| "Night Fever" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Single byBee Gees | ||||
| from the albumSaturday Night Fever | ||||
| B-side | "Down the Road" (live) | |||
| Released | January 1978 (US)[1] | |||
| Recorded |
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| Studio |
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| Genre | Disco | |||
| Length | 3:32 | |||
| Label | RSO | |||
| Songwriters | ||||
| Producers |
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| Bee Gees singles chronology | ||||
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| Audio sample | ||||
"Night Fever" | ||||
| Music video | ||||
| "Night Fever" onYouTube | ||||
"Night Fever" is a song written and performed by theBee Gees. It first appeared onthe soundtrack toSaturday Night Fever on RSO Records. The song bounded up theBillboard charts while the Bee Gees’ two previous hits fromSaturday Night Fever soundtrack ("How Deep Is Your Love" and "Stayin' Alive") were still in the top ten.
The record debuted on theBillboard Hot 100 Chart at #76, then leaped up 44 positions to #32. It then moved: 32–17–8–5–2–1. It remained at #1 for eight weeks (the most for any single that year), and ultimately spent 13 weeks in the top 10.[3] For the first five weeks that "Night Fever" was at #1, "Stayin' Alive" was at #2. Also, for one week in March, Bee Gees related songs held five of the top positions on the Hot 100 chart, and four of the top five positions, with "Night Fever" at the top of the list.[4] The B-side of "Night Fever" is a live version of "Down the Road" taken from the Bee Gees' 1977 album,Here at Last... Bee Gees... Live.[5]
When Bee Gees managerRobert Stigwood was producing a movie about a New Yorkdisco scene, the working title for the film at that time wasSaturday Night. Stigwood asked the group to write a song using that name as a title, but the Bee Gees disliked it. They had already written a song called "Night Fever", so the group convinced Stigwood to use that and change the film toSaturday Night Fever.[6]
The string intro of "Night Fever" was inspired by "Theme fromA Summer Place" byPercy Faith, according to keyboardistBlue Weaver.[6] As Weaver explains the history behind this song:
...'Night Fever' started off because Barry walked in one morning when I was trying to work out something. I always wanted to do a disco version of Theme fromA Summer Place by the Percy Faith Orchestra or something - it was a big hit in the Sixties. I was playing that, and Barry said, 'What was that?' and I said, 'Theme fromA Summer Place', and Barry said, 'No, it wasn't'. It was new. Barry heard the idea - I was playing it on a stringsynthesizer and sang the riff over it.[7]
— Blue Weaver
Barry Gibb,Robin Gibb andMaurice Gibb completed the lyrics for "Night Fever" sitting on a staircase (reminiscent of their first international hit "New York Mining Disaster 1941", which was also written in a staircase back in 1967).[7]
The Bee Gees began recording the song by April 1977 in France and finished it in September the same year. A demo of "Night Fever" with some instrumental and vocals heard on it exists and was available to download onRhino Records' website in 2009 or earlier.[2]
...For 'Night Fever' the group had the hook-line and rhythm - they usually pat their legs to set up a song's rhythm when they first sing it - and parts of the verses. They had the emotion, same as on the record. We put downbattery first, so the feel was locked in. Theelectric piano part was put on before the bass, then the heavy guitar parts. We had the sound, but we needed something there to shake it so we used the thunder sound.[7]
According toBillboard, it has a "jumping disco beat" and a "smooth falsetto lead" vocal.[8]Cash Box similarly said that it has "dancin' beat, scratchy guitar, sweeping orchestration and the familiar falsetto."[9]Record World predicted that it would become "another dance tempo hit" for the Bee Gees.[10]
The song replacedAndy Gibb's "Love Is Thicker Than Water" at number one and was in turn replaced byYvonne Elliman's "If I Can't Have You"—all of which were written and produced by the Gibb brothers. It would be the third of six consecutive US number-ones for the band, tyingthe Beatles for the record for most consecutive number-one singles.Billboard ranked it as the No. 2 song for 1978, behind Andy Gibb's "Shadow Dancing".[11]
"Night Fever" topped theUK Singles Chart for two weeks, their third UK number-one, and in the US it remained the number-oneBillboard Hot 100 single for over two months in 1978. In addition toSaturday Night Fever, the song appeared in the movie and on the soundtrack forMystery Men. The song is listed at number 38 onBillboard's All Time Top 100.[12] It is also featured in other films includingLuna,Mr. Saturday Night,I.D.,Whatever Happened to Harold Smith?, andAvenue Montaigne.
A music video was made for the song in 1978 but not shown to the public until 26 years later, in 2004.[citation needed] It features the brothers singing the song in a darkened studio, layered over background video filmed while driving along "Motel Row" on Collins Avenue, a 3-mile (5 km) motel strip in what is nowSunny Isles Beach, Florida.[13] Most of the motels which appear in the video are now closed or demolished, including several whose names are reminiscent of Las Vegas resorts (Castaways, Desert Inn, Sahara, Golden Nugget).[citation needed]
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| Canada (Music Canada)[51] | Platinum | 150,000^ |
| Denmark (IFPI Danmark)[52] | Gold | 45,000‡ |
| France | — | 300,000[53] |
| Italy (FIMI)[54] sales since 2009 | Gold | 50,000‡ |
| Japan | — | 500,000[55] |
| Spain (PROMUSICAE)[56] | Gold | 30,000‡ |
| United Kingdom (BPI)[58] | Platinum | 650,000[57] |
| United States (RIAA)[60] | Platinum | 2,500,000[59] |
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. | ||
| "Night Fever" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Ex-It | ||||
| Released | 20 April 1996 | |||
| Recorded | 1996 | |||
| Genre | Eurodance | |||
| Length | 3:45 | |||
| Label | BMG | |||
| Songwriters | Barry, Robin & Maurice Gibb, Robinson, Andreas Hötter, Alexander Stiepel | |||
| Producers | Robinson, Andreas Hötter, Alexander Stiepel | |||
| Ex-It singles chronology | ||||
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In 1996, the Austrian music group Ex-It covered the song and made a small notable success. Large parts of the original were retained in this version, but with many rap passages added. This cover is the compilationsDance Now! 14,Maxi Dance Sensation 21 andHot Hits [TL 541/35].
The music video copies many elements of the movieSaturday Night Fever and satirizes the same. At the beginning of the video, the DJ plays the song, while the protagonist and his girlfriend in a tool shop look around and watch a radio. They then prepare for a visit to a disco and are seen dancing throughout the rest of the video.
| Chart (1996) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australia (ARIA Charts)[61] | 82 |
| Austrian Singles Chart[62] | 30 |
