ ♪ Lonely days, lonely nights ♪ ♪ Where would I be without my woman ♪ ♪ Lonely days, lonely nights ♪ ♪ Where would I be without my woman ♪ So, those first times together, we knew it was inevitable.

You know, look- look what we've done in these few days we've been together.

♪ BARRY: All 'round there!

♪ ♪ Oh ♪ ♪ Lonely days, lonely nights ♪ ♪ Where would I be without my woman ♪ Come on!

♪ ♪ Lonely days ♪ Lonely days ♪ Lonely nights ♪ Lonely nights MAURICE: I felt like we'd never done it before.

We were like new.

It was, like, fresh.

The energy that each one had on expressing what they'd learnt by being apart, it all came out in that week.

And it was brilliant.

It was a wonderful session, wonderful.

BARRY: Thank you all very much and good evening.

(audience cheering) ♪ (audience cheering) ♪ ♪ ♪ If ever you've got rain in your heart ♪ ♪ Someone has hurt you, and torn you apart ♪ ♪ Am I unwise to open up your eyes to love me ♪ ♪ And let it be like they said it would be ♪ ♪ Me loving you girl and you loving me ♪ ♪ Am I unwise to open up your eyes to love me ♪ ♪ Run to me whenever you're lonely ♪ ♪ Run to me if you need a shoulder ♪ ♪ Now and then, you need someone older ♪ ♪ So darling ♪ You run to me BARRY: How does a song get written?

It's usually one person who will walk into the studio or into the room and say, "I've got an idea for a song."

♪ And no one to hold And any one of us would play that idea, and- and if everyone looked at each other and went, "OK, this can go somewhere, this could be something..." ROBIN: And many, many times, Barry will have... BARRY: Yeah.

ROBIN: An idea for a song, and ha- I'll have an idea for song, and we'll put them together and marry them.

BARRY: And marry the two songs.

ROBIN: And it'll become one song.

BARRY: Yeah, So, "Run to Me" was a form of t- two songs.

♪ Am I unwise to open up your eyes to love me ♪ ♪ Run to me whenever you're lonely ♪ ♪ Run to me if you need a shoulder ♪ So, we would play that kind of game, that two songs can become one, and that collaboration is what creates a great song.

And one person writing a song, on their own, is a tremendously lonely game.

♪ You run to me ♪ Run to me MAURICE: We all become one- one mind.

And that's what we automatically all do.

And we've been doing that for years.

So I don't know how we do it, but it just happens that way.

I call it the greatest form of meditation you could ever have, is when the three of us are in the room, when we're doing the music, and I'm playing, and we usually write the lyrics after we write the melody and stuff and we have the mics on and we just sit there and create.

That is- you're not concentrating on anything else but that, on what's happening right now, and that's- that's a trip on its own.

It's wonderful when you hear it taking shape.

And I may go somewhere, and Barry, "Yes, yes, go play there, go there," you know?

And I go, "Yes, go there," you know?

And it's- all of the sudden we'll wake each other's little instincts up and the melodies come.

BARRY: Maurice was either guitar, piano and some form of stimulating sound.

MAURICE: Oh, I'm Mr. Fix-It.

Still comes from that business where I'm- always been in the middle of some discrepancy between Barry and Robin or if we're gonna make a decision about something, "Well what does Maurice think?"

It could probably become the deciding vote, if you like.

After "Run to Me," we went into a valley, totally.

Our career was in a valley.

No record company wanted us, management didn't want us, nothing.

BARRY: At the end of every decade, there's a tendency that the business tries to reject artists from the last decade.

So, you know, you're- you're either the artist of the '60s, or an artist of the '70s, or an artist of the '80s.

And it still goes on now.

And so, we were suddenly we're out of favor by- by the beginning of the '70s.

MAURICE: You think it's gonna last forever and it doesn't.

And that's when the * * * * * hits the proverbial fan.

Because all of a sudden, you turn to maybe drinking a bit with your friends.

"Oh, you'll do it again."

Then you turn to drugs.

And before you know it, you're- you're on a collision course with death.

That's it.

BARRY: And to us, we thought, "Well, maybe that's it, you know?

May- maybe- maybe that was our career."

MAURICE: Oh, yeah.

I mean your ego is deflated enormously, you know?

But that was meant to be too.

I mean, it was- it wasn't good stuff.

It was OK. At that time, we were trying to be very experimental.

Sly and the Family Stone were huge with hits and- It was a different kind of period, it was like early disco, or something, there was something going on that was really strange.

And we didn't- we just were off the mark.

We were- we were so off the mark we released an album, To Whom It May Concern, because we didn't know who the hell was gonna buy it.

I mean, that's how totally, you know, "Where are we going?"

You know?

♪ ♪ Burning embers ♪ I still remember all of those little things ♪ ♪ But I can't feel it so much ♪ ♪ 'Cause I am so out of touch ♪ ♪ With my heart and it won't sing ♪ BARRY: We needed to have bigger records than we were having.

We weren't moving that well at all.

Robert had become acquainted with Arif Mardin, who had done some of the Aretha Franklin early records, and suggested that we explore those roots, which is how we ended up doing Mr. Natural with Arif.

♪ I'm dying and there ain't no doubt ♪ ♪ Yes I'm MAURICE: Arif was so instrumental in producing Black artists.

You know, he produced a lot of people, and we wanted that input.

♪ ♪ So I try, try, try, try, try ♪ ♪ Mr. Natural ♪ Come on baby ♪ When I walk in the rain ♪ You won't know that I'm crying ♪ ♪ A smile on my face and I'm trying ♪ ♪ I'm trying to understand ♪ ♪ That a love that is lost ♪ ♪ Can never be found again ♪ ♪ And you can see me dance ♪ ♪ I look like a happy man ROBIN: We always loved Black music.

BARRY: Yeah.

Oh yeah.

ROBIN: Always, even in the '60s, it was just ways of- and- BARRY: Yes.

BARRY: Sam Cooke and Otis Redding ROBIN: Otis Redding, Wilson Picket.

There's all the influences had been there, we just explored them more.

We felt it was a time we needed, and Arif was the- the ideal tool.

He encouraged it, more so.

MAURICE: 'Cause that's when, as I said, for To Whom It May Concern and all those albums before, we had no direction.

Arif went, (claps) "This is the way you go."

BARRY: Yes, we'd given up on the psychedelia.

We'd given up on that whole, "Everyone has to be like the Beatles in order to succeed."

We thought we were on the right track, we thought we were doing the right things.

We were moving into that R&B vein, but we weren't really succeeding.

Mr. Natural was a total disaster, (laughs) but it was like a rehearsal for Main Course.

And working with Arif for the first time.

BARRY: Fortunately for us, Arif said, "Well, this was a good start, let's do another album."

And we didn't expect that, and- and... ROBIN: That was- that was the opening of 461 Ocean Boulevard, isn't it?

When... BARRY: And that's when Eric Clapton said, "I've just done this album called 461 Ocean Boulevard.

"Why don't you go and rent the same house "and record in America instead of England and see what that does for you spiritually?"

You know?

He said, "It really worked for me."

He said, "I feel like a totally different artist "having moved away from that whole English syndrome."

♪ Get on up, look around ♪ Can't you feel the wind of change ♪ MAURICE: When we got to Miami, all of a sudden, sunshine, and uh, you know- This is paradise compared to where we just came from.

And we got Arif Mardin of course because we wanted Arif after Mr. Natural.

When we worked with him on Main Course, he knew us, and he brought out the best in every one of us, Arif.

And he taught me bass I didn't know I could play.

I mean, that's how much I admire that man.

BARRY: He wouldn't play himself.

Brilliant pianist.

But he didn't believe in playing on his own records.

And he would come up with these little things, and suggest them to the band and... ROBIN: He was like a little boy, wasn't he?

His enthusiasm.

BARRY: Yeah.

Working with the band.

ROBIN: It was... MAURICE: Arif knew exactly where we needed to go.

And he taught us everything we know about production.

He'd been a great teacher, great mentor.

BARRY: We spent about three or four weeks writing about three or four songs that were- three of which were rejected and one which was accepted, which was called "Wind of Change."

MAURICE: When it came to dubbing the bass on "Wind of Change," I came in the next day, and Arif said "OK?"

I said, "Yep."

So, we started the track and I did one take, and he went, "Wonderful," without changing a part, and I looked at him and said, "You don't want to change this?"

He said, "No, that was brilliant.

Wonderful."

And I knew I'd made it in his eyes, (laughs) because he never told me to change anything.

But because of what he taught me, from all the previous tracks of what I'd played bass on, I was like- I was with him, I was behind the beat and stuff.

He was going, "Great, great."

And I was- I was chuffed.

I went home laughing my head off.

I couldn't believe it.

I'd played the way he loved it.

♪ (audience cheering and applauding) ♪ BARRY: The next thing that happened after "Wind of Change" was "Nights On Broadway," 'cause Ahmet said, "I want more like that."

♪ Here we are ♪ In a room full of strangers ♪ ♪ Standing in the dark ♪ Where your eyes could not see me ♪ ♪ Well, I had to follow you ♪ ♪ Though you did not want me to ♪ ♪ But that won't stop my lovin' you ♪ ♪ I can't stay away ♪ Blaming it all on the nights on Broadway ♪ ♪ Singin' them love songs ♪ Singin' them straight to the heart songs ♪ ♪ Blamin' it all on the nights on Broadway ♪ ♪ Singin' them sweet sounds ♪ ♪ To that crazy, crazy town ♪ And so, "Nights on Broadway," or rather "Lights on Broadway," which is what it was called in the first place, became the second accepted track, and it- it just moved on from there.

"Jive Talkin'" happened during the middle of the sessions when we were dr- driving home one night over a bridge.

MAURICE: I just remember going in the car and hearing this... (vocalizing) every time we crossed this bridge.

♪ And Barry had noticed it and he was going... ♪ J- j- jive talkin' Thinking of the dance.

♪ You dance with your eyes ♪ That's all he had.

And we were going... (vocalizing) At exactly 35 miles an hour, that's what we got.

♪ It's just your jive talkin' ♪ ♪ You're telling me lies ♪ Jive talkin' ♪ You wear a disguise ♪ Jive talkin' ♪ So misunderstood, yeah ♪ Jive talkin' ♪ You really no good We played it to Arif, and he went, "Do- do you know what jive talkin' means?"

And we said, "Well, yeah.

It's, you know, you're dancing."

He says, "No."

(laughs) I'm putting on this Turkish accent, you see, because this is how he talks.

And he says, "No.

It's- it's a Black expression for * * * * * *" And we went, "Oh, really?"

♪ Jive talkin', you're telling me lies ♪ and changed it.

♪ Good lovin' ♪ Still gets in my eyes But he gave us the groove, the tempo, everything.

"This is your groove."

ROBIN: Because we were English, we were- we were less self-conscious about exploring the no-go areas that a lot of American artists and groups would have done.

Especially the white ones because they were always like, so, "Don't go there.

Don't go into the Black area.

You've got to be, you know..." If you were white, you just stayed out of that.

People didn't venture, they were scared that, if they did, they would make fools of themselves.

But we did it because we were serious about it.

We didn't think that there was any no-go areas.

It was music.

♪ ♪ Jive talkin' ♪ You're telling me lies, yeah ♪ ♪ Good lovin' Robert Stigwood wanted "Jive Talkin'" as the first single and Jerry Greenberg at Atlantic and Ahmet Ertegun said, "We think 'Nights on Broadway,' "because we don't think people would- "will actually accept this from the Bee Gees "because, first of all, "you haven't done anything like this before, "and secondly, it's very Black, you know, "it's not something that- that would be accepted for White radio."

Robert said, "That's exactly why I want this to be the first single."

MAURICE: 'Cause when "Jive Talkin'" came out, everybody went, "Who?"

"The Bee Gees, 'Broken Heart' Bee Gees?

"Are you kidding?

"You mean, the same group that did...

Whoa."

Nobody knew.

And that changed our whole career.

ROBIN: And then it became a number-one record.

And we knew that was the start of the- our- our Black music influences with Arif Mardin at being expressed to- to its full potential.

MAURICE: We were completing "Nights on Broadway," we'd just done most of the vocal tracks and all the harmonies and stuff, and usually, you know, at the end you have some ad libs, or some kind of things to take us away from the original melody and have some fun.

BARRY: So, Arif wanted us to go out and sort of sing, or try to scream like Paul McCartney would sometimes scream in falsetto, you know?

MAURICE: So, Barry said, "I'll have a go."

So, he- we went out there and he did the "blaming it alls" ad lib on the end of "Nights on Broadway."

♪ Blaming it all on the nights on Broadway ♪ ♪ Singin' them love songs ♪ Singin' them straight to the heart songs ♪ ♪ Blamin' it all And he screamed, and it's the first time I've heard him scream in tune with the melody.

BARRY: And in doing so, I discovered I had a falsetto voice.

♪ Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah I knew it was back there somewhere, because we'd tried things like that early on.

MAURICE: And we thought, "Oh that's brilliant."

So, after that, actually, we wrote "Fanny Be Tender" 'cause we wanted to do a whole song in falsetto.

'Cause we loved the Stylistics, we loved the Spinners, the Delfonics.

They were coming out with these records like... ♪ Betcha by golly wow They were all falsetto- stuff lead singers.

And that was Black, R&B, at the time, that's what they called it at the time.

We were into all that stuff.

♪ Ooh, be tender with my love ♪ ♪ You know how easy it is to break me ♪ ♪ Baby, be tender with my love ♪ ♪ 'Cause it's all that I've got ♪ ♪ And my love won't forsake me ♪ ♪ Tender BARRY: "Fanny Be Tender," I think, convinced us that we were now recording the kind of music that was going to take us to the next plateau.

ROBIN: What was happening for the first time also, was that these- apart from going onto the Billboard Pop Charts, we were actually appearing on the Black charts as well where there were no white acts, and that was telling us something that, you know... BARRY: Yes.

ROBIN: That we were in an area that we would never have gone into before.

(vocalizing) ♪ Be tender with my love MAURICE: We just felt tremendously happy.

We were just so knocked out that we had an audience again, you know?

And to have that success, 'cause even before that we weren't even looking for a thing like a "Fever," or anything like that, we were just making music.

And Children of the World, which followed that, you know, we had "You Should Be Dancing," which is the only obvious dance song we ever wrote, really.

And "Love So Right" went for two number ones off that.

And, so, they were, like, triple platinum.

You know, we were just coasting along here.

We're having a ball.

This is great.

You know?

We were having a great time, and it's only till the "Fever" thing happened, that's when everything went, you know, exploded, when the world just went crazy.

♪ ♪ Well, you can tell by the way I use my walk ♪ ♪ I'm a woman's man, no time to talk ♪ ♪ Music ROBIN: We had a phone call from Robert saying Paramount was making a movie and he was producing.

MAURICE: You know, he told us it was about this guy who works in a paint shop on the other side of the bridge in Brooklyn, you know, he blows his wages every Saturday night in a club and wins a dance competition.

We thought, "Nice one, Rob."

(inhales) ROBIN: John Travolta was dancing in the film to "You Should Be Dancing," which had been a hit off Children of the World, which was the previous album.

And Robert wanted to know if we had anything, or if we could write more songs for the film.

MAURICE: And we went OK, so we had "Staying Alive," "How Deep Is Your Love," and "If I Can't Have You," were the first three ones that he heard.

And he said, "Great, you know, this is fantastic."

BARRY: And to us, this was most likely to be our new album.

MAURICE: So he came back about a month later and asked for some more.

"Our album's gone now," you know.

So we ended up with about eight of our songs in the film.

But in those days, you thought, "God, you know, you paid people to put your songs in a film."

He said, you know, "It's a great promotion."

BARRY: There was a suggestion that... ROBIN: S- Stayin' Alive should be called Saturday Night, and Robert said... BARRY: Yes.

ROBIN: "No, you should keep it."

"Stayin' Alive?

It's like buried alive."

No, it's the opposite to buried alive.

It's actually staying alive.

And Robert dug his heels in, because they thought it was a very sophisticated title for a popular song, but we wouldn't budge from that, (indistinct) because there are so many songs called "Saturday Night."

But we did have a song called "Night Fever," and the compromise was that- we suggested the title of the film should be Saturday Night Fever, but we would have the song "Night Fever" on the album without Saturday on it.

♪ Listen to the ground ♪ ♪ There is movement all around ♪ ♪ There is something goin' down ♪ ♪ And I can feel it ♪ On the waves of the air ♪ There is dancin' out there ♪ ♪ It's somethin' we can't share ♪ ♪ We can steal it ♪ And that sweet city woman ♪ ♪ She moves through the light ♪ ♪ Controlling my mind and my soul ♪ ♪ When you reach out for me, yeah ♪ ♪ And the feelin' is right ♪ ♪ Then I get night fever, night fever ♪ ♪ We know how to do it ♪ ♪ Gimme that night fever, night fever ♪ ♪ We know how to show it BARRY: So we stayed on the path that we'd always stayed on, and that is, "Let's just make what we believe is a great record."

ROBIN: Yeah.

BARRY: And we continued with that for about s- six or seven songs, and never really knowing whether or not they were going to be used in the movie or not.

We didn't go near the film.

The only time we went near the film was the premiere... ROBIN: That's right.

BARRY: Where we stood at the back of the theatre listening, and at least being able to say to Robert, "It's wonderful, but when you're in a club, you can't hear people dancing."

ROBIN: That's right.

BARRY: The music was too soft.

And if you're in a club, you don't hear people going like... (feet tapping) ROBIN: You don't hear their feet.

BARRY: You don't all this- hear- hear all this stuff.

Robert got the point, pumped the music up, took out all the noises of the feet, and that's what you have now.

♪ I know your eyes in the mornin' sun ♪ ♪ I feel you touch me in the pourin' 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 ♪ ♪ Then you 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 mean to learn ♪ 'Cause we're livin' in a world of fools ♪ ♪ Breakin' us down ♪ When they all should let us be ♪ ♪ We belong to you and me MAURICE: Being in Miami actually, you're in a sort of goldfish bowl here.

You know, you don't see much of what's going on out there.

And when we were here writing and stuff for the Spirits album, we didn't think about what "Fever" was doing, or what's happening out there.

We didn't really know that much.

So we were locked away for about a month before "How Deep Is Your Love" came out, and that was a number one before the film came out.

I remember everyone saying, "What a great R&B ballad."

And as soon as the film came out I said, "What a great disco ballad."

It was so opposite, it was so funny.

BARRY: The one thing that still affects us is "How Deep Is Your Love."

No matter how it's sung, it's still a beautiful song.

So it wasn't all really what you would call dance music.

MAURICE: But then of course we became the biggest disco band around, which totally amazed us, because we always thought KC was the disco thing, and Donna Summer.

It was all great fun stuff, it was party music, but we never regarded ourselves as that.

ROBIN: All I know is when we were recording these songs, we didn't think about dancing, or... BARRY: No.

ROBIN: We were just thinking about songs.

We didn't even know the word disco music ever existed.

It was coined after the film... BARRY: Yes.

ROBIN: Because of the film's success.

BARRY: None of us expected the success that Fever had.

And the album started doing a million a week.

This was pretty shocking for us.

We couldn't even look at those numbers, we couldn't understand it.

MAURICE: Such a phenomenon, other record companies were printing it, and our record company couldn't keep up the pace.

♪ If I can't have you ♪ I don't want nobody, baby ♪ ♪ If I can't have you, uh-huh-oh ♪ BARRY: It was an incredible feeling, it was like being in the eye of a storm.

You didn't have a real sense of what was going on around you.

You couldn't answer your phone and you had people climbing over your walls.

So, it was, sort of, yeah, it was extremely crazy and something we weren't used to because we'd never experienced that kind of fame or that- that kind of good fortune.

ROBIN: It actually has affected, in many ways, the culture in a very sort of subconscious way that very few vehicles have.

BARRY: And that's an amazing thing is it still gets played, and we don't even understand that.

We just- we just- we're bewildered by it.

ROBIN: There's something magical about when something happens, you just don't know where this is, where this- this is what captures the imagination of millions of people at the same time.

It be- goes beyond being just a hit album.

♪ ♪ If I can't have you ♪ I don't want nobody, baby ♪ ♪ If I can't have you, uh-huh-oh ♪ BARRY: Disco is a bad word if you're not the group that disco is built around.

And we're the group that disco was built around.

And so, based on that, we're very, very happy with the word disco.

ROBIN: Oh, absolutely.

MAURICE: It was an amazing experience in- in the recording industry.

ROBIN: There was no radio station that wasn't playing back-to-back Gibb brothers songs.

You couldn't- And of course, the record business was pretty angry 'cause they couldn't get records on the playlist because there was no room.

It was number one on the Billboard charts for six months unbroken.

BARRY: Fever did around 30 to 35 million.

Thriller did approximately 50 million and we're quite happy to be second to Michael and we've had a lot of giggles about that.

(audience cheering) ♪ Ladies and gentleman, our brother Andy!

(audience cheering) ♪ ♪ My baby moves at midnight ♪ ♪ Goes right on till the dawn ♪ MAURICE: The door was always open for Andy.

It was not like ever closed off.

BARRY: Andy wanted to be one of us, always wanted to be part of us, and the difference in the age was quite radical.

So, it never quite worked out.

As time went on, Andy watching, listening, witnessing what we were doing, began to feel this was something he could do too as an individual.

And that's really how it came about.

And- and the first time I ever saw Andy perform in the way that we had performed was onstage in Ibiza.

We were living in Ibiza at the time and frequenting a certain club, and Andy would get up on stage and sing.

And we'd also strum a lot at home and- and sing old Mills Brothers songs and all that stuff.

And I began to realize that Andy was doing what the three of us were doing.

And realizing that herein is- is another young artist waiting to come out.

HOST: Any resemblance between this next fella and the Bee Gees is purely intentional - it's their younger brother Andy.

Andy Gibb and his debut single release, already a hit in America, called "I Just Wanna Be Your Everything."

♪ ♪ For so long ♪ You and me been findin' each other for so long ♪ ♪ And the feelin' that I feel for you is ♪ ♪ More than strong, girl ♪ Take it from me ♪ If you give a little more than you're askin' for ♪ ♪ Your love will turn the key ♪ ♪ I, I, I...

I just want to be your everything ♪ ♪ Open up the heaven in your heart and let me be ♪ ♪ The things you are to me ♪ ♪ And not some puppet on a string ♪ ♪ Yeah, here and why ♪ If I stay here without you, darlin', I would die ♪ ♪ I want you layin' in the love I have to bring ♪ ♪ I'd do anything to be your everything ♪ BARRY: We were like twins.

His voice was very much like mine.

It was uncanny.

We had almost the same kind of voice.

Robin's voice, much higher than mine or Andy's, but we were very much alike.

We even had the same birthmarks, which we could never figure out.

We were alike in so many ways, it was unbelievable.

We were the only two brothers who loved tennis, and we shared all the same ideals, all the same opinions about things.

We never con- differed on anything.

♪ Do it light, taking me through the night ♪ ♪ Shadow dancing, baby you do it right ♪ ♪ Uh huh ♪ Give me more, guide me across the floor ♪ ♪ Shadow dancing, all this and nothing more ♪ I made sure Robert heard what Andy had been doing.

Andy invited Robert and I to Bermuda.

We'd convinced Andy to get together with me and to see if we could come up with something.

And the first thing was "I Just Want To Be Your Everything," the second was "Thicker Than Water," and the third was something that all four of us wrote together called "Shadow Dancing."

♪ Do it light, taking me through the night ♪ ♪ Shadow dancing, baby you do it right ♪ ♪ Uh huh MAURICE: Then he started writing more and he was getting better.

ROBIN: He was doing very well in terms of number ones and consecutive singles.

If it was an artist today, it would be loud and proud.

♪ Ah I wish you were here ♪ Drying these tears I cry ♪ ♪ They were good times ♪ And I wish you were here ♪ ♪ And calling my name BARRY: Andy had great strife in life, not unlike Maurice's.

And perhaps, perhaps not, that's what ended his life.

MAURICE: But with the drugs and the cocaine abuse that he had done in LA and stuff over his young life, he had been involved with a lot of people who were doing drugs.

So, about six months before he died, he went back to England to stay at Robin's house.

Then we'd heard he was hitting the liquor store, and he did it for 48 hours, I believe, he was drinking, when he was taken into hospital.

And the day before was his 30th birthday.

And I called up to wish him happy birthday and Robin said "He can't come to the phone, he's out of his skull."

And I said, "Oh, well, tell him to sod off," I said, "Go away."

And I put the phone down, and I got very angry.

And I thought, "When will he learn?"

♪ Will never, never die ♪ It'll burn like a flame And it's three days after that.

Ken, who works for Robin, called us about six in the morning, seven in the morning, and said that Andy had passed away, and I just dropped the phone.

♪ Ah I wish you were here ♪ Drying these tears I cry ♪ ♪ They were good times BARRY: The last thing that happened between me and Andy was an argument, which is devastating for me, because I have to live with that all my life.

There was a phone call between him and me, and I was sort of saying, you know, "You've really got to get your act together, this is no good."

Instead of being gentle about it, I was angry, and because someone had said to me at some point, you know, "Tough love is the answer," you know?

So for me it wasn't, because that was the last conversation we had.

So that- that's my regret, that's what I live with.

ROBIN: We actually approached him to be a Bee Gee, and we would've loved him to have been one of the Bee Gees.

I think if he had've been, you know, he may still be- be with us, but then, you know, we don't know.

I mean, think Michael Jackson, for instance, I think if a lot of people had said all the nice things they did when he- on the day he died, when he was alive, he may still have been alive.

That's just the irony, but, you know, some people need to hear it when they're alive.

♪ Try to throw our love away ♪ ♪ And I can't let go MAURICE: We had to go in the studio, I remember, the week after.

We thought, maybe if we got back to work we can get re-centered, or something.

And I had to...

I was playing the strings, and it was very beautiful.

Barry and Robin just started crying, and I just started crying.

I said, "I can't play any more."

We went home, and about a month later we came back in and then we did "Wish You Were Here" for Andy.

And that was difficult to sing, very difficult, but we wanted to sing it, we wanted to do it.

But there was such a hauntingness on the sound I was getting on the keyboards, that was so pretty.

And I was just playing these chords that just went into beautiful melodies and Barry and Robin just... "Maybe next week," and we left.

(Barry and Robin vocalizing) BARRY: Stop.

MAN: Hey guys... BARRY: It's too slow.

MAURICE: The way- the way we rehearsed it last night.

Yeah, we'll go straight again.

♪ Tragedy ♪ ♪ Tragedy ♪ (Barry and Robin vocalizing) BARRY: Solo now.

MAURICE: Solo now.

(Barry and Robin vocalizing) BARRY: No, hold it.

ROBIN: One more.

BARRY: Hold it.

It would be nice if we could find a bigger sound for that solo.

MAN: Great.

BARRY: Bigger, rounder.

All right.

♪ Yeah, just like that, yeah, beautiful.

OK. Let's do it again, second half of the chorus, but bring that sound in, that's great.

Yeah.

OK. One, two, three, four... ♪ Tragedy ♪ Tragedy When somebody stops singing something that's really interesting, when- as soon as he stops singing, an instrument takes over doing something that's equally interesting.

And when that instrument stops and the voice comes back, the voice has to be equally interesting as the instrumental before it.

So, anywhere there's a space, you make an interesting situation happen.

♪ ROBIN: When we were doing "Tragedy," for instance, we knew we wanted the sound of an explosion to come at a certain point, to accentuate the track.

So we all gathered in the control booth, and listened to the track back.

BARRY: It might work.

It might work.

MAURICE: Hang on, now, listen.

MAN: What if it's dynamite?

♪ (Barry makes explosion sound) ROBIN: Right in that slot there.

BARRY: An explosion.

(everyone talking together) MAURICE: A little- perhaps a little earlier.

CARL: And you will find it, won't you?

MAN: Well, that's the place... BARRY: What might work... MAN: You always sang it.

Yeah, just sing- just like I did then, just go to the mic and go... (Barry makes explosion sound) And maybe it- we can turn it into an explosion somehow.

MAN: Let's try, like, overloading it.

CARL: I think you ought to try it first, just so we find the place, see if you can find that beat.

ROBIN: What about a real explosion in the studio?

MAN: There's an air force base?

BARRY: Where do we find one, I mean... ROBIN: Max has got some dynamite in his office.

(laughing) ROBIN: Let's go.

BARRY: Well let me give it a go... (explosion sound) before we go to get the dynamite.

MAN: OK. ROBIN: This will be interesting.

MAN: Hope everything comes out all right.

CARL: See if he finds the downbeat.

ROBIN: Yeah.

He's got to get it in the right spot.

BARRY: OK. CARL: Yeah.

BARRY: Feed me some track.

Let's give it a shot.

♪ Sorry about that.

♪ (Barry makes explosion sound) (laughs) ROBIN: I think... (clapping) Barry, loosen your shirt.

(clapping) (laughing) BARRY: It was a prank.

CARL: Maybe you should just close your eyes and really concentrate on the meter.

I'll be counting.

BARRY: OK.

I'll be counting.

CARL: Yeah, I'll be counting!

♪ (Barry makes explosion sound) CARL: Yeah, that was it.

(clapping) ROBIN: Yeah.

(clapping) Thank you.

Great.

CARL: Fabulous.

BARRY: I was a hair early but I think when we're all together... MAN: Let's hear it back.

BARRY: Listen, it's gonna work with three of them together, Carl, and maybe you could do something a li- something sound-wise with them that's gonna make them work as well.

ROBIN: Shut up and get in here.

(laughing) Where was I?

Yeah... You know that guy... MAN: Let's hear it back.

MAURICE: You told me about him.

ROBIN: Was it- was he still the same guy as he was before?

MAN: ...pair of trousers.

ROBIN: Really?

♪ MAURICE: There you go.

Fantastic.

MAN: Very nice.

Very nice.

(explosion) ♪ Tragedy ♪ When the feeling's gone and you can't go on ♪ ♪ It's tragedy ♪ When the morning cries and you don't know why ♪ ♪ It's hard to bear ♪ With no one to love you, you're goin' nowhere ♪ ♪ Aah, tragedy ♪ ♪ When you lose control and you got no soul ♪ ♪ It's tragedy ♪ When the morning cries and you don't know why ♪ ♪ It's hard to bear ♪ With no one to love you, you're goin' nowhere ♪ ROBIN: In retrospect, we could've actually waited another year or so before Spirits came out because it was- I think "Saturday Night Fever" was still in the top ten even when we brought Spirits out.

BARRY: Yes.

MAURICE: Well, that was the "30-Ton Tour", I call it.

A lot of- lot of gear.

We had, like, six semi-trailers, and we had the 707 plane.

It was huge.

I mean, Dodger Stadium, places like that.

We used to dream of this.

You know, having people in the audience like Barbra Streisand and- watching your show and loving it.

You know, I mean, this- these are fantasies.

These are all dreams.

And to have a 707, black with red bottom and our three heads on the tail and all this.

You're going, "Whoa!"

You know?

(laughs) Even getting bomb threats, it was great, you know, because if you weren't important they wouldn't bomb you, you know.

(laughs) ♪ Night and day, there's a burning down inside of me ♪ ♪ Burning love ♪ ♪ With a yearning that won't let me be ♪ ♪ Down I go and I just can't take it all alone ♪ ♪ I really should be holding you, holding you ♪ ♪ Loving you, loving you ♪ Tragedy ♪ When the feeling's gone and you can't go on ♪ ♪ It's tragedy ♪ When the morning cries and you don't know why ♪ ♪ It's hard to bear ♪ With no one to love you ♪ You're goin' nowhere ROBIN: It was a great tour and- because Andy joined us on that tour in a show- in a few shows, even John Travolta.

It was just a fabulous experience.

MAURICE: To go on stage and see the audience and- 'Cause I love- That's the only way you can say thank you, really, by going on stage live, for putting you there.

You know?

And that was our way of thanking people because that's the only way you can do it.

Because if it wasn't for the audience, we wouldn't have been up there.

(audience cheering) ♪ BARRY: The 50-city tour that we did for Spirits was really the beginning of Maurice's alcohol problems.

MAURICE: But, you see, I was always very protected.

I didn't get all the arrests that people would have got arrested, 'cause I was always protected by people looking after me, so... "Oh, he's just having a good time.

It's alright."

And they'd take me up to my room.

I wouldn't worry about getting to bed, because they would take me to bed.

You know, so we had security and people looking after us and roadies and things.

Saved me from a lot of driving, speeding fines and drunk- driving tickets, you know?

The only time I got the real first one was in the Isle of Man because I was the only guy in a blue Rolls-Royce driving around the Isle of Man drunk.

(laughs) I sort of stuck out like a sore thumb, you know?

BARRY: It was more of a question of denial.

It was more, "Let's keep writing, Moe will be OK," you know?

And the reason that the Streisand Guilty album doesn't really involve Maurice on more than one song, which is "Guilty," was because at that very point, Maurice had reached the razor's edge, he really needed to be in rehab.

And so this was really the whole family coming to the same conclusion.

Coming- Robin and I confronting Maurice in his home, with Yvonne, his wife, basically having to lay down a law which we did not want to lay down, which was, "Moe, it ends now, or it ends forever."

And- and at that point Moe went into rehab and took the step.

And Robin and I waited for about six months for him to come- to come back around.

ROBIN: Yeah.

BARRY: Then we went back in the studio together and carried on as we had before.

♪ Living eyes ♪ When under the Sun don't cry ♪ ROBIN: We weren't functioning as a group in the '80s.

We were concentrating on songwriting.

MAURICE: The whole "It's time to kill 'Fever,' it's time to kill disco" period came in, so we just sort of took a back seat.

♪ Living eyes ♪ When out in the rain will fall ♪ The saturation point was ridiculous.

That's why we had to sit back and- and do- produce other people and write for other people.

I mean when we heard they were having "Bee Gee-free weekends" in Chicago and places like that, it was scary stuff.

And then we thought, "We'd better take the Bee Gees- better take a little- go on the back burner for a while and said, "Until this dies down or something," you know.

So we couldn't do anything as the Bee Gees at all.

We didn't make an album till '87.

BARRY: We'd done so much in the studio, over so- over so few years that I think it all caught up with us.

(Barry makes explosion sound) (laughs) MAURICE: Myself, personally, I just thought, "Well, this will give us a chance to explore our writing and write for other artists."

'Cause we got offered Barbra.

BARRY: I called Neil Diamond and I said, you know, "What's Barbra like to work with?"

You know?

And he said, "Oh, she's fantastic, just go for it."

♪ And we got nothing to be guilty of ♪ ♪ Our love will climb any mountain near or far ♪ ♪ We are, and we never let it end ♪ ROBIN: I remember me and Barry writing in his bedroom.

We'd do a song each day and then the following week we'd do the lyrics to each respective song that we'd written.

And we sent the seven songs that we'd finished at that point to Barbra Streisand.

We had an immediate yes, she wanted to start right away.

So that was a very enjoyable experience.

MAURICE: From then on, it was always like Dionne Warwick's album, Kenny Rogers and Dolly, we all worked together and wrote.

I did some solo stuff with Robin, which was great.

So everybody was doing something.

BARRY: And you know, every- we were all sort of scattered at that point.

We all wanted some time away.

And Robin wanted to live in New York for a little bit, Maurice was having back surgery, and so all of these sort of opportunities opened up, we had nothing else to do.

And that led to the Diana Ross album Chain Reaction and the Kenny Rogers album with Dolly Parton and "Islands in the Stream."

♪ Islands in the stream ♪ That is what we are ♪ No one in between ♪ How can we be wrong?

♪ Sail away with me ♪ To another world ♪ And we rely on each other, ah ha ♪ ROBIN: "Islands in the Stream" started out as a soul song.

BARRY: We came up with "Islands in the Stream" in our writing room upstairs.

We all looked at each other, we knew we had a monster song, we just didn't know who was going to record it.

ROBIN: It was very, like... BARRY: Yep.

♪ Islands in the stream BARRY: Yeah.

♪ That is what we are BARRY: We viewed it as an R&B song and not a country song.

And in the end it just came to show that those two types of music are very close together.

And "Islands in the Stream" became a country song.

ROBIN: Really, we're talking about two careers here, composers and artists.

And it's- it's kind- the two go together, but then they get- they're- they're separate as well.

And they're both quite- you know, they're both very, very meaningful to us in their own way.

We see ourselves as composers first and- and artists second because we always brought, you know- you can't have the second without the first.

And we've always enjoyed writing for other people.

MAURICE: The greatest thing about being a writer, a songwriter, is when you write a song with someone in mind that you really love, and then that person ends up singing it, there's no reward like it.

BARRY: We wrote a song for Céline Dion, called "Immortality," she inspired the song, she inspires us, probably the finest female pop singer in the world.

It was a dream that- that she might sing one of our songs one day.

And that was- and the dream came true.

♪ So this is who I am ♪ And this is all I know MAURICE: We wrote "Immortality" for the Saturday Night Fever musical and they wanted one big song at the end, so the guy could come out... ♪ Immortality you know, do the whole thing.

There was a guy that sang it in the show, but we wrote it with Céline totally in mind.

♪ I will stand for my dream if I can ♪ ♪ Symbol of my faith in who I am ♪ ♪ But you are my only When we write for girls, Barry always sings it in falsetto, because that's the girls' range, so when they play the song to hear the demo they can sing along and it'll be in their range.

♪ I won't let my heart control my head ♪ When you hear the demo, you can hear Céline.

And then she said she wanted to record it.

B- (claps) Blew me away.

♪ We don't say goodbye BARRY: When we first heard Céline sing it, we burst into tears.

MAURICE: Tissues were going everywhere.

BARRY: It just destroyed us.

And that's how we left the building, completely in tears, that this girl had done this with this song.

♪ Immortality ♪ I make my journey through eternity ♪ ♪ I keep the memory of you and me ♪ ♪ Inside ♪ Fulfill your destiny ♪ Is there within the child ♪ ♪ My storm will never end ♪ My fate is on the wind ♪ The king of hearts, the joker's wild ♪ ♪ We don't say goodbye ♪ We don't say goodbye ♪ We don't say goodbye ♪ With all my love for you ♪ ♪ And what else we may do ♪ We don't say goodbye ♪ (audience cheering) ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ I couldn't figure why ♪ You couldn't give me what everybody needs ♪ ♪ I shouldn't let you kick me when I'm down ♪ ♪ My baby ♪ I find out everybody knows ♪ ♪ That you've been using me ♪ ♪ I'm surprised you ♪ Let me stay around you ♪ One day I'm gonna lift the cover ♪ ♪ And look inside your heart ♪ ♪ We gotta level before we go ♪ ♪ And tear this love apart ♪ ♪ There's no fight ♪ You can't fight this battle of love with me ♪ ♪ You win again ♪ So little time, we do nothing but compete ♪ ♪ There's no life on Earth ♪ ♪ No other could see me through ♪ ♪ You win again ♪ Some never try but if anybody can, we can ♪ ♪ And I'll be ♪ And I'll be ♪ I'll be ♪ And I'll be following you ♪ BARRY: I always keep a little Dictaphone next to the bed.

And about four in the morning, I woke up with this melody which was... ♪ There's no light ♪ You can't fight this battle of love with me ♪ ♪ You win again And that was it.

I thought, "Well if I lose this, ♪ Your fortress open wide it'll be gone forever," because the next day it's gone, it's just gone.

So I- I checked the machine, there was no cassette in it.

ROBIN: It's always the same.

BARRY: So I was running round the house trying to find a cassette.

And then, and I found a cassette, got whatever I could down, and played it to Robin the next day.

♪ There's no fight ♪ You can't fight this battle of love with me ♪ ♪ You win again ♪ So little time, we do nothing but compete ♪ ♪ There's no life MAURICE: It was funny, I mean, unfortunately the record was never released here.

But "You Win Again," when it came out in 1987, we'd just signed with Warners for a new deal and this was the first record and everybody went gung ho on it and really did well.

And I remember we had these stomps put on it.

And I- 'cause It was something in my studio, my garage, that we'd come up with and got it all together, there's no drums on there at all, it's all just sounds that we made.

And I remember Arif was producing the album with us, and he said, "Great, when you come out to New York," you know, he said, "we'll d- we'll do 'You Win Again' again."

'Cause we'd done the demo in my garage.

And we got to New York and the first thing- I'm thinking, "They're gonna do the whole thing again.

"Right, who's- where- where do we start?"

And we had some programmers in there and he went, (claps) "Have you got the stomps?"

And I went, "No.

I thought we were gonna do the whole thing again."

"Oh no, you've gotta get the stomps, "the stomps are what makes the record.

"We gotta get the stomps to make the- "The sound is- is- that's part of the backtrack, we've got to have that."

So I had to get them to- get them sampled on to my drum machine in Miami and the disc sent up.

And we got it and then we embellished on it a bit more in the studio and everybody at the record company wanted them off.

(laughs) And we went, "No."

"Well, can you take them off the intro?"

"No."

"Can you turn them down a bit in the mix?"

"No."

"It's as it is, that's the record."

And they didn't like that.

They weren't too happy about that.

And now everyone says, "As soon as that record starts on the radio, you know it's the Bee Gees."

(snaps) And that was such a great signal.

'Cause it signaled to everybody that this song's coming.

It became Princess Diana's favorite song, it was just amazing, the success that record had.

Even- I- I knew I'd made it in the sampling when Phil Collins came up to me at the airport and said, "Can you give me a copy of the stomps?"

(laughs) ♪ ♪ I feel my heartbeat ♪ When you run your fingers through my hair ♪ ♪ Yeah ♪ I can tell you ♪ I can feel you by my side when you're not there ♪ ♪ Yeah ♪ Just as my life fades to darkness ♪ ♪ You make me see the light ♪ ♪ Show me that my search is over ♪ ♪ I pay the price, I pay the price ♪ ♪ Tell you someday ♪ Baby, you and I should be one, one ♪ ♪ Oh yeah ♪ Do it always ♪ Brighter than the eye can see, we hide the sun ♪ ♪ Oh yeah BARRY: I think the Bee Gee sound...

I don't know how to describe it.

I guess it's just a mixture.

It's us.

ROBIN: You've got to remember, we come from an era where everybody was experimenting with sounds and it was almost a rite of passage.

♪ Baby, you and I should be one, one ♪ BARRY: So it's a real mixed bag, you know?

and I think we were very fortunate that it wasn't just one lead singer, you know?

We could al- alternate, and sometimes sing the same song together.

When we sing songs like... ♪ You know how easy it is to hurt me ♪ ♪ Fanny be tender It's Barry and Robin singing in unison.

But it sounds like one guy.

"Bit more Robin, but bit more Barry.

Are you sure?

Which one is it?"

But it's a sound of the two.

Then the three of us go into harmony on the... ♪ Fanny be tender And it's... ♪ And you know how easy it is ♪ It's just Barry and Robin.

But they mesh together so well, that it sounds like one voice.

But it's a different voice from them separately.

BARRY: To us it was like the Beatles, it was having that alternative lead, you know?

And being able to mix it up.

♪ Aah ♪ I think somebody might ♪ I go down on my knees ♪ A scene I can't rewind ♪ I step under ♪ You know my life is in your hands ♪ ♪ And every breath you take is planned ♪ ♪ And all this love goes on forever ♪ ♪ Tell you someday ROBIN: I think people today in the world of music are far, far more conservative in what they do, they don't use harmonies like they- they should, it's- it's because they're just too lazy.

It's hard work.

Because there's no technology that can create a human voice in harmony.

Or even a machine that can create a melody.

You've got to do that yourself.

Those are the basic vehicles of- of all popular music.

That's what's gonna make music what it is and the songs what they are.

And there's still no technology for those, and those are the principal ones, and thank God there isn't.

MAURICE: So, that blend has been used quite a lot.

And it's when we do the harmonies, we bank them underneath with doubles and falsettos on top so you get the full richness of the harmony, which is what I love to do.

I mean I love to arrange- get the records all- this with that there and- Paint the picture, you know, add the colors.

And they're like our children, we send them out in the world, we hope they do well.

♪ I stumble in the night ♪ Never really knew what it would've been like ♪ ♪ You're no longer there to break my fall ♪ ♪ The heartache over you ♪ I'd give it everything ♪ But I couldn't live through ♪ ♪ I never saw the signs ♪ You're the last to know when love is blind ♪ ♪ All the tears and the turbulent years ♪ ♪ When I would not wait for no one ♪ ♪ Didn't stop, take a look at myself ♪ ♪ See me losing you ♪ When a lonely heart breaks ♪ ♪ It's the one that forsakes ♪ ♪ It's the dream that we stole ♪ ♪ And I'm missing you more ♪ ♪ Than the fire that will roar ♪ ♪ Hole in my soul ♪ For you it's goodbye ♪ For me it's to cry ♪ For whom the bell tolls ROBIN: I think that people will always love songs about human relationships and melody.

These are the songs that will reach out over the decades to the unborn.

Because they are perennial as the grass, human emotion.

BARRY: It's not ego that makes you write a great song, it's the belief that you can't that ma- makes you do it.

ROBIN: Sometimes even envy and jealousy.

That- you hear a great song on the radio and you think... BARRY: Yes.

Yes.

ROBIN: "I wish I could write a song like that."

I think you need tent poles, you need things to motivate you, but also there's that belief that you- you can as well, you know?

Damn the torpedoes.

BARRY: Yeah.

ROBIN: What Robert said to us in 1967, he said, "Write for 40 years from now, don't just write for now."

In other words, don't write for trends and fashions, which we try not to do.

That's the one thing I can remember him saying.

"Write for the future."

♪ For you it's goodbye ♪ For me it's to cry ♪ For whom the bell tolls ♪ BARRY: Every single award or every single citation or achievement that's given to you has a different feel to it.

You know, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame was to us everything.

BRIAN: Please stand and welcome Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb into the Hall of Fame.

The Bee Gees!

(audience cheering and applauding) ♪ Blaming it all on the nights on Broadway ♪ BARRY: Being in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame was- was just a dream for us.

MAURICE: But not only getting inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, but being inducted by Brian Wilson to me was a knockout.

That blew my night.

BARRY: We are in fact the enigma with the stigma.

We know this.

We're aware of it.

We hear it every day.

We live with it.

We have suffered.

But tonight I think we've come home and we thank you very much for this honor.

So, every single award you get has a different kind of intense emotional experience for you.

MAURICE: I mean the BRIT Awards, it's been a long time since we've been even involved in anything like that, but to get the Lifetime Achievement Award was- was a wonderful honor.

Beautiful Quincy Jones coming out and giving us that award in the American Music Awards, which was wonderful again.

Quincy I've known for a lot of years.

And it's so sweet that he could do that.

QUINCY: Gentlemen, let me just sum it up with this phrase on your International Award.

Their recordings have sold well over 100 million copies worldwide, making them one... (audience cheering) (audience cheering) making them one of the top five most successful artists ever.

Congratulations and good luck on your upcoming world tour.

Barry!

BARRY: Thank you, Quincy!

(audience cheering) How times change.

Ten, fifteen years ago you wouldn't have put on a Bee Gees record.

Now, it's sort of OK. ♪ ♪ ♪ I was a midnight rider on a cloud of smoke ♪ ♪ I could make a woman hang on every single stroke ♪ ♪ I was an iron man, I had a master plan ♪ ♪ But I was alone ♪ I could hear you breathing ♪ ♪ With a sigh of the wind ♪ I remember how your body started trembling ♪ ♪ Oh, what a night it's been for the state I'm in ♪ ♪ I'm still alone ♪ And all the wonders made for the Earth ♪ ♪ And all the hearts in all creation ♪ ♪ Somehow I always end up alone ♪ ♪ Always end up alone ♪ Always end up alone ♪ So I'll play, I'll wait MAURICE: We stopped touring basically to concentrate more on the writing and songs and the work that was involved in that.

And if we did tour, we wanted it to be special.

But we certainly didn't want to go out and do a nostalgia tour, of just doing the old songs and saying, "Thank you very much.

Cheers."

So we wanted to at least have a good success under our belt before we go out again.

♪ And I don't wanna be alone ♪ BARRY: One Night Only was- only became a concept after- after we did the one show at the MGM.

It came about from back surgery.

Long-term, every-two-nights or every-one-night tours were no longer really feasible.

The pain was far too much for me, my back has set into- to a place where, if I did that every night, nobody was going to insure us to do that.

MAURICE: And when you sing falsetto, it's a hell of a high raise to go to, that back needs- you need your back.

And it's agony when you do it, 'cause you (inhales) ugh!

You know you feel it before you've even taken half a breath.

So, Barry was going through all that stuff.

I don't know how he did it but he didn't want to do a bad show.

♪ And is there glory there to behold?

♪ ♪ Maybe it's my imagination ♪ ♪ Another story there to be told ♪ ♪ So I'll play, I'll wait ♪ And I pray it's not too late ♪ BARRY: So, we all made up our minds that maybe it was a good idea to do six shows worldwide and put a price on each one of those shows, and that way, people would travel to places that we'd never been before.

And let my back settle.

And so we did one almost every two weeks, three weeks.

♪ And I don't wanna be alone ♪ ♪ Gone but not out of sight ♪ ♪ I'm caught in the rain and there's no one home ♪ MAURICE: I've seen him do shows when his back's been in agony.

And I know 'cause I've had back surgery too, and I know exactly what he went through.

And he's persevered through a whole two-hour show in agony.

And nobody would have known it.

We knew it 'cause he'd be singing and he'd turn around and look at us and go... (exhales) Like this and go... And back out again.

But all the time in agony.

♪ And clean out of site ♪ I'm caught in the rain and there's no one home ♪ (audience cheering) ♪ (audience cheering and applauding) ♪ ♪ I've seen the story ♪ I've read it over once or twice ♪ ♪ I said that you say ♪ A little bit of bad advice ♪ ♪ I've been in trouble ♪ Happened to me all of my life ♪ ♪ I've lied and you lie ♪ And who would get the sharpest knife ♪ ♪ You shouldn't be somebody like that ♪ ♪ I'm not the kind of man to throw his hat ♪ ♪ Into the ring and ♪ Go down without following through ♪ ♪ The day turns into night ♪ ♪ Go down following through ♪ ♪ The day turns into night ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh ♪ This is just where I came in ♪ ♪ Hope rides on ♪ But I'll go anywhere ♪ Yes, I'll go anywhere with you ♪ ♪ Time has gone ♪ But I'll go anywhere ♪ Yes, I'll go anywhere with you ♪ ♪ This is the danger zone ♪ This is where I came in ♪ They know not what they do ♪ ♪ Forgive them all their sins ♪ ♪ They know they cannot take away ♪ ♪ What you have given me MAURICE: "This is Where I Came In" takes me back to our Beatle period.

We sort of went back to the way we recorded in the late '60s.

♪ This is just where I came in ♪ We sort of went back to that stage where it's the acoustics, the key- the piano, the bass, the drums, whatever.

A lot of live drums on this album.

And we wanted that live feel.

Particularly on the opening track.

And we just wanted to rock a bit more.

But "This is Where I Came In" is the harmony thing.

We just wanted it as the three of us around one mic, singing the harmony on this song.

And that's what we did.

And that was two takes.

The whole song.

The whole record.

For the vocals.

(exhales) "OK. That's finished.

Next."

(claps) And it was like, "Whoa!

This is good stuff.

This is great fun!"

You know, we were recording just like we used to.

♪ Hope rides on ♪ But I'll go anywhere ♪ Yes, I'll go anywhere with you ♪ ♪ I always tell myself ♪ I would regret this day ♪ That I would fall apart ♪ And watch you walk away ♪ That you would cry out loud ♪ ♪ And I would stand aside BARRY: I loved it.

I- I still do.

I don't like the long hours in the studio anymore because there's so much going on outside and I don't have the attention span, you know?

If I can make a record in two days, then I'll do that.

I'll do it in two days.

But I couldn't sit there for 12 hours a day for three months like we used to.

Not with five children.

Not reality anymore.

But I love it.

And I love the i- I love the results of it.

When something sounds amazing and you don't know how you got there.

♪ This is just where I came in ♪ (audience cheering and applauding) Yeah, we love that.

We love that song.

(laughs) OK, it's- it's Maurice's turn now.

Brother Moe over here.

(audience screaming and applauding) (Barry laughs) Maurice has done a lot more individual music on this album.

It's really about himself, the song.

The song is called "Man in the Middle."

We hope you like it.

(audience cheering and applauding) (drumsticks tapping) ♪ ♪ ♪ I've got a plan that can never go wrong ♪ ♪ You took advantage and the damage done ♪ ♪ It all comes back to me, baby ♪ ♪ It all comes back to me MAURICE: Yeah, I've sort of been the man in the middle.

It still comes from that business where I've always been in the middle of things between Barry and Robin.

BARRY: At different times we've all been the man in the middle.

Robin and I hardly ever see eye-to-eye, and yet, we gravitate towards each other no matter what.

And Moe was always the sort of, you know, "Break it up, you guys."

You know, "Don't argue."

Or don't, you know, Moe would always be that guy that would take the middle ground or would calm things down if things got... To that extent, yes, he was.

But I think over the years, we've all done that.

♪ I'm just the man in the middle ♪ ♪ Of a complicated plan ♪ No one to show me the signs ♪ ♪ I'm just a creature of habit ♪ ♪ In a complicated world ♪ Nowhere to run to, nowhere to hide ♪ ♪ To hide (echoes) (audience cheering) ♪ (audience cheering and applauding) REPORTER: Maurice Gibb, one third of the Bee Gees, has died, age 53.

Here's Tamzin Sylvester with tonight's Liquid Lead.

TAMZIN: Maurice collapsed at his beachfront house in Miami on Thursday with severe stomach pains.

He was rushed to the nearby Mount Sinai hospital but had a heart attack during emergency surgery.

His twin brother, Robin, spoke to the media on Friday, saying he was on the mend but then Maurice slipped into a coma.

He died in the early hours of this morning with his wife, children and brothers Gibb at his bedside.

BARRY: It was shattering to both of us, shattering to both of us in- in- in countless ways, countless ways.

ROBIN: And the speed at which it happened as well.

BARRY: Yes.

ROBIN: I mean, so unexpected because he was quite young, and he'd never really been ill, and it happened in such- in a matter of hours.

BARRY: Yes.

ROBIN: And it still- It's mind-blowing, from a Wednesday night to the Saturday when he died.

You know, it's just like no- nothing could stop it.

BARRY: And the idea of us going on without Moe became something that was, "Oh, we could do that."

"But no, we couldn't."

"Yes, we could."

"No, we couldn't."

ROBIN: Well, we were in shock.

ED: Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the 2003 Legend Award recipients, Barry and Robin Gibb.

(audience cheering) ROBIN: The Legend in the 2003 Awards was bittersweet in the Grammys because it was- you know, Maurice wasn't there.

And you've got to remember that Maurice died on January 12th.

Well, this was, I think, sometime in January.

BARRY: And his family were there.

And so it became more of everybody really dwelling on Moe and the sadness of it, and the fact that we'd lost him at such an early age.

And it was incredible to receive it, but we were sort of numb, you know.

ROBIN: We'd just come to terms with the fact that, "Hey, Maurice had- has just died."

We were talking about hours, days.

And so, you know, it was- It came right in the middle of it.

We just- Our equilibrium was completely out of whack, and if it had been another time, we would have enjoyed it more.

BARRY: And if Moe had been there with us, it would've been the cream on the cake.

But the idea that he wasn't there to share it, was- was equally important but in a very sad way.

ROBIN: Even the most ardent fans will always know a different Maurice than I do.

There's a personality and a whole history that I know about Maurice that people will never know, and that's the person I miss.

But I- the- you know, the music is- is there.

He lives on with music, and I hear on the radio, when I hear a song with him, that's- he's still alive.

BARRY: Robin and I love music so much... ROBIN: Yes.

BARRY: And it's so ingrained in our souls that we don't know how to move away from it.

ROBIN: I think it's important, also, for Maurice's memory... BARRY: Yeah.

ROBIN: His legacy... BARRY: Yes.

ROBIN: As just as much.

BARRY: The legacy of the Bee Gees must go on, one way or the other.

♪ There's a light ♪ ♪ A certain kind of light ♪ That never shone on me ♪ I want my life to be lived with you ♪ It's been a- a few years since we've heard our voices together.

♪ There's a way everybody say ♪ ♪ To do each ROBIN: Maurice's death left a- a kind of emotional vacuum between the two of us because Barry had a way of dealing with it, I have my way of dealing with it.

And a few years have passed now, we're able to see each other in a different way.

BARRY: We're beginning to behave the way we always did, before Moe died.

♪ You don't know what it's like ♪ ♪ Baby, you don't know what it's like now ♪ ♪ To love somebody, to love somebody ♪ ♪ The way I love you ♪ The way I love you ROBIN: Because of what happened with Maurice... BARRY: Yes.

ROBIN: Barry had a way of expressing his way... BARRY: I was pulverized.

I- I had no passion or interest in continuing at all, you know?

Robin went the opposite direction and had to keep moving.

I wanted to keep the Bee Gees as the- as the three of us.

I wanted- I wanted it- I wanted that to be the only thing anyone ever saw again.

Three, four.

(Barry vocalizing) ♪ ♪ ♪ I can think of younger days ♪ ♪ When living for my life ♪ Was everything a man could want to do ♪ ♪ I could never see tomorrow ♪ ♪ No one said a word about the sorrow ♪ ♪ And how can you mend a broken heart ♪ ♪ How can you stop the rain from falling down ♪ ♪ How can you stop the Sun from shining ♪ ♪ What makes the world go 'round ♪ BARRY: We still have a lot of music in us, because we've already written one song together this week.

I now know inside that- that what we will do will be good.

ROBIN: Yeah.

BARRY: It's time for us now to move on without ever letting go of Moe.

♪ Please help me mend my broken heart ♪ ♪ And let me live again (Barry and Robin vocalizing) ♪ BARRY: The blend of the voices is great.

ROBIN: Yeah.

BARRY: Even I get nostalgic.

(laughs) ROBIN: I feel more every day as I go- fortunate to be born into a family where Barry is my brother because I get to work with him.

I mean, what- I mean one of the greatest pop writers of all time.

I mean, there's no- in all the billions of families that are born in the world, I got to be born in- in the family with him.

How good can it get?

BARRY: It can't.

It can't.

ROBIN: I mean that's- that's real.

BARRY: Well, it gets- what it gets is mutual.

What it gets is mutual.

ROBIN: I am... BARRY: What you draw from me, I draw from you.

And- and I look forward to the next time that- that we concoct something that we both look at each other and say... ROBIN: Yeah.

"There, that's it."

ROBIN: Right.

That's all I care about.

BARRY: Yeah.

Me too.

♪ There's a light ♪ A certain kind of light ♪ That never shone on me ♪ ♪ I want my life to be ♪ ♪ Lived with you ♪ ♪ Lived with you ♪ ♪ There's a way everybody say ♪ ♪ Do each and every little thing ♪ ♪ But what just does it ♪ ♪ Bring if I ain't got you?

♪ ♪ Ain't got you ♪ Baby ♪ You don't know what it's like ♪ ♪ Baby ♪ You don't know what it's like ♪ ♪ To love somebody ♪ ♪ To love somebody ♪ ♪ The way I love you