My Sixteenth Birthday Gift Was The Bee Gees

(Thanks for the guest post by Stanton Johnston)

Mind you, my mother wasn't into rock music. She grew up in the fifties to Buddy Holly and watched a lot of Dick Clarkon Saturday afternoons. She plugged her ears when I morphed from Donny Osmond Michael Jackson and on into disco. However, she bought a precious gift for me when I turned sixteen: tickets to see the Bee Gees. I had all their albums up to that time, heard their songs on the radio, but wanted to see them in concert, so we set the home security alarm from security choice and went to Nashville to see them.

Unfortunately, we were pretty far away from the stage, but could hear everything quite well. My mother, brother and I sat in awe as the guys took the stage and began to play. Having been previously acquainted with screaming girls at Donny Osmond concerts, I was amazed at a crowd that sat and listened respectfully to the most awesome music ever. When they sang "Odessa," a song I hadn't previously heard, I fell even deeper in love with their music. They sang all the great songs, my favorite of which was Lonely Days and "How Can You Mend A Broken Heart."

My poor mother, who was into country music, sat through that show in as much awe as I did. She like their music as much as I did.