New York Mining Disaster
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"New York Mining Disaster 1941" is the debut American single by the British-Australian pop group 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 ...
, released on 14 April 1967. It was written by
Barry Barry may refer to: People and fictional characters * Barry (name), including lists of people with the given name, nickname or surname, as well as fictional characters with the given name * Dancing Barry, stage name of Barry Richards (born c. 19 ...
and
Robin Gibb Robin Hugh Gibb (22 December 1949 – 20 May 2012) was a British singer and songwriter. He gained worldwide fame as a member of the Bee Gees pop group with elder brother Barry and fraternal twin brother Maurice. Robin Gibb also had his o ...
. Aside from a moderately successful reissue of their Australian single " Spicks and Specks," it was the first single release of the group's international career and their first song to hit the charts in both the UK and the US. It was produced by
Ossie Byrne Oswald Russell "Ossie" Byrne (1926 – December 1983) was an Australian record producer, best known for producing the early recordings of The Bee Gees, including their first international hit, "New York Mining Disaster 1941". The youngest of ...
with their manager Robert Stigwood as executive producer. The song was the first track of side two on the group's international debut album, ''
Bee Gees' 1st ''Bee Gees' 1st'' is the third studio album by English group Bee Gees, and their first international full-length recording after two albums distributed only in Australia and New Zealand. ''Bee Gees' 1st'' was the group's debut album for the UK Po ...
.'' This was the first single with Australian drummer Colin Petersen as an official member of the band.


Background and writing

On 3 January 1967, the Gibb brothers, with their parents and Byrne, traveled from Australia to England on the ship ''
Fairsky The Turbine Steamship ''Fairsky'' was a one-class Italian-styled passenger ship operated by the Sitmar Line, best known for service on the migrant passenger route from Britain to Australia from May 1958 until February 1972. After a 20-month lay- ...
'', reaching Southampton on 6 February. The brothers performed on board in exchange for passage. Later, the Gibb brothers auditioned for Stigwood; they passed, and they signed to
Robert Stigwood Organisation 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 ma ...
on 24 February. "New York Mining Disaster 1941" was their first song that was written in 1967. The first recording session of the Bee Gees after returning to England was a second version of "
Town of Tuxley Toymaker, Part 1 "Town of Tuxley Toymaker, Part One" is a song written by Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb in Australia in 1966. It was recorded by Jon Blanchfield in 1966, Billy J. Kramer in 1967 and Shane (New Zealand) in 1968. It was recorded first by Jon Blanc ...
," a song recorded by Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas, but which was first recorded by Jon Blanchfield in Australia. Kramer's version was recorded on 4 March 1967 in IBC Studios, London, with the Gibb brothers on background vocals. Barry and Robin Gibb wrote the song while sitting on a darkened staircase at Polydor Records following a power cut. The song recounts the story of a miner trapped in a cave-in. He is sharing a photo of his wife with a colleague ("Mr. Jones") while they hopelessly wait to be rescued. According to the liner notes for their box-set ''
Tales from the Brothers Gibb ''Tales from the Brothers Gibb: A History in Song'' is a box set compilation released by the Bee Gees in 1990. Originally released on four cassettes and four compact discs, ''Tales'' is a summary of the Bee Gees output from their third album, 1 ...
'' (1990), this song was inspired by the 1966 Aberfan mining disaster in Wales. According to Robin, there actually had also been a mining disaster in New York in 1939, but not in 1941, and he thought "New York" sounded more "glamorous". In the second and third verses, the lyrical lines get slower and slower, as if to indicate that life is about to end for the miners. On the second chorus, the drums get louder. On the second verse, when Robin sings the line "I keep straining my ears to hear a sound," a violin was featured in response on Robin's line.


Recording and composition

On 7 March, the Bee Gees recorded "New York Mining Disaster 1941" in six takes, along with three other songs: "
I Can't See Nobody "I Can't See Nobody" is a song by the Bee Gees, released first as the B-side of "New York Mining Disaster 1941". With "New York Mining Disaster 1941", this song was issued as a double A in Germany and Japan., and included on the group's third LP, ...
," "Red Chair, Fade Away," and "Turn of the Century." The orchestra and some other parts were added on 13 March. The song begins in the chord of A minor; as Maurice explained: "There's a lot of weird sounds on this song like the Jew's harp, the string quartet, and of course the special way that Barry plays that guitar chord. Because of his tuning when he plays the minor at the beginning of the song which is different from a conventional A minor, it's a nice mixture when I play my conventional tuning together with Barry's tuning because his
open D Open D tuning is an open tuning for the acoustic or electric guitar. The open string notes in this tuning are (from lowest to highest): D A D F A D. It uses the three notes that form the triad of a D major chord: D, the root note; A, ...
and mine are different." Barry said, "It's Hawaiian tuning, there they play the same way I do. I got a guitar for my ninth birthday and the guy who lived across the road from us just came back from Hawaii and he was the one who taught me that tuning, that's how it started and I never changed." Maurice Gibb recalled in a June 2001 interview with ''
Mojo Mojo may refer to: *Mojo (African-American culture), a magical charm bag used in voodoo Arts, entertainment and media Film and television * MOJO HD, an American television network * ''Mojo'' (play), by Jez Butterworth, made into a 1997 film * '' ...
'' magazine: "The opening chord doesn't sound like a conventional A minor. Barry was using the open D tuning he'd been taught when he was nine, and I was playing it in conventional tuning. It gives an unusual blend. People went crazy trying to figure out why they couldn't copy it." Barry and Robin Gibb took both leading and backing vocals: Robin sang the high harmony while Barry sang the lead (low harmony) both on the first and second verse.


Release and reception

At the time, rumours circulated that the Bee Gees were The Beatles recording under a pseudonym (the Bee Gees' name was alleged to be code for "Beatles Group"), in part because the record referenced NEMS Enterprises ( Brian Epstein's management agency, which had just been joined by Bee Gees' manager Robert Stigwood). The song is unusual in that the lyrics do not contain the song's title, though the originally planned title, "Have You Seen My Wife, Mr. Jones," does appear in the chorus. Atco distributed promos with a blank label and the suggestion that it was an English group whose name started with B. Many DJs thought it was a new Beatles song and played the song heavily. Atco also retitled the song "New York Mining Disaster 1941 (Have You Seen My Wife, Mr. Jones?)" to make sure people could find it in the shops.
Beatles The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developme ...
lead guitarist
George Harrison George Harrison (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English musician and singer-songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Indian c ...
met Maurice Gibb at a party several years later, and told him that he had bought a copy of "New York Mining Disaster 1941" because he thought it sounded so much like The Beatles. Maurice's response to Harrison was that the resemblance "was unintentional" and Harrison said, "I knew that, I admire your work." Barry Gibb explained about this song:
"If you sounded like the Beatles and also could write a hit single, then the hype of the machine would go into action, and your company would make sure people thought you sounded like the Beatles or thought you were the Beatles. And that sold you, attracted attention to you. It was good for us because everyone thought it was the Beatles under a different name."
Robin Gibb explained about this track:
"...all the DJs on radio stations in the US picked it up immediately thinking it was the Beatles, and it was a hit on that basis. It established us in those early years. It helped our following record which was nothing like the Beatles."
The success of this song owes a lot more to the perseverance of Robert Stigwood than he has previously been given credit for. "We had quite a hard time at getting the Bee Gees played. We weren't all totally convinced that Stigwood was picking the right song to plug, but at the end of the day, he was a forceful character. All of these guys were... Chas Chandler (manager of
Jimi Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most ...
) was the same, Kit Lambert (manager of The Who) was the same. They all argued their case with passion, you know, they lived it, they were like that," conceded Polydor's
Alan Bates Sir Alan Arthur Bates (17 February 1934 – 27 December 2003) was an English actor who came to prominence in the 1960s, when he appeared in films ranging from the popular children's story '' Whistle Down the Wind'' to the " kitchen sink" dram ...
. When the ''Disc & Music Echo'' reported "widespread rumours" that this song had been written by
Lennon and McCartney John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...
, Robin countered with, "Rubbish! We've always written our own songs. I've been writing since I was ten, before Lennon and McCartney were even on stage. People can say what they like. If they don't believe us, they can ask The Beatles." Bassist Maurice Gibb, though, had previously said that "New York Mining Disaster 1941" was in fact influenced by the Beatles:
"New York Mining Disaster 1941" was a total rip-off of The Beatles, we were so influenced by them. In fact it started a mystery n the USAabout us, because they started playing tand saying, 'They're this new group from England that begins with a B and finished with an s' so they all said, 'Ah, it's The Beatles, not naming it, they're doing that trick again.' The disc jockey would play it and play it and play it and, 'Guess who it is?' and people would guess, and they wouldn't get the answer. I heard
he idea 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'' in ...
came actually from
Ahmet Ertegun Ahmet Ertegun (, Turkish spelling: Ahmet Ertegün; ; – December 14, 2006) was a Turkish-American businessman, songwriter, record executive and philanthropist. Ertegun was the co-founder and president of Atlantic Records. He discovered and ch ...
and
Jerry Wexler Jerry may refer to: Animals * Jerry (Grand National winner), racehorse, winner of the 1840 Grand National * Jerry (St Leger winner), racehorse, winner of 1824 St Leger Stakes Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Jerry'' (film), a 2006 Indian fil ...
. To us it was an honour, to actually think we were as good as The Beatles."
''
Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
'' described the single as "infectious, compelling material set to a rocking driving beat hathas all the earmarks of a fast smash."


Music video and live performances

On the video, the band only features four members (but Vince Melouney later joined the band), Barry playing his guitar, Maurice playing his Rickenbacker 4001, Robin Gibb on vocals and drummer Colin Petersen wears a hat. The group found time to record their first BBC session at Playhouse Theatre, Northumberland Avenue, London, with producer Bill Bebb, on which they performed this song, with the songs "In My Own Time," "One Minute Woman," and "Cucumber Castle." When the BBC Light Programme's ''Saturday Club'' presented by Brian Matthew was broadcast on April 22, it was noted that there were "rave reviews from the audition panel." On the song's promotional clip, the band only feature four members (the three Gibb brothers and drummer Colin Petersen) The group (Barry, Robin, Maurice, Colin and Vince) made their first British TV appearance on ''Top of the Pops'' performing this song on May 11 and were rather awe-struck at the company they were keeping. On 20 May 1967, the group performed this song on '' Beat-Club,'' a German TV program. The Bee Gees performed this song on 21 July 1967 at the Stockholm Palladium, Stockholm, Sweden, 12 August 1967 at The Civic Hall, Wolverhampton, England and Christ the King College at Newport, England on 27 September 1967. Since 1967, the song has been part of every Bee Gees concert, eventually becoming part of their acoustic medley performed during the middle of the concert. It was also performed on the show '' Beat-Club'' in Germany, on that performance Robin wears a hat and plays violin. It was performed by the group in 1973 on '' The Midnight Special'' with Barry and Maurice on rhythm guitar. The song usually began the acoustic medley during The Bee Gees' concerts starting in the mid-70's and continued until their final shows in 2001.


Personnel

* Barry Gibb – lead and backing vocals, rhythm guitar *
Robin Gibb Robin Hugh Gibb (22 December 1949 – 20 May 2012) was a British singer and songwriter. He gained worldwide fame as a member of the Bee Gees pop group with elder brother Barry and fraternal twin brother Maurice. Robin Gibb also had his o ...
– lead, harmony and backing vocals * Maurice Gibb – backing vocals, bass guitar, rhythm guitar * Colin Petersen – drums * Phil Dennys – orchestral arrangement The session was engineered by Carlos Olms and produced by Robert Stigwood.


Charts


Weekly charts


Year-end charts


Legacy

The 1969 David Bowie song " Space Oddity" owes a debt to the style, arrangement and lyrics of "New York Mining Disaster 1941." Like "New York Mining Disaster 1941," "Space Oddity" is about a trapped man who is doomed to die, and the song is similarly structured as a series of statements addressed to another person. "'Space Oddity' was a Bee Gees type song," Bowie's colleague John "Hutch" Hutchinson has said. "David knew it, and he said so at the time, the way he sang it, it’s a Bee Gees thing." As Marc Bolan explained: "I remember David playing me 'Space Oddity' in his room and I loved it and he said he needed a sound like the Bee Gees, who were very big then." Paul McCartney said: "It was the 'Mining Disaster' song that obert Stigwoodplayed me. I said 'sign them, they're great!' And they went on to be even greater." The Japanese novelist Haruki Murakami made "New York Mining Disaster" the title of one of his short stories. The piece was included in his collection '' Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman''. In 2000, the rapper
Necro Necro may refer to: * necro-, the Greek prefix meaning death * Necromancy, a type of magic * Necrophilia, the sexual attraction to corpses * Necropolis, a large ancient cemetery * Necro (Street Fighter), a character from the ''Street Fighter III'' ...
sampled "New York Mining Disaster 1941" on the song ''Underground'' from his album ''
I Need Drugs ''I Need Drugs'' is the debut studio album by the American rapper Necro, released on November 7, 2000, by Psycho+Logical-Records. This album maintains emphasis on both his violence and sex themes, rather than focusing on one or the other such as ...
''.


Cover versions

* In July 1967, just one month after the Bee Gees, South African band The Staccatos recorded a cover version of this song for their album on the PYE record label, PY 156 with their song All the Winds as a B-side * In 1967, the Swedish band The Shanes released a version of the song on their VI LP. *In early 1969, The Sorrows recorded this song as part of a demo album that was prepared before the release of their second album ''Old Songs New Songs''; however, the song remained unreleased until it was included in a two-CD reissue of that album by Wooden Hill in 2009. * In 1969,
Ashton, Gardner and Dyke Ashton, Gardner and Dyke were a British rock trio, most popular in the early 1970s. They are best remembered for their song, "Resurrection Shuffle", a transatlantic Top 40 one-hit wonder in 1971. History Founding band member Tony Ashton first ...
recorded a version of this song for their self-titled debut album. * In 1970, the Akron, Ohio based rock band Wild Butter recorded the song for their only album, ''Wild Butter'', released by United Artists in that same year. * In 1974,
Barclay James Harvest Barclay James Harvest are an English progressive rock band. They were founded in Oldham, in September 1966 by bassist/vocalist Les Holroyd (b. 1948), guitarist/vocalist John Lees (b. 1947), drummer/percussionist Mel Pritchard (1948–2004), a ...
"deconstructed" the song with a reworked version referencing leading figures in the 1974 UK mining strike. The song was retitled "The Great 1974 Mining Disaster." * In 1993, David Essex recorded a version of this song for his covers album ''Cover Shot.'' * In 1997, the Levellers covered the song as a B-side to their single ''Bozos.'' * In 1998, folksinger
Martin Carthy Martin Carthy MBE (born 21 May 1941) is an English folk singer and guitarist who has remained one of the most influential figures in British traditional music, inspiring contemporaries such as Bob Dylan and Paul Simon, and later artists such as ...
sang an acoustic guitar version of this as the lead-off track on his album ''Signs of Life.'' * In 2000, British anarchist band
Chumbawamba Chumbawamba () were a British rock band formed in 1982 and disbanded in 2012. They are best known for their 1997 single "Tubthumping", which was nominated for Best British Single at the 1998 Brit Awards. Other singles include "Amnesia", " Enou ...
recorded a " minimalist" version for their album '' WYSIWYG.'' * In 2006, Mark Newman recorded a version of "New York Mining Disaster, 1941" on his CD ''Must Be A Pony,'' which he released on Danal Music. * In 2008, singer-songwriter
Trevor Tanner Trevor Tanner is a British musician and composer, best known as the singer and guitarist of post-punk/gothic rock Gothic rock (also called goth rock or simply goth) is a style of rock music that emerged from post-punk in the United Kingd ...
released a version titled ''Mr. Jones'' on his album ''Eaten By The Sea.'' * In 2011, Australian bush punk act Handsome Young Strangers covered the song as a B-side to their single ''Sweet As A Nut'' and then included it on their album ''Here's The Thunder Lads!'' * In 2011 British folk artist Jon Boden (of folk big band
Bellowhead Bellowhead is an English contemporary folk band, active from 2004 to 2016, reforming in 2020. The eleven-piece act played traditional dance tunes, folk songs and shanties, with arrangements drawing inspiration from a wide range of musical style ...
) released an unaccompanied version as part of his "A Folk Song a Day" Project. * In 2012, the Catalina Scramblers, a three-piece rock band from Santa Cruz, CA, recorded a version of the song in which they adhere to the original version's style for the verses, but perform the choruses in up-tempo, hard rock fashion. It was released as the final track on their eponymous debut album.


References


External links

*
History of the songRolling Stone Review
* AMG Review {{authority control Bee Gees songs 1967 singles 1967 songs Songs about New York (state) Songs written by Barry Gibb Songs written by Robin Gibb Song recordings produced by Robert Stigwood British folk rock songs Polydor Records singles Atco Records singles Spin Records (Australian label) singles Songs based on actual events Songs about mining