"New York Mining Disaster 1941" | ||||
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Single by the Bee Gees | ||||
from the album Bee Gees' 1st | ||||
B-side | "I Can't See Nobody" [1] | |||
Released | 14 April 1967 | |||
Recorded | 13–16 March 1967 | |||
Studio | IBC (London) | |||
Genre | Folk rock [2] | |||
Length | 2:09 | |||
Label | ||||
Songwriter(s) | ||||
Producer(s) | ||||
The Bee Gees singles chronology | ||||
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Audio sample | ||||
"New York Mining Disaster 1941" | ||||
Music video | ||||
"New York Mining Disaster 1941" on YouTube |
"New York Mining Disaster 1941" is the debut American single by the Bee Gees,released on 14 April 1967. It was written by Barry and Robin Gibb. Aside from a moderately successful reissue of their Australian single "Spicks and Specks," it was the first single release of the group's international career and their first song to hit the charts in both the UK and the US. It was produced by Ossie Byrne with their manager Robert Stigwood as executive producer. The song was the first track of side two on the group's international debut album, Bee Gees' 1st. This was the first single with Australian drummer Colin Petersen as an official member of the band.
On 3 January 1967,the Gibb brothers,along with their parents and Byrne,traveled from Australia to England on the ship Fairsky ,reaching Southampton on 6 February. The brothers performed on board in exchange for passage. Later,the Gibb brothers auditioned for Stigwood;passed the audition,and signed to Robert Stigwood Organisation on 24 February. "New York Mining Disaster 1941" was their first song to be written in 1967. [3]
The Bee Gees' first recording session after returning to England was "Town of Tuxley Toymaker,Part 1," a song recorded by Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas,but first recorded by Jon Blanchfield in Australia. Kramer had recorded his version on 4 March 1967 in IBC Studios,London,with the Gibb brothers on background vocals. [3]
Barry and Robin Gibb wrote "New York Mining Disaster" while sitting in a darkened stairway at Polydor Records following a power outage. [4] The song recounts the story of a miner trapped in a cave-in. He is sharing a photo of his wife with a colleague ("Mr. Jones") while they hopelessly wait to be rescued. [5] According to the liner notes for the box set Tales from the Brothers Gibb (1990),the song was inspired by the October 1966 Aberfan disaster in Wales. [6] According to Robin,there actually had been a mining disaster in New York in 1939,but not in 1941, [7] and he thought "New York" sounded more "glamorous". [4]
In the second and third verses,the narrative becomes slower and slower,as if to indicate that life is about to end for the miners. On the second chorus,the drums get louder. On the second verse,when Robin sings the line "I keep straining my ears to hear a sound," a violin is heard in response.
On 7 March,the Bee Gees recorded "New York Mining Disaster 1941" in six takes,along with three other songs:"I Can't See Nobody," "Red Chair,Fade Away," and "Turn of the Century." The orchestra and some other parts were added on 13 March. [3]
The song begins in the chord of A minor;as Maurice explained:"There's a lot of weird sounds on this song like the Jew's harp,the string quartet,and of course the special way that Barry plays that guitar chord. Because of his tuning when he plays the minor at the beginning of the song,which is different from a conventional A minor,it's a nice mixture when I play my conventional tuning together with Barry's tuning because his open D and mine are different." Barry said,"It's Hawaiian tuning,there they play the same way I do. I got a guitar for my ninth birthday and the guy who lived across the road from us just came back from Hawaii and he was the one who taught me that tuning,that's how it started and I never changed." [7]
Maurice Gibb recalled in a June 2001 interview with Mojo magazine:"The opening chord doesn't sound like a conventional A minor. Barry was using the open D tuning he'd been taught when he was nine,and I was playing it in conventional tuning. It gives an unusual blend. People went crazy trying to figure out why they couldn't copy it."[ citation needed ]
Barry and Robin Gibb took both leading and backing vocals:Robin sang the high harmony while Barry sang the lead (low harmony) both on the first and second verse.
At the time,rumours circulated that the Bee Gees were The Beatles recording under a pseudonym (the Bee Gees' name was alleged to be code for "Beatles Group"),in part because the record referenced NEMS Enterprises (Brian Epstein's management agency,which had just been joined by Bee Gees' manager Robert Stigwood). The song is unusual in that the lyrics do not contain the song's title,though the originally planned title,"Have You Seen My Wife,Mr. Jones," does appear in the chorus. [8]
Atco distributed promos with a blank label and the suggestion that it was an English group whose name started with B. Many DJs thought it was a new Beatles song and played the song heavily. Atco also retitled the song "New York Mining Disaster 1941 (Have You Seen My Wife,Mr. Jones?)" to make sure people could find it in the shops. [3] [9]
Beatles lead guitarist George Harrison met Maurice Gibb at a party several years later,and told him that he had bought a copy of "New York Mining Disaster 1941" because he thought it sounded so much like The Beatles. Maurice's response to Harrison was that the resemblance "was unintentional" and Harrison said,"I knew that,I admire your work." [10] Barry Gibb explained about this song:
"If you sounded like the Beatles and also could write a hit single,then the hype of the machine would go into action,and your company would make sure people thought you sounded like the Beatles or thought you were the Beatles. And that sold you,attracted attention to you. It was good for us because everyone thought it was the Beatles under a different name." [10]
Robin Gibb explained about this track:
"...all the DJs on radio stations in the US picked it up immediately thinking it was the Beatles,and it was a hit on that basis. It established us in those early years. It helped our following record which was nothing like the Beatles." [10]
The success of this song owes a lot more to the perseverance of Robert Stigwood than he has previously been given credit for. "We had quite a hard time at getting the Bee Gees played. We weren't all totally convinced that Stigwood was picking the right song to plug,but at the end of the day,he was a forceful character. All of these guys were... Chas Chandler (manager of Jimi Hendrix) was the same,Kit Lambert (manager of The Who) was the same. They all argued their case with passion,you know,they lived it,they were like that," conceded Polydor's Alan Bates. When the Disc &Music Echo reported "widespread rumours" that this song had been written by Lennon and McCartney,Robin countered with,"Rubbish! We've always written our own songs. I've been writing since I was ten,before Lennon and McCartney were even on stage. People can say what they like. If they don't believe us,they can ask The Beatles."
Bassist Maurice Gibb,though,had previously said that "New York Mining Disaster 1941" was in fact influenced by the Beatles: [10]
"New York Mining Disaster 1941" was a total rip-off of The Beatles,we were so influenced by them. In fact it started a mystery [in the USA] about us,because they started playing [it] and saying,'They're this new group from England that begins with a B and finished with an s' so they all said,'Ah,it's The Beatles,not naming it,they're doing that trick again.' The disc jockey would play it and play it and play it and,'Guess who it is?' and people would guess,and they wouldn't get the answer. I heard [the idea] came actually from Ahmet Ertegun and Jerry Wexler. To us it was an honour,to actually think we were as good as The Beatles." [10]
Billboard described the single as "infectious,compelling material set to a rocking driving beat [that] has all the earmarks of a fast smash." [11] Record World called it a "smash folk-rock debut" for the band. [12]
On the video,the band only features four members (but Vince Melouney later joined the band),Barry playing his guitar,Maurice playing his Rickenbacker 4001,Robin Gibb on vocals and drummer Colin Petersen wears a hat.
The group found time[ when? ] to record their first BBC session at Playhouse Theatre,Northumberland Avenue,London,with producer Bill Bebb,on which they performed this song,with the songs "In My Own Time," "One Minute Woman," and "Cucumber Castle." When the BBC Light Programme's Saturday Club presented by Brian Matthew was broadcast on April 22,it was noted that there were "rave reviews from the audition panel." [10]
The group (Barry,Robin,Maurice,Colin and Vince) made their first British TV appearance on Top of the Pops performing this song on May 11 and were rather awe-struck at the company they were keeping. [10] On 20 May 1967,the group performed this song on Beat-Club, a German TV program.
The Bee Gees performed this song on 21 July 1967 at the Stockholm Palladium,Stockholm,Sweden,12 August 1967 at The Civic Hall,Wolverhampton,England and Christ the King College at Newport,England on 27 September 1967. Since 1967,the song has been part of every Bee Gees concert,eventually becoming part of their acoustic medley performed during the middle of the concert. It was also performed on the show Beat-Club in Germany,on that performance Robin wears a hat and plays violin. [13] It was performed by the group in 1973 on The Midnight Special with Barry and Maurice on rhythm guitar. [14] The song usually began the acoustic medley during The Bee Gees' concerts starting in the mid-70's and continued until their final shows in 2001.
The session was engineered by Carlos Olms and produced by Robert Stigwood. [3]
Weekly charts
| Year-end charts
|
Region | Sales |
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Worldwide | 1,000,000 [22] |
The 1969 David Bowie song "Space Oddity" owes a debt to the style, arrangement and lyrics of "New York Mining Disaster 1941." Like "New York Mining Disaster 1941," "Space Oddity" is about a trapped man who is doomed to die, and the song is similarly structured as a series of statements addressed to another person. "'Space Oddity' was a Bee Gees type song," Bowie's colleague John "Hutch" Hutchinson has said. "David knew it, and he said so at the time, the way he sang it, it’s a Bee Gees thing." [23] As Marc Bolan explained: "I remember David playing me 'Space Oddity' in his room and I loved it and he said he needed a sound like the Bee Gees, who were very big then."
Paul McCartney said: "It was the 'Mining Disaster' song that [Robert Stigwood] played me. I said 'sign them, they're great!' And they went on to be even greater." [24]
The Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami made "New York Mining Disaster" the title of one of his short stories. The piece was included in his collection Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman . [25]
In 2000, the rapper Necro sampled "New York Mining Disaster 1941" on the song Underground from his album I Need Drugs . [26]
The Bee Gees were a musical group formed in 1958 by brothers Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb. The trio were especially successful in popular music in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and later as prominent performers in the disco music era in the mid-to-late 1970s. The group sang recognisable three-part tight harmonies: Robin's clear vibrato lead vocals were a hallmark of their earlier hits, while Barry's R&B falsetto became their signature sound during the mid-to-late 1970s and 1980s. The group wrote all their own original material, as well as writing and producing several major hits for other artists, and are regarded as one of the most important and influential acts in pop-music history. They have been referred to in the media as The Disco Kings, Britain's First Family of Harmony, and The Kings of Dance Music.
Maurice Ernest Gibb was a British musician and songwriter. He achieved worldwide fame as a member of the pop group Bee Gees. Although his elder brother Barry Gibb and twin brother Robin Gibb were the group's main lead singers, most of their albums included at least one or two songs featuring Maurice's lead vocals, including "Lay It on Me", "Country Woman" and "On Time". The Bee Gees are one of the most successful pop-rock groups of all time.
Sir Barry Alan Crompton Gibb is a British musician, singer, songwriter and record producer. Along with his younger twin brothers, Robin and Maurice, he rose to worldwide fame as a member of the Bee Gees, one of the most commercially successful groups in the history of popular music. Gibb is well known for his wide vocal range including a far-reaching high-pitched falsetto. Gibb's career has spanned over 60 years.
Cucumber Castle is the seventh studio album by the Bee Gees, released in April 1970. It was produced by Barry Gibb, Maurice Gibb, and Robert Stigwood. It consists of songs from their television special of the same name, which was named after a song on their 1967 album Bee Gees' 1st. Cucumber Castle is the only Bee Gees album not to feature any recorded contributions from Robin Gibb, as he had left the group before the album was recorded.
Mr. Natural is the twelfth studio album by the Bee Gees, released in 1974. It was the first Bee Gees release produced by Arif Mardin, who was partially responsible for launching the group's later major success with the follow-up album Main Course. The album's rhythm and blues, soul, funk, and hard rock sounds initiated the group's reinvention as a disco and blue-eyed soul act, which would solidify on subsequent albums. However, Barry Gibb has said that the album was "whiter" than Main Course. The cover photograph was taken at 334 West 4th Street, Greenwich Village, New York City by Frank Moscati, which is today known as The Corner Bistro tavern.
"Night Fever" is a song written and performed by the Bee Gees. It first appeared on the soundtrack to Saturday Night Fever on RSO Records. Producer Robert Stigwood wanted to call the film Saturday Night, but singer Robin Gibb expressed hesitation at the title. Stigwood liked the title Night Fever but was wary of marketing a movie with that name. The song bounded up the Billboard charts while the Bee Gees’ two previous hits from Saturday Night Fever soundtrack were still in the top ten. The record debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart at #76, then leaped up 44 positions to #32. It then moved: 32–17–8–5–2–1. It remained at #1 for eight weeks, and ultimately spent 13 weeks in the top 10. For the first five weeks that "Night Fever" was at #1, "Stayin' Alive" was at #2. Also, for one week in March, Bee Gees related songs held five of the top positions on the Hot 100 chart, and four of the top five positions, with "Night Fever" at the top of the list. The B-side of "Night Fever" was a live version of "Down the Road" taken from the Bee Gees 1977 album, Here at Last... Bee Gees... Live.
Vincent Melouney is an Australian musician. He is best known as an official member of the Bee Gees from 1967 to 1969 during the group's initial period of worldwide success.
Horizontal is the fourth studio album by the Bee Gees, and their second album to receive an international release. The LP was released in early 1968, and included the international hit singles "Massachusetts" and "World". On 5 February 2007, Reprise Records reissued Horizontal with both stereo and mono mixes on one disc and a bonus disc of unreleased songs, non-album tracks, and alternate takes. The album was released in Polydor in many countries and on Atco only in the US and Canada. "And the Sun Will Shine" was released as a single only in France. The influences displayed on the album range from the Beatles to baroque pop.
"I Started a Joke" is a song by the Bee Gees from their 1968 album Idea, which was released as a single in December of that year. It was not released as a single in the United Kingdom, where buyers who could not afford the album had to content themselves with a Polydor version by Heath Hampstead. This is the last Bee Gees single to feature Vince Melouney's guitar work, as he left the band in early December after this song was released as a single.
The Bee Gees Sing and Play 14 Barry Gibb Songs is the debut studio album by the Bee Gees. Credited to Barry Gibb and the Bee Gees, it was released in November 1965 on the Australian Leedon label. It is largely a compilation of most of the Gibb brothers' singles that had been released over the previous three years in Australia, which accounts for the many different styles of music on it.
Idea is the fifth album by the Bee Gees. Released in August 1968, the album sold over a million copies worldwide. The album was issued in both mono and stereo pressings in the UK. The artwork on the Polydor release designed by Wolfgang Heilemann featured a "beehive" neon lightbulb with a group photo in its base, while the North American ATCO release designed by Klaus Voormann featured a composite head made from each band member. It was their third internationally released album – the first two albums being released only in the Australian market.
To Whom It May Concern is the tenth album by the Bee Gees. Released in October 1972, it is the follow-up to, and continues the melancholic and personal sound of its predecessor, Trafalgar. The album was recognised as "a farewell to the old Bee Gees" as the album marked the end of an era for the group in several ways: it was their last album to be recorded solely at IBC Studios, in London, their last with conductor and arranger Bill Shepherd, who had guided them since 1967, and their last under their first contract with Robert Stigwood. Some of the songs were old ones finished or rewritten for the occasion.
Bee Gees' 1st is the third studio album by the Bee Gees, and their first international full-length recording after two albums distributed only in Australia and New Zealand. Bee Gees' 1st was the group's debut album for the UK Polydor label, and for the US Atco label. Bee Gees 1st was released on 14 July 1967 in the UK. On 9 August it entered the UK charts; on that same day, the album was released in the US, and it entered the US charts on 26 August.
Here at Last... Bee Gees... Live is the first live album by the Bee Gees. It was recorded on December 20, 1976 at the LA Forum and was released in May 1977 by RSO Records. It reached No. 8 in the US, No. 8 in Australia, No. 1 in New Zealand, and No. 2 in Spain.
"I Can't See Nobody" is a song by the Bee Gees, released first as the B-side of "New York Mining Disaster 1941". With "New York Mining Disaster 1941", this song was issued as a double A in Germany and Japan, and included on the group's third LP, Bee Gees' 1st. "I Can't See Nobody" charted for one week at number 128 on the Billboard Bubbling Under the Hot 100 in July 1967.
"Every Christian Lion Hearted Man Will Show You" is a song written by Barry, Robin & Maurice Gibb released by the Bee Gees in 1967 on their album Bee Gees' 1st. It was released as the B-side to "Holiday" in the US, Australia and Canada.
"This Is Where I Came In" is the final single by the Bee Gees, released on 26 March 2001 as the only single from their last album of the same name. The song was written by Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb. Lead vocals were performed by Robin Gibb on the first verse and on the chorus, while Barry Gibb sang lead on the second verse and sings harmony on the chorus.
"Odessa (City on the Black Sea)" is a song by the English rock band the Bee Gees, written by Barry, Robin & Maurice Gibb in 1968 and released in early 1969. The song opened the album of the same name. The song was recorded twice. The first version of the song (without the orchestra) was later to appear on Sketches for Odessa and has a duration to 6:40. The song was about the survivor of a shipwreck, and was originally intended to form the basis of the whole album. Musically it was dominated by strings and acoustic guitar. It was originally proposed to be the first single of the album.
"Lamplight" is a song by the Bee Gees, released as the B-side of "First of May", but featured as the single's A-side in Germany. It also featured on their double album Odessa in March 1969. The song was written and composed by Barry, Robin & Maurice Gibb and featured lead vocals by Robin Gibb. No other singles were released from the album, and the fact that the group's manager Robert Stigwood chose "First of May", which only featured Barry Gibb's voice for the A-side, that caused Robin to quit the group.
New York Mining Disaster 1941 was released on Spin Records by the Bee Gees in 1967. It was their second EP and, like their first EP, was released only in Australia. All of the songs on this EP were originally released on their third LP Bee Gees' 1st.