Lamplight Explained

Lamplight
Cover:Lamplightbeegees.jpg
Caption:German cover of "Lamplight"
Type:single
Artist:Bee Gees
Album:Odessa
A-Side:First of May
Released:January 1969 (United Kingdom)
March 1969 (United States)
Recorded:1968, Trident and IBC Studios, London
Genre:Baroque pop
Length:4:47
Label:Polydor
Atco (United States, Canada)
Chronology:Bee Gees flipsides
Prev Title:Kilburn Towers
Prev Year:1968
Next Title:Sun in My Morning
Next Year:1969

"Lamplight" is a song by the Bee Gees, released as the B-side of "First of May", but featured as the single's A-side in Germany.[1] [2] It also featured on their double album Odessa in March 1969.[3] [4] The song was written and composed by Barry, Robin & Maurice Gibb and featured lead vocals by Robin Gibb. No other singles were released from the album, and the fact that the group's manager Robert Stigwood chose "First of May", which only featured Barry Gibb's voice for the A-side, that caused Robin to quit the group (he would return in 1970).

Recording

The song's demo was recorded on October 25, 1968 – this and another early version featured on the Sketches for Odessa disc released with the album's remastered edition in 2009. The song's introduction is sung in French – Alors viens encore cherie J'attendrai ans après ans sous la lampe dans la vieille avenue. The same passage was sung at the song's end, this time in English. There are no French words featured on the demo; it starts straight in at the first stanza.[5]

The song was recorded in Trident and IBC Studios, London, England, produced by Robert Stigwood with the Bee Gees. This song was included on their EP called I Started a Joke, released in the same year.[6]

Personnel

Cover versions

Singers Steve Barry and Lorraine Piché covered this song in 2002. Steve Barry produced the recording.[7]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Bee Gees: First of May / Lamplight. Discogs.com. . 1969 .
  2. Web site: Bee Gees: Lamplight / First of May (German release). Discogs.com. . February 1969 .
  3. Web site: Gibb Songs: 1969. Joseph Brennan. Columbia.edu.
  4. Web site: Bee Gees: Odessa. Discogs.com. . 1969 .
  5. Web site: Bee Gees Demos – Part 3 . Kevin Bennett . 23 March 2011 . 10 April 2013.
  6. Web site: Bee Gees: I Started a Joke (EP). Discogs.com. . 1969 .
  7. Web site: Ordinary People » Steve Barry: Voix à tout faire / Chanteur - Comédien - Auteur-compositeur / Singer songwriter - Actor - Entertainer. Stevebarry.ca. 31 May 2019.