"Why" is a song written by

Barry Gibb Sir Barry Alan Crompton Gibb (born 1 September 1946) is a British musician, singer, songwriter and record producer. Along with his younger fraternal twin brothers, Robin Gibb, Robin and Maurice Gibb, Maurice, he rose to global fame as a member ...

and composed by

Andy Gibb Andrew Roy Gibb (5 March 1958 – 10 March 1988) was an English singer and songwriter. He was the younger brother of Barry Gibb, Barry, Robin Gibb, Robin, and Maurice Gibb, musicians who had formed the Bee Gees during the late 1950s. Andy G ...

, fourth and last single released on the album '' Shadow Dancing''. Released as a single in September 1978 by

RSO Records RSO Records was a record label formed by rock and roll and musical theatre impresario Robert Stigwood and record executive Al Coury in 1973. The letters "RSO" stood for the Robert Stigwood Organisation. RSO managed the careers of several ma ...

around the same time as " (Our Love) Don't Throw It All Away". It was his only single that was not charted in any countries. The song was produced by

Gibb-Galuten-Richardson Gibb-Galuten-Richardson were a British-American record producing team, consisting of Bee Gees founding member and British singer-songwriter Barry Gibb, American musician and songwriter Albhy Galuten and American sound engineer Karl Richardson. ...

Writing and recording

Barry wrote the lyrics for this song while Andy composed the melody. As Andy reveals: It was recorded in Wally Heider Studios in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. Barry sings background vocals on this track especially on the refrain and chorus. Barry also used his

falsetto Falsetto ( , ; Italian language, Italian diminutive of , "false") is the vocal register occupying the frequency range just above the modal voice register and overlapping with it by approximately one octave. It is produced by the vibration of the ...

voice on this track as well as " Shadow Dancing", " Don't Throw it All Away" and " An Everlasting Love". The song features a guitar work by

Jock Bartley Firefall is an American soft rock band that formed in Boulder, Colorado, in 1974. It was founded by Rick Roberts, former member of the Flying Burrito Brothers, and Jock Bartley, who had been Tommy Bolin's replacement in Zephyr. Other members ...

Firefall Firefall is an American soft rock band that formed in Boulder, Colorado, in 1974. It was founded by Rick Roberts (musician), Rick Roberts, former member of the Flying Burrito Brothers, and Jock Bartley, who had been Tommy Bolin's replacement ...

John Sambataro Johnne "John" Sambataro (born August 27, 1953, in South Florida) is an American rock musician. In 1975, he began working as a session vocalist and musician at Criteria Recording Studios in Miami, where he worked with Andy Gibb, Barry Gibb, Step ...

, who later worked with

Steve Winwood Stephen Lawrence Winwood (born 12 May 1948) is an English musician and songwriter whose genres include blue-eyed soul, rhythm and blues, blues rock, and pop rock. Though primarily a guitarist, keyboard player, and vocalist prominent for his dis ...

who also sing background vocals on the album, plays

slide guitar Slide guitar is a technique for playing the guitar that is often used in blues music. It involves playing a guitar while holding a hard object (a slide) against the strings, creating the opportunity for glissando effects and deep vibratos that ...

on this track as it was featured on the intro and interlude.

Release

The two US singles have consecutive catalog numbers and the same B side, as if "Why" was a quick replacement for " (Our Love) Don't Throw it All Away". (The song was in fact the American hit.) This track was produced by Barry,

Albhy Galuten Albhy Galuten (born Alan Bruce Galuten; December 27, 1947) is an American technology executive and futurist, Grammy Award-winning record producer, composer, musician, orchestrator and conductor. Career Musical career Galuten attended Berkle ...

and Karl Richardson, but the B-side was "One More Look at the Night" written by Andy Gibb and produced only by Galuten and Richardson (and was also used as the B-side of "Don't Throw it All Away") In the UK, its B-side was "Fool for a Night" was originally released on Andy's 1977 debut album ''

Flowing Rivers ''Flowing Rivers'' is the debut studio album by English singer-songwriter Andy Gibb, released on September 1977, by RSO Records. It was produced by Albhy Galuten and Karl Richardson, with Barry Gibb as executive producer. The album was re-relea ...

''.

Personnel

—

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of the ...

—

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are us ...

— backing vocals,

*Joey Murcia —

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

— guitar *George Bitzer —

synthesizer A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...

*Harold Cowart —

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

Ron Ziegler Ronald Louis Ziegler (May 12, 1939 – February 10, 2003) was the 13th White House Press Secretary, serving during President Richard Nixon's administration. Early life Ziegler was born to Louis Daniel Ziegler, a production manager, and Ruby (Par ...

—

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

Joe Lala Joseph Anthony Lala (November 3, 1947 – March 18, 2014) was an American musician and actor. In 1966, he co-founded the rock band Blues Image. Life and career Lala was born in Ybor City, Tampa, Florida, into a family of Italian-American bac ...

—

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Why (Andy Gibb song) 1978 singles 1978 songs Songs written by Barry Gibb Songs written by Andy Gibb Andy Gibb songs RSO Records singles Song recordings produced by Barry Gibb Song recordings produced by Albhy Galuten