Saturday Night Fever (soundtrack)

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Saturday Night Fever

Soundtrack by Various Artists
Released	November 1977
Recorded	1977
Genre	Disco
Length	74:06
Label	RSO
Producer	Arif Mardin
Professional reviews
All Music Guide link Pitchfork Media (8.7/10.0) link

Saturday Night Fever: The Original Movie Sound Track is the soundtrack album from the blockbuster film Saturday Night Fever starring John Travolta. In the United States, the album has gone platinum fifteen times.

1 Background
2 Track listing
3 Personnel
4 Additional songs in the film not on the soundtrack album
5 Additional songs recorded for the film but not used
6 Charts
7 Popular Culture

[edit] Background

Along with the success of the movie, the soundtrack, composed and performed primarily by The Bee Gees, became the number one best-selling soundtrack of all time. The cultural impact of Saturday Night Fever in the United States was tremendous. The Bee Gees had originally written and recorded the five original songs for the film, "Stayin' Alive", "Night Fever" and "How Deep Is Your Love" (all performed by the Bee Gees), "More Than A Woman" (performed in the film in two different versions--one version by Tavares, and another by the Bee Gees), and "If I Can't Have You" (performed in the movie by Yvonne Elliman) as part of a regular album (they had no idea at the time they would be making a soundtrack). Two previously released Bee Gee songs, "Jive Talkin'" and "You Should Be Dancing", are also included on the soundtrack. Other previously released songs from the disco era round out the music in the movie.

In addition to the Bee Gees' score, additional incidental music was composed and adapted by David Shire. Three of Shire's cues, "Manhattan Skyline", "Night on Disco Mountain" (based on the classical piece "Night on Bald Mountain"), and "Salsation", are included on the soundtrack album. Five additional cues, "Tony and Stephanie", "Near The Verrazano Bridge" (both adapted from the Bee Gees' song "How Deep Is Your Love"), "Barracuda Hangout", "Death On The Bridge", and "All Night Train", while heard in the film, remain unreleased on CD.

The soundtrack won a Grammy for Album of the Year.

In 2003, the album was ranked number 131 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

The soundtrack hit the #1 spot on Billboard Music Chart's Pop Album and Black Album charts. In 2003 the TV network VH1 named it the 57th greatest album of all time.

Saturday Night Fever - The Original Movie Soundtrack was ranked 80th in a 2005 survey held by British television's Channel 4 to determine the 100 greatest albums of all time.

The original issue of the album included the original studio version of "Jive Talkin'"; later LP pressings included a live version culled from Here At Last...Bee Gees...Live. All CD releases have included the original "Jive Talkin'". "Jive Talkin'" was to have been used in a deleted scene taking place the day after Tony Manero's first Saturday night at the disco, but as the sequence was cut for the final film, the song was cut as well.

[edit] Track listing

"Stayin' Alive" performed by The Bee Gees - 4:45
"How Deep Is Your Love" performed by The Bee Gees - 4:05
"Night Fever" performed by The Bee Gees - 3:33
"More Than a Woman" performed by The Bee Gees - 3:17
"If I Can't Have You" performed by Yvonne Elliman - 3:00
"A Fifth of Beethoven" performed by Walter Murphy - 3:03
"More Than a Woman" performed by Tavares - 3:17
"Manhattan Skyline" performed by David Shire - 4:44
"Calypso Breakdown" performed by Ralph MacDonald - 7:50
"Night on Disco Mountain" performed by David Shire - 5:12
"Open Sesame" performed by Kool & the Gang - 4:01
"Jive Talkin'" performed by The Bee Gees - 3:43
"You Should Be Dancing" performed by The Bee Gees - 4:14
"Boogie Shoes" performed by KC & the Sunshine Band - 2:17
"Salsation" performed by David Shire - 3:50
"K-Jee" performed by MFSB - 4:13
"Disco Inferno" performed by The Trammps - 10:51

"Calypso Breakdown" and "Jive Talkin'" were not contained in the film.

[edit] Personnel

The Bee Gees - Performer
Kool & the Gang - Performer
Tavares - Performer
The Trammps - Performer
Yvonne Elliman - Performer
Robin Gibb
MFSB - Performer
Ralph MacDonald - Performer
Walter Murphy - Performer
Barry Gibb
Carmine d'Amico - Guitar, Guitar (Electric)
Maurice Gibb
KC and the Sunshine Band - Performer
Arif Mardin - Producer
David Shire - Performer, Adaptation
John Tobler - Liner Notes
Bill Oakes - Compilation, Album Supervision

[edit] Additional songs in the film not on the soundtrack album

"Barracuda Hangout" performed by David Shire
"Dr. Disco" performed by Rick Dees
"Disco Duck" performed by Rick Dees

[edit] Additional songs recorded for the film but not used

"Emotion" by Samantha Sang
"If I Can't Have You" by The Bee Gees
"(Our Love) Don't Throw It All Away" by The Bee Gees
"Warm Ride" by The Bee Gees

[edit] Charts

Album - Billboard Music Charts (North America)

Year	Chart	Position
1978	Black Albums	1
1978	Pop Albums	1

Singles - Billboard Music Charts (North America)

Year	Single	Chart	Position
1977	"How Deep Is Your Love"	Adult Contemporary	1
1977	"How Deep Is Your Love"	Pop Singles	1
1978	"Night Fever"	Black Singles	8
1978	"Night Fever"	Pop Singles	1
1978	"If I Can't Have You"	Pop Singles	1
1978	"Stayin' Alive/Night Fever/More Than A Woman"	Club Play Singles	3
1978	"Stayin' Alive"	Pop Singles	1
1978	"Stayin' Alive"	R&B Singles	4

Singlar - Billboard Music Charts (The Billboard Hot 100) (North America)

Year	Single	Nr
1975	"Jive Talkin"	1
1976	"A Fifth of Beethoven"	1
1977	"How Deep Is Your Love"	1
1978	"Night Fever"	1
1978	"If I Can't Have You"	1
1978	"Stayin' Alive"	1

[edit] Popular Culture

The Sesame Street Fever album parodies the cover perfectly, using Bert, Ernie, and Cookie Monster in the Bee Gees' pose, and Grover in the John Travolta pose.