One of the greatest country music songs of all-time was written by none other than disco's favorite songs, Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb.
No, seriously. It was written by the Bee Gees, who made a mint gettin' down and funky to songs such as "You Should Be Dancing," "Stayin' Alive," "Night Fever" and "Jive Talkin'."
In 1983, the Bee Gees were still trying to walk away from that part of their lives. Disco had died out and a new era of 1980s music was starting up. In 1983, it was about spry, peppy pop that would one day be the staple of pop adult contemporary, new wave music and a second wave of British artists who were ruling the roost that year.
The Bee Gees were still relevant as songwriters. In 1982, they wrote Dionne Warwick's "Heartbreaker," a No. 10 hit. And that success allowed them to branch out further. So they composed "Islands In The Stream," a song they were targeting for a man who was enjoying a major comeback on the charts -- Marvin Gaye, who was scoring kudos everywhere for the song "Sexual Healing" and the album "Midnight Love."
The problem, though, was Gaye was not recording anything immediately. So the Brothers Gibb had a composition that had a lot of soul to it with no takers. It was suggested to them, though, by his manager, Ken Kragen, that country star Kenny Rogers was looking for new material for an album that would ultimately called "Eyes That See Through The Dark."
They handed "Islands In The Stream" to Kragen and immediately, Rogers loved it. Then came the idea to make the song into a duet, something the Brothers Gibb never intended on the song being. But Rogers knew the perfect partner -- fellow country star and the ever-so-sassy Dolly Parton. Both were familiar with pop-crossover success, each scoring solo No. 1 hits in the early '80s on the Billboard Hot 100, he with "Lady" in 1980 and she in 1981 with "9 To 5."
The song proved to be a magical collaboration. It debuted in the Top 40 in September of 1983 and a month later, it had gotten to No. 1 on the chart on October 29, 1983, spending two weeks there, while simultaneously spending two weeks at the top of the country chart.
The song, everyone found out, had a lot of staying power over the years. In 1998, the tune was the premise behind the Top 15 pop rap hit for Pras, Mya and the late Ol' Dirty Bastard as "Ghetto Superstar" from the Warren Beatty-directed and starred Bulworth. And in 2005, Country Music Television (CMT) did a countdown of the 100 greatest collaborations of all time. Guess what song was No. 1?
Yup. And Kenny and Dolly were more than happy to perform their amazing duet for a live audience when the Top 10 of that countdown was revealed.
The pair would record quite a bit more in the subsequent years, including a Christmas album and the song "Real Love."
As for Barry, Robin and Maurice, the success of the songs "Heartbreaker" and "Islands In The Stream" would continue to grow their confidence as songwriters and in 1989, six years after their previous Top 40 hit "The Woman In You," they would hit the Top 10 with "One," their first Top 10 hit in 10 years.
So the Brothers Gibb never worried about starving or living out on the streets in the 1980s. They did quite well after the disco era died out. All they did was co-write one of the greatest country music songs ever, showing they can transition from dancing shoes to cowboy hats and boots.
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