How a song intended for The Seekers became one of the Bee Gees' biggest hits (2024)

22 May 2024, 11:20

By Thomas Curtis-Horsfall

They wrote many a hit for other artists.

It was almost like the Bee Gees were so prolific when it came to songwriting, they had plenty to share about with their peers.

The Gibb brothers certainly had a way with words and melodies it seems, given their knack for writing songs that were suited to other artist's voices and styles as well as their own.

And it wasn't as if their melodies were particularly simple to emulate - Barry, Maurice and Robin's singing in tandem was their secret weapon.

Over the years they wrote songs for the likes of Olivia Newton-John, Diana Ross, Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers, Barbra Streisand, Frankie Valli, Dionne Warwick, and more.

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But they even penned hits with artists in mind long before they became one of the world's biggest acts, even before they had a hit single themselves.

One particular song they wrote for The Seekers, though failed to get it to the band Australian icons, eventually recording it themselves.

They're no doubt glad that was the case: the song in question became the Bee Gees' first ever UK number one, 'Massachusetts'.

Despite picking a random city name, 'Massachusetts' evokes the wide-eyed optimism of the counter-cultural movement in the US at the time.

Robin Gibb later explained the rationale for choosing the city, saying: "We have never been there but we loved the word and there is always something magic about American place names."

"It only works with British names if you do it as a folk song. Roger Whittaker did that with 'Durham Town.'"

The first song for the band in which Robin's delicate quaver was front-and-centre took the Gibb brothers to the top of the charts for the first time too.

However, it could have been very different if they achieved their original intention by handing it over to The Seekers.

It was only years later when after a chance meeting between The Seekers' singer Judith Durham and Maurice Gibb in London that she found out 'Massachusetts' was written for them.

The Seekers became the first band to come from Australia which achieved considerable success worldwide and grabbed the attention of the UK audiences and beyond.

Having relocated to Australia from a young age, the Bee Gees idolised The Seekers and confessed it was their dream to write them a song.

'The Carnival Is Over' and 'I'll Never Find Another You' hit-makers had many a charting-topping song themselves, so Judith Durham was surprised after finding out 'Massachusetts' could've been another one.

In 2003, she revealed in an interview with Australian newspaper The Age that she'd bumped into Maurice in London the year before and he told her the Bee Gees' initial intentions.

Sadly, by that time Maurice had passed away due to complications in surgery which caused a cardiac arrest.

"When I heard Maurice Gibb had died, I felt lost myself, and very sorry for Barry and Robin, and I hoped that Maurice's death would remind millions of us to live each day as if it was our last," she revealed.

"After I left The Seekers, I met Maurice at a music publisher's in London. Apparently, the Bee Gees wondered if Tom Springfield had a monopoly on writing songs for us, because they had written a song they thought would be great for us."

"But our manager at the time had said that Tom was our writer. They ended up having a hit with it themselves. It was 'Massachusetts'!"

"More than 30 years have passed and we still haven't recorded it. Maybe we should..."

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That year on tour, The Seekers did in fact cover 'Massachusetts' in tribute to Maurice and even recorded a version themselves for their Ultimate CD collection that same year due to the overwhelming positive reaction.

Strangely enough, the Bee Gees' wish of writing a song for their idols did come true, though sadly Maurice wouldn't be around to hear it.