THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
2,089) The Bee Gees — “Please Read Me“
From the Bee Gees’ (see #291, 353-54, 439, 466, 484, 497, 570, 594, 717, 861, 962, 1,065, 1,101, 1,125, 1,190, 1,321, 1,336, 1,343, 1,465, 1,584, 1,640, 1,685, 1,843) Bee Gees 1st, here is a “haunting and poetic track . . . blend[ing] baroque pop with psychedelic undertones — a cry for understanding, connection, and being truly seen”. (Timeless Classic Music, https://www.facebook.com/61567283793838/posts/lets-listen-to-please-read-me-by-the-bee-gees-from-their-1967-album-bee-gees-1st/122179606250576126/). Stewart Mason writes:
Although the early hype around the Bee Gees centered around their supposedly uncanny musical resemblance to the Beatles [see #28-29, 113, 132, 374, 422-23, 520-22, 545, 669, 779-81, 840, 872, 942, 1,087, 1,256, 1,437, 1,473, 1,910], most of their early songs don’t really stand up to the comparison; the brothers Gibb were doing something altogether unique in their blending of toytown psychedelia, middle of the road orchestral pop and depressive subject matter. 1967’s “Please Read Me” is one of the group’s few songs where the Beatles’ influence is notably strong. The druggy, almost sluggish tempo, as if the band are supposed to be playing faster but can’t quite make the effort, owes a clear debt to John Lennon’s contributions to Revolver, as much as the jangly Rickenbacker guitar riff owes to George Harrison. (The wordless harmonies on the bridge, however, are an unashamed Pet Sounds rip-off.) “Please Read Me” isn’t a first-tier Bee Gees song, but it deserves much wider recognition than it’s tended to receive.
“Please Read Me” was written by Barry and Robin, with “Robin, then Barry twice leading on verses with Maurice leading the choruses”. (JulianGlass, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KzwP3tqHnMU) There is a spirited debate over whether it saw the Bee Gees’ first use of falsetto, and whether Barry or Maurice was doing the honors. (See, for example, some of the comments here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQVLgq7iPcc.) The song touched many different kinds of artists — jazz/soul legend Nina Simone and Seattle punks the Fastbacks both recorded covers.
Here is a fascinating review of Bee Gees’ 1st by George Starostin (not that I necessarily agree with it all):
There is nothing in Bee Gees’ 1st that suggests an «individual artistic vision» of any kind. (In fact, there wouldn’t ever be — they would sort of try forging out that vision on Odessa, due to the popular demand of 1969 when it was thoroughly unhip not to be a «Visionary Artist», but it didn’t really stick). But on the positive side, there is nothing on the album that would arrogantly scream «we’re only in it for the money», either. The real situation, I believe, is more simple and even somewhat touching. So they heard “Penny Lane” and loved it so much, they decided to make “Turn Of The Century”. They threw on “Dr. Robert” and dug the rhythm, so they decided to make “In My Own Time”. Somebody brought them a copy of Pet Sounds, they were so overwhelmed that they incorporated those vocal harmonies into “Please Read Me” (but where are the Coke bottles?). Then they found a Mellotron in the studio, and, giggling like little kids, used it to record the «Gothic Cathedral» bits of “Every Christian…”. In short, what we are dealing here is the pleasure of discovery, and the double pleasure of assimilating the discovery. If only they weren’t talented — but they were, and it all works. . . . [F]ourteen short vignettes, each of them representing a different style, and each single one making its point in either a catchy, or a moving, or a simply curious manner, sometimes all three at the same time. Nothing here has much intellectual «depth» to it, as can be seen from the lyrics, most of which are sheer nonsense . . . . But on the level of raw emotion, it all works, from first to last note. [It] certainly does not sound like a «happy» album. If it may be pigeonholed at all . . . , it would most likely qualify as «art pop», and «art pop» in 1967 was not supposed to be about happiness — loneliness, romantic tragedy, isolation/ism/, «me against the faceless crowds», «me misunderstood and underappreciated», etc., unless you wanted to add social critique, but that latter usually came with distorted electric guitars rather than woodwinds and harpsichords. The seeds of those moods the brothers had already implanted in themselves when they took up with the folk stuff years earlier, but now the seeds have turned into saplings, and if there is something unifyingly conceptual about the record, it is «melancholic nostalgia». . . . Overall, it is tempting to call Bee Gees 1st «just another well-meaning offspring of Sgt. Pepper» — the trick is that most of this stuff was recorded at the same time as Sgt. Pepper material, even if the final album came out approximately one month later. And it does seem evident that the main Beatles’ influences here stem either from Revolver (“In My Own Time” truly sounds like a Revolver outtake . . .) or, at best, from the “Strawberry Fields Forever/Penny Lane” single. So there is no denying the batch of influences, or the lack of individualistic input, but there is no denying the sheer melodic genius — or simply the amazement at the fact that «It All Works» in the first place. By all means, these songs . . . should not be touching soul chords, but somehow, they are — I’d call this «borderline genius craftsmanship», and that, really, is the way that the Bee Gees would be operating from now on for most of their career. And in the generally healthy musical climate of the late Sixties, that «borderline genius craftsmanship» frequently gives the illusion of actually crossing that border — hence, a «thinly overwhelmed» thumbs up.
https://only-solitaire.blogspot.com/2013/02/bee-gees-1st.html
THE GENTLEBEAR writes of Nina Simone’s version:
Nina Simone first sang the Bee Gees on ‘Nuff Said, a live album recorded at the Westbury Music Fair (in upstate New York) on April 7, 1968. This was three days after the assassination of Martin Luther King, and Simone, who was especially intolerant of social injustice, was surely livid over his untimely death. . . . “Please Read Me” is . . . a truly pained call for understanding. The Bee Gees original sounds like a cry for help from someone in a bit of a slump . . . but Simone’s reading is a cry for her life- Please read me, you bastards! This is another great example of Nina Simone taking a pop song with ambiguous lyrics and imbuing it with significance and weight.
Here is Nina Simone:
Here are the Fastbacks (’93):
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