Rachel E. Watson

Did you ever wonder what kind of music the Bee Gees were making before disco? I was born in the '80s, so I wasn't around for disco, and I definitely wasn't around for the birth of rock 'n' roll.

But thanks to the Internet, and to my husband's wide-ranging tastes, I get introduced to a lot of music I might not otherwise have listened to, both from the past and present.

Today, Adam played me a song by the Bee Gees that I never would have guessed they'd recorded, because I've only ever heard their mega-famous disco hits.

You know, "Stayin' Alive," "More Than a Woman," "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart," etc.

But here's one that predates all that:

"Jumbo" (1968), by the Bee Gees:

Jumbo said to say goodnight
See you in the morning
Please don't lose your appetite
He knows who is yawning

Tomorrow you can climb a mountain
Sail a sailboat through a fountain

Jumbo said to say goodnight
He's a friend of yours

Play no games, he'd say to me
When the light is gone
He is right, he'd say to me
We know who is wrong

So please don't make no hesitation
There will be no recreation

Jumbo said to say goodnight
He's a friend of yours

Listen, you can chew it
If it's loud enough you hear it
'Cos it's narrow as a sparrow
And it shoots a bow and arrow
Through a top that's made with powder

With a gun it's even louder
And it's shatterin' to hear
You mustn't listen with your ear
But it gets to you

(Yes, yes, yes)
It gets to you
(Yes, yes, yes)
You
(Yes, yes, yes)
You
(Yes, yes, yes)


To what other bands would you compare that sound?