“I Started A Joke”

I wish Mo was here, I can’t believe he is gone.

Robin Gibb – Bio

Robin Hugh Gibb, CBE
Born December 22, 1949 – Died May 20, 2012
English Singer, Songwriter, Member of the BeeGees

Last Words – Robin Gibb

Robin Gibb’s last words were a reference to his late fraternal twin brother, Maurice Ernest Gibb, CBE., who died on January 12, 2003.

After a career spanning six decades, Robin Gibb died at the age of 62 from liver and kidney failure. Robin Gibb last performed on stage in February 2012 supporting injured British servicemen and women at a charity concert at the London Palladium.

Last Words – Robin Gibb – BeeGees

The Bee Gees were a musical group founded in 1958. The group’s line-up consisted of brothers Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb. The trio, active and successful for over 5 decades, have sold in excess of 200 million records worldwide. At one point in 1978, the Gibb brothers were responsible for writing and/or performing nine of the songs in the Billboard Hot 100.

In all, the Gibbs placed 13 singles onto the Hot 100 in 1978, with 12 making the Top 40. The Gibb brothers are fellows of the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors (BASCA).

Last Words – Robin Gibb – Legacy

At least 2,500 artists have recorded their songs. Their most popular composition is “How Deep Is Your Love”, with 400 versions by other artists in existence.

Among the artists who have covered their songs are Ardijah, Michael Bolton, Boyzone, Eric Clapton, Billy Corgan, Destiny’s Child, Faith No More, Feist, The Flaming Lips, Al Green, Jinusean, Elton John, Tom Jones, Janis Joplin, Lulu, Elvis Presley, Nina Simone, Percy Sledge, Robert Smith, Take That, and John Frusciante (who has covered “How Deep Is Your Love” during Red Hot Chili Peppers concerts).

The band’s music has also been sampled by dozens of hip hop artists.

Last Words – Robin Gibb – Songwriting

The BeeGees were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997. The Bee Gees’ Hall of Fame citation says “Only Elvis Presley, The Beatles, Michael Jackson, Garth Brooks and Paul McCartney have outsold the Bee Gees”.

Songs written by the Gibbs, but largely better known through versions by other artists, include:

• “Ain’t Nothing Gonna Keep Me From You” by Teri DeSario
• “Buried Treasure” by Kenny Rogers (backing vocals The Gatlin Brothers)
• “Chain Reaction” by Diana Ross
• “Come on Over” by Olivia Newton-John
• “Emotion” by Samantha Sang
• “Gilbert Green” by Gerry Marsden
• “Grease” by Frankie Valli
• “Guilty” and “Woman in Love” by Barbra Streisand
• “Heartbreaker” & “All the Love in the World” by Dionne Warwick
• “Hold On to My Love” by Jimmy Ruffin
• “I Will Be There” by Tina Turner
• “If I Can’t Have You” by Yvonne Elliman
• “Immortality” by Celine Dion
• “Islands In The Stream” by Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton
• “Morning of My Life” by Abi and Esther Ofarim
• “Only One Woman” by The Marbles
• “Rest Your Love on Me” by Conway Twitty
• “Sacred Trust” by One True Voice
• “Warm Ride” by Graham Bonnet

Al Green’s 1972 non-single cover of the Bee Gees’ massive 1971 North American number one “How Can You Mend a Broken Heart” enjoys a certainly critical and popular following, particularly in the UK.

Al Green covered the track on his 1972 album Let’s Stay Together, which also made the soundtrack to 1997’s Good Will Hunting, 1999’s The Virgin Suicides, 1999’s Notting Hill and 2010’s The Book of Eli.

In 2008, Green’s version was remade into a duet with Joss Stone for the soundtrack to the film adaptation of Sex and the City, with her vocals overdubbed onto the track.

Last Words – Robin Gibb – “I Started A Joke”

“I Started A Joke” is one of the Bee Gees’ classics with its enigmatic and thought-provoking lyrics. The song is mainly written and sung by Robin Gibb.

“I Started a Joke” is supposedly about someone who has done or said something horribly wrong, which results in feelings of social alienation. Another interpretation is that the song is sung from the point of view of the devil. Prior to performing the song onstage, Barry Gibb remarks that one interpretation of the song is regarding the devil.

According to Robin Gibb, the melancholic melody of the song was inspired by the sounds on board an airplane:

“The melody to this one was heard aboard a British Airways Vickers Viscount about a hundred miles from Essen.

It was one of those old four engine ‘prop’ jobs, that seemed to drone the passenger into a sort of hypnotic trance, only with this it was different.

The droning, after a while, appeared to take the form of a tune, which mysteriously sounded like a church choir.

So it was decided!

We accosted the pilot, forced him to land in the nearest village and there; in a small pub, we finished the lyrics.

Actually, it wasn’t a village, it was the city, and it wasn’t a pub, it was a hotel, and we didn’t force the pilot to land in a field … but why ruin a perfectly good story?”

Robin Gibb told The Mail On Sunday November 1, 2009, that “[t]his is a very spiritual song. The listeners have to interpret it themselves – trying to explain it would detract from the song.”

Last Words – Robin Gibb – “I Started A Joke”

I started a joke, which started the whole world crying, but I didn’t see, oh no, that the joke was on me, oh no.

I started to cry, which started the whole world laughing, oh if I’d only seen that the joke was on me.

… Seems like the joke was on us …

… Thank you, Robin …