July 20, 2014

This week I am posting a story that many of the fans probably can relate to and identify with in their hearts. There isn’t much more to write about this one. It’s always about the music.

Maria

NYC

I don’t have a particularly dramatic story that will make anyone cry, but I do have a story that started when I was 5. I grew up with a family that had many problems, and music was my way to cope with them. This isn’t unusual, but I think it was very early on that I began to relate to the Bee Gees’ music. I heard it first while riding in the car with my Mom. She was a single mother, and she tried very hard to give my two older sisters and me a happy life, although she always struggled financially. Of course, I never knew this when I was a child because she kept a strong facade up for all of us. We used to sing in the car whenever we drove anywhere. Mom was a singer and dancer, and she sang and danced even while she was making dinner. The first song I ever heard on the radio was “Inside and Out” from Spirits Having Flown. We were driving to the doctor for our check-ups, and we always were scared about getting shots. I used to cry and wail about this, so Mom cranked up the music, and I think we all were laughing and rocking to that music in about ten seconds. It was the best song. I forgot all about the shots I was going to get, and Mom promised to buy the album that day. It must have been hard for her to save that money and buy the record, but she did it.  I knew all the words to every piece from Spirits in a week. It was the first Bee Gee album my sisters and I owned. (We shared). I remember dancing around the house to “Search, Find”. Oh, wow, that was the most fun I ever had. From that time on, no matter what was happening with my parents’ divorce or problems at school or sickness in the family, we would put on the Bee Gees and feel better. It was a simple thing to do, and it made us happy. This pattern has been with me since that time. Whenever times are tough, I head for the Bee Gees, and I have a big plastic box of CD’s that takes up half of my back seat in the car. I rotate them depending on my mood for the day, and I arrive wherever I am going happy and in a good mood and thank the brothers for being my “mood stabilizers”. Their music is an every day part of making  my life manageable and positive. Thank you, Barry, Robin and Maurice. You’ll never know how much you’ve meant to me.