"Islands in the Stream" is a song written by the Bee Gees and sung by American country music artists Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton. Named after the Ernest Hemingway novel, it was originally written for Marvin Gaye in an R&B style, only later to be changed for the Kenny Rogers album. It was released in August 1983 as the first single from Rogers' album Eyes That See in the Dark.
The song reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the United States, giving both Rogers and Parton their second pop number-one hit (after Rogers' "Lady" in 1980 and Parton's "9 to 5" in 1981). It also topped the Country and Adult Contemporary charts. It has been certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America for selling over two million physical copies in the US. In 2005 the song topped CMT's poll of the best country duets of all time; Parton and Rogers reunited to perform the song on the CMT special.
Rogers and Parton went on to record a Christmas album together, and had an additional hit with their 1985 duet "Real Love".
Video Islands in the Stream (song)
Musical structure
The song is sung in C major moderate 4/4 time, with Rogers and Parton alternating lead vocals. Their version features a key change from C major to A-flat major.
Maps Islands in the Stream (song)
Commercial performance
It knocked Bonnie Tyler's "Total Eclipse of the Heart" out of No. 1 on Billboard's Hot 100, also topping the Country and Adult Contemporary listings. In December of that year it was certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America for selling over two million physical copies in the US. It has also sold 569,000 digital copies in the US as of November 2013. While the song was at the very top of the country charts, another of Rogers' singles "Scarlet Fever" reached #5.
In Australia the song was number one for one week in December 1983 and became one of the highest selling singles of 1984.
The song reached a peak of No. 7 in the UK singles chart in 1983. Since then it has also sold 245,577 digital copies in the UK as of July 2014.
In popular media
The song was featured in a late 1983 episode of the US daytime soap opera Days Of Our Lives as well as 1984 episodes of General Hospital and One Life To Live.
In April 2008 South Bend, Indiana, radio station WZOW played the song continuously for several days on end, a stunt drawing attention to the station's format change from alternative rock to adult contemporary.
In October 2015, the song was sang in Jane The Virgin in the episode "Chapter Twenty-Four.
In September 2016, in Supergirl, the song was played at the alien bar in the episode "Welcome to Earth".
In October 2017, the song appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon performed by Miley Cyrus and Jimmy Fallon. Cyrus portrayed her godmother Parton, while Fallon donned a silver beard and wig as Rogers.
The song is heard in season 2 of the hit Netflix show Stranger Things.
Rob Brydon and Ruth Jones perform the song in season 2, episode 5 of BBC sitcom Gavin and Stacey.
Chart performance
Chart successions
Cover versions
- Danish blues-rock singer Peter Thorup and pop singer Anne Grete Rendtorff had great success with a version with Danish lyrics in 1984 callet Skibe uden Sejl (Ships without Sails). The song was used as title track for the Danish TV series Måske i morgen (maybe tomorrow) shown on Danish national television DR.
- Swedish pop and country singer Kikki Danielsson covered the song on her 1983 album Singles Bar, with lyrics in Swedish by Ingela "Pling" Forsman as "Öar i ett hav" ("Islands in a sea").
- In 1994 the Majorcan singer Tomeu Penya recorded a version of this song with lyrics in a Balearic dialect of Catalan, entitled Illes dins un riu (Islands in a stream) in the album Una aclucada d'ull. This version was a duet sung with Adriana Ceballos an Argentinian singer, this song became very popular in Catalonia.
- It is the opening track of Barry Manilow's 2007 album The Greatest Songs of the Eighties, sung with Reba McEntire.
- The chorus of the 1998 hip-hop song "Ghetto Supastar (That Is What You Are)" is an interpolation of the chorus of "Islands in the Stream".
- In 2009 Namibian singer Nianell and South African singer Dozi released a version on their album It Takes Two.
- In 2010 South African, Afrikaans singers Ray Dylan and Elizma Theron covered the song.
- In 2010 Irish singer Ronan Keating covered the song together with Australian country music trio The McClymonts for his album Duet.
- In 2017, Adam Harvey and Beccy Cole covered the song on their album, The Great Country Songbook Volume 2.
- In October 2017, Jimmy Fallon and Miley Cyrus performed the song on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon in a recreation of Rogers' and Parton's live performance at the 26th Annual Grammy Awards.
Bee Gees' recorded version
The Bee Gees performed their version live at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on 14 November 1997, which was released a year later on One Night Only, with solo vocal by Barry Gibb. A studio version was recorded for their 2001 retrospective Their Greatest Hits: The Record, which has since featured on the 2004 Number Ones and on the 2010 Mythology box set. The chorus of Pras' 1998 hit "Ghetto Supastar (That Is What You Are)", which in turn is a reworking of the original Rogers and Parton release, replaces the final chorus in the studio recording. The live version of the song appears on their Love Songs compilation.
- Personnel
- Robin Gibb - vocals
- Maurice Gibb - keyboard, programming
- John Merchant - sound engineer
Barry Gibb's demo version
Barry Gibb's demo for Kenny Rogers had previously been bootlegged but was officially released in November 2006. It features Barry Gibb on solo vocal, with 3-part harmony on the chorus.
- Personnel
- Barry Gibb - vocals, guitar
- Robin Gibb - vocals
- Maurice Gibb - vocals, guitar
- Albhy Galuten - piano, synthesizer
Comic Relief version
On March 8, 2009, British actors Ruth Jones and Rob Brydon, in character as Vanessa Jenkins and Bryn West from the hit BBC sitcom Gavin & Stacey, released a version of the song as a single for Comic Relief. Sir Tom Jones also features on the song, performing the final verse and chorus, whilst Robin Gibb appears on the single as a backing vocalist. Re-titled "(Barry) Islands in the Stream", in reference to the Barry Island setting of Gavin & Stacey, it entered at the top of the UK Singles Chart on March 15, 2009 - for the week ending date March 22, 2009. This meant the Gibb Brothers had achieved number one songs in five successive decades, the first songwriters to achieve this feat. It also made Sir Tom Jones, at the age of 68, the oldest person to have a UK number one song. The video was filmed in Barry Island, Las Vegas and the Nevada desert, with both Gibb and Jones appearing in the video alongside Jones and Brydon. Nigel Lythgoe also makes a cameo appearance as a talent competition judge.
Track listing
- CD single
- "(Barry) Islands in the Stream" - 3:56
- "Wisemen" - 3:14
- "Somethin' Stupid" - 2:48
- "Islands in the Stream" (music video) - 4:21
- DVD single
- "(Barry) Islands in the Stream" (full-length video) - 8:56
- "(Barry) Islands in the Stream" (making of the video) - 14:30
See also
- List of Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles of 1983
References
- The Billboard Book of Number 1 Hits
External links
- Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics
Source of article : Wikipedia
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