The Bee Gees’ song “Tragedy” is about anticipation
I’ve been feeling pretty weary lately about the news. So much of it is bad. I don’t know about you, but I need a refresher.
“Tragedy” is an odd title for a refresher. But like so many Bee Gees’ songs, the words can be sad but the tune extremely catchy and seemingly upbeat. “Tragedy” – a song from their so-called disco era – is a good example of this.
The song was written by the Bee Gees in the same afternoon as “Too Much Heaven,” another mega-hit that was more ballad-like. Not bad for a few hours’ work.
In an interview I’ve seen, one of the Bee Gees’ said that a hallmark of their music was an attempt to make the intervals between vocals at least as interesting and compelling as the singing part. I think “Tragedy” is a good example of that, and in a particular way. The instrumental portions feature a driving beat that goes on just a bit longer – or sometimes shorter, because the intervals vary – than the listener might expect. It creates a strangely pleasurable tension in the listener – at least, in this listener, and in a lot of YouTube “reactors” I’ve seen. Plus, there’s the famous “explosion” that also occurs at varied intervals, and was created by Barry sort of spitting into cupped hands in front of the microphone.
It’s one of their wholly-falsetto songs, which was common for them during that period. I happen to really really like their non-falsetto songs, but the falsetto ones are great too – such as “Tragedy,” which non-Bee Gees fans probably really detest but I love (the following video of the song has the audio of the final studio version with video of rehearsals as well as other Bee Gee footage):
A few months ago I downloaded that song into my iTunes Library. It is a very good song with a fast tempo.
Of their peak disco era (late ’77 through early ’79) I would say this and ‘Too Much Heaven’ are the best. Maybe it’s just because the Saturday Night Fever stuff has had much more lasting airplay and cultural impact where as these songs although #1 hits have not been played to death.
I started buying records in late 1978- “Tragedy” would have been one of the first handful 45 rpm records I bought- I think I bought it the same day I bought “Sultans of Swing”- would have been around the end of February 1979.
Sorry. This stuff doesn’t cut it.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDSBV0vTfTo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICK6e9WK2A8
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From the same era.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlFXhigvTvM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xH7cSSKnkL4
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From the same era.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kln_bIndDJg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gs069dndIYk
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From the same era.
Saturday Night Fever:
I remember it well. I was a single mom for about ten years when that film came out. It was me and her. We were close; she came to my office and helped me work, and she did banking and shopping. I did not know what a discotheque was because I didn’t date in those years. But, I always loved music and we would dance around the house.
Daughter’s first musical love (age eleven) was the Bay City Bombers. By the time “Fever” came out she was getting a little out of hand–staying out late, smoking cigarettes behind the garage, etc. I was clamping down and of course that was not working. When Saturday Night Fever came out she asked me if she could go–I said no, so she went anyway! The next day she was so excited about the music, and the movie, she confessed where she had been. She kept saying “Mom it’s for you–it’s the kind of music you will love”. So, I decided to compromise and go to the movie with her. I came out of that film dancing down the street– she was so happy–I still remember her laughing and saying, “see, I told you”. We danced around the house to that music for months afterward.
Never knew about their other records, but still love the music from that film.
Daughter’s first musical love (age eleven) was the Bay City Bombers
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Bay City Rollers, IIRC.
Re: “Saturday Night Fever”
I recall being struck how naturalistic the dialog was. Many films try to capture the gritty sound of street talk, but it still comes out sounding polished. (Which is mostly just as well IMO.)
Not “Saturday Night Fever.” I would be interested to check that impression.
Anne — lovely memory!
Neo, I don’t know where else to place this, but since you love dance, I came across this dance from a wedding in the Caucasus.
https://youtu.be/U2Ly_lsdHn8
How do they do that? It looks like they are on wheels.
DJ Casey Kasem once told a story about a letter he’d gotten from the mother of a little girl: the poor kid always freaked out during thunderstorms because of the noise. One afternoon, a big thunderstorm was coming down, and the mother went to check on the little girl. Instead of screaming and weeping, the kid was listening raptly.
“Mom,” she said. “it sounds just like “Tragedy.”
Art Deco: Thanks for the correction you are right of course it was the “Bay City Rollers”!
Paul in Boston:
Please watch this.
Tiny little steps, very smooth and very fast.
Art Deco,
All those songs you linked are indeed, quite good from the same time frame as the Bee Gees disco era. On my favorites to play on my guitar is Night Moves, and Celebration is a fantastic song. Though be careful, Celebration often was played in discos. However, nothing wrong with also liking the Bee Gees songs from then; I do and find them still quite compelling today.
If you feel the need to look down on certain popular music take a stab at everything on spotify over the last 10 years. As Rick Beato repeatedly points out, it consists of one chord (sometimes 2) in a loop with no structure (verse, chorus, bridge verse), no hook line, and all the vocals autotuned. Listen to some of top 10 on spotify now and then compare to “Tradgedy” and reach a conclusion.
Though be careful, Celebration often was played in discos.
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The songs I linked to were ‘Feels so Good’, ‘Deacon Blues’, ‘Jet Airliner’, ‘Night Moves’, ‘The Logical Song’, and ‘September’.
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If you feel the need to look down on certain popular music
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I don’t feel the need. Different sorts of music are proper to a given time and place. Recall Roger Ebert’s dictum that you compare within genres. These are within genre comparisons.
I consider “Celebration” to the be the last Disco song to hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.