Groovy Tuesday: Samantha Sang’s “Emotion”

Every Tuesday, the Analog Kid blog goes back in time and features some groovy R&B/soul songs from a specific year. Sometimes you’ll hear songs from individual artists, and other times you’ll get an entire full-length classic LP ripped directly from the Analog Kid’s vast vinyl vault. Warning: by R&B/soul, I also mean disco. I could go all Weather Girls on your ass at any given moment, so just be ready!

I just told my wife that I was blogging about Samantha Sang’s “Emotion” today, and she said, “Who?” So I sang her the chorus (in a pathetic wanna-be-Barry-Gibb falsetto, of course), and she exclaimed, “That’s NOT the Bee Gees?”

I imagine a lot of people felt that same confusion back in the spring of 1978. “Emotion” sure sounds like a classic Bee Gees song, which makes perfect sense when you consider the following:

a) It was written by Barry and Robin Gibb.

b) Barry’s unmistakable falsetto carries the chorus. (Anyone else find it a bit odd that a singer named “Samantha Sang” barely even sings on the chorus of her only real hit?)

c) “Emotion” was co-produced by Albhy Galuten and Karl Richardson, the team responsible for producing all of the Bee Gees’ hits from Saturday Night Fever.

“Emotion” reached #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 on March 18, 1978. The two songs ahead of it? “Night Fever” and “Stayin’ Alive.” Andy Gibb’s “(Love Is) Thicker Than Water” (also co-written by Barry and produced by Galuten/Richardson) was at #5 on the chart as well, meaning the Bee Gees were responsible for four of the top five songs in America that week. Anyone care to guess what the non-Bee-Gees song at #4 was that week? If so, put your guesses in the comments section below (hint: the song does actually have a couple of ties to Saturday Night Fever if you dig deep enough!). The first person to get it right wins my undying respect, along with an imaginary voucher for an Analog Kid Blog t-shirt (redeemable if/when I ever manage to get off my butt and make them, which is probably not going to happen anytime soon).

The Emotion album peaked at #29 on the Billboard 200 album chart, and to my knowledge has never been released on a stand-alone CD. The album contains two more songs written by Barry and Robin, along with a cover of the Delfonics’ “La La (Means I Love You).” Samantha Sang released one more album in 1979, and then retired to her native Melbourne. The Bee Gees finally released their own version of “Emotion” on the 2001 compilation The Record: Their Greatest Hits.

Samantha Sang: Emotion

Private Stock Records, 1978

Vinyl rip courtesy of the Analog Kid

1. “You Keep Me Dancing” (Randell/Linzer)

2. “Charade” (Gibb/Gibb)

3. “Emotion” (Gibb/Gibb)

4. “Change Of Heart” (Carmen)

5. “Living Without Your Love” (Wolfert/Nelson)

6. “La La La I Love You” (Bell/Hart)

7. “But If She Moves You” (Simon)

8. “When Love Is Gone” (Wells/Lai/Evans)

9. “I Don’t Wanna Go” (Roberts/Sager)

10. “The Love Of A Woman” (Gibb/Gibb)

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Bonus Tracks!

The first rule of The Analog Kid blog is that if you write about a song on the Analog Kid blog, you share the song on the Analog Kid blog.

Bee Gees: “Emotion” (Gibb/Gibb)

From the album Their Greatest Hits: The Record

UTV Records, 2001 [“Emotion” recorded in 1994]

Bee Gees: “Stayin’ Alive” (Barry, Robin, & Maurice Gibb)

From the album Saturday Night Fever

RSO Records, 1977

Bee Gees: “Night Fever” (Barry, Robin, & Maurice Gibb)

From the album Saturday Night Fever

RSO Records, 1977

Andy Gibb: “(Love Is) Thicker Than Water” (Barry & Andy Gibb)

From the album Flowing Rivers

RSO Records, 1977

The Delfonics: “La-La (Means I Love You)” (Bell/Hart)

From the album La La Means I Love You

Philly Groove Records, 1968