Whether You're A Mother or Whether You're a Brother
Maybe it's because I only ate a rice krispie treat for lunch yesterday, or maybe it's because of the stiff gin martini I pounded right before dinner -- gulped from a proper martini glass, mind you, and not the usual styrofoam cup we've had to use to disguise our sin in front of Granny for the last five months -- or maybe it's because I'm just in a really weepy way, but I couldn't have been more giddy to watch an episode of "American Idol" last night featuring songs by the Bee Gees.
Before you get all up in my business about the Bee Gees, you should know that my parents made sure that I knew who Barry, Robin and Maurice were before I came out of the womb. They were the only records my father owned, plus a couple here and there from Abba and the seminal Anne Murray. And while it would have been so much cooler had I grown up listening to The Stones or Zeppelin or anything featuring men who don't sing like women, I can't say that I have any hard feelings about my Bee Gees upbringing, or the resultant 20-yr crush I've had on skinny, bearded men.
My father's favorite Bee Gees song was "Nights on Broadway," and he used to set the needle specifically to that point in the record to serenade his Saturday afternoon chores. I can remember those afternoons distinctly, because I loved it when he blamed it all on the nights on Broadway, and because he usually did his chores dressed in nothing but plaid shorts, the top to his white Heavenly Underwear, and a pair of mid-calf black socks. My favorite part was when he'd drop whatever he was doing as the song got to the chorus, scrunch his forehead like he had been kicked in the groin and scream, "BLAMING IT ALL!" For years I couldn't imagine the enormity of what must have happened on Broadway, something scandalous for sure, because they were blaming everything on that one road. And I couldn't wait until I could grow up and blame it ALL on Broadway, too.
My sister took her Bee Gees upbringing VERY SERIOUSLY and has instilled in her own five children a love for everything Brothers Gibb. Her 5-yr old son knows every word to "Jive Talking," and the twin 2-yr old boys go nuts when they hear the first notes of "Stayin' Alive." I don't know whether this is frightening or precious, but if you knew my sister this would seem perfectly normal. Of course, it's perfectly normal for the twin 2-yr old boys to take off their diapers and poop standing up in the middle of the living room.
I personally prefer the early Bee Gees, songs like "I've Gotta Get a Message to You," "I Started a Joke," and "New York Mining Disaster 1941." I like to think that this redeems me somewhat because I'm obviously keeping it real, appreciating their work before they went mainstream, even though I wasn't alive when that happened. I do, however, have a soft spot in my heart for the soundtrack to Saturday Night Fever which I played over and over in my car on the trip to and from high school. While other kids my age were listening to Nirvana, Soundgarden and Alice in Chains, I was blasting "How Deep is Your Love" and pining over imaginary relationships with men in white leisure suits.
Today I'm going to finish painting the back room, and instead of listening to the new CDs I bought yesterday in a storming hormonal freakout I'm going to dig out The Bee Gees Greatest Hits and a pair of black socks to get me cracking. Chuck should be barking in falsetto in no time.
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Heather talks about public tantrums (from kids) on today's Momversation.
- RIP Louis Mortimer Armstrong: http://bit.ly/1R4tv6
- Hugs and kisses to you, too! RT: @Monkey_Tree: @dooce he probably committed suicide because he was tired of LISTENING TO YOU WHINE.
- Our fish just died. And I'm sitting here crying. And it wasn't even my fault!
1. April said:
Bee Gees, huh? That's a mighty big confession there. Very brave of you.
2. Tremorr said:
You can't escape them, either. The Bee Gee's and Barry Gibb are everywhere as producers and songwriters, too. That was one of the great ironies of the bee gee's backlash! people stopped buying their albums but couldn't get enough of their music, whether it was sung by Streisand or Dolly Parton. I think they did a lot of the music on the Grease sound track, too.
3. allisonic said:
Yes! Glad i'm not the only one. My parents lived Saturday Night Fever and I have fond memories of that soundtrack.
Particularly, "How deep is your love?"
4. Jason said:
Dooce, I can completely relate. I have to admit that when I was a kid, I actually sat in front of the TV during Saturday Night Fever's network premiere with a lunchbox sized tape recorder. It took three 60 minute tapes to get it all. And April - I must say that I don't think it's a brave admission at all, I think it gives Dooce an even sexier (if you will) mystique (if you will). Nothing to be ashamed of there - it's retro, yo.
5. melissa said:
Man, how I love the Bee Gee's. Because you wondered what my exact reation was: I thought it was a fabulous American Idol theme, but felt it was a major cop-out for Scrunchy-Face to sing "Grease". Come on! There's too much brilliance in the Gibb song catalog to go with "Grease".
6. alex said:
It's not how deep your love is that matters, but how far you fall into it.
7. bearcub said:
>>it’s perfectly normal for the twin 2-yr old boys to take off their diapers and poop standing up in the middle of the living room.
No. Please say it ain't so. For real?
8. Summer said:
I love the Bee Gees and I'm not afraid to admit it.
I was alive when SNF came out and argued with my babysitter that disco did indeed not suck and that she and Supertramp could take a hike (even though I secretly liked them too). My kids know lots of their songs. They also know the Eagles, The Beatles, and Abba. I love it, those were things my parents cleaned house to.
I think my personal Bee Gee's fave for housework is "You should be dancin".
"Whatchya doin' on your back? Whatchya doin' on your back? You should be daaancin', Yeah!"
9. alex said:
You know, I should give up being an English teacher. I obviously have a promising career awaiting me in the fortune cookie writing field.
10. dayment said:
Ummm... hormonal freakout?
In a really weepy way?
Are these hints?
11. s00ka said:
girl. i only wish. all throughout my early grade school years, i knew all the words and all the moves to my donny and marie osmund albums. that's just sick.
12. dayment said:
....because I wouldn't recommend strong gin martinis. I'm just sayin'
13. Angelique said:
Oh i hear ya.
my achilles heal?
dean martin and louis prima.
i had to secretly enjoy these icons in my room alone so my mom didnt hear,and never mention them tto my fellow tattooed and pierced classmates. yeah, it would have gone over well to play dean and louis on the way to see danzig. my mom was of the freebird era and couldnt stand that "oldie shit". to this day, i can't cook a meal just the same as if i have dean belting out a seranade to me. as for The Bees, no one else could look as damned nummy as those guys in skin tight white polyester.
14. Yahmdallah said:
I hope your hits compilation includes "Tragedy." That's a great one to make up your own words to during the chorus. "Tragedy! When your _____ falls off and you can go on, it's Tragedy!"
15. dooce said:
dayment: it's a hint that my body is adjusting after many many many years on a daily hormone regimen known as The Pill. no one told me it would be like this.
16. Jay said:
I can't say that I've never cleaned the apartment with Abba - Gold blaring on the stereo. I also can't say that I didn't know "Super Trooper" made scrubbing the bathroom sink seem like the most important thing I'd ever done. So, far be it from me to say anything about your Bee Gees.
17. Kyle said:
I admit I was a late-Bee Gees-bloomer, but that doesn't make the experience any less fabuloso. They're great.
P.S. I promise not to sing "More than a woman" to Chuck.
18. christine said:
I, too was so excited last night during AI. My husband just doesn't get my love affair with the BeeGees. He only knows them as the Saturday Night Fever band. I'm going to pull out my record player and albums (in the spare bedroom with all of our unpacked boxes from 5 years ago) and play "Holiday" for him. That's one of my favorites. Ahhhhhhh.
19. april (apparently, the other one) said:
I'm quite impressed with the Bee Gees. Ditto for the Monkees (thanks, Nick at Nite). My father, on the other, listened to total artists. Both crap. Ronnie Milsap and the Beach Boys. I understand the Beach Boys are very significant, and really aren't crap, but YOU listen to the Beach Boys In Concert for 6 straight hours on a van's cassette player at age 11 and see if you can ever rectify that first impression. On the other hand, whenever I hear "Stranger in My House", I still end up singing it under my breath.
20. april said:
CORRECTION: ...a total of two artists...
I get excited when I type.
21. Paula said:
See, I just listened to the Saturday Night Fever Soundtrack three days ago while scrubbing the toilet. The Abba Greatest Hits CD was next in line and then to redeem myself, I played The Pixies.
But really, if you want justification for why the Bee Gees can maybe be considered titans of an era, you need to watch the VH-1 special "Saturday Night Fever: Behind the Movie" (yes, it's true, they now have a Behind the Movie series). I couldn't tear myself away. Hehehe.
22. christine said:
Thanks, dooce...now I'm all weepy, too. Had to jump over to amazon.com and buy the greatest hits cd. Can't wait to hear "Nights On Broadway" again. Can't get it out of my head now...
23. aubs said:
I'm completely obsessed with the Barry Gibb/Barbra Streisand duet "What Kind of Fool" and have been known to sing it, off-key, of course, on various answering machines. Including my Mom's. At late hours. After quite a few stiff drinks.
24. April said:
Jason, I grew up listening to a lot of the artists mentioned here, but I have a hard time confessing that, as I'm not brave enough to reveal my taste in music, lest someone make a judgment on me based on that. So yes, even though you don't think it's a brave admission to make, I think it's brave anyway. Especially if you're the first person online to admit to liking the Bee Gees.
25. Erica said:
I can't really hop on the Bee Gees love train, but I will just state that Clay really needs to not do that hip twitching thing again.
26. Chris said:
seminal Anne Murray
seminal Anne Murray
seminal Anne Murray
27. chorizo said:
First Album I Ever Bought With My Very Own Money: Spirits Having Flown.
Of course there were long periods in my life where that record (yes, vinyl) hid in a box in the back of the closet, but I still have it. mmmmmmmm.
28. andrew said:
i was watching a korean action film about a year ago, and the song "holiday" came on, and i thought, wow, who is that? some new young brit band? i had no idea about the early bee gees. i tracked that song down and then found the Greatest Hits with “I’ve Gotta Get a Message to You,” “I Started a Joke,” and “New York Mining Disaster 1941" on it. and now it's parked on my turntable. so great.
29. dj blurb said:
Don't be hatin on Clay. He doesn't know he's gay. Yet.
30. lordgoon said:
My god, is loving the Bee Gees really still the sort of thing that one can only whisper shamefacedly in a confessional? Are we really still mired in the 'Disco Sucks' phase of our culture that bolstered the careers of such luminaries as Triumph, Ted Nugent and 'Beatlemania'? These are beautiful songs, people! Comparisons with Gershwin and Robert Johnson and Dylan and Lennnon/McCartney would not be hyperbole, here. So what if they all sang like a bunch of girly-men?
31. losir said:
Ah, Anne Mrray. My Dad had her incessantly on the car rotation that I grew up with this twitch in my left eyebrow each time her name is mentioned.
Ow.
32. Anne said:
Dooce, I just went off The Pill, too, and boy does it suck almighty. As for music...I grew up with ONLY Anne Murray. She had some twisted kids' song about hippos in the bathtub or something that sticks in my head at the wrong times. BeeGees would be better.
33. antisocial diva said:
i had their greatest hits on tape. boy, was i bummed when i tried to dig out their cd in anticipation of last night's idol episode only to find that i sold it with the rest of my tapes at a yard sale and NEVER HAD IT ON CD to fucking begin with. *sigh*
34. joy said:
Chuck singing in falsetto? That reminds me of the two dogs next door to me. Not only do they sing in falsetto, they sing in harmony with little connotations as well! It's hilarious. It figures though, their master is a music teacher for the local school district.
35. kate said:
the problem with the hip-twitching isn't clay, it's ryan, who reacts to it like girls reacted to justin timberlake circa 1999.
36. anamika said:
i found these martini glasses at the liquor store where i buy my lunch (what?), they were nice and petite, one had those retro orange stars and the other had green not-quite-polka dots all in a row vertical up the sides. they were lovely.
also, old Bee Gees, the mod-garage they did out of Australia was really fun. they've got chops, anyway.
37. Wilber said:
Nights. On. Broadway.
Read that and immediately had to load my Bee Gees playlist for this afternoon's listening pleasure. I gotta go with your father on this one. My fave out of many good ones.
And RIP Maurice.
38. Beth said:
When I was 19, I got a job working at a bank in my hometown. I had to clean out a load of crap in the basement, and one day in the bottom of a box, I came across something amazing. A spial bound Andy Gibb notebook. I snuck it home with me, and it's still in my mom's house in a little plastic bag. He was in a white leisure suit. So fine!
39. Beth said:
Der. I can type. SPIRAL. SPIRAL bound.
40. chorizo said:
I kind of like the thought that in 30 years, kids of today will be having happy nostalgic memories of the watching mom and dad slow dance in the living room to Badly Drawn Boy.
41. chorizo said:
...conversely, he realized, they could also be blushingly admitting that they were totally hooked on N'Sync and in the privacy of their own homes still like pull out those vintage CD things to do housework....
42. The Inmate said:
I can relate somewhat. My dad used to work for Volvo while I was growing up. After a few trips to Sweden, our glass windows at home rattled to the infectious scandinavian sound. I'm sure if I had ever had a sister, her name would have been Agnetha.
43. Ilyka said:
Dooce: Blazing a Trail out of the Bee Gees Closet for us all. Rock ON. If I can live down the shame of knowing I saved my meager $0.25/week allowance for, like, forever, until I had the grand sum of $4.75 and my father took pity on me and chipped in the remainder, just so that the very first album I ever bought with my own money could be the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack, anyone can. And the older I get the more I get to be almost proud of that. I'm so glad now I didn't melt those records down when I was a teenager and thought I was So Punk and all that. You can clean house to Nirvana. But it's not the same.
44. dayment said:
Ahhh Dooce. I remember the joys of natural hormones after nine years of Pilldom. Suddenly I had pre-pubescent acne and bouts of Crying About Nothing once a month. It took a few months to figure out.
And I had Captain and Tenille and Neil Sedaka. I'm not complaining - we were in Indiana and the kids thought my mom was cool with Captain and Tenille and Neil Sedaka!
Yeah! Rock!
45. PJ said:
I find most of life goes better with a soundtrack.
Mine alternate between Phantom of the Opera / Hall & Oates / and Camelot, as well others equally as dorky.
I also agree with the Husband about Clay. He (Clay, that is) gets points, however, for the sparly eyes. Unfortunately, those points are subtracted for his humongoid feet.
46. eddeaux said:
Well, I knew only part of the songs that were sung, but I love AI nonetheless. I think Clay looks like a troll doll and I just want to pick him up and spin him real fast in my hands and make that hair of his stick up.
I also want to point out that Josh should be gone instead of Trenyce and the only thing keepin him on the show is either his Madonna Gap Teeth, or the fact that he is a Marine. Semper Fi.
47. bdk&e said:
Okay, whether my oldest sister will admit this or not she listened to first the Bee Gee's and then Led Zeppelin. -- Nonetheless I thankfully grew up with both.
48. jess said:
"I Started a Joke" has got to be one of the greatest songs ever. That and "Words".
49. the mighty jimbo said:
so should i be ashamed to admit that i have a not so secret fantasy to take over the dance floor a la john travolta if "you should be dancing" ever gets played?
only without the whole russian leg kick thing and the arm wiggle. cause that's pretty lame - even for jt.
50. Lorelei said:
Yes, the Bee Gees rock everyone's socks. My favourite song of theirs is "New York Mining Disaster 1941". My earliest memory is of a spring day and "Too Much Heaven" on the radio.
51. shy said:
"clay needs to trim his eyelashes." ROTFL! that quote cracks me up every time!
52. aubs said:
Oh, and one more piece of far too much information - I, too, just went off the pill and there needs to be a SUPPORT GROUP for this. Or at least a forum. For God's sake...nobody told me I'd be a hormonally-overcharged-procreationally obsessed nightmare.
53. frootbetty said:
Hell, at least yer folks didn't raise you on The Cure and Love and Rockets like i did my kids...
My daughter is 16 and is all kinds of broken (in the best of ways) from watching the Bubblemen cavort around on screen and still has a crush on Ropbert Smith even tho he is >Fat Bob" these days.
Not to mention that i didn't parade around in my "special undies" whilst cleaning the casa which would have fucked them up for real.....
54. J said:
I wanted to buy BGs: The Best Of and husband (who used to be the best thing since sliced pepperoni) vetoed it! There we are in the record store and he was like "there is NO way I'm going to listen to that racket for the next 20 weeks" (I can get a little obsessive about music I like).
I was so shocked I didn't get it. Shocked that he was brave enough to say NO to me (the fool) and worse, that he didn't LIKE them! FREAK!
This coming from a guy who thinks Billy Joel rules.
Needless to say, the divorce papers are in the mail.
55. That Guy said:
My goodness, I never listened to garbage like that growing up. My parents never subjected me to anything that bad.
Sincerely,
The guy who grew up listening to the Carpenters, Lionel Richie, Barry Manilow and (gasp) Barbra Streisand.
P.S. I wish I was making this up.
56. Jodi said:
I'm partial to the older stuff, too, like "I Started a Joke".
And speaking of jokes ... and American Idol ... Clay doing "Grease" in that red jacket and doing that hip swing/sway thing ... I'm still shuddering. (His first song, however, was brilliant.)
57. chris said:
thanks to my lovely mother, i still can't hear christopher cross without harkening back to the good old days of my young youth, tears in my eyes...
58. Sheila said:
I always found the RSO logo captivating.
59. Beerzie Boy said:
No Problem. We all have our guilty pleasures. Mine are Cheap Trick and Foghat.
60. zchamu said:
i believe in you
you know the dawn to a better sun
you're the light in my deepest, darkest doubt
you're my savior when i fall
and you may not think i care for you
when you know down inside that i really do
and its me you need to show
how deep is your love
*snif*
61. michybrit said:
I saw all the Bee Gees TOGETHER once walking down the street in NYC. It was my first visit there and I almost shit my pants! Turns out they had just opened the Bee Gees play on Broadway and they were there for the premiere.
62. The Inmate said:
Time to let them go, Zchamu. Just... let...them...go.
63. cyberangel said:
Damn. Now I'm going to have Staying Alive stuck in my head all day. I hate you. ;)
64. elpresidente said:
Remember that one Simpsons episode, (the one with George Boosh) anyway homer jumps on a table and starts singing STAYIN' ALIVE. I've felt the urge have you?
65. SB said:
Listening to "Best of the BeeGees" as I type this - the classic with the yellow cover with all 4 of the Brothers on it - just came in the mail last week. Got my 12-year old daughter hooked on it, too - she listens to it over and over again, while her Pink and Avril CDs lie untouched. A new generation of fans!
66. kitschydi said:
Only recently was I aware of the fall-out due to being a Bee Gees fan. Boy, does a chick get some flack for professing her committment to quite possibly the most distinguishable band around. Not to mention that Barry Gibb (who I've dubbed Patron Saint of Music) wrote one of the best tunes of all time, "Grease..." is the word, is the word, is the word....
67. slackjaw said:
uhhg...now my stomach hurts...It was all folk music and show tunes around our house.
Still, the thought that I don't have to have that image in my head of those ugly-cap-toothed-pimpshoed-cokespooned-white-belted-castrati’s, every time I remember cleaning the house as a child, brings me a small bit of little peace I guess.
68. mervis said:
The emotional connection to the music I heard in my chilhood is strong enough to obliterate any aesthetic I currently believe in. But the Bee Gee's were such solid, great pop. As solid as Michael Jackson 15 or 20 years ago.
A friend of mine put on Off the Wall post party debauchery one night. Within about 30 seconds, the five of us were on our feet dancing with pure joy. I felt 10 again.
69. Alex said:
This brings back memories of sitting on the floor during P.E., in the first grade, waiting for our gym teacher Mr. Fabiano to finish his running his laps while the ENTIRE side 1 of the "Saturday Night Fever" album played.
How deep is your love indeed!
70. Lex said:
"SNF" soundtrack? Not so much. But "Massachusetts," "Edge of the Universe," "To Love Somebody," "NY Mining Disaster 1941"? Great songs.
71. Amy said:
Anne Murray put me on birth control. No, I'm not kidding. How's that for traumatic? And I wonder why all my relationships are screwed up!
72. omnician said:
Dooce, you're brilliant. That's the closest anything seminal has ever been to Anne Murray. ;-P
And I admit that as a kid I used to practice singing with one hand cupped to my ear like one of the BeeGee's.
73. Wilbur said:
If you think going off the pill is bad, don't ever go on Paxil (unless you need to...). My wife went off the pill a few years ago with few problems, but weaning off Paxil has been a real trip. Frankly, I'd rather she stay on Paxil, as it has been a godsend for her. But, like many people with mental dysfunctions, she seems to think it's indicative of weakness and wants to be unmedicated.
As for AI, we were both hoping Ruben would sing "Fanny," but he didn't oblige. Now I'm hoping for a Neil Diamond week, and my wife wants Brian May to judge Queen songs. There, I said it! Yes! Neil Diamond!
74. Christine said:
I just arrived at my office in downtown Houston after a 30 minute drive with the Bee Gees blasting all the way. Tell me, "How Deep is Your Love?"
75. peudepois said:
Dooce,
I wish I was as lucky as you. I instead grew up listening to Salty the Sound Book, and I wasn't allowed to listen to any "Secular" music...until I was 18. I, of course, have spent all the time I can trying to catch up on the 18 years of music I lost. On a side note, I was thinking about your blog about "warshing" which is my term my mother uses. She also talks about the pretty "flairs" (one syllable) in the garden. My grandmother, when asking for a kiss, says, "Gimme some sugar!" And finally, my Brother-in-Law and I are wondering how you pronounce Dooce. Yes reading Dooce is a family affair!