Before his new album Greenfields: The Gibb Brothers Songbook, Vol. 1, on January 8, Barry Gibb released another track from the project: a collaboration with Dolly Parton on ‘Words’. The song was originally released in 1968 by the Bee Spirit and was written by Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb.
Parton begins this particularly soft version of ‘Words’ and sings the first verse about hoping to start a brand new story about the piano. Gibb comes in soon, and he and Parton take down the song, with crying steel guitars emphasizing the emotion of the lyrics: “It’s just words, and words are all I have to take away your heart.” ‘Words’ was recorded or performed by a number of artists, including Elvis Presley, Glen Campbell, Roy Orbison and Rita Coolidge.
MP producer Dave Cobb says Rolling clip earlier this month, the recording of “Words” was the very first session for the album. He admits he was nervous when Dolly Parton and Barry Gibb walked into RCA Studio A. ‘I remember walking to where I was going to play guitar and my legs started shaking. I only registered the weight of these two, ”he says. “They are bigger than legends, they are icons and they are there.”
Green fields also features interpretations of Bee Gees classics such as “Jive Talkin ‘” with Miranda Lambert, “Words of a Fool” with Jason Isbell, and “Butterfly” with Gillian Welch and David Rawlings.