Staying Alive

Song Meaning of Stayin Alive by The Bee Gees

When filmmaker Robert Stigwood asked the Bee Gees for music for a movie centered on the Brooklyn club scene, they agreed to write this disco hit.

He requested a song named "Saturday Night" because he required a beat for an eight-minute John Travolta dance scene.

However, the Bay City Rollers already had a hit with that name, so the band sensibly went in a new route. Whether or not you enjoy the music, John was unable to dance to 'Stayin' Alive.'

If you think about it, it wasn't a dance album, Barry Gibb later remarked. Travolta only needed to strut his way to fame in the movie's opening sequence; he didn't even need to dance to it.

They spent a few days writing "Stayin' Alive" while slouched on the staircase at the Château d'Hérouville studio outside of Paris. For tax reasons, the Bee Gees recorded the majority of the soundtrack in France, along with many other musicians in the 1970s.

Robin recalls, "The subject matter of 'Stayin' Alive' is actually quite a serious one; It's about survival in the streets of New York and the lyrics actually say that". Barry Gibb also recalls, "People crying out for help. Desperate songs. Those are the ones that become giants. The minute you capture that on record, it's gold. 'Stayin' Alive' is the epitome of that. Everybody struggles against the world, fighting all the bullshit and things that can drag you down. And it really is a victory just to survive. But when you climb back on top and win bigger than ever before, well that's something everybody reacts to everybody".

Stayin Alive has a BPM of 104.

Stayin Alive lyrics by The Bee Gees

Well, you can tell by the way I use my walk

I'm a woman's man: no time to talk

The music loud and the women warm

I've been kicked around since I was born

And now it's all right. It's OK

And you may look the other way

But we can try to understand

The New York Times' effect on man

Whether you're a brother

Or whether you're a mother

You're stayin' alive, stayin' alive

Feel the city breakin'

And everybody shakin'

And we're stayin' alive, stayin' alive

Ah, ha, ha, ha, stayin' alive, stayin' alive

Ah, ha, ha, ha, stayin' alive

Oh, when you walk

Well, now, I get low and I get high

And if I can't get either, I really try

Got the wings of heaven on my shoes

I'm a dancin' man and I just can't lose

You know it's all right. It's OK

I'll live to see another day

But we can try to understand

The New York Times' effect on man

Whether you're a brother

Or whether you're a mother

You're stayin' alive, stayin' alive

Feel the city breakin'

And everybody shakin'

And we're stayin' alive, stayin' alive

Ah, ha, ha, ha, stayin' alive, stayin' alive

Ah, ha, ha, ha, stayin' alive

(Hey, yeah)

Life goin' nowhere. Somebody help me

Somebody help me, yeah

Life goin' nowhere. Somebody help me, yeah

I'm stayin' alive

Well, you can tell by the way I use my walk

I'm a woman's man: no time to talk

The music loud and the women warm

I've been kicked around since I was born

And now it's all right. It's OK

And you may look the other way

But we can try to understand

The New York Times' effect on man

Whether you're a brother

Or whether you're a mother

You're stayin' alive, stayin' alive

Feel the city breakin'

And everybody shakin'

And we're stayin' alive, stayin' alive

Ah, ha, ha, ha, stayin' alive, stayin' alive

Ah, ha, ha, ha, stayin' alive

(Hey, yeah)

Life goin' nowhere. Somebody help me

Somebody help me, yeah

Life goin' nowhere. Somebody help me, yeah

I'm stayin' alive

Life goin' nowhere. Somebody help me

Somebody help me, yeah

Life goin' nowhere. Somebody help me, yeah

I'm stayin' alive

Life goin' nowhere. Somebody help me

Somebody help me, yeah

Life goin' nowhere. Somebody help me, yeah

I'm stayin' alive

Life goin' nowhere. Somebody help me

Somebody help me, yeah

Life goin' nowhere. Somebody help me, yeah

I'm stayin' alive