"(Our Love) Don't Throw It All Away" is a song penned by

Barry Gibb Sir Barry Alan Crompton Gibb (born 1 September 1946) is a British musician, singer-songwriter and record producer. He rose to worldwide fame as a member of the Bee Gees, one of the most commercially successful groups in the history of popula ...

and

Blue Weaver Derek John "Blue" Weaver (born 11 March 1947) is a Welsh rock keyboardist, session musician, songwriter and record producer. Career Weaver's career as a musician began as a co-founding member of 1960s Welsh rock band Amen Corner and its succ ...

and recorded by the Bee Gees in 1977 on the '' Saturday Night Fever'' sessions but was not released until ''

Bee Gees Greatest ''Bee Gees Greatest'' is a greatest hits album by British pop group Bee Gees. Released by RSO Records in October 1979, the album is a retrospective of the group's material from 1975 to 1979. A remastered and expanded version of the album was r ...

'' (1979). A different version was released in September 1978 as the third single by

Andy Gibb Andrew Roy Gibb (5 March 1958 – 10 March 1988) was an English singer, songwriter, and actor. He was the younger brother of Barry, Robin and Maurice, who went on to form the Bee Gees. Gibb came to prominence in the late 1970s through th ...

from his second studio album '' Shadow Dancing''.

Andy Gibb's version

The song was Andy Gibb's fifth single to reach the US Top 10; the single reached #9 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart and #2 on the

Adult Contemporary chart The Adult Contemporary chart is published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine and lists the most popular songs on adult contemporary radio stations in the United States. The chart is compiled based on airplay data submitted to ''Billboard'' by sta ...

. When Andy Gibb was going to record it, Barry reworked on the song adding the

middle eight The 32- bar form, also known as the AABA song form, American popular song form and the ballad form, is a song structure commonly found in Tin Pan Alley songs and other American popular music, especially in the first half of the 20th century. ...

that was not on the original Bee Gees' version, as Blue Weaver recalls, "When Andy actually went to record it, Barry listened to it

he original version He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...

again and thought, 'Oh, it's not finished', so Barry wrote the whole of the middle-eight.

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

's Amy Hanson described this version of "(Our Love) Don't Throw It All Away" as a "tender ballad" that suited Andy's voice. '' Cash Box'' said it has "gentle keyboards, strings, an easy beat and harmonies." It appears on Andy's three greatest-hits albums.

Personnel

– lead vocals *

–

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are ...

* Joey Murcia –

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

Tim Renwick Timothy John Pearson Renwick (born 7 August 1949) is an English guitarist. He is best known for his association with Al Stewart in his early career and for his long-standing role as lead guitarist for the Sutherland Brothers & Quiver. His single ...

– guitar * George Bitzer – Keyboards, synthesizer * Paul Harris – keyboards * Harold Cowart – bass *

Joe Lala Joseph Anthony Lala (November 3, 1947 – March 18, 2014) was an American musician and actor. In 1966, he co-founded the rock band Blues Image. Life and career Lala was born in Ybor City, Tampa, Florida, to parents from Contessa Entellina (an ...

–

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...

* Ron Ziegler – drums * Whit Sidener – horns * Ken Faulk – horns * Bill Purse – horns * Neil Bonsanti – horns * Stan Webb – horns * Albhy Galuten, Blue Weaver and Barry Gibb – orchestral arrangement

Chart performance

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Bee Gees' version

The Bee Gees version of the song, the first one created, was recorded in 1977 during the sessions for ''Saturday Night Fever'' but was not released until the compilation ''

'' 1979. Barry and Maurice Gibb are the only members of the Bee Gees to appear on the recording. Barry wrote the lyrics while Weaver composed the melody. Weaver said of this song, "That was me playing around again; It wasn't done for 'Saturday Night Fever'' it was just something that we did". The stereo mix of an early state of the song exists but was unreleased until now.

Samantha Sang Cheryl Lau Sang (born 5 August 1951), known professionally as Samantha Sang, is an Australian singer. She had an earlier career as a teenage singer under the stage name Cheryl Gray, before adopting the stage name she is more widely known as in 1 ...

, who was visiting France where this version was recorded, asked Barry for a song; not long afterwards, Barry sent Sang "Don't Throw it All Away", but Sang never recorded or released it, choosing instead the new song "

Emotion Emotions are mental states brought on by neurophysiology, neurophysiological changes, variously associated with thoughts, feelings, behavioral responses, and a degree of pleasure or suffering, displeasure. There is currently no scientific ...

". During the Bee Gees' One Night Only tour, they performed the song with Andy's vocal mixed in during the second stanza, chorus, bridge and the coda of the song years after Andy died.

Personnel

–

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

background vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are us ...

Maurice Gibb Maurice Ernest Gibb (; 22 December 1949 – 12 January 2003) was a British musician. He achieved fame as a member of the pop group Bee Gees. Although his elder brother Barry Gibb and fraternal twin brother Robin Gibb were the group's main lea ...

– bass *

– keyboards,

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...

l arrangement *

Dennis Bryon Dennis Bryon (born 14 April 1949 in Cardiff, Wales) is a Welsh rock drummer from Cardiff, best known for his work with the Bee Gees from 1974 to 1979. He also worked with Amen Corner and co-produced Robin Gibb's 1983 album, '' How Old Are You?' ...

– drums *

–

Other versions

* Jennifer Love Hewitt also covered the song on her 1996 self-titled album. *

Barbra Streisand Barbara Joan "Barbra" Streisand (; born April 24, 1942) is an American singer, actress and director. With a career spanning over six decades, she has achieved success in multiple fields of entertainment, and is among the few performers awar ...

recorded her rendition of the song in 2005 off her album '' Guilty Pleasures'', which had Barry Gibb on the album cover with her. On Streisand's version, Barry Gibb is heard singing also the chorus.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Our Love Don't Throw it All Away 1978 singles 1977 songs 1978 songs Songs written by Barry Gibb Songs written by Blue Weaver Andy Gibb songs Bee Gees songs Song recordings produced by Barry Gibb Song recordings produced by Robin Gibb Song recordings produced by Maurice Gibb RSO Records singles Song recordings produced by Albhy Galuten Barbra Streisand songs Pop ballads