The second single by The Bee Gees back in 1967 was originally written for their mentor Robert Stigwood and intended for Otis Redding to record.

I heard this for the first time in ages at a gig last night – but by Dexys Midnight Runners. It sent me back in search of the original by The Bee Gees this morning.

It was only the second single they ever released, back in 1967, and Barry and Robin Gibb wrote it to emulate their soul idols like Otis Redding, who had come to see them in NYC and, according to Robin, asked Barry to write him a song.

So he did… though Barry said later that he had written it for Robert Stigwood because of his huge affection for the man who masterminded their rise to fame from obscure Australian wannabes to international superstars.

Forty years later, in an interview, Barry Gibb cited it as the best song he’d ever written for The Bee Gees, “because of its clear emotional message.”

The Bee Gees released it as their second single in June 1967, six months before Otis died in a plane crash – and before he had a chance to record it himself.

Strangely, the single did much better in America than in Britain, where it failed to connect with an audience; something Barry attributed to it being a soul song.

It was the sequel to their official debut with New York Mining Disaster 1941 (though there was an earlier one back in 1963 that no one knows called The Battle Of The Blue And Grey, released on the first of their two albums for Australian labels).