"You Win Again" is a 1987 song written by Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb and performed by the Bee Gees. Released as a single in late 1987, it marked the start of the group's comeback, becoming a No. 1 hit in many European countries, including topping the UK Singles Chart — their first to do so in over eight years — and making them the first group to score a UK No. 1 hit in each of three decades: the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. As songwriters, the Gibb brothers received the 1987 British Academy's Ivor Novello award for Best Song Musically and Lyrically. In 1988, the band received a Brit Award nomination for Best British Group. In a UK television special on ITV in December 2011, it was voted second in "The Nation's Favourite Bee Gees Song".
Recording
wrote the melody while brother Maurice conceived the drum sounds that open the track. On "1000 UK #1 Hits" by Jon Kutner and Spencer Leigh, Robin Gibb said "We absolutely thought that 'You Win Again' was going to be a big hit. It took us a month to cut it and get the right mix." Maurice Gibb explained "You Win Again" in a May 2001 interview with Mojo:
"When we get together and write, it's not like three individuals ― it's like one person in the room. Usually, we have a book of titles and we just pick one. I loved 'You Win Again' as a title, but we had no idea how it might turn out as a song. It ended up as a big demo in my garage, and I recorded stomps and things. There was just one drum on there. The rest was just sounds. Then, everybody tried to talk us out of the stomps at the start. They didn't want it. 'Take it off. Too loud! Can we have them not on the intro, just when the music starts?' All this stuff, but as soon as you hear that 'jabba-doomba, jabba-doomba' on the radio, you know it's us. It's a signal. So, that's one little secret ― give people an automatic identification of who it is."
Chart performance
"You Win Again" was a No. 1 single in Britain, Ireland, Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Denmark and Norway, as well as making the top 10 in Italy, the Netherlands, Australia and Sweden. It also topped the Eurochart for four weeks. "You Win Again" entered the UK Singles Chart on 19 September at No. 87, taking four weeks to reach No. 1 and staying at the top for four weeks. In doing so, it kept the George Michael single "Faith" from reaching the top spot. When the song reached No. 1 on 17 October 1987 in the UK, it made the Bee Gees the first group to score a UK No. 1 hit in each of three decades: the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. It was less successful in the US, however, only reaching No. 75 in the BillboardHot 100, as many American DJs were still reluctant to play any Bee Gees music due to the disco backlash of the early 1980s. Most of the U.S. airplay activity came from Miami, where WHYI-FM "Y-100" took the Miami Beach-based artist's single all the way to No. 1 on its playlist. |url= https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-RandR/1980s/1987/RR-1987-09-18.pdf
Formats
"You Win Again" was released commercially on vinyl and cassette. The CD single was not common in the late 80s, though a 1-track CD single was produced as a promotional-only copy given to radio stations and reviewers in the United States and a 2-track mini CD single was commercially released in Japan. The song also appeared as a bonus track on the American version of One, replacing the song "Wing and a Prayer".
