How Deep Is Your Love: The Bee Gees Ballad Almost Given Away
How Deep Is Your Love almost went to another singer entirely.
Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb wrote it with Yvonne Elliman in mind, not themselves.
Producer Robert Stigwood heard the finished demo and changed his mind on the spot.
He kept the song for the Bee Gees.
It became the center of the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack.
It reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 on Christmas Eve 1977.
It held that spot for three weeks straight.
It also became the target of a plagiarism lawsuit that changed how courts handle music copyright cases.
This is the real story behind the ballad.
It's pulled from this site's own Billboard chart data and cross-checked against contemporary reporting.
The Bee Gees, pictured in 1977.
That's the year How Deep Is Your Love became their first Saturday Night Fever single to top the chart.
Image credit: NBC Television, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
How Deep Is Your Love Was Written for Yvonne Elliman First
Robert Stigwood was assembling music for a film that eventually became Saturday Night Fever.
He asked the Bee Gees for songs, and the group handed him five, one of which was this ballad.
Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb had written it specifically for singer Yvonne Elliman, not for themselves.
Elliman had already worked with the group, and Stigwood managed her career too.
He heard their finished demo of the song.
He decided the Bee Gees should keep it and sing it themselves.
Elliman still ended up on the soundtrack.
She recorded another Gibb-written song, If I Can't Have You, instead.
Her version reached number one on the Hot 100 that June, so the swap worked out for both sides.
A Dinner Table in France and a Change of Plans at Criteria
Barry Gibb has said the song's chorus melody came to him during dinner at Château d'Hérouville in France.
Château d'Hérouville was the same "Honky Chateau" studio where Elton John recorded three albums earlier in the decade.
The group demoed the song there before flying home to finish it at Criteria Studios in Miami.
Listen for it right here on How Deep Is Your Love on Listen Now.
Keyboardist Blue Weaver worked out the electric piano and moog bass parts that carry the ballad's low end.
The Falsetto Harmony That Slowed the Soundtrack Down
Barry, Robin and Maurice stacked their voices into the three-part falsetto harmony that became the song's signature sound.
That harmony sits slower and quieter than the disco tempo running through most of the rest of the soundtrack.
It's the reason the song still reads as a ballad first, a disco-era hit second.
The First of Three Straight Number Ones
Run the Random 70s Song Generator on 1978 long enough and this one will turn up in the mix.
How Deep Is Your Love reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 the week of December 24, 1977.
It held the top spot for three weeks total, including a frozen chart week over the holidays.
That made it the first of three consecutive number ones the Bee Gees pulled from the same soundtrack.
Stayin' Alive took over the top spot in February 1978.
Night Fever followed it there in March.
All three came from the same album inside a five-month stretch:
- How Deep Is Your Love, number one from December 24, 1977.
- Stayin' Alive, number one starting February 1978.
- Night Fever, number one starting March 1978, already covered on this site.
| Metric | Detail |
|---|---|
| Billboard Hot 100 peak | #1, three weeks total |
| Weeks inside the Top 10 | 17 |
| UK Singles Chart peak | #3 |
| Australian chart peak | #3 |
| This site's 1978 year-end Hot 100 rank | #6 |
| Single release | September 1977, RSO Records |
| Grammy result | Won, Best Pop Performance by a Group, February 23, 1978 |
The Plagiarism Lawsuit That Changed Music Copyright Law
Ronald Selle's Claim
In 1983, an Illinois songwriter named Ronald Selle sued the Gibb brothers.
He claimed How Deep Is Your Love copied a song he wrote in 1975 called Let It End.
Selle had never released his song commercially.
He'd only made a home recording and mailed it to a handful of publishers.
The Bee Gees testified under oath that they had never heard it.
A Jury Verdict the Judge Threw Out
Selle's side built its case around a musicologist's technical comparison of the two melodies.
The jury sided with Selle and found the Bee Gees liable.
The trial judge overturned that verdict.
He ruled there was no real evidence the brothers had ever had access to Selle's song.
Selle appealed, and the appeals court upheld the reversal in 1984.
The case, known as Selle v. Gibb, is still cited today.
It set a lasting standard.
Melodic similarity alone isn't proof of copying without evidence the writers could have actually heard the original.
Grammy Night and the Competition It Beat
The Bee Gees won the Grammy for Best Pop Performance by a Group.
That came at the 20th Annual Grammy Awards, held February 23, 1978.
The ceremony fell two months after the song reached number one.
The win landed in the middle of the group's busiest commercial run of the decade.
The Saturday Night Fever soundtrack became a phenomenon of its own.
It went on to become the best-selling movie soundtrack in music history up to that point.
Set against the rest of Music of the 70s, few soundtracks ever dominated a single calendar year this completely.
The Bee Gees during their late-1970s commercial peak.
Image Credit: Photo by NCRV, CC BY-SA 3.0 Netherlands, via Wikimedia Commons. This image carries ShareAlike terms; reuse of this photo should credit it under the same CC BY-SA 3.0 nl license.
Where How Deep Is Your Love Sits in the Bee Gees' Catalog
The group's own Bee Gees catalog holds four other songs already covered on this site.
Each one tells a different side of the same decade-long run:
- How Can You Mend a Broken Heart, their first US number one, written after a real breakup.
- Jive Talkin', the comeback single that started with tires on a bridge.
- You Should Be Dancing, the track that pushed the group toward disco.
- Night Fever, the single that gave the whole soundtrack its name.
How Deep Is Your Love outlasted its own decade too.
Take That covered it for their 1996 Greatest Hits album.
Their version spent three weeks at number one on the UK Singles Chart.
It was Take That's last UK number one before the group's 2005 reunion.
The Mood Song Matcher tool on this site tags the Bee Gees catalog as romantic and melancholy.
This track is the clearest example of both.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who was How Deep Is Your Love originally written for?
The Bee Gees wrote How Deep Is Your Love with singer Yvonne Elliman in mind, not for themselves.
Producer Robert Stigwood heard the finished demo.
He decided the Bee Gees should record it as their own single for the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack instead.
Elliman still appeared on the soundtrack.
She recorded another Gibb-written song called If I Can't Have You, which reached number one on its own.
How long did How Deep Is Your Love stay at number one?
How Deep Is Your Love reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 the week of December 24, 1977.
It held the top spot for three weeks total, including a frozen holiday chart week.
It went on to spend 17 weeks inside the Top 10.
It also peaked at number 3 on both the UK Singles Chart and the Australian charts.
Was How Deep Is Your Love involved in a lawsuit?
Yes, a real plagiarism lawsuit targeted this song.
In 1983, Illinois songwriter Ronald Selle sued the Gibb brothers.
He claimed it copied his unreleased 1975 song Let It End.
A jury first ruled against the Bee Gees.
The trial judge overturned that verdict, citing no evidence they'd ever heard Selle's song.
The case still stands as a landmark music copyright ruling.
Did How Deep Is Your Love win a Grammy?
Yes, How Deep Is Your Love won the Grammy for Best Pop Performance by a Group.
That came at the 20th Annual Grammy Awards, held February 23, 1978.
The win landed two months after the song reached number one.
It fell during the Bee Gees' busiest commercial stretch of the decade.
That same stretch turned Saturday Night Fever into the best-selling movie soundtrack in history.
Where was How Deep Is Your Love recorded?
Barry Gibb has said the song's chorus melody came to him at dinner at Château d'Hérouville in France.
That's the same studio where Elton John recorded three albums earlier in the decade.
The Bee Gees demoed the song there before flying back to Miami.
They finished it at Criteria Studios, building the three-part falsetto harmony that became its signature sound.
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