I've Gotta Get a Message to You

"I've Gotta Get a Message to You"
Single by Bee Gees
from the album Idea
B-side	"Kitty Can"
Released	July 1968
Format	7"
Recorded	IBC Studios, London, July 12, 1968
Genre	Rock
Length	2:59
Label	UK: Polydor, USA/CA: Atco
Writer(s)	Barry Gibb/Robin Gibb/Maurice Gibb
Producer	Robert Stigwood
Bee Gees singles chronology
"Jumbo" (1968) "I've Gotta Get a Message to You" (1968) "I Started a Joke" (1968)

"I've Gotta Get a Message to You" is a song recorded by the Bee Gees in 1968, which became their second number-one single on the UK Singles Chart, and reached number eight on the U.S. pop chart.

The song is about a man who, condemned to die in the electric chair ^[1], begs the prison chaplain to pass a final message on to his wife. Robin Gibb, who wrote the lyrics, said that the man's crime was the murder of his wife's lover. He came up with the idea following a quarrel with his wife and originally conceived the song with Percy Sledge in mind to record it. ^[2]

The song appeared on the U.S. edition of the Bee Gees' third album Idea. The Vince Melouney track "Such a Shame" appeared instead in the UK but both songs are featured on the CD edition released circa 1991.

Versions

"I’ve Gotta Get a Message to You" has appeared in five versions all made from the same recording, but heard at three different speeds, faded out at three different points, and with different elements mixed forward. As to the speed, Bill Inglot said in 1999 that the mix he made for the Tales from the Brothers Gibb box in 1990 is at the correct real tape speed. This speed is intermediate between the mono and stereo mixes released in 1968. To correct the speed, play the mono single mix at 98.8% and the LP stereo mix at 103.0%, which brings them to the correct timing.

The first mix to appear was the mono mix for the single, followed closely by a stereo mix that appeared on North American copies of the Idea album. The two sound very different. For most of the song the album mix has percussion effects and string overdubs not heard (or barely heard) in the single mix. In the ending, most of the second pass through the chorus (2:28-2:37 at the correct speed) has lead vocal in the album mix but wordless backing vocal in the single mix, until at ‘hold on’ they resume the same vocal tracks. The slower album mix is shorter because it fades out much sooner, 4 seconds sooner at the speed given, or 11 seconds sooner at corrected speed. At 2:45 (correct speed) fans hear a spoken ‘save your voice’ in the stereo album mix, and also less distinctly in the Tales from the Brothers Gibb mix.

During preparation of The Studio Albums 1967-1968 another mix from 1968 was discovered, a mono mix that sounds like the 1968 stereo mix. Since the North American Idea LP was released only in stereo, this companion mono mix was never released. It plays faster than the stereo mix, but that is true of all the mono mixes for Idea.

Covers

The song has been covered by Percy Sledge, Dusty Springfield, Jose Feliciano, Cleopatra and the band Moxy Früvous.

Chart performance

References