Kenny Rogers Discogs

'Islands in the Stream' is a song written by the Bee Gees and sung by American country music artists Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton. Named after the Ernest Hemingway novel, it was originally written for Marvin Gaye in an R&B style, only later to be changed for the Kenny Rogers album.^[2] It was released in August 1983 as the first single from Rogers' album Eyes That See in the Dark.

The song reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the United States, giving both Rogers and Parton their second pop number-one hit (after Rogers' 'Lady' in 1980 and Parton's '9 to 5' in 1981). It also topped the Country and Adult Contemporary charts. It has been certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America for selling over two million physical copies in the US.^[3] In 2005 the song topped CMT's poll of the best country duets of all time; Parton and Rogers reunited to perform the song on the CMT special.

Rogers and Parton went on to record a Christmas album together, and had an additional hit with their 1985 duet 'Real Love'.

• 4Chart performance
• 8Comic Relief version
  • 8.2Charts

Musical structure[edit]

The song is sung in C major moderate ⁴
₄ time, with Rogers and Parton alternating lead vocals. Their version features a key change from C major to A-flat major.^[4]

Commercial performance[edit]

It knocked Bonnie Tyler's 'Total Eclipse of the Heart' out of No. 1 on Billboard's Hot 100, also topping the Country and Adult Contemporary listings. In December of that year it was certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America for selling over two million physical copies in the US.^[3] After it became available for digital download, it has also sold a further 834,000 digital copies in the US as of January 2019.^[5]

Sega saturn grandia translation. In Australia the song was number one for one week in December 1983 and became one of the highest selling singles of 1984.

The song reached a peak of No. 7 in the UK singles chart in 1983. Since then it has also sold 245,577 digital copies in the UK as of July 2014.^[6] As of 2017 it has racked up 287,200 downloads and 4.83 million streams in the UK.^[7]

In popular media[edit]

The song was featured in a late 1983 episode of the U.S. daytime soap opera Days of Our Lives as well as 1984 episodes of General Hospital and One Life To Live. Other shows to feature the song include Jane the Virgin, Supergirl, The Good Doctor, The Resident, Stranger Things and Gavin and Stacey.

In November 2005, the song was sung by Michael Scott and Jim Halpert in season 2, episode 9 of The Office.

In April 2008, South Bend, Indiana, radio station WZOW played the song continuously for several days on end,^[8] a stunt drawing attention to the station's format change from alternative rock to adult contemporary.

In October 2017, the song appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon performed by Miley Cyrus and Jimmy Fallon. Cyrus portrayed her godmother Parton, while Fallon donned a silver beard and wig as Rogers.

Chart performance[edit]

Cover versions[edit]

• Danish blues-rock singer Peter Thorup and pop singer Anne Grete Rendtorff had great success with a version with Danish lyrics in 1984 callet Skibe uden Sejl (Ships without Sails). The song was used as title track for the Danish TV series Måske i morgen (maybe tomorrow) shown on Danish national television DR.
• Swedish pop and country singer Kikki Danielsson covered the song on her 1983 album Singles Bar, with lyrics in Swedish by Ingela 'Pling' Forsman as 'Öar i ett hav' ('Islands in a sea').^[28]
• In 1994 the Majorcan singer Tomeu Penya recorded a version of this song with lyrics in a Balearic dialect of Catalan, entitled Illes dins un riu (Islands in a stream) in the album Una aclucada d'ull. This version was a duet sung with Adriana Ceballos an Argentinian singer, this song became very popular in Catalonia.
• It is the opening track of Barry Manilow's 2007 album The Greatest Songs of the Eighties, sung with Reba McEntire.^[29]
• The chorus of the 1998 hip-hop song 'Ghetto Supastar (That Is What You Are)' is an interpolation of the chorus of 'Islands in the Stream'.
• In 2009 Namibian singer Nianell and South African singer Dozi released a version on their album It Takes Two.^[30]
• In 2010 South African, Afrikaans singers Ray Dylan and Elizma Theron covered the song.
• In 2010 Irish singer Ronan Keating covered the song together with Australian country music trio The McClymonts for his album Duet.
• In 2014, Kylie Minogue and Jake Shears performed the song together. In 2018, Minogue included the song on her Kylie Presents: Golden tour.
• In 2017, Adam Harvey and Beccy Cole covered the song on their album, The Great Country Songbook Volume 2.
• In October 2017, Jimmy Fallon and Miley Cyrus performed the song on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon in a recreation of Rogers' and Parton's live performance at the 26th Annual Grammy Awards.
• Blake Shelton and Emily Ann Roberts covered the song on the season 9 finale of The Voice.
• Shawn Mendes and Miley Cyrus covered this song during Musicares Person of the Year.

Bee Gees' recorded version[edit]

The Bee Gees performed their version live at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas on 14 November 1997, which was released a year later on One Night Only, with solo vocal by Barry Gibb. A studio version was recorded for their 2001 retrospective Their Greatest Hits: The Record, which has since featured on the 2004 Number Ones and on the 2010 Mythology box set.^[31] The chorus of Pras' 1998 hit 'Ghetto Supastar (That Is What You Are)', which in turn is a reworking of the original Rogers and Parton release, replaces the final chorus in the studio recording. The live version of the song appears on their Love Songs compilation.

Personnel (studio version)

• Robin Gibb – vocals
• Maurice Gibb – keyboard, programming
• John Merchant – sound engineer

Personnel (live version)

• Barry Gibb – lead vocals, acoustic rhythm guitar
• Robin Gibb — harmony and backing vocals
• Maurice Gibb – harmony and backing vocals, keyboard

with

• Alan Kendall – lead guitar
• Steve Gibb - guitar

Barry Gibb's demo version[edit]

Barry Gibb's demo for Kenny Rogers had previously been bootlegged but was officially released in November 2006. It features Barry Gibb on solo vocal, with 3-part harmony on the chorus.^[32]

Personnel

• Barry Gibb – vocals, guitar
• Robin Gibb – vocals
• Maurice Gibb – vocals, guitar
• Albhy Galuten – piano, synthesizer

Comic Relief version[edit]

On March 8, 2009, Welsh actors Ruth Jones and Rob Brydon, in character as Vanessa Jenkins and Bryn West from the hit BBC sitcom Gavin & Stacey, released a version of the song as a single for Comic Relief. Sir Tom Jones also features on the song, performing the final verse and chorus, whilst Robin Gibb appears on the single as a backing vocalist. Re-titled '(Barry) Islands in the Stream', in reference to the Barry Island setting of Gavin & Stacey,^[33] it entered at the top of the UK Singles Chart on March 15, 2009—for the week ending date March 21, 2009. This meant the Gibb Brothers had achieved number one songs in five successive decades, the first songwriters to achieve this feat. It also made Sir Tom Jones, at the age of 68, the oldest person to have a UK number one song. The video was filmed in Barry Island, Las Vegas and the Nevada desert, with both Gibb and Jones appearing in the video alongside Jones and Brydon. Nigel Lythgoe also makes a cameo appearance as a talent competition judge.

Track listing[edit]

• CD single

1. '(Barry) Islands in the Stream' – 3:56
2. 'Wisemen' – 3:14
3. 'Somethin' Stupid' – 2:48
4. 'Islands in the Stream' (music video) – 4:21

• DVD single

1. '(Barry) Islands in the Stream' (full-length video) – 8:56
2. '(Barry) Islands in the Stream' (making of the video) – 14:30

Charts[edit]

Weekly charts[edit]

Year-end charts[edit]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

• The Billboard Book of Number 1 Hits

1. ^'Robin Gibb, RIP: Hear the Bee Gee's Legacy in 15 Tracks'. May 21, 2012.
2. ^Johnny Walker interview with Robin and Barry Gibb BBC Radio 2 30 August 2010 17:00
3. ^ ^ab'American single certifications – Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton – Islands in the Stream'. Recording Industry Association of America.If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Single, then click SEARCH.
4. ^''Islands in the Stream' sheet music'. Musicnotes.com. Archived from the original on November 13, 2017. Retrieved November 12, 2017.
5. ^Bjorke, Matt (January 15, 2019). 'Top 30 Digital Singles: January 15, 2019'. RoughStock. Retrieved January 16, 2019.
6. ^'Country Bites News snippets June 30 - July 6, 2014'. Country Routes News. July 13, 2014. Archived from the original on July 23, 2014.
7. ^'Happy Birthday Dolly Parton! Her most downloaded songs in the UK revealed'. officialcharts.com. Archived from the original on March 22, 2017.
8. ^:Indiana Aiwaves:Archived July 13, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
9. ^'Austriancharts.at – Kenny Rogers & Dolly Parton – Islands in the Stream' (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40.
10. ^Lwin, Nanda (2000). Top 40 Hits: The Essential Chart Guide (1st ed.). Canada: Music Data Research. ISBN1-896594-13-1.
11. ^'Musicline.de – Kenny Rogers & Dolly Parton Single-Chartverfolgung' (in German). Media Control Charts. PhonoNet GmbH.
12. ^'Nederlandse Top 40 – Kenny Rogers & Dolly Parton' (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40.
13. ^'Charts.nz – Kenny Rogers & Dolly Parton – Islands in the Stream'. Top 40 Singles.
14. ^'Norwegiancharts.com – Kenny Rogers & Dolly Parton – Islands in the Stream'. VG-lista.
15. ^'SA Charts 1965–March 1989'. Retrieved September 5, 2018.
16. ^Salaverri, Fernando (September 2005). Sólo éxitos: año a año, 1959–2002 (1st ed.). Spain: Fundación Autor-SGAE. ISBN84-8048-639-2.
17. ^'Swedishcharts.com – Kenny Rogers & Dolly Parton – Islands in the Stream'. Singles Top 100.
18. ^'Official Singles Chart Top 100'. Official Charts Company.
19. ^'Kenny Rogers Chart History (Hot Country Songs)'. Billboard.
20. ^'Kenny Rogers Chart History (Hot 100)'. Billboard.
21. ^'Kenny Rogers Chart History (Adult Contemporary)'. Billboard.
22. ^David Kent's 'Australian Chart Book 1970-1992'Archived March 5, 2016, at Archive.today
23. ^'Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada'.
24. ^'The Official New Zealand Music Chart'. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016.
25. ^'Archived copy'. Archived from the original on December 29, 2013. Retrieved 2015-05-09.CS1 maint: Archived copy as title (link)
26. ^'Top 20 Hit Singles of 1984'. Retrieved December 26, 2018.
27. ^'Top 100 Hits of 1984/Top 100 Songs of 1984'. Archived from the original on May 30, 2016.
28. ^'Singles bar - Svensk mediedatabas (SMDB)'. Archived from the original on July 25, 2011.
29. ^The Greatest Songs of the Eighties at AllMusic
30. ^'It Takes Two – Nianell & Dozi'. Archived from the original on October 19, 2014. Retrieved January 7, 2014.
31. ^'Gibb Songs : 2001'. Archived from the original on December 4, 2013.
32. ^'Gibb Songs : 1983'. Archived from the original on January 10, 2015.
33. ^'What's On TV.co.uk'. Archived from the original on February 20, 2012.
34. ^'Official Scottish Singles Sales Chart Top 100'. Official Charts Company. Retrieved 10 July 2018.
35. ^'Official Singles Chart Top 100'. Official Charts Company. Retrieved 10 July 2018.
36. ^'The Official UK Singles Chart 2009'(PDF). UKChartsPlus. Retrieved July 10, 2018.

External links[edit]

• Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics