New York Mining Disaster 1941
| "New York Mining Disaster 1941" | ||||||||
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| Single by Bee Gees | ||||||||
| from the album Bee Gees' 1st | ||||||||
| B-side | "I Can't See Nobody" | |||||||
| Released | 14 April 1967 | |||||||
| Format | 7" | |||||||
| Recorded |
13–16 March 1967
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| Genre | Folk rock,pop rock | |||||||
| Length | 2:09 | |||||||
| Label |
Polydor (United Kingdom, Canada) Atco (United States, Mexico) Spin (Australia, New Zealand) |
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| Writer(s) | Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb | |||||||
| Producer(s) | Robert Stigwood, Ossie Byrne | |||||||
| Bee Gees singles chronology | ||||||||
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"New York Mining Disaster 1941" is the debut American single by the British pop group the Bee Gees, released on 14 April 1967. It was written by Barry and Robin Gibb. Barring a moderately successful reissue of their Australian single "Spicks and Specks," it was the first single release of the group's international career and their first song to hit the charts in both the UK and the US. It was produced by Ossie Byrne with their manager Robert Stigwood as executive producer. The song was the first track of side two on the group's international debut album, Bee Gees' 1st. This was the first single with Australian drummer Colin Petersen as an official member of the band.
On 3 January 1967, the Gibb brothers with their parents and Byrne set sail for England, aboard the ship Fairsky, reaching Southampton on 6 February. The brothers performed on board in exchange for passage. Later, the Gibb brothers auditioned for Stigwood; they passed, and they signed to Robert Stigwood Organisation on 24 February. "New York Mining Disaster 1941" was their first song that was written in 1967.
The first recording session of the Bee Gees after returning to England was a second version of "Town of Tuxley Toymaker, Part 1," a song recorded by Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas, but was first recorded by Jon Blanchfield in Australia. Kramer's version was recorded on 4 March 1967 in IBC Studios, London, with the Gibb brothers on background vocals.
Barry and Robin Gibb wrote the song while sitting on a darkened staircase at Polydor Records following a power cut. The echo of the passing lift inspired them to imagine that they were trapped in a mine. The song recounts the story of a miner trapped in a cave-in. He is sharing a photo of his wife with a colleague ("Mr. Jones") while they hopelessly wait to be rescued. According to the liner notes for their box-set Tales from the Brothers Gibb (1990), this song was inspired by the 1966 Aberfan mining disaster in Wales. According to Robin, there actually had also been a mining disaster in New York in 1939, but not in 1941.
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