Massachusetts (Bee Gees song)

"Massachusetts"
Single by Bee Gees
from the album Horizontal
B-side	"Barker of the UFO" (UK) "Sir Geoffrey Saved the World" (US)
Released	19 September 1967 (UK) November 1967 (US)
Format	7", 45rpm
Recorded	9, 17 August 1967 IBC Studios, Portland Place, London
Genre	Pop
Length	2:22
Label	Polydor (United Kingdom) Atco (United States)
Writer(s)	Barry Gibb Robin Gibb Maurice Gibb
Producer(s)	Robert Stigwood, Bee Gees
Bee Gees UK singles chronology
"To Love Somebody" (1967) "Massachusetts" (1967) "World" (1967)
Bee Gees US singles chronology "Holiday" (1967) "Massachusetts" (1967) "Words" (1968) Horizontal track listing 12 tracks Side one "World" "And the Sun Will Shine" "Lemons Never Forget" "Really and Sincerely" "Birdie Told Me" "With the Sun In My Eyes" Side two "Massachusetts" "Harry Braff" "Daytime Girl" "The Earnest of Being George" "The Change Is Made" "Horizontal" Alternative cover The cover single used in other territories Music sample "Massachusetts"

"Massachusetts" is a song by the Bee Gees, released in 1967. Written by Barry, Robin & Maurice Gibb. Robin Gibb sang lead vocals on this song and it would become one of his staple songs to perform during concerts on both Bee Gees and his solo concerts. It later appeared on their 1968 album, Horizontal.

The song became the first of the group's five No. 1 hits in the UK, reached No. 1 in twelve other countries, peaked at No. 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 and eventually became one of the best-selling singles of all time, selling over five million copies worldwide. When the brothers wrote the song, they had never been to Massachusetts. In a UK television special on ITV in December 2011, it was voted third (behind "How Deep Is Your Love" and "You Win Again") in "The Nation's Favourite Bee Gees Song".

The song was written in the Regis Hotel, New York City during a tour of the United States. The song was intended as an antithesis to flower power anthems of the time such as "Let's Go to San Francisco" and "San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair)" in that the protagonist had been to San Francisco to join the hippies but was now homesick. The idea of the lights having gone out in Massachusetts was to suggest that everyone had gone to San Francisco.

There are two different memories, Robin remembers us doing it in a boat going around New York City. And I remember us checking in at the St. Regis with Robert, going to the suite, and while the bags were being brought in we were so high on being in New York, that's how 'Massachusetts' began. I think we were strumming basically the whole thing, and then I think we went on a boat round New York. I don't know if we finished it, but I think that's where the memories collide. Everybody wrote it. All three of us were there when the song was born.