| "Tragedy" | |||||
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| Single by The Bee Gees from the album Spirits Having Flown |
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| A-side | "Tragedy" | ||||
| B-side | "Until" | ||||
| Released | January 1979 | ||||
| Format | Single | ||||
| Recorded | March-October 1978 | ||||
| Genre | Pop | ||||
| Length | 5:03 | ||||
| Label | RSO | ||||
| Writer | Barry, Robin & Maurice Gibb | ||||
| Certification | Platinum | ||||
| The Bee Gees singles chronology | |||||
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- For the song recorded by The Fleetwoods and Thomas Wayne, see Tragedy (Thomas Wayne song).
"Tragedy" is a song recorded by the Bee Gees, included on their 1979 album Spirits Having Flown. The single reached No.1 in the UK in February 1979 and repeated the feat the following month on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. Though not originally in Saturday Night Fever, it has subsequently been added to the musical score of the West End version of the movie-musical. The song knocked "I Will Survive" by Gloria Gaynor off the top spot in the U.S. for two weeks before that song again returned to the No.1 spot for one additional week. In 1979, NBC aired The Bee Gees Special which showed how the sound effect for the explosion was created. Barry cupped his hands over a microphone and made an exploding sound. Several of these sounds were then mixed together creating one large boom heard on the record.
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Steps cover
In 1998, Steps covered "Tragedy", releasing it as a double A-side with "Heartbeat". It debuted at No.2 on the UK singles chart before climbing to the top spot, achieving platinum status. A dance step of putting both hands parallel to the sides of the head became the trademark move of the British group. "Tragedy" has sold more copies than all three previous Steps singles combined. It spent eighteen weeks in the Top 20 and thirty weeks on the chart in total.
Celldweller
On April 24, 2006, electronic/industrial-rock band Celldweller released a cover version of the song to iTunes, BuyMusic, Napster and several other companies that sell music over the internet. Although artwork was made for the release, there was no official CD release for this single.
Other versions
Same Difference sang the song on Series 4 of The X Factor
See also
- Hot 100 No. 1 Hits of 1979 (USA)
- List of Number 1 singles from the 1970s (UK)
- List of best-selling singles (UK)
| Preceded by "I Will Survive" by Gloria Gaynor |
Billboard Hot 100 number one single March 24 1979 |
Succeeded by "What a Fool Believes" by The Doobie Brothers |
| Preceded by "Heart of Glass" by Blondie |
UK number one single February 24 1979 |
Succeeded by "I Will Survive" by Gloria Gaynor |
