To Love Somebody

Barry and Robin Gibb wrote To Love Somebody at Robert Stigwood's request, as a soulful ballad in the style of Sam and Dave or the Rascals for Otis Redding. Barry said it was written in New York and played to Redding, but that personally it was for Stigwood. Redding died in a plane crash later in 1967 before he could record it.

The Bee Gees recorded it at IBC Studios in London in April 1967, with Barry on lead vocal, Vince Melouney on lead guitar and Bill Shepherd's orchestral arrangement. Released as a single in 1967 with Close Another Door on the B-side, it reached No. 17 in the US and No. 41 in the UK. NME ranked it number 94 in its list of the 100 best tracks of the sixties.

In a 2017 interview on Piers Morgan's Life Stories, Barry picked it from all the songs he had written because it has a clear, emotional message.

Live and covers

Among the 320 logged setlists that list songs, it appears in 223. Nina Simone covered it on her 1968 album To Love Somebody. Jimmy Somerville's 1990 version reached No. 8 in the UK, and Michael Bolton's 1992 version reached No. 11 in the US.