# How Deep Is Your Love (Bee Gees song)
"How Deep Is Your Love" is a pop ballad written by Barry, Robin, and [Maurice Gibb](https://www.edgepedia.org/maurice-gibb) of the [Bee Gees](https://www.edgepedia.org/bee-gees) and released as a single in September 1977 as the first single from the *[Saturday Night Fever](https://www.edgepedia.org/saturday-night-fever-soundtrack)* soundtrack.[1](https://www.columbia.edu/~brennan/beegees/77.html) It reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 on December 24, 1977 and held the position for three weeks, becoming the first of four number-one singles drawn from that album.[2](https://stereogum.com/2065888/the-number-ones-the-bee-gees-how-deep-is-your-love/columns/the-number-ones) • [3](https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-recording-preservation-board/documents/SatNightFever.pdf)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Writers | Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb, Maurice Gibb (1977)[1](https://www.columbia.edu/~brennan/beegees/77.html) |
| Release | A-side single, September 1977; album track on *Saturday Night Fever* (1977)[1](https://www.columbia.edu/~brennan/beegees/77.html) |
| US chart | Billboard Hot 100 number one on December 24, 1977, for 3 weeks[2](https://stereogum.com/2065888/the-number-ones-the-bee-gees-how-deep-is-your-love/columns/the-number-ones) |
| UK chart | Peak position 3; first chart entry 29 October 1977; 15 weeks on the Official Singles Chart[4](https://www.officialcharts.com/songs/bee-gees-how-deep-is-your-love/) |
| Producers | The Bee Gees, Albhy Galuten, and Karl Richardson[5](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwikdkqYw6o) |
| Original plan | Written with singer Yvonne Elliman in mind; manager Robert Stigwood insisted the Bee Gees record it themselves[2](https://stereogum.com/2065888/the-number-ones-the-bee-gees-how-deep-is-your-love/columns/the-number-ones) |
| Best-known cover | Take That, UK number one for three weeks in 1996[6](https://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/bee-gees-official-top-20-most-streamed-songs__32119/) |
## Writing and recording
The song emerged from the sessions that produced the *Saturday Night Fever* material. In early 1977 the Bee Gees were working on tracks for a new studio album at Le Château in Hérouville, France, when their manager and label head [Robert Stigwood](https://www.edgepedia.org/robert-stigwood) called and asked them to supply songs for a film project that had begun production in January.[1](https://www.columbia.edu/~brennan/beegees/77.html) According to keyboardist Blue Weaver's recollection, the group made only a demo of "How Deep Is Your Love" at Le Château, with Albhy Galuten taking over the piano by the end of the session; Weaver came up with the song's well-known keyboard line when it was recorded again at Criteria Recording Studios in Miami around April 1977.[1](https://www.columbia.edu/~brennan/beegees/77.html) The recording credits list the Bee Gees, Albhy Galuten, and Karl Richardson as producers.[5](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwikdkqYw6o)
The song was not originally meant for the group. The Bee Gees intended it for the singer [Yvonne Elliman](https://www.edgepedia.org/yvonne-elliman), but Stigwood insisted that they sing it themselves.[2](https://stereogum.com/2065888/the-number-ones-the-bee-gees-how-deep-is-your-love/columns/the-number-ones) [Barry Gibb](https://www.edgepedia.org/barry-gibb) worked out the melody with Blue Weaver, who received no songwriting credit.[1](https://www.columbia.edu/~brennan/beegees/77.html)
## Musical character
Unlike the group's disco-era dance tracks, the song is a ballad built on a Fender Rhodes keyboard arrangement rather than a four-on-the-floor disco beat, with a tempo of around 104 beats per minute.[7](https://songfable.com/en/how-deep-is-your-love-bee-gees/) The vocals feature Barry Gibb leading in falsetto with Robin and Maurice Gibb underneath, and the production avoids the orchestral and synthesizer textures common in late-1970s pop.[7](https://songfable.com/en/how-deep-is-your-love-bee-gees/) AllMusic notes that although the song is often grouped with the Bee Gees' disco period because of its place on the *Saturday Night Fever* soundtrack, it has more in common with the group's late-1960s and early-1970s pop style.[8](https://www.allmusic.com/song/how-deep-is-your-love-mt0045196991)
## Chart performance
The single was released in September 1977, three months before the film's December 1977 premiere, so a large radio audience knew the song before seeing *Saturday Night Fever*.[9](https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/saturday-night-fever-45-music-003644723.html) In the United States it displaced "[You Light Up My Life](https://www.edgepedia.org/you-light-up-my-life-song)" at the top of the Hot 100 just before Christmas 1977 and stayed at number one for three weeks.[2](https://stereogum.com/2065888/the-number-ones-the-bee-gees-how-deep-is-your-love/columns/the-number-ones) It set a record in America for holding in the Top 10 for 17 weeks.[6](https://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/bee-gees-official-top-20-most-streamed-songs__32119/) In the United Kingdom it peaked at number 3 and spent 15 weeks on the Official Singles Chart between 29 October 1977 and 4 February 1978.[4](https://www.officialcharts.com/songs/bee-gees-how-deep-is-your-love/) The song was certified gold in the US by the RIAA and in the UK by the BPI, both in December 1977.[10](https://pop.news.chart2000.com/music/xac1mf.htm)
The parent soundtrack sold over 40 million copies, and four of its singles, including "How Deep Is Your Love," reached number one in the US.[3](https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-recording-preservation-board/documents/SatNightFever.pdf) In the streaming era the song ranks as the Bee Gees' second most-streamed track in the UK, with 32.76 million UK streams, behind only "Stayin' Alive."[6](https://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/bee-gees-official-top-20-most-streamed-songs__32119/)
## In Saturday Night Fever
In the film, the song appears in instrumental versions before the Bee Gees' recording is heard in full. A scholarly analysis of the film's music argues that these "incomplete" variations, played while Tony Manero's feelings for [Stephanie](https://www.edgepedia.org/stephanie) are still forming, let the audience supply the lyrics from memory, and that the song's reprise at the film's end marks Tony's acceptance of a more platonic relationship with Stephanie.[11](https://eprints.glos.ac.uk/5443/1/Anthony_Hogg_PhD_Thesis.pdf) The Guardian's 2023 ranking of the Bee Gees' 40 greatest songs placed "How Deep Is Your Love" at number 4, citing the 2020 documentary *How Can You Mend a Broken Heart*, which included a clip of the brothers writing the melody.[12](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/jan/19/the-bee-gees-40-greatest-songs-ranked)
## Plagiarism lawsuit
The song was the subject of a copyright case brought by Ronald Selle, who claimed the Bee Gees had copied his 1975 composition "Let It End." Selle's case rested on a musicologist's comparison showing that his earlier song and "How Deep Is Your Love" contained two musically identical eight-bar passages.[13](https://albumism.com/features/saturday-night-fever-soundtrack-album-anniversary) The case is noted for its influence on how courts handle music copyright disputes.[14](https://musicofthe70s.net/blog/songs/how-deep-is-your-love/)
## Covers and legacy
The British boy band [Take That](https://www.edgepedia.org/take-that) recorded the song for their 1996 greatest-hits album and took it to number one on the UK Singles Chart for three weeks, where the Bee Gees' original had peaked at number 3.[6](https://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/bee-gees-official-top-20-most-streamed-songs__32119/) Other covers include versions by [Luther Vandross](https://www.edgepedia.org/luther-vandross) and [Bebel Gilberto](https://www.edgepedia.org/bebel-gilberto).[7](https://songfable.com/en/how-deep-is-your-love-bee-gees/) The song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2014.[7](https://songfable.com/en/how-deep-is-your-love-bee-gees/) A 2015 house track titled "How Deep Is Your Love" by Calvin Harris and Disciples is a separate song with no relation to the Bee Gees recording.[15](https://time.com/3983770/calvin-harris-how-deep-is-your-love-video/)
## References
1. [Gibb Songs: 1977, Joseph Brennan, Columbia University](https://www.columbia.edu/~brennan/beegees/77.html)
2. [The Number Ones: The Bee Gees' "How Deep Is Your Love", Stereogum](https://stereogum.com/2065888/the-number-ones-the-bee-gees-how-deep-is-your-love/columns/the-number-ones)
3. ["Saturday Night Fever"—Bee Gees, et.al. (1977), National Recording Registry, Library of Congress](https://www.loc.gov/static/programs/national-recording-preservation-board/documents/SatNightFever.pdf)
4. [HOW DEEP IS YOUR LOVE – BEE GEES, Official Charts Company](https://www.officialcharts.com/songs/bee-gees-how-deep-is-your-love/)
5. [How Deep Is Your Love · Bee Gees, official audio metadata, YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwikdkqYw6o)
6. [Bee Gees' Official Top 20 most-streamed songs, Official Charts Company](https://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/bee-gees-official-top-20-most-streamed-songs__32119/)
7. [How Deep Is Your Love - Bee Gees (1977) — Meaning & Story, Songfable](https://songfable.com/en/how-deep-is-your-love-bee-gees/)
8. [How Deep Is Your Love - Bee Gees, AllMusic](https://www.allmusic.com/song/how-deep-is-your-love-mt0045196991)
9. ['Saturday Night Fever' at 45: Music Producer Bill Oakes, Yahoo Entertainment](https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/saturday-night-fever-45-music-003644723.html)
10. [Song title 33 - How Deep is Your Love?, Chart2000](https://pop.news.chart2000.com/music/xac1mf.htm)
11. [From "Can't Buy Me Love" to "How Deep Is Your Love?": An Analysis Examining Key Phases of Development of the Functions of Popular Music, Anthony Hogg PhD thesis, University of Gloucestershire](https://eprints.glos.ac.uk/5443/1/Anthony_Hogg_PhD_Thesis.pdf)
12. [The Bee Gees' 40 greatest songs – ranked!, The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2023/jan/19/the-bee-gees-40-greatest-songs-ranked)
13. [Rediscover the 'Saturday Night Fever' Soundtrack (1977), Albumism](https://albumism.com/features/saturday-night-fever-soundtrack-album-anniversary)
14. [How Deep Is Your Love: The Bee Gees Ballad Almost Given Away, Music of the 70s](https://musicofthe70s.net/blog/songs/how-deep-is-your-love/)
15. [Calvin Harris' New Music Video Features Jet Skis and a Showering Gigi Hadid, Time](https://time.com/3983770/calvin-harris-how-deep-is-your-love-video/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Music › Musical works and recordings › Compositions and songs › Pop, rock, and metal songs › Soft rock and adult contemporary songs › Classic soft rock ballads*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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