BEE GEES NEW YORK MINING DISASTER 1941 REACTION

[@websterlee7708]

After a cave in underground, noise can cause more cave in(landslide). Beautiful song. Great review.

[@patriciaewing8164]

It was 1967 Barry was 20 and Robin and Maurice were 17. Absolutely incredible to be written by them at that age, but then they were Geniuses 😍

[@edwright480]

They lived near me in Australia, and there is through way from one street to another which is dedicated to the Bee Gees, makes me feel rather proud! I was 10 pound Pom too.

[@Dee-JayW]

Their early stuff is my FAVE!!

[@iche50]

It is the debut American single by The BeeGees in1967.

[@namwob77]

The Bee Gees wrote and sang over one thousand songs. The were not limited to one sound and each brother seemed to have 3 different distinct voices. It's evident you like Robin's voice tender voice and his harmonic falsetto but if you would like to hear his strong voice try "Fanny be Tender" which features that 3rd voice.

[@joemcdonald7798]

Great post. Their first single. I was hooked instantly

[@stevevasell429]

The person singing is a miner trapped underground with others. He's afraid the vibrations from loud noises could cause more cave ins.

[@garyarnett1220]

1967 Bee Gees first America hit...... loved it then love it now Robin on lead

[@dagmar.6954]

I grew up with this great group. Love their early music especially 60's-70's. This song was inspired by the 1966 Aberfan mining disaster in Wales. There actually had also been a mining disaster in New York in 1939 but not in 1941. Barry & Robin Gibb wrote the song while sitting on a darkened staircase following a power cut. The echo of the passing lift inspired them to imagine that they were trapped in a mine.

[@HarriBestReactions]

Such talented guys

[@jacquelinejob2766]

Yes it was about Aberfan. Poor people.

[@christinegelabert1651]

@Dagmar S• So many people only discovered them after Saturday Night Fever came out. They it's takenly thought that this was when they actually hit. I didn't realize I had a whole career going on that was way into full gear long before they ever did that soundtrack. They just weren't really that well known when I came to stateside fans.

[@nickfiorenza5930]

The BEE GEE's, wow what a power house, of a group. Grew up listening to the early, BEE GEE's. Love how they evolved into one of the greatest groups of our time. Such a loss, losing MAURICE, ROBIN, so early in there lives. But, we still have there music to listen to for eternity. RIP - ROBIN- MAURICE!!

[@johnj2763]

There actually was an even earlier Bee Gee's era than their late '60-'s hits. They were performing from '57 on as The Rattlesnakes and later as The Blue Cats. Some early recordings are still around as very young vocalists.

[@joannparker1977]

One of their best songs in my opinion

[@keithallison4586]

Showing respect to Dylan a character from one of his song

[@glennthompson1173]

You need to check out Holiday and Massachusetts a couple of my favorite from their beginnings.

[@wrongwaypete]

Barry, 19, and Robin, 17, wrote the song during a power outage in the darkened, echoing stairwell of IBC recording studios in London, which stimulated the lads to imagine that they were trapped in a mine cave-in. Recorded in 1967 and released as their first major international single, as well on their debut album, "Bee Gees' 1st," the song was inspired by the 1966 Aberfan mining disaster in Wales. According to Robin, there actually had also been a mining disaster in New York in 1939, but not in 1941, and he felt "New York" sounded more "glamorous". The protagonist in the song, trapped deep in a mine with little hope of escape, shows a photograph of his wife to his co-worker, Mr. Jones. The line, "it's just a photograph of someone that I knew," is both anonymously phrased and ironically trivialized ("it's just...") as well as consciously written in the past tense to convey the isolation and hopelessness of the man ever surviving the ordeal. The line, "Do you know what it's like on the outside," again emphasizes the isolation between the inner world of trapped men and the external world of life, love and happiness. Because of the tight harmonies and the novel theme, when the song was first released many thousands of people and disc jockeys alike thought it was in fact The Beatles, and that B.G. was some code phrase for "Beatle Group." Quite a controversy erupted over this question. Later, the Bee Gees' manager, impresario Robert Stigwood, who at the time was part of Beatles manager Brian Epstein's NEMS organisation, launched the Bee Gees personal appearances in a most public manner, with a gala concert at Royal Albert Hall in London, featuring backup by a full orchestra, a 60-voice choir, and a 100-piece marching band. The rest, as they say, is history.

[@brendajones9321]

The sobering lyrics reflect a person trying to remain calm as he slowly comes to terms with his own mortality while trapped in a hopeless situation. Talking to his companion in total darkness, he waits alone & in vain, as 'Mr. Jones' never responds.

[@debbiechang5781]

This song was on my first Bee Gees album. I wore out the grooves on this one. The reference to “causing a landslide” is about how the slightest movement can cause problems during a mine collapse. Miners were often treated as if they were disposable by the huge mining corporations that owned the smaller mining businesses Profits over people! 🌺✌️

[@revsharkie]

As my Papa said, "That's why you need a union."

[@DG-wu7ke]

It was an illegal slag pile disaster that caused many deaths in Wales

[@jeannejorgensen1230]

I started out with the BeeGees older music. Loved it!

[@SafferPOV]

One of my favourite Bee Gees songs

[@Pauba1946]

One of my favorite BeeGees songs.

[@karenj3611]

Yes,yes ,the early BeeGees. Love the 60's stuff over the 70's stuff.

[@edwright480]

Yup early stuff.

[@dsusan17]

I love the Bee Gees! I love all of their music. I particularly love their pre-disco period.

[@negf22]

Check out their late 80’s /90’s post Disco as well! Albums: Living Eyes and Still Waters are some of my favorites later came This is where I came in, also a great album…heck, I Iove all their music 60’s-through the 2000’s. Barry also put out a solo album years after his last brother died called In the Now, also wonderful.

[@timetravellingone]

For quirky songs of theirs "I held a party" "Edison" "Harry Braff" "Paper Mache, Cabbages and Kings" "I have decided to join the airforce" "Birdie told me"

[@LillyMarz777]

Love the Brothers Gibb. ❤️

[@turnerator21]

You mentioned how they must have been in their early 20s- even more amazing - they were only teenagers when they wrote this! Amazing

[@bethcrumpton476]

My favorite Bee Gees song. Thank you, Harri.

[@danielvolk237]

Early BeeGees gold. My sister bought this before I did so I wore hers out. Hee Hee. 😉 Sorry Sis. Great song.

[@wearinganapron]

I always loved this -- more than any other Bee Gees' song. Sweet chills.

[@michaelkorsten1066]

Me too, I like a lot of their stuff but this one is very special, it touches my heart.

[@Pauba1946]

The BeeGees reinvented themselves to change with the times.

[@anthonwest9541]

Such great song writers too! Great choice

[@craigmccausland1183]

Early Bee Gees don't get enough credit, IMO.

[@thomasflynn5366]

You should do I Can't See Nobody. My favorite. Written by Robin when he was just a teenage.

[@susieq9801]

They weren't even in their early 20's when they wrote and recorded this. Maurice and Robin were 17 and Barry 20. After the 1970's they changed again like chameleons. They didn't have just two eras.

[@edithmaxim2041]

My favorites songs are their earlier ones.

[@rodneygriffin7666]

This is my favorite Bee Gees song of all time. I love their other stuff too.❤️

[@IllumeEltanin]

^this^ My absolute favorite BeeGees piece.

[@mzphillips53]

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you Harri. Ive been trying to get you and other reactors to play early Bee Gees without much luck.This song was from 66 or 67 time frame. The twins were only about 18 at that time. Barry was 21. Unbelievable.. I also love: Holiday Massachusetts To Love Somebody I started a Joke To name a few.

[@psmolek7438]

I own their album with this song on it. It was pre-disco. Great songs!

[@dubivxler]

bee gees marley purt drive

[@edithmaxim2041]

All their music is great but these earlier ones are just the best. React to these older songs but with live ones in later years. I Started A Joke.

[@famat161]

Another early one. "I've Gotta Get a Message to You" is a stunner.

[@laurelcarter1573]

This song was written when they first went back to England. They had just signed a record deal when the power went out. They wrote this sitting in a hallway because the echo sounded like a mining shaft. They were in their late teens.

[@debitaylor2101]

This song was my first exposure to the Bee Gees back in my youth. You caused a landslide os referring to the heavy rain that had occurred

[@JoyfullyGrumpy]

Jones is a very Welsh name, and they had a lot of mining in Wales back then. Perfect setting for such a song...

[@SueProst]

Immortality sung by Celine Dion and the Bee Gees. Written about their musical legacy. Beautifully done.

[@HarriBestReactions]

I reacted to that

[@SueProst]

Thanks. I'll check it out

[@ThePmfan]

@@HarriBestReactions They pretty much wrote all their own songs, and many songs of other artists, including dolly and kenny, barbara streisand et al.

[@williameckert1623]

The entire first Bee gees album is a masterpiece.

[@robertasirgutz8800]

Thanks. I had requested it as well. Such a beautiful song. Very Beatles. They were going head to head at the time.

[@mzphillips53]

I requested this and a lot of other Bee Gees early stuff..

[@pilesovinyl]

This was their first US hit. Very unlike the rest of their catalog. 1967.

[@musicaficionado2974]

At long last! Thank you so much! How young people like that could commiserate with the trouble of others in this way! Also shows how versatile and multifaceted the Bee Gees are, who in no way can be pigeonholed. Pretty much as the Beatles.

[@ALong-fo5so]

At last an early Bee Gees song. Please react to more please. This song was the Bee Gees first international hit in 67.

[@Pauba1946]

My God they are young!

[@jgsheehan8810]

You could try Spicks and Specks. The Bee Gees first hit in Australia before returning for a career in the UK

[@hifijohn]

One of the every few or only song about a mining disaster.

[@janechapman6448]

They wrote all their own songs. Released 1967. Robin and Mo were 18 and Barry 21

[@sarahgarner5425]

I liked the bee gees better before the disco days. Really inventive songs.

[@buchholtzmathieu1810]

Tkx a million. Love this track since its issue as a single. There are two awesome alternative versions. Like crazily all the three recordings. About the story of this song and the meaning of the lyrics, here is what I found on Wikipedia "Barry and Robin Gibb wrote the song while sitting on a darkened staircase at Polydor Records following a power cut.[4] The song recounts the story of a miner trapped in a cave-in. He is sharing a photo of his wife with a colleague ("Mr. Jones") while they hopelessly wait to be rescued.[5] According to the liner notes for their box-set Tales from the Brothers Gibb (1990), this song was inspired by the 1966 Aberfan mining disaster in Wales. According to Robin, there actually had also been a mining disaster in New York in 1939, but not in 1941,[6] and he thought "New York" sounded more "glamourous".[4]

[@negf22]

They wrote all their songs. It was 1967/68. The twins were still teenagers, I think Barry was too. ( he was 3 years older then the twins. Loud noises underground can cause a land slide(or collapse/ cave in) if there is loose material, which evidently happened to have a mining disaster. Cool story, they wrote this song in a stairwell when the power went out and thought how it must be to be trapped underground in total darkness. Their manager at the time ( Stigwood) said they wrote the song in less then 1/2 hour. Can you imagine!

[@suecook1326]

The twins were born on 12/22/1949, the same day as my husband so they were definitely in their teens yet. Such talent is so rare!

[@hubbel100]

In October of 1966 thee was terrible mining disaster in the Welsh village of Aberfan. A coal tip collapsed after heavy rain and ploughed into the local school killing many children and teachers. I think this song is a reference to that ,although the title of the song is a misnomer.

[@personalcheeses8073]

There was a mining disaster in New York in 1939. This song is really influenced by both evens

[@aletmartins6940]

And many people in Wales have Jones as last name…

[@edwright480]

It was a slag heap tiny bits of coal of no use to the employers. During rain the whole thing just slid down the hill covering a primary school killing most of the children who were trapped. A whole generation wiped out. Dreadfully sad.

[@juliefox1743]

Early 20's? Robin and Maurice were barely 17 when they recorded this song. The B side was much better "I can't see nobody"

[@frigolo1279]

most songwriters write their best songs at an early age

[@edithdavis2848]

Ioved them in the 60s, stopped listening to rock and roll in the 70s when they started screaming instead of singing

[@mzphillips53]

I did the same thing. I hated the screaming stuff. I went over to folk and then country but always loved the Bee Gees.

[@michaelgibson6204]

Jones and Smith are used because they are so common If a unique name is used the greater the chance of getting sued Such as ACDC used 36-24-36 as a phone number in Dirty Deeds and got sued because it was an actual phone number

[@pauldover1403]

Loved the Bee Gees at this time, hated them later when they went Disco and sang falsetto.

[@24sherbear]

In America, Smith and Jones are very common names. In fact, there was even a Western TV series called Alias Smith and Jones. Names that make you invisible, blend in. There's a phrase about "keeping up with the Joneses." Meaning trying to keep pace with your better off neighbors.

[@tinakeith5822]

Mining…landslide….if you drill (mining) it could cause the land to slide. The old saying….You gotta keep up with the Jones’.

[@HarriBestReactions]

Oh i see.I didn't get it beforehand.The landslide i mean

[@carollittle1059]

Love my Bee Gees!!

[@christinegelabert1651]

YIPPEE!!!

[@christinegelabert1651]

A lot of songwriters used the Jones reference because it's in every day type of persons name. Just like the expression of keeping up with the Joneses'. Many people over here in the US when they came over their name got changed over to Jones a lot of times if it started with J and was unpronounceable to someone when they got to Ellis Island anyway. So that's part of how it became such a common last name here. #ProudTaino #ProudNYMohawk

[@HarriBestReactions]

Thanx for this.Thats quite interesting.I have often wondered why there are so many Jones songs.I knew the expression keeping up with the Jones' though

[@christinegelabert1651]

@@bartstarr100 THAT'S also the truth.... Jonesing! I'm going to be clean from drugs 20 years this coming Fall. #NYGenXBikerLady 😏😁❤️😎✊

[@christinegelabert1651]

@@HarriBestReactions The same goes with the same Smith. That's the name they used in school to teach us how to write out envelopes properly. YES for REAL letters! Mr. John Smith 1234 Fifth Street Anytown, USA, 12345 YUP 👍 NOW ask me what I had for dinner last night! 😂

[@revsharkie]

Jones is also a very common Welsh surname.

[@personalcheeses8073]

Smith or Jones refers to Mr and Mrs average

[@musicaficionado2974]

This is about miners buried alive underground. Any loud sound can cause a landslide which will kill them all. They don't know if they will be rescued. In the anticipation of their last moment they treasure their last minutes on Earth and share with each other what's dear to them. Even today mining disasters occur with all the OSH progress that has been made over the years. Back then workers' safety and working conditions were abominable. Besides, 1941 was war time. Such a tragic and haunting song. Has been haunting me since I was a teenager.

[@johnj2763]

Harri, They honed their vocal styles listening to the Mills Brothers, copying their harmonization, as did your other featured vocalist tonight, Dean Martin who idolized Harry Mills. If you compare their vocal styles you can catch the similarities.

[@GinMae]

Thanks, Harri -- in this case it's b/c it's loosely based on a tragedy in Wales some years earlier, and of course, we all know that almost everyone in Wales is named "Jones" (sorry - hope nobody is offended - not meant to be disrespectful... )

[@rickgarcia8481]

Early bee gees were good as well

[@sherribrock2726]

Jones is such a common last name. I know in the US Jones and Smith are the most common last names.

[@earlenejohnson2327]

It’s from the perspective of a miner under the ground scared of another collapse.

[@pipodekleine5797]

Singing about him being trapped in a coal mine showing a photograph of his wife to a colleague miner. Or maybe he is above the ground and his wife is the miner, trapped in the mine. Anyway they have to speak with low voice in order not to create a landslide. At least this is how I understand this fantastic song.

[@calrowles9790]

This was actually their first song to chart in in the UK and the US. Their next single To Love Somebody did even better. It was released in 1967. There was some marketing hype about the song because it was put out that the song was by a group starting with the letter 'B'. So they played the 'is this the Beatles?' card. Suffice to say they didn't need that card.

[@NathanVeenstra]

Just to think that “To Love Somebody” was written for Otis Redding, and the Bee Gees only recorded it themselves because Redding died before he could record the song.

[@robertasirgutz8800]

A landslide can be triggered by a breath sometimes. "Don't go talking....".

[@francisxray9900]

They've been a sensation to the world of music at all! First career in Australia from 1960 up to 1966. Nr. 1 song 'Spicks And Specks'. Many beautiful songs like 'In The Morning', 'Butterfly', 'Children Laughing', 'Born A Man', 'Second Hand People', 'I Don't Know Why I Bother With Myself', 'All By Myself' or 'Follow The Wind'. Returned to England in 1967 and conquered the charts with NYMD 1941 and so many others like 'To Love Somebody', 'Massachusetts', Words', 'I've Gotta Get A Message To You' or 'First Of May'. But many songpearls in this period are to find in their albums. For excample 'Every Christian Lion Hearted Man Will Show You', 'The Earnest Of Being George', 'The Change Is Made', 'Really And Sincerely', 'With The Sun In My Eyes', 'Let There Be Love', 'Odessa', 'Marley Purt Drive', 'Whisper Whisper', 'Black Diamond' and 'Melody Fair.

[@mrchips4489]

Far and away preferred the Bee Gees sound of the 60's and 70's to the disco sound of the 80's. Generally speaking, disco became way over-saturated in the radio market and led to its downfall.

[@patyoh724]

landslide.....they are trapped in a mine cave in....the guys are talking to each other...but not too loud the roof might cave in.

[@janicewright6213]

They are singing about being in a collapsed mine

[@patrickallen5781]

They didn't want a landslide from the sound echoing off of the mine walls.

[@rodneygriffin7666]

If you are in a mining disaster, any vibration can cause your doom.

[@steve-eq8kx]

Their pre-disco music was more my taste.

[@joelliebler5690]

Brilliant tune and great story. Are you Jonesin’ for a different name?👍🏻😃

[@dubivxler]

👌👌🤜

[@dougskriver6216]

A coal mine is a disaster waiting to happen, althought the engineers of the day were pretty good. This was my first Bee Gees experience.

[@unclejohn1053]

Pre Saturday Night was great. They lost me then. ps. jones was an alias.

[@jeffweber8556]

Underground, it wouldn't be a landslide, it would actually be a cave in. They are afraid if he makes too much noise, their mine will collapse

[@christophersimons128]

Loud noises can cause unstable ground to collapse further.

[@videocat1366]

You'll "cause a landslide" if they talk too loud because they're down in a mine that's already collapsing (mining disaster).

[@diperry4026]

I preferred the early BeeGees

[@kristaclifton512]

They are in a tunnel that is going to cave in on them.

[@HeatherMyfanwyTylerGreey]

A landslide in mining terms is when noise, water, earthquake or such can cause coal slag to slide down a slope crushing homes and killing anyone in its way like a heavy,black avalanche. 'Mr Jones ' was to be the original name of the song - it was written in London. In the UK much of the mining was in Wales and Jones is a typically Welsh name. Many Jones'es would have been in mining. When they were touring the USA when it released the Title was changed by the record company.

[@brucefelger4015]

easy name to rhyme, and too many jones to say successfully in court that they are singing about you!

[@stephenqualtrough7322]

Jones. Bob Dylan's Something is Happening here and you don't know what it is , do you Mr Jones ? Is another example

[@avlisk]

Every Christian Lion Hearted Man next. You think this one was different!

[@pennymcneela7095]

It's very Beatlish..

[@veppanen4783]

Mr. Jones was blind man and his while was murdered by three young man. This is what I have been told. "Have you seen my wife Mr. Jones?