(Love Is) Thicker Than Water

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"(Love Is) Thicker Than Water"
Single by Andy Gibb
from the album Flowing Rivers
B-side "Words and Music" (US)
"Flowing Rivers" (UK)
Released September 1977
Format 7"
Recorded Criteria Studios, Miami, Florida
October 1976
Genre Disco, funk, soul
Length 3:18
4:15 (stereo)
Label RSO
Writer(s) Barry Gibb, Andy Gibb
Producer(s) Gibb-Galuten-Richardson
Certification Gold (U.S.)
Andy Gibb singles chronology
"I Just Want To Be Your Everything"
(1977)		 "(Love Is) Thicker Than Water"
(1977)		 "Shadow Dancing"
(1978)

"(Love Is) Thicker Than Water" is a song performed by Andy Gibb, released in 1977, it was his second single that topped the US Billboard Hot 100. It was mainly written by Barry Gibb, with help from Andy Gibb. The B-side of this song was "Words and Music" in the US, but "Flowing Rivers" in the UK.[1] It became a gold record.

Billboard magazine describes the song as "a midtempo ballad that changes pace from a lushly romantic and soft [Andy] Gibb vocal to an uptempo instrumental drive. Plenty of melody and another catchy hook".[2]

Writing and recording

"(Love Is) Thicker Than Water" was written originally by Barry Gibb in Bermuda alone with Andy Gibb credited as co-writer on the latter.[3] Andy Gibb later revealed writing a song with Barry:

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I did one song with Barry, 'Thicker Than Water' which I thought was good", Gibb explains, "Even though it says on the credits 'B. & A. Gibb', it is really Barry's song - it is very hard to write with Barry, but he said, 'Help me think of a great title'. That was a period where Barry was thinking of titles first and seeing how they would inspire him to write a song, we were thinking of titles first and seeing how they would inspire him to write a song, We were thinking of good titles, and I said, 'How about Thicker Than Water?' I did not say 'Love Is' just 'Thicker Than Water', he said 'That's great!' and then he came up with 'Love is higher than a mountain' and he just went on from there, but the title was totally my idea.[4]

"(Love Is) Thicker than Water" was recorded in October 1976 at the Criteria Studios in Miami, Florida, during the same time as "I Just Want to Be Your Everything". On the two tracks, Joe Walsh of Eagles played guitar.[5] The song was certified Gold in the United States on 16 February 1978 as Robert Stigwood presented Gibb with his first gold record at the Roxy in Los Angeles.[4]

Aftermath

As evidence of the Gibb brothers' U.S. chart domination in 1978, atop the 4 March 1978 Hot 100 the Bee Gees' "Stayin' Alive" was displaced by this song,[6] which in turn was displaced two weeks later by the Bee Gees' "Night Fever", which in turn was displaced eight weeks later by Yvonne Elliman's "If I Can't Have You". Since Barry Gibb had a hand in writing all four of these songs, he became the only person in history to write four consecutive US number-one singles, a feat unmatched to this day. The song was released in February 1978 in Netherlands.[7]

On 7 October 1977 Andy performed the song, and "I Just Want to Be Your Everything", on The Midnight Special.

Chart performance

References

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  14. ↑ Top 100 Hits of 1978/Top 100 Songs of 1978
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Preceded by Billboard Hot 100 number one single
4–17 March 1978		 Succeeded by
"Night Fever" by Bee Gees
Cash Box Top 100 number one single
4–10 March 1978		 Succeeded by
"Emotion" by Samantha Sang


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