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."
