It’s easy to forget that The Bee Gees had pretty much disappeared from view by the mid-Seventies. So much so that this comeback single was sent to DJs in a plain white sleeve with no band name.
Jive Talkin’ put them back on track by radically reinventing their sound, from harmony-laden soft pop ballads to funky disco with Barry Gibb’s falsetto to the fore.

Surprisingly, its original title was Drive Talking, the insistent rhythm supposedly replicating the sound of the Gibbs brothers’ car as it crossed the causeway to their studio in Miami, the brothers having left the UK for Florida.

The new title came about by accident, Barry ad-libbing a stuttering “ji-ji-jive talking” over a groove created by producer Arif Mardin. He asked if they knew what that phrase meant and, as Maurice later recalled:

“We said ‘Well yeah, it’s, ya know, you’re dancing.’ “He says ‘NO…it’s a black expression for bullshitting.’ And we went ‘Oh, Really?!? Jive talkin’, you’re telling me lies…’ and changed it.”

Barry plays the scratchy guitar, modelled on Kool and the Gang’s signature sound, and sings the stuttering lead vocal, and Maurice plays the funky bassline, inspired by KC and the Sunshine Band, boosted – at Mardin’s suggestion – by a synth bass played by Blue Weaver.

The original studio version, recorded at Criteria Studio in Miami, was the first single from The Bee Gees’ album Main, and was later included on the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack – though the scene in which it appeared was cut from the film.