Once Upon a Time in the Top Spot: Bee Gees, “Night Fever”

37 years ago today, the third Bee Gees song to be released as a single from the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack became the second Bee Gees song from the soundtrack to hit the top of the UK singles chart…and, no, the other one wasn’t “Stayin’ Alive.” (It was “How Deep Is Your Love,” smarty-pants.)

Released as a single on February 7, 1978, “Night Fever” was – believe it or not – actually written before the Bee Gees ever signed on to help out with the soundtrack of Saturday Night Fever. In fact, the recurring story is that the song was directly responsible for the film’s name, and that it had originally only been called Saturday Night until the Gibbs talked producer Robert Stigwood into adding the “Fever.” True or not, the song itself is a classic, one which came about because keyboardist Blue Weaver had come up with the wacky idea of trying to do a disco version of “Theme from A Summer Place,” and in the process of attempting to do so, he helped inspire Barry Gibb to write the music that became “Night Fever.”

Probably the most notable achievement about “Night Fever” hitting #1 happened not when the event took place in the UK but when it happened in the US: it did so immediately after Andy Gibb’s “(Love Is) Thicker Than Water” and immediately before Yvonne Elliman’s “If I Can’t Have You.” And what’s so notable about that? Well, if you’re aware of the songwriting credits, then you already know the answer: all three songs were Gibb compositions.