First of May

Barry sang lead on First of May, the single from Odessa. Its B-side was Lamplight, with Robin on lead. It was the first Bee Gees single after Vince Melouney left. Barry said the title came from the birthday of his dog, Barnaby. Maurice recalled sitting at the piano with Barry. A demo with vocal was taped in New York on 16 August 1968, and in London at IBC Studios they kept the piano track and Barry's vocal and added a choir and orchestra to it.

Bill Shepherd did the orchestration. The single reached No. 6 in the UK and No. 37 in the US. Robert Stigwood chose it as the A-side. Robin had wanted Lamplight to lead, and he quit the group, returning about a year later.

Afterlife

The song was used in the 1971 film Melody and in 1996 as the theme of the Japanese drama Wakaba no Koro, after which it was reissued as a CD single in Japan and peaked at No. 25. Maurice sang it with Lulu on her 2002 TV special An Audience with Lulu, and Robin guested on G4's cover in 2005. Among the 320 logged setlists that list songs, it appears in nine.