The song “Massachusetts” comes full circle
The Bee Gees’ song “Massachusetts” was one of the earliest of the group’s big hits (1967), prior to their going disco a decade later. At the time, eldest brother Barry was all of 20 and the twins were 17:
The song became the first of the group’s five No. 1 hits in the UK Singles Chart, [and] reached No. 1 in twelve other countries…
They’d never been to Massachusetts at the time; they actually wrote it on a visit to New York City. But they liked the sound of the word “Massachusetts.” An odd choice, I think, but it worked.
Robin Gibb – who died in 2012 – sang lead on the song. His voice is utterly unique and has a haunting quality, with a lot of fast vibrato. There is no falsetto singing on the cut; this song was way before the Bee Gees started singing in that style. But Robin’s voice had a huge range naturally although he was especially known for singing very high in his head voice.
Not everyone likes Robin’s voice, but for those of us who do – and I’m one of them – we really really really like it. I’ve tried to think if there’s any voice even remotely like Robin’s, and I came up with two: Edith Piaf and Judith Durham of The Seekers. The commonalities they share are a powerful voice that goes pretty high and that has a very fast vibrato and is good at expressing emotion.
So I did a search to see if anyone else saw any resemblance between Robin’s and Judith’s voice (both were Australian, in Gibb’s case not by birth though), or Robin and Piaf (who apparently share a birthday, along with Beethoven). No one else seems to have agreed with me on any resemblances, but in the course of the search I found out something else about “Massachusetts”: it was originally written by the Bee Gees for Judith Durham and the Seekers. When the Seekers didn’t record it, the Bee Gees recorded it themselves and had a smash hit with it.
The Bee Gees had an amazing versatility that meant that when they wrote songs for other singers and groups, the songs were just about perfect for those singers. They wrote “To Love Somebody” for Otis Redding, for example, and though he died before recording it, when you hear the song you can practically hear his voice singing it. “Heartbreaker” for Dionne Warwick had just the right lilting lightness that suited her voice.
Here’s “Massachusetts” as the Bee Gees recorded it back in 1967:
And here they are 22 years later, singing it live:
And in a rare case of closure, it turns out that The Seekers finally did record the song in 2003 as a tribute to Robin’s fraternal twin Maurice Gibb, a Bee Gee who had recently died. Durham’s voice is still astoundingly beautiful, and less eccentric than Robin Gibb’s. Her voice has a happy almost bouncy quality, however, and his is almost always sad, even when he’s singing a bouncy song (which this one really isn’t):
Here’s older brother Barry Gibb recently, talking about his brothers and in particular Robin’s voice:
Neo,
Thank you for mentioning The Seekers. They were great.
You can search for their music videos for more wonderful music.
I have always loved that song.
“prior to their going disco a decade later” – Neo
I’ve been saving this for a BG’s post.
https://i1.wp.com/www.powerlineblog.com/ed-assets/2021/06/Screen-Shot-2021-06-07-at-11.07.19-AM.png?w=1012&ssl=1
From Expat on another thread:
“OT: have you seen this at Fox? Here is what Barry Gibb is like today.”
https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/bee-gees-barry-gibb-seen-rare-public-outing-miami
Neo replied:
https://www.thenewneo.com/2021/07/03/the-crime-against-the-nursing-home-elderly/#comment-2562480
Having watched TBDBITL do script Ohio many times, I always wished some band would do script Massachusetts, or even script Mississippi. Texas has a band formation that is a script Texas, but they simply marched into it from different angles, there is no scripting involved.
Judith Durham—she may have had (heck, she’s 78 now) the most beautiful ever.
That should have been “most beautiful voice ever.”
Neo, thank you ..you are a great teacher…I visit your site daily.. Judith Durham is a favorite..I have spent my life studying and working. ..no regrets ..but you have opened me to many tings..thank you
We were taught to sing in high school French class something like “Je vous returnez dans mon village” to the tune of “Massachusetts”, the teacher claimed it was a French folk tune and fumed at the Bee Gees. Ha ha, we thought she was full of it.
Ed:
I believe she was indeed full of it. See this.
Dear Neo, thanks for the article on Massachusetts. It’s great for us that Bee Gees sang the song themselves, they are the best! And Robin is Robin 😉
Massachusetts on French TV https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9k68oPsss9I
Thanks for introducing me to The Seekers!
Judith Durham has a lovely voice and I do hear that little something that made you think of Robin Gibb. She projects such crisp confidence and competence though that it may work against the romance of the song. I kept picturing a Mom gassing up the minivan, headed back East….
Robin’s tone is softer…conveying tender yearning – and maybe some ambivalence. Neo, as you were saying, it took me awhile to appreciate Robin’s uniqueness. Now I’m one of those who really, really, really do!
From a trove of articles and interview transcripts:
Bee Gees Fan Fever Blogspot. Here the Gibbs relate the back story of 50 songs (many lesser-known ones):
https://beegeesfanfever.blogspot.com/2014/06/meaning-of-songs.html
“MASSACHUSETTS “
BARRY GIBB: It’s basically antiflower power… Don’t go to San Francisco, come home… We wanted to write the opposite of what it’s like to lose somebody who went to San Francisco. The lights all went out in Massachusetts because everybody went to San Francisco, because they left.
ROBIN GIBB: It is not talking about people going back to Massachusetts. It represents all the people who want to go back to somewhere or something. It is all about people who want to escape.
I adore Robin’s unique quivering voice and how emotionally he sang. So many vocal treats – Lamplight, I Can’t See Nobody, Mr Natural, Voices, Country Lanes. I could listen/watch Robin’s 1974 Melbourne live performance of “And the Sun Will Shine” again and again. Exquisite.