Islands in the Stream
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| "Islands in the Stream" | ||||
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| Single by Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton | ||||
| from the album Eyes That See in the Dark | ||||
| Released | August 1983 (U.S.) | |||
| Genre | Country | |||
| Writer(s) | Bee Gees | |||
| Producer | Barry Gibb | |||
| Certification | 2× Platinum (US) | |||
| Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton singles chronology | ||||
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"Islands in the Stream" is a 1983 hit country and pop single, written by the Bee Gees and sung by Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton. It was the first single from Rogers' album Eyes That See in the Dark and the second pop number-one for both Rogers and Parton (Rogers having been there with 1980's "Lady" and Parton with 1981's "9 to 5"). They went on to record a Christmas album together, and had an additional hit with their 1985 duet "Real Love". The Gibbs originally wrote the song for Diana Ross in an R&B style, only later to change it for the Kenny Rogers album. The title came from an Ernest Hemingway novel, which was published in 1970. [1]
It also spent two weeks as the number one country song and in the year's final countdown was the number one song of the year of 1983. In Australia, the song was number one for one week in December 1983 and becoming one of the highest selling singles of 1984. In 2005, the song topped CMT's poll of the best country duets of all time; Parton and Rogers reunited to perform the song on the CMT special.
In April 2008, South Bend, Indiana radio station WZOW played the song continuously for several days on end.[2] This was a stunt used to draw attention to the station's format change from alternative rock to adult contemporary.
In many ways it was a rather typical Bee Gees song with a straightforward rhythm in the verses being dissolved by a unique chorus with heavily syncopated lyrics strongly contradicting the still basic rhythmic patterns of the melody. The unusual traits of the chorus has been described as "the words coming almost half a beat too late".
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[edit] Chart performance
| Chart (1983) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles | 1 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 1 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks | 1 |
| Canadian RPM Country Tracks | 1 |
| Canadian RPM Top Singles | 2 |
| Canadian RPM Adult Contemporary Tracks | 1 |
| UK Singles Chart | 7 |
| Preceded by "Total Eclipse of the Heart" by Bonnie Tyler |
Billboard Hot 100 number-one single October 29-November 5, 1983 |
Succeeded by "All Night Long (All Night)" by Lionel Richie |
| Preceded by "Lady Down on Love" by Alabama |
Billboard Hot Country Singles number-one single October 29-November 5, 1983 |
Succeeded by "Somebody's Gonna Love You" by Lee Greenwood |
| RPM Country Tracks number-one single November 12-November 19, 1983 |
Succeeded by "One of a Kind, Pair of Fools" by Barbara Mandrell |
[edit] Cover versions
- The Bee Gees, who wrote the song, performed the song on their concert album One Night Only. Years later in 2001, the Bee Gees released their own version of the song on a greatest hits compilation. Robin Gibb performed lead vocals on the track, which included (part of) the chorus from "Ghetto Supastar".
- Swedish pop and country singer Kikki Danielsson covered the song on her 1983 album Singles Bar, with lyrics in Swedish by Ingela "Pling" Forsman as "Öar i ett hav" ("Islands in a sea").
- In 1999 Catalan singer Tomeu Penya included it on his Antalogia album. He sang it in Mallorquin, a dialect of the Catalan language. The title of the song is "Illes dins un riu".
- The song has been covered by Bertine Zetlitz (featuring Thom Hell) on an "open disc" to her 2006 album My Italian Greyhound.
- The song was covered in 2006 by British glamour model Katie Price and her now estranged husband, pop singer Peter Andre. The track is included on their 2006 album of duets A Whole New World.
- The Constantines released a version of the song, featuring Feist.
- In 2008, Barry Manilow released his The Greatest Songs of the Eighties album, including a duet of the song with Reba McEntire.
[edit] Comic Relief version
| Preceded by "Right Round" by Flo Rida featuring Ke$ha |
UK Singles Chart number-one single (Vanessa Jenkins and Bryn West Comic Relief version) March 15, 2009 |
Succeeded by "Poker Face" by Lady GaGa |
| "Barry Islands in the Stream" | |
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| Single by Vanessa Jenkins and Bryn West featuring Sir Tom Jones and Robin Gibb | |
| Released | 8 March 2009 (Download) 9 March 2009 (CD) |
| Format | Download, CD, DVD |
| Genre | Pop, Charity, Comedy, Country |
| Writer(s) | Bee Gees |
| Producer | Barry Gibb |
In March 2009, actors Ruth Jones and Rob Brydon, in character as Vanessa Jenkins and Bryn West from the hit BBC show Gavin & Stacey, released a version of the song as a single for Comic Relief. Robin Gibb and Sir Tom Jones appear on the single as backing singers. Titled "(Barry) Islands in the Stream" in reference to the Barry Island setting of Gavin & Stacey, [3]it entered the UK Singles Chart at number 1 on 15 March 2009. This song has the dubious honour of being the only UK number one to spend just 3 weeks inside the top 40 and 4 weeks inside the top 75.[citation needed] The chart trajectory so far has been 1-3-23-51-81 [4]
[edit] Live cover performances
- The song was covered in 2006 on Australian TV show Rockwiz, performed by Ella Hooper of Killing Heidi and Troy Cassar-Daley.
- Kenny Rogers performed the song as a duet with Carrie Underwood at Dolly Parton's Kennedy Centre Honours Ceremony.
- On February 26, 2009, Barry Gibb joined Olivia Newton-John on stage at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, TN, to sing the song as part of Newton-John's tour.
- Performed once again by Barry Gibb and Olivia Newton-John on stage at Sound Relief @ SCG for the Victorian Bushfire Appeal.
- Performed on the Australian comedy show Good News Week by Eskimo Joe's Kavyen Temperley and comedian Ross Noble.
[edit] Sampling
The song was sampled on Pras Michel's 1998 hit song "Ghetto Supastar (That Is What You Are)". This version of the song featured ODB (Old Dirty Bastard) and Mýa, and appeared on the Bulworth soundtrack.
[edit] In popular culture
- Parton appeared on an episode of Bette, Bette Midler's series where they sang a repeatedly interrupted duet of the song.
- In the US television series The Office, the Michael Scott character performs a karaoke version of the song in the "E-mail Surveillance" episode. While waiting for someone to join him for the duet, Michael awkwardly finds himself singing the "girl part" in falsetto until he is finally joined by the Jim Halpert character.
- There is an episode of the popular Canadian teen drama Degrassi: The Next Generation named after this song. The show is known for naming most of their episodes after hit songs of the 1980s.
- British comedy show Gavin & Stacey featured the song in episode five of the second series, with characters Bryn and Nessa singing it as a duet at a barn dance-themed birthday party. The actors in the roles recorded a special version for Comic Relief featuring Tom Jones and the song's co-composer Robin Gibb. This would become a UK No 1 hit, ensuring that at least one Gibb composition had topped the UK charts in five consecutive decades.
[edit] References
- ^ ""Islands in the Stream"". Songfacts.com. http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=10587. Retrieved 2009-03-16.
- ^ :Indiana Aiwaves:
- ^ [1]
- ^ [2]
- The Billboard Book of Number 1 Hits
[edit] External links
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Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Islands in the Stream |
- Islands In The Stream lyrics at Dolly Parton On-Line
- live performance by Rogers and Parton Video at YouTube (requires Adobe Flash)
- Performance by the Bee Gees at YouTube (requires Adobe Flash) – in One Night Only tour
- Adriana and Tomeu Penya Illes dins un riu Video at YouTube (requires Adobe Flash)
