You will not have my attention. I will be strutting my stuff, or what’s left of it, to this perfect song. Yes, the video shows a couple of herberts, one toothy with a mum hairdo, the other bald, strangely distracted, acting as props to a man of the type they don’t make any more, in a pair of alarming trousers, as they wander around a Barratt starter home estate. Nobody knows why.
The Brothers Gibb wrote this monster song, and sang it in one take around one mic. A copy of the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack should be in every home. We will not hear its like again.
https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/classic-tracks-bee-gees-stayin-alive
H.P. Saucecraft says
Black Celebration says
I didn’t know until recently that they used those high voices for the first time as backing vocals on Nights on Broadway…and they liked it so much that they started singing entire songs like that.
H.P. Saucecraft says
I should have entitled this think-piece “Ain’t There One Damn Song To Make Me Get Down And Strut My Stuff?” As a kind of companion piece to Tigger’s sad bloke weep-fest. Feel free to post any genuinely bangin’ chewns that will still propel you out onto the dance floor at weddings in spite of the misgivings of your nearest and.
dai says
It’s a great song and this is a sublime version, bearing in mind that I have the worst taste here…
H.P. Saucecraft says
This is a great version. By posting this you have unfortunately lost your Worst Taste sash, which returns to Lodestone.
dai says
Thank you much
Lodestone of Wrongness says
Man, I hate the BGs. Downhill, and I mean downhill falling off a cliff into an icy cold fjord wondering why these boots are made of concrete downhill, after New York Mining Disaster. Honestly, it’s like I’m the only one with taste around here …
Lodestone of Wrongness says
Bloody hell, that’s a fantastic version! Dai is rihgt, Dai is rihgt!
Gary says
Now look here. That version, marvellous as it is, has been posted and talked about here a few times. As have some other surprise Springsteen covers that he’s done live. Every time they are mentioned they elicit surprised reaction. Do you people not take notes when you come here? Screenshots of the best comments? Recorded dictations of the most astute musical observations? I do. I have an entire virtual filing cabinet dating back to the last time Dai was right about something.
Lodestone of Wrongness says
Dai has never ever been right about anything. Unlike me and Brooce
dai says
Right on cue here’s another one from the same tour
Max the Dog says
That is fantastic!
Vulpes Vulpes says
Fucking brilliant. Love the wah-wah spesh. And the horns. Strings too. Brooce knows.
Captain Darling says
That is great, but I would definitely have let the horns sit this one out. There’s enough going on (great work by the strings, by the way) without them squonking all over the shop.
Also, was there a lightbulb shortage at the time? Bruce appears to be in darkness for most of the song. C’mon, lighting people, he is the Boss, you know!
Black Type says
There’s a darkness on… y’know.
Tiggerlion says
I think you will find the soundtrack to Xanadu equally uplifting. Side one is all Olivia Newton-John, with occasional Cliff. Side two is all ELO, the ELO of 1980.
Jaygee says
This is a million times better
It has been said that the first time Maurice – possibly somewhat the worse for wear because of his brobdingnagian drug intake of the time – heard this for the first time he had no recollection of them recording it
dai says
brobdingnagian? Check your drug use.
Vulpes Vulpes says
I LOVE Saturday Night Fever. All of it. The movie, the album, the lot. It transports me instantly back to the days when I could go to a club and rush straight onto the dance floor and stay there for an hour before going to the bar for a quick beer before getting right back out there again, and all without having to plan my exit route and have a full paramedical crash team on standby parked up around the corner.
retropath2 says
Shame on you; I always assumed you’d be a cross-legged denier, fighting the tide, at school discos, asking if they’ve got any Van der Graaf.
Vulpes Vulpes says
Au contraire. My lapels were things of wonder.
Captain Darling says
I think this was said in another thread, but the BGs’ back catalogue seems to have been poorly treated. Every time I hear one of their absolute choons I feel like getting a nice career-spanning box set or a multi-disc best-of that covers a lot of bases and deep cuts, only to find very little beyond the odd collection of the really big songs known to everyone.
Considering they’ve sold a million billion records, their less well-known stuff has been sadly neglected.
Kaisfatdad says
Let’s not forget all the songs the Gibbs have written for others.
Like Barbra Streisand who had a mega hit with A Woman in Love.
When I lived on Corfu in the early 80s this was a mammoth hit.
Big in Russia too
Not to mention Finland
And let’s not forget Iceland where the woman in love was a beardy bloke!!
duco01 says
Here’s my favourite version of the Bee Gees’ brilliant choon “To Love Somebody”. On vocals: James Carr
H.P. Saucecraft says
That’s it, then! None of youse bums ever danced at a wedding except Foxy and KFD, or if you did you can’t remember the record. Absolutely typical A-Word: start a thread about what songs make you cry and you’re all wringing out yer hankies like a gert big girl’s blouse. BEW HEW! Start a thread about disco tunes and get a Bruce Springsteen cover.
Cuh.
slotbadger says
Well, since you asked…
H.P. Saucecraft says
You dancin’?
slotbadger says
ask me sister, I’m sweatin’
H.P. Saucecraft says
You don’t sweat much, for a fat girl …
Vulpes Vulpes says
DLT on air drums. Jeff Beck on geetar. What did you put on that pizza?
Pajp says
… and a young Melvyn Bragg on keyboards, if I am not mistaken.
Black Type says
This still sounds like the future.
Freddy Steady says
It mostly certainly does. Just brilliant.
dai says
I’ve said it before, this could be the best pop song I ever heard. Barry Gibb wrote it (he’s a genius)
H.P. Saucecraft says
I’ve loosened the velcro on my satin bow tie and my jacket is OFF!!!
Mike_H says
All singin’, all dancin’, EWF.
Black Celebration says
Straightforwardly joyous disco song, you say? Look no further than YMCA. No…hear me out. I know it’s very, very familiar and you may not need to hear it again but it is undeniably a superb wedding disco song. A killer intro, an uplifting lyric and the catchy, all-inclusive chorus.
You can clearly see that the whole, er, package is as camp as a row of tents and that the lyric hints at a lifestyle that 1978 Britain would have found a trifle near…but look, everyone’s dancing and enjoying themselves regardless.
H.P. Saucecraft says
This is a great song. It has ITS OWN DANCE! Is this the most recent example of a pop song with signature dance moves? I don’t think twerking counts.
fentonsteve says
I used to be able to do the dance moves to Saturday Night by Whigfield. That was 1992, so about last week in AW years.
Black Celebration says
Let’s bring things bang up to date with Asare Je (AKA the Ketchup Song). It has a special dance and joyful lyrics most of us don’t understand. Doesn’t stop it being triffic.
Kaisfatdad says
The Ketchup song is irresistibly catchy and a magnificent floorfiller.
But it is from 2002! Bang up to date? Here are two headliners from Roskilde 2024
SZA with a newisg single Snooze
And here’s Doja Cat with her latest hit: Wet Vagina
I’m sure that gets a lot of radio play.
You certainly can’t grumble about her putting on a show!
Even the most ambitious stage shows of yesteryear would have difficulty competing with that. Did Genesis or Pink Floyd feature a gigantic mud-wrestling spectacular in their shows? Did they hell!
On a bad year, the whole festival area is like Doja’s stage show. So she may not need to pack any mud,
duco01 says
Yeah, you’ve got a point there. I can’t see Tony Banks slithering around in a huge pool of mud to “The Battle of Epping Forest”, somehow.
H.P. Saucecraft says
Back when the Nudents Stunion disco was the high point of our giddy social calendar, this was the absolute unignorable dancefloor imperative. Nobody stayed still for this, not even “Mandy” (so named because he was always off his tits on them, those and Benilyn, and generally lying down being sick somewhere). The loooong fade was quite an endurance test, and we hardly had the energy left for another fist pump. But yeah – WOOOOOH!!!!
Vulpes Vulpes says
The very definition of strut.
H.P. Saucecraft says
YES!!! This same “Mandy” used to do a very compelling Jagger impersonation on the last bus home (the number 9 to Earlsdon, fact fans). Split loons were a regular feature of his aisle dance, unfortunately.
Gary says
Not the same Mandy who used to work in Sales and recently broke up with Jase?
H.P. Saucecraft says
THAT Mandy (technically “Mand”) is a girl, THIS Mandy is, maybe was, quite likely was, a blerk. And Mand is now a qualified nailtician whose lesbian relationship with a clinic receptionist (where Jase’s Nan goes “for her legs”) ended badly, although Jase secretly hopes for a reconciliation. DO try to keep up.
Sniffity says
Sounds very 21st C Stanshall….
H.P. Saucecraft says
I’ve “reached out” to Jase for an update on his situation in re romance/career/AOB.
Kaisfatdad says
You want a tune that will make us dance? My pleasure! But who should we start with??
Shalamar, Daft Punk, Evelyn “Champagne” King, Fatboy Slim, New Order, Roxy Music, Chic, Funkadelic, Tachid Taha, Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Ike and Tina Turner, Hawkwind, Desmond Dekker, Captain Beefheart, Kool and the Gang, Perez Prado, In Deep, James Brown, Bill Withers, Gnarls Barkley, Nat King Cole, Millie Small, Kraftverk, Sam Cooke, Carly Rae-Jepsen, Ella Fitzgerald, Tito Puente,
Here are a few floorfillers you may not know so well.
This Turkish song was enormous here.
As was this infernally catchy tune by Michel Telo from Brazil.
Khaled’s tribute to Ken Dodd and the citizens of Knotty Ash, Didi, never fails.
Finally a tune from 1967 which is still an irresistible floorfiller in 2024.
Mike_H says
Dance instructions.
Starts with a fanfare.
H.P. Saucecraft says
This absolutely qualifies. From 1966, though, when dances were still “all the rage”, as the Olds were saying. The Village Persons were ’78. Any special dance move records since then?
H.P. Saucecraft says
I just caught up with me own thread, innit.
Tiggerlion says
How about bangers from this century?
H.P. Saucecraft says
I dunno. They haven’t been played at any Thai weddings I’ve been to this century. Have you danced to these, Tig? Doesn’t have to be a wedding – could be a funeral.
Tiggerlion says
Of course. Discos are still happening, man. I can’t tread the boards like I used to, but I can still cause a bit of a stir.
A party isn’t considered a party without Crazy In Love, Hey Ya!, Uptown Funk, Happy and Get Lucky. Have you heard those records? They are dance floor magnets. Even grandads are impelled to shake their rumps.
Diddley Farquar says
Cause a bit of a stir? Yes I heard there was an incident. A bit too much rump on show. The police were called I believe. Still, as long as you enjoy yourself.
Personally I always like to join in with songs like Oops Upside Your Head, where you get to sit down on the dance floor. Ideal for us old ‘uns.
H.P. Saucecraft says
What was that “dance” where everyone sat in a line on the floor and pretended they were rowing a boat? Did I dream that?
Mike_H says
fitterstoke says
OMG! Wha’?
Gag me with a spoon!!!
H.P. Saucecraft says
Mike_H says
Getting up again after “the rowing boat dance” can be challenging for old ‘uns, though.
MC Escher says
I had exactly those 4 (I’d forgotten about Hey Ya! but it rubs shoulders comfortably with them) songs in mind when reading the OP.
Not to diss the Bee Gees of course, having, as they do, one of the best careers in all of pop music.
Kaisfatdad says
Talking of Portugal the Man. @Tiggerlion, here they are getting mashed up by Bill McClintock into a great floorfiller.
And now, James Brown meets Judas Priest
Kaisfatdad says
Another immense dance track from this century.
Even those funky grandads must get frisky when they hear that.
If we’re having Robyn, I guess we should also have the Caped Crusader.
duco01 says
Did I tell you about that time when Mrs duco and I sat at a table next to Robyn and her Mum in a restaurant in Stockholm’s Old Town?
Black Celebration says
I have a similar story. I was with my parents at a motorway service station having tea – and David Gedge was in a similar situation at a neighbouring table. I assume it was his parents, anyway. When you are with your family, particularly as an adult, you don’t interact in the same way you do with friends. There’s no pressure for conversation, for example.
H.P. Saucecraft says
Wow! David Gedge at a neighbouring table in a motorway service station! This rivals Fenty’s tale of buying a pick-up off [FORGOTTEN] for sheer giddy glamour!
fentonsteve says
Christ, HP, that’s so dull I’d nearly forgotten it myself. It was the baldy fella out of The Portisheads. Nice pickup, mind.
H.P. Saucecraft says
Nah, mate! Credit’s all yours. You (and Friend Of The Stars Black Celebration) are our glittering red carpet to showbiz excitement! It’s like we’re really there!
Black Celebration says
That’s just the tip of the iceberg! For example, I walked past Genesis.P.Orridge in Brighton and also surprised Roy Hattersley in broad daylight. These stories will be in my memoirs.
H.P. Saucecraft says
This is exactly the kind of thing Mr. Thep is looking for to relaunch his publishing career!
H.P. Saucecraft says
In a private email, Old Afterworder writes:
“I saw the Bee Gees at an open air show, in ‘79 or ‘80. My cousin’s business partner was their agent and he placed me on the stage, not in the wings, mind you, only a few yards from Bazza. I was so close, it looked like I was the fourth Bee Gee.
They were stupendous, as were their immense backing band. Hit after hit after hit, with an acoustic interlude where they sang a medley of songs of theirs that others had covered. (Heartbreaker, Islands in the Stream, Chain reaction etc) If I recall, it was thirty-odd top twenty hits of their own plus the interlude. A truly magic night.”
Which makes me ask myself – and by extension you – which other band could play a set of thirty-odd top twenty hits that they wrote? The Stones, the Beach Boys (no sniggering please) … and not just hits in the current placeholder manner, but songs that were individually distinct, memorable, and likely to last as long as humans have ears and want to dance … come on, Afterworders! Get on down!
Kaisfatdad says
Not a band. And not a performer who has had hits in his own right. But Burt Bacharach could certainly provide 30 hits.
As could Elton John. And Elton is still having hits!
What an unlikely pair. The Man from Pinner and the Girl from Albania.
I am not a terribly big Elton fan but this track is sheer pop magic,
He writes a fune tune,
H.P. Saucecraft says
Reg? Thirty memorably distinct top ten hits? I’ve just scrolled through his singles discography and there’s charitably twenty songs that qualify. But you’re right, he’s not a band, and neither was Burt Bacharach. Do try to stay on track, KFD, or we’ll be on the downward YouTube clip spiral to a bunch of amputee Eskimo orphans playing Candle In The Wind on thumb pianos. Again.
Kaisfatdad says
Funny you should say that. This Siberian combo have done a magnificent cover of Reg’s Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting.
We’ ll have to make do with this one for now.
Faith No More sing the Gibb Bros songbook! What more can you ask?
Lodestone of Wrongness says
The Lurkers (fact check needed)
H.P. Saucecraft says
Older readers may remember Lodey as “Chiggins”, tow-headed scallywag in ATV’s long-running kids’ serial “The Blurps”.
Bamber says
As a kind of tangent to this thread, I found the CD of the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack and it is indeed wonderful from start to finish. Having bought a shortscale bass not long before, I picked it up one day to play along with Disco Inferno from that soundtrack and realised what fun it is to play. Sometimes I’ll nip into my den, plug in, turn on the CD and spend a happy 10 minutes or so grooving along. A guaranteed mood lifter.
Alias says
This would get you and everyone around you moving.