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How Deep Is Your Love (Bee Gees song)

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For the Dru Hill song, see How Deep Is Your Love (Dru Hill song).
For the Sean Paul song, see How Deep Is Your Love (Sean Paul song).
"How Deep Is Your Love"
Song
B-side"Can't Keep a Good Man Down (live)"

"How Deep Is Your Love" is a pop song written and recorded by the Bee Gees in 1977 and released as a single in September. Originally intended for Yvonne Elliman, it was ultimately used as part of the soundtrack to the film Saturday Night Fever. It was a number three hit in the United Kingdom and Australia. In the United States, it topped the Billboard Hot 100 on 24 December 1977 (becoming the first of six consecutive US number-one hits) and stayed in the Top 10 for a then-record 17 weeks. The single spent six weeks atop the US adult contemporary chart. It is listed at number 20 on Billboard's All Time Top 100.[1] Alongside "Stayin' Alive", it is one of the group's two tracks on the list. The song was covered by Take That for their 1996 Greatest Hits album, reaching number-one on the UK Singles Chart for three weeks.

The song was ranked number 366 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. In a British TV special shown in December 2011, it was voted "The Nation's Favourite Bee Gees Song" by ITV viewers.[2]

Background

Following mixing for Here at Last... Bee Gees... Live, they began recording songs for what was to be the follow-up studio album to 1976's Children of the World. Then the call came from Robert Stigwood requesting songs for a movie he was producing. The Bee Gees obliged and gave him five songs, one of which was "How Deep Is Your Love".

Recording

By the time Children of the World was recorded, it was pretty much established that Barry was now the primary vocalist of the group, mostly being falsetto leads with the occasional natural breathy voice. Even most of the backing vocals were done by Barry, such that Robin and Maurice are barely heard in the mix, even though they are there. Despite this, Robin sings the melody for the chorus and audibly sings various ad libs during this song. Recordings for all of the tracks for Saturday Night Fever, including "How Deep Is Your Love", were done in the Spring of 1977. Barry worked out the melody with keyboard player Blue Weaver, though he is not credited officially as a songwriter here. A demo was made at Le Château d'Hérouville in France, with the additional recording done at Criteria Studios when they got back to Miami.[3]

Music video

Two music videos were made for this song. In one, the brothers are singing while an image of a woman shows throughout the video. Barry Gibb had his beard shaven off in this video, as in the "Night Fever" video.[4] A second video was later made in which the brothers sing while passing by a stream of rainbow lights. In this video Barry Gibb is bearded.[5]

Awards

The song won Best Pop Performance by a Group at the 20th Grammy Awards which were held on 23 February 1978. The song also received a nomination for Best Original Song at the 35th Golden Globe awards held on 28 January 1978. The award went to You Light Up My Life. At the time of both award ceremonies, the song was still in the Top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

Lawsuit

In 1983, the Bee Gees were sued by a Chicago songwriter, Ronald Selle, who claimed that the Gibb brothers stole melodic material from one of his songs, "Let It End", and used it in "How Deep Is Your Love". At first, the Bee Gees lost the case; one juror said that a factor in the jury's decision was the Gibbs' failure to introduce expert testimony rebutting the plaintiff's expert testimony that it was "impossible" for the two songs to have been written independently. However, the verdict was overturned a few months later.[6][7]

Covers

"How Deep Is Your Love" is one of the most covered songs in the Gibb catalog performed by such artists as:

Charts and certifications

Take That version

"How Deep Is Your Love"
Song

Take That's version was released as a single from their Greatest Hits compilation in 1996. The single went on to become what was to be the band's final UK number one until their 2006 comeback single "Patience" a decade later. The song stayed at number one in the UK charts for three weeks. The single sold 671,000 copies and has received a Platinum sales status certification in the UK. The song also topped the charts in Denmark, Ireland, Italy and Spain.

Music video

The music video saw the four members of the band tied to chairs and in a basement. A blonde woman with smeared mascara (actress and model Paula Hamilton) walks into the basement and circles the four members individually pulling their hair. She then puts them all into her van and drives down the motorway. She stops by a reservoir and has the four members placed on the edge, she points at each member before grabbing Gary's rope and pushes him back still holding on. Her fingers slip through the rope and he falls backwards, the others look shocked as she does. She then smirks.

Track listing

UK Cassette Single (74321 35591 5)
  1. "How Deep Is Your Love" - 3:41
  2. "Never Forget" (Live From Earls Court & Manchester Nynex) - 7:38
UK CD Single #1 (74321 35559 2)
  1. "How Deep Is Your Love" - 3:41
  2. "Every Guy" (Live From Earls Court & Manchester Nynex) - 5:36
  3. "Lady Tonight" (Live From Earls Court & Manchester Nynex) - 4:13
  4. "Sunday To Saturday" (Live From Earls Court & Manchester Nynex) - 3:48
UK CD Single #2 (74321 35560 2)
  1. "How Deep Is Your Love" - 3:41
  2. "Back For Good" (Live From Earls Court & Manchester Nynex) - 7:06
  3. "Babe" (Live From Earls Court & Manchester Nynex) - 6:10
  4. "Never Forget" (Live From Earls Court & Manchester Nynex) - 7:38
EU CD Single #1 (74321 35243 2)
  1. "How Deep Is Your Love" - 3:41
  2. "Back For Good" (Live From Earls Court & Manchester Nynex) - 7:06
EU CD Single #2 (74321 35244 2)
  1. "How Deep Is Your Love" - 3:41
  2. "Back For Good" (Live From Earls Court & Manchester Nynex) - 7:06
  3. "Every Guy" (Live From Earls Court & Manchester Nynex) - 5:36
Japanese CD Single (BVCP-2406)
  1. "How Deep Is Your Love" - 3:41
  2. "Every Guy" (Live From Earls Court & Manchester Nynex) - 5:36
  3. "Babe" (Live From Earls Court & Manchester Nynex) - 6:10
  4. "Back For Good" (Live From Earls Court & Manchester Nynex) - 7:06
UK 7" Vinyl - Jukebox Release Only (74321 35632 2)
  1. "How Deep Is Your Love" - 3:41
  2. "Never Forget" (Live From Earls Court & Manchester Nynex) - 7:38

Chart performance

Preceded by Billboard Easy Listening number-one single (Bee Gees version)
26 November 1977 (6 weeks) 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Billboard Hot 100 number-one single (Bee Gees version)
24 December 1977 – 7 January 1978 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Danish Number-one hits of 1996 (Take That version)
16 March 1996 – 6 April 1996 (3 weeks) 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Irish IRMA number one single (Take That version)
24 February 1996 – 16 March 1996 (3 weeks) 		Succeeded by
"Aon Focal Eile" by Richie Kavanagh
Preceded by Italian Singles Chart Number 1 Singles in Italy (Take That version)
23 March 1996 – 30 March 1996 (1 week) 		Succeeded by
"La terra dei cachi" by "Elio e le Storie Tese & Orchestra Spettacolo Casadei"
Preceded by Spanish Singles Chart (Take That version)
25 March 1996 – 1 April 1996 (1 week) 		Succeeded by
Preceded by UK Singles Chart number-one single (Take That version)
3 March 1996 – 24 March 1996 (3 weeks) 		Succeeded by

References

  1. ^ "Billboard's All Time Top 100". www.billboard.com.
  2. ^ ITV
  3. ^ Gibb Songs: 1977
  4. ^ 1977 Bee Gees - How deep is your love (Alternate Version) - YouTube
  5. ^ Bee Gees - How Deep Is Your Love (Video) - YouTube
  6. ^ "Referenced case: Selle v. Gibb". UCLA.
  7. ^ "Selle v. Gibb and the forensic analysis of plagiarism". M. Fletcher Reynolds.
  8. ^ "Canadian certifications – Bee Gees – How Deep Is Your Love". Music Canada. Retrieved 29 March 2012.
  9. ^ "Les Singles en Or :" (in French). Infodisc.fr. Retrieved 29 March 2012.
  10. ^ "French certifications – Bee Gees – How Deep Is Your Love" (in French). Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique. Retrieved 29 March 2012.
  11. ^ "British certifications – Bee Gees – How Deep Is Your Love". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 29 March 2012. Select Gold in the Certification field. Type How Deep Is Your Love in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.
  12. ^ "American certifications – Bee Gees – How Deep Is Your Love". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved 29 March 2012.
  13. ^ a b c d e f g h i Hung Medien
  14. ^ "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. Retrieved 26 November 2011.
  15. ^ "Hits of the World - Eurochart Hot 100". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. 6 April 1996. p. 79. Retrieved 21 July 2012.
  16. ^ source: Pennanen, Timo: Sisältää hitin - levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla vuodesta 1972. Helsinki: Kustannusosakeyhtiö Otava, 2006. ISBN 9789511210535. page: 280
  17. ^ "Die ganze Musik im Internet: Charts, News, Neuerscheinungen, Tickets, Genres, Genresuche, Genrelexikon, Künstler-Suche, Musik-Suche, Track-Suche, Ticket-Suche". musicline.de. Retrieved 26 November 2011.
  18. ^ "Chart Track". Irish Singles Chart. GfK. Retrieved 17 June 2011.
  19. ^ Italian Single Chart
  20. ^ Oricon Singles Chart Oricon Singles Chart (Retrieved 2 November 2012)
  21. ^ http://lp3.polskieradio.pl/utwor/artykul5375,908_back_for_good.aspx
  22. ^ Davidalic (27 February 2004). "LISTAS DE AFYVE: 1996 Singles (1ª parte)". Afyvecharts.blogspot.com. Retrieved 26 November 2011.
  23. ^ UK Chart Stats
  24. ^ http://top100singles.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/aria-top-singles-of-1996.html
  25. ^ Italian Single Chart
  26. ^ "British certifications – Take That – How Deep Is Your Love". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 29 March 2012. Select Platinum in the Certification field. Type How Deep Is Your Love in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.
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