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Lead book review

The problems of being a Bee Gee

Calling themselves the Bee Gees spelt trouble from the start for the very disparate Gibb brothers, says Craig Brown

10 June 2023

9:00 AM

10 June 2023

9:00 AM

Bee Gees: Children of the World Bob Stanley

Nine Eight Books, pp.352, 22

For quite some time, the prospect of death has held a fresh terror. The British Heart Foundation’s step-by-step guide to cardiopulmonary resuscitation advises performing chest compressions ‘to the beat of “Stayin’ Alive” by the Bee Gees’. This means that the last sound some of us will ever hear is ‘Stayin’ Alive’, with our chests as the drums:

Feel the city breakin’ and everybody shakin’
And we’re stayin’ alive, stayin’ alive!
Ah! ah! ah! ah!
Stayin’ alive! Stayin’ alive!


Despite their success, the Bee Gees have always been regarded as naff.

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