Once Upon a Time in the Top Spot: Andy Gibb, “I Just Want to Be Your Everything”

38 years ago today, Andy Gibb hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for the first time in his career with a song which would - oddly enough - go on to hit #1 a second time a few weeks later.

Written by Andy's brother, Barry, “I Just Want to Be Your Everything” was composed in Bermuda during the same visit which produced “(Love Is) Thicker than Water,” a.k.a. the second song Andy took to the top of the charts. The latter track was co-written with Andy, but in an interview included in the Tales of the Brothers Gibb box set, Andy explained that “I Just Want to Be Your Everything” was written so quickly that he didn't even have a chance to chime in.

“Me and Barry locked ourselves in a bedroom and Barry just started writing,” said Andy. “When Barry writes, it is very hard to collaborate with him, because he is so quick. And before I knew it he was starting to do the chorus of ['I Just Want to Be Your Everything'], and I thought, 'Wow what a hook!'. He's an expert at his craft. Within about 20 minutes, he'd written a number one record; and then we went right into another one, ['(Love Is) Thicker than Water'].”

With production by Barry, Albhy Galuten, and Karl Richardson and guitar work from Joe Walsh, “I Just Want to Be Your Everything” was, as noted, a chart-topping smash, but after three weeks, it dropped out of the top spot in favor of The Emotions' “Best of My Love,” which remained there for four weeks. At that point, “Everything” popped back up to the top for one more week before “Best of My Love” returned again, and by the time it departed the Hot 100, it had been on the chart for 23 weeks. Not bad for a little brother's first time at bat in America.