I first took notice of the Bee Gees back in 1997, when I saw the music video for "Alone." I hated the song. I used to teasingly mimic the signature Bee Gees falsetto just to irritate my brother. For some reason, the catchy line "So I play, I'll wait, cause I know that love takes time" stuck to my 12-year old ears.
Fast forward to 2005, in the track & field team bus to our Baguio training camp. We were having an impromptu videoke sing-off. The machine was on random, and "I Started a Joke" began to play. Back then, I've already seen "Saturday Night Live," the 70's era movie that propelled the Isle of Man-born siblings to worldwide fame. Unbenknownst to my teammates, I was in the midst of a minor Bee Gees phase. I hid this musical affectation to save face, to preserve an aura of "cool."
I grabbed the microphone and belched out my favorite Bee Gees song -mimicking Robin Gibb's falsetto. And it rocked the bus! My teammates loved it (and hated it).
In the countless times that I sang "Alone" and "I Started a Joke" during the my equally innumerable solo concerts in my room, I've developed a fondness for the way he sang (Jimmy Fallon's hilarious Barry Gibb pranks also played a major part). Perhaps I was drawn to the unassuming way he sang, in contrast to Barry's more ostentatous, high-shrilled tone. Among the Gibb brothers, Robin was the easiest to immitate for this videoke afficionado.
I was saddened by the news of Robin Gibb's death. Robin Gibb, by far, is my favorite Bee Gee.
There's not better way to honor Robin, Maurice and Barry by proclaiming to the world that I adore their songs. I guess as we grow older in life, we tend throw away puerile pretenses of being "cool."
You know, that is so weird - same thing happened to me. My mom would perpetually listen to the Bee Gees One Night Only concert CD when I was growing up in the 90s and I hated them. Fast forward to 2013 at age 23 and I can't stop listening to them. I even belt out random songs to my coworker...who, by the way, I got addicted to the Bee Gees by making her listen to that same One Night Only concert CD (which I have determined is possibly one of the best live performances of any band ever).
ReplyDeleteSomething about the Bee Gees - once it gets inside of you, no matter how much you fight it, you can't get it out. Sign of a great band, I guess. I know that I'm definitely going to force my kid to listen to that CD to continue this tradition.