"The Battle of the Blue and the Grey" is a debut single by the Bee Gees, backed by " The Three Kisses of Love" and released on March 22, 1963. Like all the Bee Gees' output prior to 1967 (with the notable exception of Spicks and Specks) it was only released in Australia. It was performed in Australian television ''Bandstand'', the footage of that performance still exists. It reached #93 in Australia. In September 1963, it was included as the third track on their first EP ''

The Bee Gees ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

''. Neither song appeared on an album until the mop-up compilation ''

Turn Around, Look at Us ''Turn Around, Look at Us'' was the first compilation album released by the Bee Gees in 1967 on Festival Records. It was released only in Australia and New Zealand. The album effectively served as a mop-up compilation, featuring all the group's s ...

'' in 1967 but both are included on the 1998 compilation ''Brilliant from Birth'' which collects all of the Australian material.

Composition, recording and release

It was written 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 ...

when he was only 16 years old.

Col Joye Colin Frederick Jacobsen (born 13 April 1937), better known by his stage name Col Joye, is an Australian pioneer rock singer-songwriter, musician and entrepreneur with a career spanning some sixty years. Joye was the first Australian rock and ...

recalls producing the sessions and using his backing band the Joy Boys, the members were Kevin Jacobsen, John Bogie, Laurie Erwin, Norm Day, Dave Bridge, Bruce Gurr and Ron Patton. As was the norm for the Gibb brothers at the time, Barry sang the vocal solos while Robin and

Maurice Maurice may refer to: People * Saint Maurice (died 287), Roman legionary and Christian martyr * Maurice (emperor) or Flavius Mauricius Tiberius Augustus (539–602), Byzantine emperor *Maurice (bishop of London) (died 1107), Lord Chancellor and ...

harmonised around him. It was recorded in February 1963 in Festival Studio, Sydney. Robert Iredale was the engineer in charge. "The Battle of the Blue and the Grey" was released on 22 March 1963. The song failed to become the hit that their record company had hoped for. In the words of Robin Gibb: "We recorded our first flop based on the story of the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

. Now this record was very hot with one guy 2SM in Sydney. He was playing all this time and, of course, it didn't do anything". The song did reach the top twenty in the local Sydney chart. While the song achieved a reasonable amount of publicity, the music press also made mention of one other member of the household. Tucked away in small print, was news that their sister Lesley Evans had also embarked on a show business career in Surfer's Paradise as a snake-dancer. The song's length is 2:05 like most of their Australian releases. In an attempt to promote the single, stories appeared in Sydney newspapers about the new 'singing group' and its young songwriter.

Song lyrics

The song is about war. It bore a resemblance to Johnny Horton's 1959 hit "

The Battle of New Orleans "The Battle of New Orleans" is a song written by Jimmy Driftwood. The song describes the Battle of New Orleans from the perspective of an American soldier; the song tells the tale of the battle with a light tone and provides a rather comical ver ...

" albeit somewhat more violent with references to shooting people 'full of lead'. The story was of a retired soldier remembering his fighting experiences including dealings with the real historical figure Stonewall Jackson.

Personnel

— lead vocals * Robin Gibb — harmony and

backing vocal 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 used ...

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 ...

— harmony and backing vocal *

Kevin Jacobsen Kevin George Jacobsen OAM (born 29 July 1939 in Sydney) is an Australian entertainment entrepreneur and former musician, who is the head of the ''Jacobson Entertainment Group'' Along with his brothers, singer Col Joye and Keith, he was a me ...

— bass,

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...

* John Bogie — drums * Laurie Erwin —

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of Single-reed instrument, single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed (mouthpi ...

* Norm Day —

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 ...

* Bruce Gurr —

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

* Ron Patton — saxophone * Robert Iredale —

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the limit ...

Charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Battle of the Blue and the Grey Bee Gees songs 1963 debut singles Songs written by Barry Gibb Rhythm and blues songs Leedon Records singles 1963 songs