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THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

Posted by: In: Other 22 Dec 2021 Comments: 0

THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

459-Bee Gees-New York Mining Disaster 1941.

1967-Number 12 single.

Best Bit-At 0.23. A very clever piece of marketing had everyone thinking that this was the new single from the Beatles.

The Bee Gees (see also best songs 211 and 35) were formed in 1958 by the three brothers Barry, Robin (1949-2012) and Maurice Gibb, (1949-2003) Robin and Maurice were twins. Their father Hugh Gibb (1916-1992) was a drummer, and an early influence in nurturing the brothers interest in making music. The Gibb’s were born in Douglas, Isle of Man, but Hugh moved the family to Manchester, England in 1955 to pursue his music career. In 1958 the whole family including older sister Leslie, and infant brother Andy (1958-1988) emigrated to Queensland, Australia where the three brothers began their recording career.They released their first two studio Albums in 1965 and 1966, along with 12 singles in Australia, and New Zealand, but felt that in order to achieve international success they needed to come to England. Before departing from Australia Hugh Gibb sent demos to the Beatles manager Brian Epstein (1934-1967) who passed on the tapes to Robert Stigwood (1934-2016) who got them signed to a five year contract.

‘New York Mining Disaster 1941’ was taken from the Bee Gees third studio Album ‘Bee Gees’ 1st’ from 1967, and was co-written by Barry and Robin, it was the Bee Gees first single release since arriving in England, and their breakthrough international hit. All three of the brothers provided the vocals, and were joined on the track by Colin Peterson (drums) who was a member of the Bee Gees from 1967-1969, and Vince Melouney (lead guitar) who was also in the group for approximately the same time period.

The song is about a miner trapped beneath the surface who wants to contact his wife, there was no such exact event, and the lyrics are totally fictional.There was no mining disaster in New York in 1941, but there was one in McIntire, Pennsylvania, which killed six people.The song though is probably inspired by the Aberfan tragedy in South Wales, in 1966.

In what was a very clever piece of marketing, promos of the song were distributed to radio stations with a blank label, with the suggestion that it was an English group whose name began with the letter ‘B’,many DJ’s thought it was a new Beatles song, and played the track constantly.

The Bee Gees have admitted that the Beatles were a big influence on their early career.In turn this song was an influence on David Bowie’s 1969 song ‘Space Oddity,’ in style, arrangement and lyrics, as ‘Space Oddity’ is also about a trapped man who is soon to die.

‘I keep straining my ears to hear a sound, maybe someone is digging underground.’