| "Tragedy" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
||||
| Single by Bee Gees | ||||
| from the album Spirits Having Flown | ||||
| B-side | "Until" | |||
| Released | February 1979 | |||
| Format | Single | |||
| Recorded | March - November 1978 | |||
| Genre | Pop/disco | |||
| Length | 5:03 | |||
| Label | RSO | |||
| Writer(s) | Barry, Robin & Maurice Gibb | |||
| Producer | The Bee Gees, Albhy Galuten, Karl Richardson | |||
| Certification | Platinum (RIAA)[1] | |||
| Bee Gees singles chronology | ||||
|
||||
"Tragedy" is a song recorded by the Bee Gees, included on their 1979 album Spirits Having Flown. The single reached number one in the UK in February 1979 and repeated the feat the following month on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. Though not originally in Saturday Night Fever, it has subsequently been added to the musical score of the West End version of the movie-musical.
The song knocked "I Will Survive" by Gloria Gaynor off the top spot in the U.S. for two weeks before that song again returned to number one for an additional week.
In 1979, NBC aired The Bee Gees Special which showed how the sound effect for the explosion was created. Barry cupped his hands over a microphone and made an exploding sound. Several of these sounds were then mixed together creating one large boom heard on the record.
Contents |
Chart performance (1979)
| Chart | Peak position |
|---|---|
| United States | 1 |
| Canada | 1 |
| United Kingdom | 1 |
| Spain | 1 |
| France | 1 |
| Ireland | 1 |
| Italy | 1 |
| New Zealand | 1 |
| Brazil | 1 |
| Austria | 2 |
| Australia | 2 |
| Belgium | 2 |
| China | 2 |
| Germany | 2 |
| Chile | 2 |
| South Africa | 2 |
| Netherlands | 4 |
| Norway | 4 |
| Sweden | 6 |
| Finland | 7 |
| Japan | 32 |
Steps cover
In 1998, Steps covered "Tragedy", releasing it as a double A-side with "Heartbeat". It debuted at number two on the UK Singles Chart before climbing to the top spot, achieving platinum status. A dance step of putting both hands parallel to the sides of the head became the trademark move of the British group.[citation needed] "Tragedy" has sold more copies than all three previous Steps singles combined.[citation needed] It spent eighteen weeks in the Top 20 and thirty weeks on the chart in total.[citation needed]
Charts
| Chart (1998) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| UK Singles Chart | 1 |
Other versions
- Pop group Brotherhood of Man recorded a version for their 20 Love Songs album in 1981.
- Robert Unwin of Leicester England sang the song on Series 1 of The X Factor, in 2004.
- Same Difference sang the song on Series 4 of The X Factor, in 2007.
- Electronic/industrial-rock band Celldweller released a version as a digital download in April 2006, appearing in the Winter X Games[2].
References
- ^ RIAA Gold & Platinum Searchable Database - Bee Gees Platinum Singles. RIAA.com. Retrieved 2009-09-29.
- ^ http://www.celldweller.com/bio.html
See also
- List of Hot 100 number-one singles of 1979 (U.S.)
- List of number-one singles from the 1970s (UK)
- List of best-selling singles (UK)
| Preceded by "Heart of Glass" by Blondie |
UK number-one single 3 March 1979 - 10 March 1979 |
Succeeded by "I Will Survive" by Gloria Gaynor |
| Preceded by "I Will Survive" by Gloria Gaynor |
Billboard Hot 100 number-one single March 24, 1979 |
Succeeded by "What a Fool Believes" by The Doobie Brothers |
|
|||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
