Stayin' Alive

This article is about the Bee Gees song. For other uses, see Staying Alive (disambiguation).

"Stayin' Alive"
Song
B-side	"If I Can't Have You"

"Stayin' Alive" is a disco song by the pop group Bee Gees from the Saturday Night Fever motion picture soundtrack. The song was written by the Bee Gees (Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb) and produced by the Bee Gees, Albhy Galuten and Karl Richardson. It was released on December 13, 1977, as the second single from the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. It is one of their signature songs.

Upon release, Stayin' Alive climbed the charts, hitting the number one spot on the Billboard Hot 100 the week of February 4, 1978, and staying there for four weeks. In the process, it became one of the band's most recognizable tunes, in part because of its place at the beginning of Saturday Night Fever.

Beginnings

The producer of the soundtrack, Robert Stigwood (who doubled as the Bee Gees' manager) called them up and asked them to write a few songs for a soundtrack to a film he was planning. At this point, the film was in early stages and it did not have a title yet. All Stigwood had to go on was a New York cover story about discomania. He asked them to go on with the soundtrack anyway, and they wrote "Stayin' Alive" over the course of a few days while sprawled on the staircase at the Château d'Hérouville studio in Paris. As with Pink Floyd, a majority of the soundtrack was recorded in France for tax reasons.

Due to the death of drummer Dennis Byron's mother in the middle of the song's sessions, the group first looked for a replacement. The shortage of drummers in this area of France prompted the group to use a drum machine—yet it did not offer satisfactory results. After listening to the drum track of the already-recorded "Night Fever", the group (and producer Albhy Galuten) selected two bars from the song, re-recorded them to a separate track, and proceeded with sessions for "Stayin' Alive". This accounts for the unchanging rhythm throughout the song.

As a joke, the group listed the drummer as "Bernard Lupe" (a takeoff on session drummer Bernard Purdie). Mr. Lupe became a highly sought-after drummer—until it was discovered that he did not exist.

RSO Records wanted the song to be titled, "Saturday Night", but the Bee Gees refused a title change, stating that they wanted to be different, and the album already had a song with the word, "Night" in the title (Night Fever). The band also stated that there had been too many songs with, "Saturday" in the title.

Over the years, the brothers have had mixed feelings about the song. On one hand, they admit it brought them tremendous fame; on the other, it eventually led to their being pigeonholed as a disco act, despite a long career before and after.

The song is rumored to have one of the most restrictive licensing terms of any song in modern times. One of the specific terms of any agreement to use the song is that it cannot be used for anything involved with disco.

Saturday Night Fever

The song was not originally supposed to be released as a single, but fans called radio stations and RSO Records immediately after seeing trailers for Saturday Night Fever, in which the aforementioned introductory scene was played. The single was eventually released in mid-December, a month after the album, and moved to the top of the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States in February, where it would stay for four weeks. Soon after, it would slide to number two, locking in a solid one-two punch with the Bee Gees' other hit from the album, "Night Fever". In the United Kingdom, "Stayin' Alive" was a solid seller but not as popular as it was in the United States, topping out at number four.

Further demonstrating the Bee Gees' U.S. chart domination in 1978, "Stayin' Alive" was replaced at number one with the group's younger brother Andy Gibb's single, "Love Is Thicker Than Water", followed by the Bee Gees' own "Night Fever". This was then replaced by Yvonne Elliman's "If I Can't Have You". Since Barry Gibb had a hand in writing all four of these songs, he became the only person in history to write four consecutive U.S. number one singles.

Besides the version that appeared on the soundtrack album (and subsequent CD release) and the edited single for the 45RPM and Top 40 radio release, there was yet another version, however from the same recording session, but of a slightly different mix, that was distributed to club DJs and radio stations that specialized in airing longer versions of hit songs. This "Special Disco Version" as it was called, featured all the same parts as the album version, but had a horn rhythm section part interjected twice. Ironically, where "Disco Versions" were usually sped up, this version was slowed down marginally. This version was finally released on CD when Reprise re-issued Bee Gees Greatest in 2007 in an expanded & remastered edition.

As for the message of the song, Robin Gibb was quoted as saying, "Stayin' Alive" is about survival in the big city—any big city—but especially New York."

Music video

The music video for the song is of a completely different concept to Saturday Night Fever. It depicts the group singing the song on an abandoned subway terminal set at MGM Studios, directly adjacent to the one where Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band was being filmed at the same time. This set featured buildings, a train station, and other elements.

The original three music videos for the movie Saturday Night Fever were shot on the soundstages, and edited at the facilities of, Video City, Inc., in North Miami, Florida. The European video for "Stayin' Alive" as mentioned above (with Barry sans his beard) was one of these original three. These original music videos were scrapped and re-shot in California after Barry grew his beard.

Medical training

"Stayin' Alive" was used in a study to train medical professionals to provide the correct number of chest compressions per minute while performing CPR. The song has close to 104 beats per minute, and 100 chest compressions per minute are recommended for CPR. The study found that medical professionals who think about "Stayin' Alive" are much more likely to do CPR correctly.

On June 15, 2011, the song was featured in a Hands Only CPR PSA campaign video from the American Heart Association and featured actor Ken Jeong in the classic John Travolta outfit from Saturday Night Fever.

Chart performance

Chart	Peak position
Australia	1
Austria	2
Belgium	2
Brazil	1
Canada	1
Chile	1
China	2
Finland	2
France	1
Ireland	4
Italy	1
Japan	19
Mexico	1
Netherlands	1
New Zealand	1
Norway	4
Spain	1
South Africa	1
Sweden	3
United Kingdom	4
United States	1
United States AC	28

Cover versions

• In 1979 Paul Weston and Jo Stafford released a cover of the song as Jonathan and Earlene Edwards. It was backed with "I Am Woman".
• In 1991, the indie group Happy Mondays covered it in two different versions for the non-album single "Judge Fudge".
• N-Trance covered a dance version of the song with new rap and lyrics in 1995.
• In 1996, Alvin and the Chipmunks covered the song for their album Club Chipmunk: The Dance Mixes.
• In 1999, British Death metal band Ten Masked Men recorded a death metal cover of the song in their self-titled first album.
• In 2000, the group "Baila" released a "turbo-charged" cover of the song (with the lyrics changed to replace the reference to the New York Times with "the Internet's effect on man").
• Ozzy Osbourne covered the song and it appeared on CD 3 of his 2005 box set, Prince Of Darkness.
• Dimension Zero did a death metal cover of the song on their 2007 He Who Shall Not Bleed album.
• Alvin Seville did a new (but short) version of the song about Baked Cheese Balls in Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel.
• In 2009, Alvin and the Chipmunks covered the song again, but this time on their album Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack. In this version, just a few lyrics have been changed.
• In 2010, Italian rapper, Jovanotti, covered it for his live U.S. album, OYEAH!.
• The grindcore band Anal Cunt recorded an Oi! version of the song, released on their album Top 40 Hits.
• Miss Piggy and some Muppet pigs performed the song on an episode of The Muppet Show.
• The Sleeping also did a cover of this song.
• Sugarland performed the song during their 2010 Incredible Machine tour.
• Bitch released a cover on 2010's album Blasted!
• A short part of the refrain is used in the end of the movie Shrek, sung by Lord Farquaad (John Lithgow) in the Dragon´s stomach.

See also

• List of number-one singles in Australia during the 1970s
• List of Dutch Top 40 number-one singles of 1978
• List of European number-one hits of 1978
• List of Hot 100 number-one singles of 1978 (U.S.)
• List of RPM number-one singles of 1978
• List of number-one hits of 1978 (France)
• List of number-one singles in 1978 (New Zealand)
• The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time

External links

• Bee Gees Stayin' Alive Fansite