Grease (song)



"Grease" is a song written by Barry Gibb and performed by Frankie Valli. "Grease" is the title song for the 1978 musical motion picture Grease, which was based on the stage play of the same name. It sold over seven million copies worldwide and was featured twice on the film's soundtrack, as the first track and reprised as the final track. This track was specifically written for the 1978 musical motion picture and was not used in the stage production of Grease.

Background
Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey had written a different title track for Grease for its original version in Chicago. It was discarded when the show was picked up on Broadway and has been heard only once since that time.

Barry Gibb wrote a new title song to order for the Robert Stigwood film of the stage musical Grease. The song was recorded separately from, and significantly later than, the rest of the film's songs. Shortly after filming of the 1978 musical film Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Gibb invited castmate Peter Frampton to play guitar on the Grease session. Gibb himself provides backing vocals. The other musicians were some of those from the Andy Gibb album that was being made around the same time. Valli is known for his powerful falsetto voice, but on this track, as with most of his 1970s work, he does not sing in his upper range. However, Valli could sing in a similar high vocal range to Gibb, and as a result, was asked to record it. When he was being approached about recording “Grease”, Valli didn't have a record deal. The single, “Grease”, was released on Robert Stigwood's RSO label, which issued the soundtrack. Valli quickly landed a deal with Warner Brothers, but unfortunately never scored another hit on the Hot 100.

"Grease" was one of four original songs in the film that were not part of the original musical, and the only one not performed by the cast. The film's director Randal Kleiser did not like the added songs because they did not fit the late-1950s/early 1960s style musically or lyrically. This was especially true of "Grease," which used disco instrumentation and a contemporary 1970s beat; it was nonetheless left in.

"Grease" became a No. 1 single in the United States in 1978 (it would turn out to be Valli's final No. 1 single), and also reached No. 40 on the R&B charts in the same year. In 1978 Valli released a follow-up album containing the song, Frankie Valli... Is the Word, whose title echoes the chorus of this single, "Grease Is the Word".

The Bee Gees never recorded a studio version of this song. However, the Bee Gees later performed the song in their tour One Night Only in 1997 until 1999, and captured on their live offering One Night Only.

Personnel

 * Frankie Valli — lead vocals
 * Barry Gibb — backing vocals
 * Peter Frampton — guitar
 * George Terry — guitar
 * Harold Cowart — bass
 * Ron Ziegler — drums
 * Karl Richardson — engineer

Cover versions

 * "Grease" was covered by experimental metal band Dog Fashion Disco and included as a hidden track on their album Committed to a Bright Future.
 * The song's chorus is sung by Mike Patton on the Mr. Bungle song "Travolta" from the band's self-titled major label debut album.
 * The song was covered by Italian singer Mina in her 1986's album Si, buana.
 * Craig McLachlan covered the song in 1993 and it reached #44 in the UK.
 * Part of the song was interpolated in "Joints & Jam", a 1998 single by The Black Eyed Peas as well as being heard in the song "Blue Angels" by Pras released in the same year. The song was covered by UK girl group Girls Aloud. It was also sampled by De La Soul on their 1991 song "A Roller Skating Jam Named Saturdays".
 * A single "The Word" by the group Dope Smugglaz was released in 1998. It was later remixed by PMT for the 2001 soundtrack to the motion picture Swordfish. Both versions contain samples repeating "is the word" throughout the song.
 * The opening horn line was sampled in the 2001 single "Rock the Party" by British pop group Five, as well as in the track "I Want You" by Paris Hilton on her debut album in 2006.
 * In 2011, the song was parodied by The Fringemunks to recap Fringe episode 3.07, "The Abducted."
 * Jessie J performed a special arrangement of the song for the 2016 Fox special Grease: Live. Her performance is shot in one take.
 * Flo Morrissey and Matthew E. White covered the song in their duo album "Gentlewoman, Ruby Man" in 2017