Why Do We LOVE Islands In The Stream? 

I need to correct something - I said the chorus comes in on the and of 4 but really it’s a full beat before that. And of 3 so that THE is on the one. Dunno what I was smokin 🤪 (actually nothing -but let’s just pretend I was really sleepy or something)

I have been a musician for 55 years and you, young lady, are the perfect teacher. So smart and with heart.

Personal experience story: When we covered this song, audiences loved it. The feeling for the singers was best described as ecstatic. Crowded dance floor. Inspired lyrics. Beautiful harmonies. The experience of singing this was ecstatic.

No matter where I’ve traveled in the world, people LOVE this song!

When I hear "Islands in the Stream" first off there the Gibbs brothers who wrote this classic song then two legendary artist Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton, thanks Aimee Nolte Music, for analyzing in detail what make this song so great! often we hear a song but don't know why we love it.

The analysis is fantastic. You should make a series of "Why do we LOVE .....". Thank you Aimee.

Thank you for taking us inside this song

What a wonderful lesson in arranging, thanks Aimee.

The Bee Gees were simply incredible musicians AND maybe even more impressively as songwriters....

Excellent. Thank you.

Great song performed to the highest standard by Kenny and Dolly. An Iconic performance that will be still be loved in 1000 years

Aimee yet again doing Aimee Nolte things! I love how your passion shows through in your breakdowns and analysis. Well done as always!

Thank you again , Aimee, another fascinating analysis. For me "Islands In The Stream" is about the harmonies, especially Kenny & Dolly's version. But you've made me think more about the syncopation and you're right - it's a fantastic feature of the chorus. I've long thought it was just how they were fitting the line into the rhythm but as you pointed out, it was deliberate I'm sure. I remember hearing an interview with Barry Gibb about their songwriting methods. Barry said Jive Talking, was prompted by driving across the bridge into Miaimi where they live. It was the sheels of their car going over the expansion joints in the roadway on the freeway bridge. They heard that rhythm as they drove home and it was spinning about in all their heads. They arrived home and all headed straight for the music room to work on putting a melody and lyrics to the thump thump thump of the tyres. Thanks for another highly interseting 22 minutes and change.

Superb song and superb review. Love the musicianship all around. Thank you Kenny, Dolly and Aimee!

The Bee Gees were masterful songwriters, and "Islands in the Stream" is no exception. Great video. Two thumbs up, if I was able to do that. :D

This was my wedding song in 1985. ( her choice) Altho long divorced, it still holds special memories… As a musician, I’d never really analyzed it to the degree you did here. Loved Kenny & Dolly together singing it, but it’s true….and obv now…the syncopation makes it really interesting.

You have to be about the most musical person I've ever seen.

Another smash hit from Aimee. Thanks ❤

Love your vids, Aimee - never disappointing ❤

Great analysis! I'd love to see you do more Bee Gee song analysis.

Dang Aimee, you got a hydrasynth! That's sweet! I've got the same model

Thanks for your great video and analysis! I've always loved this song and appreciate it now even more! Now I need to write out a solo guitar arrangement for gigs. Cheers

This was really cool; thank you for breaking this down for us. I'm a big fan of your content; you help me appreciate anew stuff I've loved for years.

Great breakdown of this pop classic.

Wow, you nailed it with this song! This is one of my all time favorites. It is a perfect duet between Kenny and Dolly. And the Gibb brothers showed their music craftmanship once again with this song. Thanks for taking the time to break it in pieces and made me understand it a little bit more. BTW, love your HYDRASYNTH!

excellent analysis aimee thats top level stuff

I came across you looking for Kenny rogers songs and tutorials. You are so amazing. I love your passion and how you explain songs. Trust my you’re light years ahead of my knowledge with music, but I’ve been playing guitar for 5 years now in my 40’s and I feel my rhythm playing is really natural. I just am not very good at soloing. Thank you!!!! -Ryan

Great analysis, great lesson on how to approach a song. Very. Helpful!

I didn't know about the Wayne Brady duet... that was rich!

Hello Aimee very informative thanks for sharing how it was done

This song has always been one of my favorites!! Thank you for this video!

Wow! That was fantastic! Ty

Loved this rendition, so convincing their irresistible way 🎉 thanks Aimee. Happy spring to you all out there 🙏🎵💃👍👍

I really enjoy that you do these song break-downs for simple guys like me. Please keep doing these "what makes this song great" - (credit to Rick Beato for the name) :)

love the song, love your video! thanks for all the tips.

Great insight, very interesting, thanks!

Thanks Aimee for another wonderful and insightful video.

Aimee you are amazing and pray God bless you special for all you do. Thank you for inspire to begin learning keyboards

Great song. Perfect analysis! Thank you ❤

this is briliant, thankyou

Superb analysis of a song. Intelligent. Great piano. Very informative. And I love your beautiful blue eyes!

Wow, very interesting observation about the syncopated chorus that completely goes against the natural rhythm of the phrases in the lyric yet completely works to the point that it sounds natural... or at least unobtrusive.

A lot of people tie The Bee Gees only to disco, for obvious reasons, but The Bee Gees have written and performed several more famous songs that have nothing to do disco.

Great observation about the chorus in this song. I can hear exactly what you are talking about. The lyric in the chorus has a bounce where it is skipping on top of off beats. (Very syncopated) It reminds me of when you throw a flat round stone and make it skip across the top of water. Awesome Aimee.

Oh yeah, right... ' Aimee went to town - John was sitting there, Drinking coffee down - He felt Aimee's stare...Uh- huh... . I know, the song is so fun! It was my summer song last summer - Bee Gee's Live version that is, from some live B.G.'s album - but every morning cranked it in the car.. Fun video about it too!

Thanks Amy, I'll pass your notes on to every singer I'll ever get the privilege to back. Perfect pop. There's a classic (locally :) ) Danish version that may interest you where they switch it around between alto female and crunchy tenor (-ish) male lead. Look for Anne Grete & Peter Thorup - 1984 - Skibe Uden Sejl ('ships without sails'), they are in Gb to D. There's also a guitar rocking cover of that one by Michelle Birkballe and Morten Husted - Skib foruden sejl (Live), they are in E to C in a great arrangement with a few tasteful twists.

I've always heard Maurice spoken as "Morris" in the British/Australian fashion. THat's what I'm commenting on? Oy. This is a great discussion about the interplay of melody and rhythm. As usual this is well done. I miss the Rhodes sound on the Korg already :)

Thanks Aimee! I think I’m going to be referencing this video quite a bit.

Brilliant song analysis. Thank you

Everyone loves a BeeGees song!

6th interval is also so happy

Just keep smoking something, Amy! 😉 This is a great breakdown of the harmonies AND that little beat hesitation that most people never caught! The common listener would NEVER understand these complex foundations of this song. I am trying to picture Kenny and Dolly in the studio, working through these parts and rhythms. Pretty cool!

dude, you missed the easiest bit of analysis: the the sexy "uh huh" hook that pegs the whole thing together was borrowed, inadvertently i suppose, from the equally catchy How Do You Do by Mouth and McNeil in the early seventies.

I guess great minds think alike, ;) Recently you posted the Eagles .. (which was on my "remember, how to play" radar) New Kid in Town; now this .. the Mary Spender cover recently popped up so I was trying to learn it. And here you are now with another great killer presentation!! Kudos!! Coincidentally(LAst night) I was treated to a live duette from Hillary Scott and Charles Kelley (Lady Antebellum) and as you so aptly credited how the duette.. Dolly Kenny chemistry easily sells the tune. It does!! [ I need to hear the Bee Gees since apparently there's no key change] I digress. I want to recommend you to view a Jeeves and Wooster "Puttin on the Ritz" scene it parallels your white board et al .Jeeves has it ;)

It's like how Humphrey Bogart said "Here's lookin' at YOU kid" in "Casablanca". He put the emphasis on the wrong word & by doing so ,made that line classic 👌

Yes, emphasis changes to dream about. Funny that feelingwise leaning on the third note worked fine for us too 😂 cheers and thanks again.

This song was also covered by two contestants in the South African version of Idols in the early 2000s. I was in my 20s at the time and it made me appreciate (some) country music, which I considered to be lame up to that point.

Nice Aimee thx!!

im a big jens larsen fan 👍🏻

wait how did u know i love islands in the stream???

Nice catch Aimee. Hadn't thought about the emphases. Aimee "went to town" in this video :D

👍🏻 lot’s of reasons .. the key change is awesome. we don’t get many songs with a key change 🤠

I'm so jealous of people who can find vocal harmonies so effortlessly. When I sing harmony I have to learn my part by heart.

This song is inspirational and interesting Aimee. Thank you again for your insights. Would be interested in your opinions on the Ed Sheeran Marvin Gaye case as I know you’ve talked about where does musical inspiration collide with copyright. I think youve mentioned previously how Steal Away from Robbie Dupree sounds ‘similar’ to What a fool believes (which I agree with btw 🤔)

I've only noticed that the "Islands in the stream" part sounds like the intro to SOS by ABBA.

Come on, the lyric 'I set out to find you with a fine toothed comb'. That's weird. But it's a great song

I was thinking about this song and this lesson on it. And I just noticed, isn't this Iambic rhythm? like the one Shakespeare used in his sonnets? This is a very common rhyming scheme for english poetry. It mimics the beat of a heart with each Iamb. 10:13

spent the whole video just staring at the Hydrasynth :X

Here’s my two cents. I love your analysis of the song and your pointing out the syncopation. You didn’t say much about the lyrics. I find them kind of ‘obtuse’ in a very Bee Gees sort of way. ‘Fine tooth comb” Huh? The chorus makes sense but some of the verses are just odd poetic images. It just strikes me funny in a song that is musically pop/country. As you said, it really didn’t matter which words they put to it!

I'm afraid I am a 'we' who loathes this song, not loves it. So-so harmonies cannot disguise that this is so smug.

To me the syncopation of the chorus, is because it's a series of 5 syllable phrases, and 5 into 4 required finesse

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do this nerd breakdown for Back On The Chain Gang by the Pretenders

I've always loved this song. But I didn't know it was written by the Bee Gees.

Always love your analysis Aimee. You get a new synth??

It's probably Barry singing the real high part in falsetto

The Bee Gee’s actually sang bgv’s on this. I think the high harmony is most likely one of them.

Don't forget the the 5th Dimension LOL

Funk, jazz and grooves are playful syncopated rythmic pattern around and on strong beat, how do you describe a dance with the western harmony...

Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon (UAP) at 13:22

it's the Bee Gees groove machine. Period.

I'm not the only one who rhymes there, where with Underwear!

I'd argue the 4th syllable is on the 1, with the 3rd on the and, as if it was rushed

Presumptuous!

The Bee gees wrote the song. I like their version much better than Dolly's and Kenny's.

High harmonies on the chorus - I though that was the BeeGees

My favorite cover of ‘Islands in The Stream’ is by two young RU-vidrs, Mary Spender and Reina del Cid : ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-sj2gSmZqjSU.html

What's with the facial contortions and eye gazing to the sides?

Who is 'we'? I don't like it all that much. Even if I like the Bee Gees. That syncopation is more like 6/8 over 4/4.

All that Disco Sucks was pure American Racism though.

“We”?????? Are you kidding me? I had to play that song six nights a week for months, with a show band in Nevada… There is ‘no song’ that I hate more! What a piece of misery that tune was… I’d rather clean the floor of grand central station with my tongue, than play it again…

Hey, Mouseketeers, 'That's How You Sing Calypso." ttps://ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-W7CnjO5O4sY.html. Nice.