For the rest of the Nashville Roadtrip 2009 "ROADGEEK-CAM!!!" series, please click here.
And finally, from a Bee Gees fan website, here's a story of how traveling over a bridge in Miami inspired Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb to write a song...
At night, the Julia Tuttle Causeway (I-195) arcs from Miami to the beach like the top half of a Ferris wheel. It spllits the black bay, bright and hard-sell, a concrete shove toward hotel row. The Bee Gees have traveled this route every night since they arrived in Miami to work on their new album, "Main Course." It’s a quiet car that heads back to their rented Ocean Boulevard home. They have left the studio later than usual; the sessions are not going as well as Barry hoped and, after the failure of their first collaboration, "Mr. Natural," he is beginning to doubt himself and (Arif) Mardin (the Bee Gees' producer at the time).
Barry, Lynda and Maurice are in the back seat; Ashby and Robin are up front. As they hit the causeway, the metal bridge supports bop the tires in an irresistible rhythm. Ch-ch-ch. Lynda has never heard it before; after all those late-night rides, she begins to tap her foot in time. "You should write a song to this rhythm," she says, laughing at her husband. Ch-ch-ch. Barry closes his eyes and listens to the funky bridge tattoo their wheels. Before they reach home, the three brothers are singing in sweet, soulful, million-selling harmony: "Ch-ch-ch—Jive Talkin’.
As Paul Harvey would say, "Now you know the rest of the story.", and I've since download "Jive Talkin'" and placed it on my "Roadgeek iPod". Next time we're in Miami, I'm going to travel I-195 (a Florida Interstate I still need to "clinch") and crank up this song as I drive over the Julia Tuttle Causeway.
Here's a video of The Bee Gees performing their "road-inspired" hit song, "Jive Talkin'"...
Copyright 2007. Steve Williams. All rights reserved.
DISCLAIMER: "The Georgia Road Geek" is neither affiliated with, nor endorsed by, the State of Georgia, Georgia Department of Transportation, or any other federal, state, or local government agency.
