I started a joke, which started the whole word crying, but I didn't see, that...I was (twelve days--blimey!) late again....
Amazingly enough, my introduction to this week's tune had nothing to do with finding a CD of their greatest hits for a dollar at our local library book sale. Rather, I started getting into the band during the mid-seventies (before their disco explosion) and looked everywhere for a good greatest hits package--which didn't exist. So, I picked at a copy of a live album of theirs (which I am usually loathe to do because live recordings are great in person, not so much on a recording), Here at last...Bee Gees...Live, where I discovered our featured song and fell almost instantly in love with it.
I wrote about the Bee Gees in Vol. CCCXV, and it summed up their rather lengthy and successful career about the best one can in a single paragraph. In the years since, Barry Gibb, the sole surviving brother, has released an album, and there is supposed to be a biopic of the brothers Gibb in the works.
"New York Mining Disaster 1941" was the first international single the Bee Gees ever released (they released a single in Australia prior), from their 1967 album, the rather aptly entitled Bee Gees 1st. The single would reach #14 (with a bullet!) in America but was not released as a single in the U.K. to increase LP sales. The album hit #7 in America and #8 in Great Britain...which calls into question just how great their U.K. plan was....
Fun Fact: "New York Mining Disaster 1941" was actually inspired by the Aberfan disaster in Wales in 1966 (and it was quite the disaster). Robin Gibb thought New York sounded more glamorous, so they went with it instead of Wales.
"New York Mining Disaster 1941" spins the rather sad tale of a man trapped after a mine has collapsed who is trying to show another man (the rather ubiquitous Mr. Jones) a picture of his wife and who, with each passing moment, realizes that he is never going to see her again. Barry and Robin wrote this song when they were in their early twenties, and the lyrics show a maturity and gift for perception that would suit them well throughout their career. While Maurice Gibb is content to show off his guitar playing skills (trying to get a Wikipedia link for all three because I didn't in the original post....), the other brothers play off each other vocally with all the pathos they can muster. In the end, it's a nice piece of sixties folk pop--and was certainly a harbinger for the musical success the brothers would enjoy for the next forty years....
Lyric Sheet: "I keep straining my ears to hear a sound/Maybe someone is digging underground/Or have they given up and all gone home to bed/Thinking those who once existed must be dead..."
Enjoy:
Fuck Donald Trump
Peace,
emaycee
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