Today’s featured track is yet another song to come from a live music concert which I keep coming back to – The Bee Gees Las Vegas, 1997 – One Night Only. When I watch the show I find myself in awe of their massive talent, which you can tell came from years of hard work and dedication. This is mainstream pop at its finest, with the Bee Gees seemingly at the peak of their musicianship and harmonic delivery. Though no longer spring chickens, a comparison between their original studio recording and this 1997 Las Vegas concert reveals how they’ve refined their vocal techniques. They’ve adjusted their voices in a way that highlights each member’s strengths – arguably surpassing the quality of their younger performances.
I’ve Gotta Get A Message To You was the Bee Gees‘s second number 1 single in the UK singles chart and their first US Top 10 hit. They initially hit the big time in Brisbane, Australia (1963) as kids. There is a great video ‘Melody‘ of one of their earliest performances in Brisbane. For that reason, we like to say the Bee Gees are Aussies, when really they are English-born. The song – Message is about a man who, awaiting his execution in the electric chair, begs the prison chaplain to pass a final message on to his wife. Robin Gibb, who wrote the lyrics, said that the man’s crime was the murder of his wife’s lover, though the lyrics do not explicitly allude to the identity of the victim.
Barry Gibb explained about the studio process: ‘that I know for a fact, we didn’t sing the choruses in harmony. Robert called us back to the studio at 11 o’clock at night and said, ‘I want the choruses in harmony, I don’t want them in just melody. I want three-part harmony choruses.’ So we went in and attempted that ’round about midnight. Everyone drove back to the studio, and that’s what we did.”
Barry further explained about the bass guitar by Maurice Gibb “He had a lot of intensity in his bass, Mo was a real McCartney bass freak, as a lot of us were. He would pick up on all the things that McCartney would [do]. Maurice was very good on different instruments, you know. Good lead guitarist, good bass player, good keyboard player. He was versatile. He loved playing bass more than anything else, I think, at that time.”
The preacher talked with me and he smiled
Said, “Come and walk with me, come and walk one more mile
Now, for once in your life, you’re alone
But you ain’t got a dime, there’s no time for the phone”
I’ve just gotta get a message to you
Hold on, hold on
One more hour and my life will be through
Hold on, hold on
I told him I’m in no hurry
But if I broke her heart then won’t you tell her I’m sorry?
And for once in my life I’m alone
And I got to let her know just in time before I go
I’ve just gotta get a message to you
Hold on, hold on
One more hour and my life will be through
Hold on, hold on
Well, I laughed but that didn’t hurt
And it’s only her love that keeps me wearing this dirt
Now, I’m crying but deep down inside
Well, I did it to him, now, it’s my turn to die
I’ve just gotta get a message to you
Hold on, hold on
One more hour and my life will be through
Hold on, hold on
Hold on
I’ve just gotta get a message to her
Hold on, hold on
One more hour and my life will be through
References:
1. I’ve Gotta Get a Message to You – Wikipedia
“The more I live, the more I learn. The more I learn, the more I realize, the less I know.”- Michel Legrand
Observation Blogger 
This is the Bee Gees that I really like…the era that this song came out. That live version is really good.
Yeh, it’s pretty neat alright. Thanks for commenting Max.
Such a great song, Matt. While I like the Bee Gees in all of their incarnations, including their “Saturday Night Fever” period, I was always drawn to their early work in particular. Their harmony singing was just sheer magic – yet another example of how special it can be when siblings sing together!
I don’t really have an opinion on which Bee Gee era I prefer. I like their early stuff of course, but there are also a lot of stand-out songs they wrote which catapulted other artists in the 80’s to fame and beyond.
I agree about the magic of the harmony produced amongst siblings which the Bee Gees exhibited to it’s peak in popular culture.
I was always a Bee Gees fan. This is a great song. They were superstars in my early teen years, and I couldn’t get enough.
One of my favorite songs isn’t really Bee Gees. It’s Barry Gibb and Barbara Streisand singing Guilty. All three brothers wrote the song. Barry and Barbara recorded it, and it was released on Barbara’s album, Guilty.
Hey Maddie, thanks for the trip down memory lane with Guilty – a song I hadn’t heard in eons. I remember my Mum playing it a lot in my youth. We also had a few Bee Gee’s records which were some of the most frequented in our household.