"Kitty Can" is a song by the

Bee Gees The Bee Gees were a musical group formed in 1958 by brothers Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb. The trio were especially successful in popular music in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and later as prominent performers in the disco music era in ...

, composed by

Barry, Robin & Maurice Gibb The Bee Gees were a musical group formed in 1958 by brothers Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb. The trio were especially successful in popular music in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and later as prominent performers in the disco music era in ...

. It was released as the B-side of "

I've Gotta Get a Message to You "I've Gotta Get a Message to You" is a song by the Bee Gees. Released as a single on 1968, it was their second number-one single on the UK Singles Chart, and their first US Top 10 hit. Barry Gibb re-recorded the song with Keith Urban for his 202 ...

" in July 1968, and as the second track on the album ''

Idea In common usage and in philosophy, ideas are the results of thought. Also in philosophy, ideas can also be mental representational images of some object. Many philosophers have considered ideas to be a fundamental ontological category of being ...

'' in September 1968. In 1973,

RSO Records RSO Records was a record label formed by rock and roll and musical theatre impresario Robert Stigwood and record executive Al Coury in 1973. The letters "RSO" stood for the Robert Stigwood Organisation. RSO managed the careers of several maj ...

released a compilation called ''Kitty Can'' only in Argentina and Uruguay, and this song appeared as the first track on that album.

Background

Barry Gibb told Andrew Sandoval: "'Kitty Can' was written by Maurice and I, during a night with Maurice and

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at their place in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, the early apartment they shared before they moved to

Hampstead Hampstead () is an area in London, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, and extends from Watling Street, the A5 road (Roman Watling Street) to Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland. The area forms the northwest part of the Lon ...

". The Bee Gees began work on "Kitty Can" at

IBC Studios The IBC Recording Studios were independent recording studios located at 35 Portland Place in London, England. In the 1960s and 1970s, the studios become internationally famous after being used by recording artists like the Kinks, the Who, Bee Gee ...

on 12 June 1968, along with three other songs – "

I.O.I.O. "I.O.I.O." is a song by the Bee Gees, released on the album '' Cucumber Castle''. It was written by Barry and Maurice Gibb. The song was released as a single in March 1970, and was also one of the highlights of the album. The single was a relativ ...

", " Let There Be Love" and the unreleased track "No Name". This was their first session using the studio's newly installed eight-track recording equipment. Joseph Brennan writes: "The eight-track equipment was built in the USA for standard American voltage, so IBC had to supply power to it through an intermediate device that proved somewhat unstable. The mono and stereo mixes ended up at more or less different speeds...." As a result, the mono version of "Kitty Can" runs significantly faster than the stereo version. ''The Studio Albums 1967-1968'' includes both the mono and stereo mixes, as well as an alternative stereo version with orchestration by Bill Shepherd. A demo version of the song, which has not been officially released, is reportedly similar to the final version but has "some additional ad-libbed almost jazz scat backing vocals" (probably by Maurice). Maurice's higher vocal is more prevalent on this version. A promotional film for the song was produced which was later discovered and broadcast by the

Oldies Oldies is a term for musical genres such as pop music, rock and roll, doo-wop, surf music (broadly characterized as classic rock and pop rock) from the second half of the 20th century, specifically from around the mid-1950s to the 1980s, as we ...

music channel

192TV 192TV is a non-stop music television channel that brings mainly music videos from the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, the so-called Oldies. The channel was founded by Bert van Breda, René Kroon and Ad Bouman, and is owned by BR Music BV. The name is refe ...

Track listing

Personnel

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 popul ...

— Lead and harmony vocal,

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 stri ...

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 le ...

— Lead and harmony vocal,

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range: ** Bass (instrument), including: ** Acoustic bass gui ...

Vince Melouney Vincent Melouney (Maloney) (born 18 August 1945) is an Australian musician, singer and songwriter best known as an official member of The Bee Gees from 1967 to 1969 during the group’s initial period of worldwide success. Prior to joining Be ...

— guitar *

Colin Petersen Frederick Colin Petersen (born 24 March 1946) is an Australian drummer, record producer and former child actor. He played as a member of the bands Steve and the Board, the Bee Gees and Humpy Bong. In August 1969, he left the Bee Gees and he was ...

—

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

References

{{authority control 1968 songs Bee Gees songs Songs written by Barry Gibb Songs written by Robin Gibb Songs written by Maurice Gibb Song recordings produced by Robert Stigwood Song recordings produced by Barry Gibb Song recordings produced by Robin Gibb Song recordings produced by Maurice Gibb