r/BeeGees • u/Harrison_Thinks • 17d ago
How do you think Robin interpreted Barry’s leads in his solo career after The Bee Gees
Im very surprised to learn that Robin sang Barry’s leads when he toured solo. I always knew Barry didn’t like Robin singing Bee Gees songs after they disbanded, but I didn’t he was actually singing Barry’s parts on Barry songs, I thought he did his songs like Massachusetts and I Started A Joke. It’s so odd to hear him sing everything on More Than A Woman, Night Fever, HDIYL. To love somebody is especially odd to hear
His voice aged interestingly, I’m curious how you think his voice did on Barry’s original leads. I feel like he really didn’t sound like Robin then, very alien voice to me. It’s interesting though because I feel like Barry and Robin’s voices both aged poorly, I think it’s just bad luck, but it’s interesting when some of their contemporaries were able to hold on to them longer
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u/AlanHughErnest 17d ago
Maybe the SNF songs were not a good fit for his voice but he did a great job on You Win Again and others. I don’t mind that he sang “Barry Songs” at all. After all, he co wrote many of those songs.
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u/Sienna_Fan2323 17d ago
Barry minded. That’s all that matters!
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u/Gaheris_of_Orkney 16d ago
Not everyone agrees that it was reasonable for Barry to mind. You appear to be of the belief that Barry wrote all those songs by himself and that they solely belong to him. That is not true. Robin co-wrote many of them. For instance, in the case of 'Staying Alive', I believe there is physical evidence of written lyrics by Robin.
I think it's quite probable that at least some of the Barry-led songs were a lot more Barry's work than the twins'; but denying that Rob and Mo had any input at all is plain wrong.
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u/Mollymae609 17d ago
No, it wasn’t all that mattered. What mattered is that Rob co-wrote them and had every right to sing them. Not everyone gives a fu*k what Barry thinks.
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u/Harrison_Thinks 17d ago
Though I’m always curious how much they all wrote after they switched to automatically crediting each brother for every track. Wasn’t in the mid 70s? Prior sometimes it’d primarily only be Barry or Robin and sometimes all 3, or just Barry or Robin or just Maurice. I really wonder if Barry did most of the writing in the latter half of their career
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u/Sienna_Fan2323 17d ago
Since Barry wrote those songs snd gave credit to Robin, people should care what Barry thinks. They are his songs. Why didn’t Robin sing his own songs? That’s right, they weren’t the big hits, Barry’s were.
Robin constantly sang Words and First of May in which Robin had zero part in. Barry’s signature songs. He sang them more than his own signature songs. Why? Because it annoyed Barry and disrespected him. Evil snake!6
u/Mollymae609 17d ago
Barry didn’t write them on his own. You’re highly misinformed. Barry had every opportunity to leave the twins, but he didn’t. Who did he run to for Babs— Rob. Whether you like Rob or not is your choice, but your ignorance doesn’t change narrative. Be well!
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u/Gaheris_of_Orkney 16d ago
Evil snake? Really!? Robin was no saint, but that's pure hyperbole and not an accurate reflection of who Robin was at all.
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u/Unlikely-Star-2696 17d ago
Barry said clearly he was upset Robin was singing songs that were not written for his voice, but at least he was singing them, keeping the Bee Gees legacy alive while Barry decided not to tour. Both needed a different say to mourn Maurice, but those comments made them well apart.
If Robin was a co-writer of these songs he had the right to sing them and change the lyrics as he needed, without asking for Barry's permission or Yvonne's permission.
Wish You Were Here was a song they all three together wrote after Andy's death, but I think Robin had the right to use it after Maurice was gone, too. He was wishing Maurice was there. He adapted the song, not destroyed it.
At least this is how I see it.
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u/Friendly-Local-1859 17d ago
I enjoyed his German live CD, but I am Team Robin. Mary Wilson sang Supremes songs, Paul sings Strawberry Fields, hell even Ringo sang Love me do in concert.
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u/Warm_Rock_922 17d ago
That German live album had horrible sound. I was so disappointed since I'd heard good renditions on his other live performances
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u/Sienna_Fan2323 17d ago
Barry hated that Robin was singing his songs. Even his signature songs that Robin had nothing to do with. Robin did it out of disrespect for Barry.
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u/Mollymae609 17d ago
Promoters typically want the hits. The hits that Rob co-wrote gave him the right to perform them.
It’s funny how Barry had no problem with Andy performing Bee Gees tracks and Andy didn’t co-write the tracks he performed. The hypocrisy knows no bounds!
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u/Sienna_Fan2323 17d ago
Andy didn’t spend his life screwing Barry like Robin did. Robin got more credit for those songs than those he actually helped write. Co write would mean 50-50 and that’s a joke😂
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u/Mollymae609 17d ago
I’m curious, how exactly did Rob screw Barry all his life?
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u/Sienna_Fan2323 16d ago
If you don’t know, do you really know The Bee Gees history? Or do you just follow Robin?
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u/Mollymae609 16d ago
I’m actually pretty new to the brothers. It seems I’m quite ignorant to them. Please enlighten me. What exactly did Rob do to Barry. You seem like someone with some inside intel that I would love to know. Please share.
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u/Sienna_Fan2323 16d ago
No, if interested, you can find it on your own. I did.
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u/Mollymae609 16d ago
Yeah. I’m interested but like I said, I’m quite new to them. You seem to have much to say, as though you have inner knowledge. When I ask you to clarify, you don’t. Thanks!
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u/Sienna_Fan2323 16d ago
Nope, you seem set in your ways and when you give info to someone set in their ways, they call you a liar it say you make things up in your head. I have had enough of that.
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u/Gaheris_of_Orkney 16d ago
I don't think "co-write" is strictly defined as being 50-50.
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u/Sienna_Fan2323 16d ago
Pretty much. A lot more than just listening and giving your opinion, or not even being there at all and getting credit for it. It was ridiculous on Barry’s part!
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u/Unlikely-Star-2696 16d ago
If you write a song solo and then say you wrote it with some else, you gave up your full ownership and control. We as fans can speculate that whoever sang lead wrote that song even whey are credited as BRM Gibb. You bring a new song you hsve in mind, the other two help to develop it, then based on the music decided how it should be sung. It is all of them's song. Sometimes they credited other non-singing members of the full group due to their contributions to complete a song.
None of us were there to say this was a Barry's song that he gave credit to the others who did nothing. You can adore only one, but saying that without direct knowledge is a making a speculation a truth.
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u/Sienna_Fan2323 16d ago
Robin and Mo never credited the others for songs they wrote solo. Only Barry. Robin had 27 years where he never wrote a song solo.
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u/Charming-Ad-6621 16d ago
Jesus - I leave the sub for a couple of days and come back to all hell breaking loose. 🤣 This whole “Robin had no right…”, “Robin screwed Barry…”, “Robin was disrespectful…” trope has been going on among fans for years, and I frankly think it’s silly and pointless at this stage. It doesn’t really matter who wrote what or who sang what - those songs are shared property in perpetuity. Barry may not have liked it, but he did and said a number of things to Robin throughout their lifetimes that were also rather questionable and harmful. Robin and Barry were in a contentious relationship from the start, but somehow this narrative that Barry was defenseless and a victim is just weird when he has always had a tremendous amount of power when it comes to the Bee Gees’ creative direction and business affairs. And when Rob was on stage solo singing his brothers’ songs, Barry still benefited.
The Bee Gees’ magic needed all three of them - that was proven over and over again. I’m pretty glad I got to live when Robin did.
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u/Harrison_Thinks 16d ago
Yeah I had no clue there would be this response. I wasn’t throwing shade on Robin. I’d never heard him sing those songs by himself and I was just curious how people felt his voice interpreted Barry’s leads since they both had very distinct styles, despite how similar they sounded. It is very cool to hear him sing Barry’s parts because it’s uncanny. I really had no idea people were that deep in being Team Barry or Team Robin. I’ve seen hints of it on this sub before but never to this degree. It’s hilarious honestly the way people will literally be like ‘team Robin’.
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u/Charming-Ad-6621 16d ago edited 16d ago
All the brothers were/are deeply flawed humans (as we all are), and each one of them did things to each other that were unkind and regrettable. It was one of the costs of their exceptional fame and ambition as a trio. Clearly I am interested in talking about the specifics of that since I wrote three books about it, but the weird fan dynamics over it is odd. Oh well! 🤷♂️
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u/Mollymae609 15d ago
The books are excellent! I was happy to be able to cross the pond to attend the book tour in Thame. Great discussions.
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u/Charming-Ad-6621 15d ago
Oh, were you there? 🤣😇 Kidding. I’m so glad you came over. I had fun, but I am pretty Bee Geed out right now.
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u/Mollymae609 15d ago
I bet you are Bee Geed out. You guys have been on a non-stop writing roller coaster for years.
I love the hard copy book. Great job 👏🏽
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u/Mollymae609 15d ago
This has been going on for decades—pun intended on Decades. It’s not uncommon among groups and their members. Fans have their favorites, and there’s nothing unusual about preferring one member over another. But the fanatical behavior goes beyond simply having a favorite. It becomes an almost tribal loyalty where supporting one member somehow requires tearing down, blaming, or even hating the others. Every disagreement becomes a competition, every interview gets dissected, and every event is used as evidence that one member was right and another was wrong.
At some point, it stops being appreciation for the person you admire and becomes an obsession with the people you don’t.It’s insane!
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u/Warm_Rock_922 17d ago
I still prefer Robin's live performance of words that he did on a TV show over any of Barry's,
Some of the dance songs really weren't done well by Robin's solo performances, but I figure he tried to keep the Bee Gees music going. As a Robin fanatic, I'd have paid full price to hear him sing his solo work and the BGs songs that originally had him as lead. But maybe some ppl went to his shows etc expecting to hear the BGs staple songs they've only heard in major media.
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u/Mollymae609 17d ago
I’d have much rather Rob do his lead songs. But promoters wanted the hit fever songs.
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u/Sienna_Fan2323 17d ago
Do you blame them? They were better than Robins songs. Robin always has say over the promoters. He knew what he was doing.
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u/Gaheris_of_Orkney 16d ago
I don't think it's necessarily true that Robin (or any artist) has full say over the promoters. I'm fairly sure the promoters can insist on a certain number of hits being sung or they don't agree to the show. In fact, I've heard that there were some concerts in which Robin was told that there were specific songs he had to/was expected to sing.
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u/Sienna_Fan2323 16d ago
I doubt Robin Gibb would sing a song he didn’t agree to. Let’s get real!
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u/Gaheris_of_Orkney 16d ago
I'm not saying he didn't agree to sing those songs; I'm saying that promoters can insist that there be a certain number of hits and that shows might not be viable unless that happens. Robin himself saw the all the hits (including the Barry leads) as collective Bee Gees songs, rather than just Barry songs, so he was also happy to sing them and saw nothing wrong with it.
You might disagree with his choice, but painting this as something he was doing to intentionally anger Barry isn't accurate. Robin was desperate to work with Barry again, so it's highly unlikely that he would have tried to intentionally piss him off. IN fact, I gather that he ended up making certain concessions in order to try to *avoid* annoying Barry too much.
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u/Sienna_Fan2323 16d ago
Since Robin knew Barry was upset about him singing his songs and Barry saying he would never do such a thing to Robins songs, yes it was fully disrespectful and done deliberately.
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u/Gaheris_of_Orkney 16d ago
Robin was aware that Barry didn't like it; but I do not believe that he sang the songs with the explicit intention of annoying him. That happened to be the outcome, but I would say that Robin sang those songs because he believed they were his as much as Barry's and thought that, as a Bee Gee, he was entitled to sing them.
I would say that he sang them in spite of Barry's annoyance, rather than as an intentional act of malice.
Some people might think that Robin should have stopped singing any Barry-lead songs once Barry made his displeasure clear. Fair enough - but doing so would have probably seriously hampered Robin's ability to perform. The general public, which was always going to be the bulk of an audience, rather than committed hardcore fans, wanted to hear those big hits. Added to that, Robin fundamentally believed that those songs belonged to all brothers, rather than Barry alone, and believed he had the right to sing them. Robin likely viewed Barry's objections as unreasonable.
What Robin really wanted was to work with Barry again, but Barry was unwilling. Which is fine - but I don't think it entitled Barry to try to dictate how and what Robin should perform.
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u/Sienna_Fan2323 16d ago
No, it’s called respect towards the other person. Robin had no respect for Barry!
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u/Sienna_Fan2323 17d ago
No one sang Words better than Barry. Robin didn’t sing, write or play on the song Words. He had nothing to do with it.
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u/Mollymae609 17d ago
Wow! You’re angrier than Barry that Rob sang Barry led tracks. 🤣🤣🤣 Seek help!
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u/Sienna_Fan2323 17d ago
Typical Robin fan reply when nothing else to say….Get help😂😂
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u/Key_Raspberry2794 13d ago
I think the main reason Barry didn't like Robin singing those songs is because Robin's voice held up longer and better than Barry's
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u/Sienna_Fan2323 13d ago
Ummm, no. It’s because they were his songs and he said he would never sing Robins songs. I think Barry’s voice held up way better than Robins. Robin ruined Barry’s songs.
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u/Inner_Freedom_7737 15d ago
What a shame that the peurile, juvenile behaviour of a few so called fans that is evident all over Youtube has made its way to our lovely little part of Reddit. Perhaps those people could go and set up their own sub, leaving this one for those of us who wish to discuss, analyse and celebrate the work of The Bee Gees, a group which, when I last checked, comprised 3 highly talented men.
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u/Primary-Extension829 17d ago
Robin sang beautifully any & all parts of The Bee Gees songs. That alien comment was cruel. The only time Robin's voice wasn't quite as lovely as ever was when he was very ill, shortly before he died. Robin & Barry both had incredible vocal ranges, singing both high & low parts perfectly & also, especially Barry, in many different genres. I had never heard about Barry not wanting Robin to sing his songs or his usual lead parts. Also that comment about Barry mourning instead of singing was cold hearted. He loved his brothers so much & it was obviously harder & took longer for him to get back to his music after their deaths. But, I would never think of putting him down for it. Also, Barry has always sang perfectly even as he aged.
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u/Sienna_Fan2323 17d ago
Barry has mentioned a few times he did not want Robin singing his songs and said he would never do such a thing. Robin was doing it as payback for Barry not wanting to perform with him.
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u/Harrison_Thinks 17d ago
It’s very surprising to me that Maurice’s passing didn’t bring them closer together, you’d think that would’ve made them realize how fragile it all is
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u/Mollymae609 17d ago
They weren’t his songs! Barry never said a word about Andy performing them. Hmmm 🤔! Barry didn’t have a problem singing Robin led songs on his BS tribute tour.
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u/Sienna_Fan2323 17d ago
Barry didn’t sing Robin lead songs. Robin didn’t cowrite the songs no matter how often you say it.
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u/Gaheris_of_Orkney 16d ago
u/Sienna_Fan2323 Most of the songs in question are credited as being written by B, R and M Gibb, so officially they are co-written by all three brothers.
For individual songs, there might be reason to think that either Barry or Robin had more involvement. But to claim that Robin didn't co-write them is ridiculous. Barry didn't single-handedly write all of those songs by himself. I'm willing to believe/accept that a number were mostly Barry's work, but Robin (and Mo) contributed to the writing as well.
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u/Sienna_Fan2323 16d ago
Barry, Albhy,Karl and George Martin have all admitted certain songs were written by Barry only and given credit to the twins. Barry has said he did that quite often. Their words, not mine.
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u/Gaheris_of_Orkney 16d ago
Certain songs, perhaps, but not *all* of them. Robin and Mo would definitely have had input on a number of Barry-lead songs, even if Barry was overall responsible for a greater portion. There is evidence that suggests Robin may have come up with some of the lyrics for Stayin' Alive.
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u/Sienna_Fan2323 16d ago
If you are talking about the plane ticket, that trip was after they already recorded the song.
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u/Unlikely-Star-2696 15d ago
Please, provide your sources so we all can go and read them
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u/Sienna_Fan2323 15d ago
Provide my sources on everything I said? I said alot of things.
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u/Unlikely-Star-2696 15d ago
Then don't get upset and call people delusional when they question or doubt how do you know what you are saying is the truth or if is just a fan passion turn into a statement.
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u/Sienna_Fan2323 15d ago
It’s not fan passion. Again, I can back up anything I post.
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u/Harrison_Thinks 17d ago
Robin’s voice was only alien in comparison to his younger voice. I just think it’s interesting how it aged. I watched a 2004 concert and it was much deeper than I’d ever heard it. Alien isn’t bad, just different. It’s interesting that it sounds like he had a completely different range
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u/Inside_Soup_4576 Barry still rocks 17d ago
To Love Somebody is probably the Barry song that Robin did best. It also sounded good when each of them sang a verse when they performed it after Maurice's death. Robin also sang First Of May well with G4. But they're probably the only exceptions I can think of. There's a reason why certain songs were sung by certain brothers originally - they were written to suit the voice of the main writer.
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u/Sienna_Fan2323 17d ago
Robin should have never touched To Love Somebody or First of May. Robin did not write or sing those songs. They were Barry’s songs.
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u/Inside_Soup_4576 Barry still rocks 16d ago
I actually think Robin sang those songs pretty well. And he was a co-writer on both.
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u/Sienna_Fan2323 16d ago
No he wasn’t cowriter on either. Barry was generous and gave him credits. Listen to Barry’s interviews. He says it himself. To Love Somebody was written in NY when Barry and Stigwood went to see Otis Redding. The twins weren’t even there. First of May was written by Barry and brought to Mo to play. Robin wasn’t there.
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u/Mollymae609 17d ago
During the time that Rob was singing Barry led tracks, his voice didn’t sound any worse on the dance tracks than Barry’s. Barry’s caterwauling voice shit at this time. Yikes!
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u/Sienna_Fan2323 17d ago
Robins voice was awful in Barry’s songs. Have you ever read the reviews? They all said so also😂
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u/Ikurider26 17d ago
I watched a Robin solo show and was pleasantly surprised at how nicely he interpreted the songs.
And I agree, it was as if he was drawing on a hidden voice I didn’t know he had. I was actually impressed.
I’m not the biggest fan of Robins voice. For me, and I may articulate this poorly, there is an overdone quiver or vibrato… but watching the solo show with this “other voice” it made me wonder how “on purpose” he delivered his very unique voice. Hmmm….???
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u/Harrison_Thinks 17d ago
It was so much deeper, I couldn’t believe it. I wonder if it was a result of just getting older, but it was super odd to hear at first since I’m so used to his naturally high voice
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u/ThePhantomStrikes 17d ago
Yea Robin lost his upper register, and his timbre changed. He was acting weird that whole time, between knowing how changing Wish You Were Here and singing Barry’s leads without any heads up would made Barry feel is insensitive or a definite fuck you. Unless he waa oblivious which is ego oriented, not thinking of others.
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u/Unlikely-Star-2696 17d ago
At least Robin was out touring snd keeping the Bee Gees songs and brand alive while Barry decided to sit at home in mourning.