Barry Gibb serves up a sweet, soulful lead vocal performance, and his brothers, Robin and Maurice, provide strong support on background harmonies. The song’s narrator voices his frustrations with his jive-talkin’ lady who can never be straight with him. She constantly lies to him and treats him badly, making him feel like a first-class chump.
“Jive Talkin’” was co-written by all three Bee Gees. In the Emmy-winning documentary The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend a Broken Heart, Barry explained the genesis of the song. He said its rhythm was inspired by the “clickety-click” sound their car made as they crossed the Julia Tuttle Causeway Bridge on their daily trips from Biscayne Bay to Criteria Recording Studios in North Miami. Barry said it sounded like “ch, ch-ch, ch-ch” in his head, and he eventually began singing to the rhythmic sound–and “Jive Talkin’” was born. You can hear the “ch, ch-ch, ch-ch” scratchy chicken-picking guitar lick that the song was built on at the intro.
The inclusion of synth bass on “Jive Talkin’” was an instance of pure serendipity. Group bassist Maurice couldn’t make it into the studio one day, so Blue Weaver played the bass line on a Minimoog synthesizer. It was only meant to be a temporary placement until Maurice returned. When he came back to the studio, they played him the demo with the synth bass line and suggested he re-record it on his bass guitar. However, Maurice really dug the synth bass part, so they left it in. He just contributed a few extra touches in certain sections for additional flavor. Also, Weaver played the stellar synth part in the song’s instrumental section on an ARP 2600 synthesizer.
“Jive Talkin’” was the lead single from the Bee Gees’ thirteenth studio album Main Course, released in June of 1975 on RSO Records. It shot to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and peaked at #9 on Billboard’s Hot Disco Singles chart. The song rose to #5 on the UK singles chart. It also charted in the top 10 in three other countries: New Zealand (#4), Ireland (#5) and Canada (#1). The song has sold over a million copies in the U.S. and moved 250,000 units in the UK and 75,000 in Canada.
Main Course was produced by Arif Mardin. The acclaimed producer and arranger had worked with soul legends such as Aretha Franklin, Donny Hathaway and Roberta Flack, so he was the ideal choice to help the Bee Gees take their sound in a more R&B-focused direction, which was their intention with this LP. He’s the one who suggested that Barry sing falsetto ad-libs on the chorus of “Nights on Broadway,” the second single from Main Course. It worked out so well that Barry began singing falsetto on the majority of the group’s tracks after that; his falsetto has become an iconic signature of the Bee Gees’ sound. “Nights on Broadway” was also a big hit. It rose to #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 and charted in the top 10 in several other countries. The album spawned one more hit with the third single “Fanny (Be Tender with My Love),” which peaked at #12 on the Billboard Hot 100.
“Jive Talkin’” has been sampled on eight songs, per WhoSampled.com. Funk band Rufus recorded a terrific cover of the song for their fourth studio album Rufus featuring Chaka Khan (1975). Additionally, “Jive Talkin’” was featured on the soundtrack for the 2016 film The Nice Guys, starring Ryan Gosling and Russell Crowe. It was also featured in an episode of The Simpsons (season 20, episode 10, 2009), as well as an episode of The King of Queens (season 8, episode 4, 2005). "Jive Talkin'" is also included on the 1977 Saturday Night Fever soundtrack.
Here’s the full musician lineup for “Jive Talkin’”: Barry Gibb (vocals, rhythm guitar), Maurice Gibb (bass, rhythm guitar, vocals), Robin Gibb (vocals), Blue Weaver (keyboards, synthesizer), Dennis Byron (drums percussion) and Alan Kendall (guitar).
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