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 1971 stage play of the same name. The song was released as a single by Valli in May 1978 and 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. "Grease" was written specifically for the 1978 musical motion picture; it had not originated from the stage production.
Background.
Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey had written a different title track for "Grease" for its original Chicago production, but this song was discarded when the show was picked up on Broadway. Barry Gibb was commissioned to compose a new title song for Robert Stigwood's film of the stage musical.
Production.
The song was recorded separately from, and later than, the rest of the film's songs. Shortly after the 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 provided backing vocals. The other musicians were some of those from the Andy Gibb album that was being made around the same time. Frankie Valli could sing in a vocal range similar to Barry's and, as a result, was asked to record it. When Valli recorded "Grease", he did not have a recording contract, but after the single was released on the RSO label, which issued the soundtrack, Valli quickly landed a deal with Warner Bros.
"Grease" was one of four original songs in the film, which were not part of the original musical, and it was 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 either musically or lyrically. This was especially true of "Grease", which used disco instrumentation and a contemporary 1970s beat; it was nonetheless left in.
The film's opening title sequence animation was created by animator John David Wilson's Fine Arts Films studio.
Reception.
"Grease" became a number-one single in the United States in 1978 and also reached number forty on the R&B charts in the same year. In 1978, Valli released a follow-up album, the title of which—"Frankie Valli... Is the Word"—echoes the "grease is the word" lyric contained in the chorus of "Grease". "Grease" remains Valli's most recent hit on the "Billboard" Hot 100.
The Bee Gees never recorded a studio version of this song, however, they later performed the song in their "One Night Only" tour from 1997 until 1999 and included a performance with Valli on their live album, "One Night Only" (September 1998).