Let There Be Love (Bee Gees song)

"Let There Be Love" is a ballad performed by the Bee Gees, It was written by Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb and released as the opening track on the 1968 album Idea. It was also issued as a single in the Netherlands in 1970, peaking at #16.^[1] The group performs this song at 192 TV in 1968.^[2]

Background

Barry Gibb recalls:

"'Let There Be Love'" was written next to St. Paul's Cathedral in a penthouse apartment that we rented when we first arrived in England. That song was written in that penthouse 'round about midnight. Me and my then-girlfriend, who is my wife now, we'd just fallen in love, and it was that type of mood I was in that night."^[3]

This track has dual rhythm guitars serving as percussion, but there is quite a bit of additional recording compared to other songs on the album. The soft and high voices, the trebly sound of the guitars and piano, and Bill Shepherd's arrangement with harps and violins made it sound a little more precious than usual, and as the opening track it set a tone for Idea that was quite a bit more lightweight than Horizontal.^[4] On The Studio Albums 1967 - 1968 has a mono mix of an earlier state of the recording, with different lead vocal sung entirely by Barry and some instrumental differences and faded at 3:34.

Personnel

• Barry Gibb — lead vocal, guitar
• Robin Gibb — organ, backing vocal
• Maurice Gibb — bass, piano, organ, mellotron
• Colin Petersen — drums
• Bill Shepherd — orchestral arrangement

Cover versions

• P.P. Arnold recorded this song on 9 June 1969 same day as "Bury Me Down By the River", another track by the Bee Gees. The session was produced by Barry Gibb.
• Tom Jones covered the song and released it as the closing track on the album Tom in 1970. Arranged by Johnnie Spence, engineered by Bill Price and produced by Peter Sullivan.^[5]

References

External links

• Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics