The Bee Gees - "Stayin' alive"

Robin Gibb : "Ahh yes, "Saturday Night Fever". I remember it well. We thought up the name for that movie".

"Stayin' Alive" is one of The Bee Gees most popular and recognizable songs, in part because it was played in the opening scene of a popular disco film, Saturday Night Fever. The producer of the soundtrack for the movie, Robert Stigwood (who also doubled as the Bee Gees' manager) called them up one day and asked them to write a few songs for a soundtrack to a film he was planning. At this point, the film was in very early stages and it didn't even have a title yet. Robin recalls : "He rang us up and said, 'Would you like to do the soundtrack for a film ?’ We said, 'What film?' He said, 'A film I'm making. I haven't even got a title for it yet. Maybe you could think of that, too [which they did, indeed].' 'How many songs?' 'Oh, about six or seven.' I said, 'Well, that's about one a day. When will you send us a script?' He said, 'Well, I don't have a script. You'll just have to get on with the soundtrack.' 'Well, I said, 'You haven't got a script, and we haven't got any songs, so we're equal, we're even.' I put down the phone, and we went to work".

Barry Gibb recalls other details : "Robert wanted a scene that was eight minutes long, where Travolta was dancing with this girl. It would have a nice dance tempo, then a romantic interlude, and all hell breaking loose at the end. I said, 'Robert, we don't think the rhythm should break. It should go from beginning to end with the same rhythm, and get stronger all the way. To go into a lilting ballad just doesn't make sense.' The film got changed." Robin : "When we saw the film we were surprised that it fit so well. It just amazed us, since we'd never even seen the script."

The Bee Gees wrote "Stayin' Alive" over the course of a few days while sprawled on the staircase at the Chateau D'Herouville studio in Paris. Later, the group learned that many porno films were shot in those studios. Barry : "The staircase where we wrote 'How Deep Is Your Love', 'Stayin' Alive', all those songs, was the same staircase where there've been six classic lesbian porno scenes filmed !”.

The song was not originally supposed to be released as a single, but fans called radio stations and RSO Records immediately after seeing trailers for "Saturday Night Fever", in which the introductory scene featuring the song was played.

Available, of course, on the soundtrack for the movie "Saturday Night Fever"