Massachusetts

When the Gibb brothers composed Massachusetts, they had never set foot in that state. The idea came to them at the Regis Hotel in New York, during a tour of the United States. They sought to create something opposite to the peace and love songs of the time, such as Let's Go to San Francisco. The lyrics imagined someone traveling to San Francisco to join the hippies, only to end up feeling nostalgia. The image of the lights out in Massachusetts suggested that everyone had left for San Francisco. Barry remembers being at the hotel as the luggage arrived, feeling euphoric about being in New York, and that’s how the song was born. Robin, for his part, recalls having composed it on a boat circling the city.

The recording of Massachusetts took place at IBC Studios in London, between August 9 and 17, 1967. It was a quick process, and the result was a hit that became the Bee Gees’ first number one in the United Kingdom. The song also reached the top spot in twelve other countries and sold over five million copies worldwide. The orchestral arrangement by Bill Shepherd is something that Barry Gibb remembers with special fondness, considering it one of the arranger’s best works. Originally, the song was intended for the group The Seekers. After their return to London from Australia, the Bee Gees tried to offer it to The Seekers without success, so they decided to record it themselves. Years later, in 2003, Judith Durham, lead singer of The Seekers, recorded Massachusetts as a tribute to Maurice Gibb.