Robin Gibb Inspired by Strauss
For this post, I have the pleasure of writing about a music education journey I have been on. It involves Robin and Strauss, or more specifically, classical composer Johann Strauss II and how his musical compositions likely inspired Robin and the Bee Gees to write their famous song, ‘I Started a Joke.’
This journey involves mysterious synchronicity which kept pointing to Strauss, so I felt the guidance to follow this connection to see where it was going to take me. Robin really took me to school on this one, so I hope you enjoy it! He doesn’t let me rest on my laurels, but it is really fun and I enjoy it so much.
Robin and Strauss
During the early morning hours of Feb. 22, 2021, I read the book Tragedy-The Ballad of the Bee Gees by Jeff Apter. I was reading it to connect with Robin’s spirit. Due to the fact that I have already read two books about the Bee Gees cover to cover, this book is one I just skim through periodically because a lot of the information are things I’m already familiar with.
So, as I flipped through the pages, I came across a story about an interview with Don Pietro, an American radio DJ at the time, who asked the Bee Gees about the meaning behind, ‘I Started a Joke.’ According to the book:
Robin recalled how he was on a Viscount plane and the roar of the engines reminded him of a Strauss composition, ‘and the tune came to me.’ After a nervous pause, Barry added, ‘With a lot of our songs, you need to make your own personal meaning, read into them what you want.’ (1)
This story about Robin being inspired by a Strauss composition was news to me. I found it fascinating that he heard this composition in the roaring of an airplane engine. That’s how the minds of musical geniuses work.
I started my own joke with Robin and asked if he had heard music in the whirring of a fan or swooshing of a clothes washing machine too! The Bee Gees created ‘Jive Talkin’ from inspiration from the sound of driving over a bridge in Miami, so why not! 🙂
Anyway, I folded the page over so I would come back to it later. I wanted to look more into Strauss’ music because I was not familiar with it.
Pottery Leads to Strauss
The next day, on Tuesday, Feb 23rd, my husband informed me that there was a second season to the pottery show I like on HBO MAX called “The Great Pottery Throw Down.” I finished the first season and loved it because I used to throw pottery as a hobby. If he had not told me there was a second season, I would not have known…and I would have missed the sign I’m about to write about.
On the first episode of the second season, one of the contestants mentioned that the inspiration for a 16-piece dinner set he was going to make was Richard III’s Yorkist rose which was a ‘white rose’ and Harry Tudor who was a ‘red rose.’ One of the judges mentioned that the contestant was representing “The War of the Roses” through his pottery.
The narrator said this contestant had a passion for history. This reminded me of Robin and his passion for British history which he talks about in this video:
When I heard The War of the Roses mentioned, it immediately jogged my memory about a book I bought and read years ago in 2016 called, All You Need is Love, by Jewelle St. James. I remembered that The War of the Roses was mentioned in this book.
This book has been very important in my journey of discovery with Robin. It is about her past life and spiritual connection with John Lennon of the Beatles. I could see many similarities between her story and mine because for both of us, our spiritual connections were triggered when they died.
She found herself having deep feelings of grief after John Lennon died even though she had not been following him at all. I found myself having a similar sort of grief even though I had not been following Robin’s career. I share this quote about how she felt after she found out he was shot in New York to illuminate this point:
My thoughts were erratic. New York … why didn’t I find that out … before it was too late? Why haven’t I been paying attention to where he has been? Inexplicable feelings of grief, desperation, and loss washed over me, leaving me drained and confused. (2)
I felt exactly the same way after Robin had died. I had thoughts like, “Why did I lose track of them (The Bee Gees)? Why wasn’t I paying attention? Why didn’t I go to a concert while I had the chance?”
It was the grief of missing his entire life. This made no logical sense at the time, but since then, I have come to understand this grief more fully.
So, after I heard The War of the Roses mentioned on the pottery show, I paused it and got up right away to see if I could find the passage in this book about The War of the Roses. My recollection was correct and I found the exact passage.
After I read this, I began to think of something else I read in this book years ago. It was about how Jewelle’s daughter, who has psychic abilities, told her that it was her job to help people remember John Lennon and his music. I decided to look for this quote as well, which I found easily through my tablet search function.
I read this passage first which was at the bottom of this page. After I finished, my eyes traveled to the beginning of the page.
To my surprise, there was a mention of Johann Strauss!
This was not something I had remembered because as I mentioned, I had not read this book since 2016. I thought to myself, “I’m syncing up with Robin again.” It felt like a beautiful connection because I absolutely love connecting with him around subjects that have to do with his music.
Here is the quote about how John Lennon had been spiritually assisted by Johann Strauss during his career. It is Jewelle’s daughter that is giving her the information because according to the story, John Lennon’s spirit contacted her:
“John had a teacher who had always helped him with his music. Through this teacher he has grown to love waltzes.” “Does this teacher have a name?” “Johann.” My mind raced. Waltzes … Johann … “Is this Johann Strauss?” I asked.
Joanne paused for a minute, then said, “Yes, Johann says that’s how people knew him.” The girl looked puzzled. “Mom, who is this Strauss guy?” “A man who wrote beautiful music …” I trailed off, not knowing what to think, yet feeling a sense of overwhelming awe. (3)
Well, I felt awe too after just reading about Robin’s connection with Strauss the night before in the Bee Gees’ book. So, this whole thing with the British pottery show and British history took me right back to Strauss…and Robin. It was nice to see this connection between some of the things he loved.
Strauss for the Third Time
A couple of days after the synchronicity I mentioned above, I was reading a book I had just purchased called, Twelve Steps to Heaven: Introducing Twin Flames, Angels and Soul Wisdom by Jayne Chilkes. Her writing on twin flames is very beautiful and I strongly resonate with it. If you are interested, you can read it beginning on page 111 in the Afterword in the link I provided above.
I have a habit of flipping through books when I first get them. As a result, I came across a mention of Strauss again, for the third time within a handful of days. Mind you, I never hear about Strauss in my day to day life.
I usually listen to Mozart if I’m going to listen to classical music, so seeing Strauss come up this often within such a short period of time was noteworthy.
Here is the brief quote where Jayne Chilkes’ spirit guide is telling her about the music he likes:
“…Classics, mind you, I do not like this modern stuff, no, but the music where there is the melody from the heart. I am very fond of this. I was not quite so struck by the Strauss Brothers-very good-, but they did not move me like the Russian Rachmaninoff….” (4)
Well, to each his own. The main point I noticed was Strauss showing up three times and how his sentiments matched Robin in terms of singing from his heart.
Signs and the Rule of Three
This appearance in this book was the last time ‘Strauss’ showed up in my life spontaneously. But, this really got my attention because I have read over the years to pay attention when signs show up in threes.
According to a website called Psychic Elements, there are reasons “3” is important when it comes to signs and messages:
Its simplest and most obvious reason is that one time is random, twice could be coincidental, but three becomes a pattern. So, for example, if you heard a certain book mentioned on TV, then read a reference to it on Face Book, and then someone you knew casually dropped it into a conversation, maybe you should take a look at it – it may contain important information for you.
When something appears on your radar three times in a short space of time, then it will have significance for you. If you can’t quite work out what that meaning is, just wait a little. In the meantime, journal about it, mull over it and let it percolate through your consciousness. Writing about the signs, and allowing your thoughts to land on the paper is a wonderful way to open up your intuition to possibilities. (5)
I did what she said in terms of mulling over the synchronicity with Strauss because I did not quite understand why he was showing up so much all of a sudden. I did some additional research to see if I could come up with some answers. This led me to deeper insights about the song, ‘I Started a Joke.’
Which Strauss is It?
In the quote I mentioned above, Robin said that the airplane engine sounded like a Strauss composition which inspired the tune for ‘I Started a Joke.’ But during my writing and research for this project, I discovered that there are several classical composers named ‘Strauss,’ including Johann Strauss I, Johann Strauss II and his brothers Josef and Eduard Strauss. There is also another composer named Richard Strauss who is unrelated to the others.
So, even though I thought he was talking about Johann Strauss II at first, I thought to dig a little deeper to see which composer he was most likely talking about.
I did a little more research on ‘I Started a Joke,’ this time on Wikipedia. I found this noteworthy quote of Robin’s about this song:
According to Robin Gibb, the melancholic melody of the song was inspired by the sounds on board an aeroplane:
The melody to this one was heard aboard a British Airways Vickers Viscount about a hundred miles from Essen. It was one of those old four engine “prop” jobs, that seemed to drone the passenger into a sort of hypnotic trance, only with this it was different. The droning, after a while, appeared to take the form of a tune, which mysteriously sounded like a church choir. (6)
In the first quote from the Tragedy book, he said the airplane engine sounded like a Strauss composition. In this Wikipedia quote, he said it sounded like a church choir.
So, now I’m confused. What happened to Strauss?
I decided to look into Richard Strauss a little more. His work with symphonic poems sounded beautiful, and something Robin would have liked, but there was no mention of church choirs associated with him.
So, I went back to studying Johann Strauss II and saw that he did have a connection to church music as you can see in the quote below from naxos.com:
The report in the Allgemeine Wiener Musik-Zeitung confirms beyond doubt that a piece of church music by the younger Johann Strauss was played on 4 August 1844 in Vienna’s Kirche Am Hof (known also as “The Church of the Nine Choirs of the Holy Angels”).
…Strauss’s composition was given in an a cappella (i.e. unaccompanied) choral performance – or, at most, with organ continuo – and that the version for wind ensemble was first heard at another event, perhaps in the open air…. (7)
I put two and two together and hypothesize that ‘I Started a Joke’ was inspired by the airplane engine that sounded like the church choir music of “the younger Johann” who is Johann Strauss II.
On August 4, 1844, Johann Strauss II was 18 years old. Robin was 18 years old when ‘I Started a Joke’ was recorded on June 20, 1968. Both of them showed genius level musical talent at a very young age. It seems that 18-year-old Robin was inspired by 18-year-old Johann Strauss!
The Whole World
Another thing I noticed from the naxos.com article was the text of Strauss’ church music/choral work- Graduale: Tu qui regis totum orbem. This means “Thou who rulest the whole world.”(8)
I see the lyrics for ‘I Started a Joke’ here:
I started a joke
Which started the whole world crying
But I didn’t see, oh no
That the joke was on me, oh noI started to cry
Which started the whole world laughing
Oh, if I’d only seen
That the joke was on me
In writing this song, did Barry, Robin and Maurice gather inspiration from the text of Strauss’s choral work, including the words, “the whole world?” I may never know, but I can’t help noticing the glaringly obvious exact match.
Since Robin heard the church choir music of a Strauss composition in the airplane engine, maybe he knew about this text and it helped inform the lyrics to the song.
The graduale Tu qui regis totum orbem (1844) was the only sacred work Johann Strauss II ever composed and perhaps Robin knew of it for this reason.
Conclusion
After this close examination, I surmise that the answer to “Which Strauss is it?” is Johann Strauss II. As for why I got Strauss in threes, I feel like Robin wanted me to learn more about the inspirations for his songs, which is in essence learning more about him.
And if I can help remind people of how truly gifted he was in terms of how his mind worked musically, then all the better. He doesn’t need my help in any way in this regard. I know millions of people remember and love him and his gift. It’s just nice to give a shout of praise on his behalf when I can because I love him too.
I hope you enjoyed this journey with Robin, Strauss and me. Until next time, take care.
References
1. Apter, Jeff (2016). Tragedy-The Ballad of the Bee Gees, London: Jawbone Press, page 140.
2. St. James, Jewelle. All You Need Is Love, St. James Publishing. Kindle Edition, Location 136.
3. Ibid., Location 587-593.
4. Chilkes, Jayne (2001). Twelve Steps to Heaven: Introducing Twin Flames, Angels and Soul Wisdom, Lincoln, Nebraska: Writers Club Press, Page 51.
5. Psychic Elements (July 25, 2017). Symbols, Signs, and Messages: The Rule of Three.
6. Wikipedia, ‘I Started a Joke,’ by The Bee Gees.
7. Naxos.com, The Johann Strauss Edition; Volume 46, Section 10: Gradule
8. Ibid., Section 10 Gradule: “Tu qui regis totum orbem”
Love,
