"I've Gotta Get a Message to You" is a song by the Bee Gees. Released as a single on 7 September 1968, it was their second number-one single on the UK Singles Chart and their first US Top 10 hit
The song is about a man who, awaiting his execution in the electric chair, begs the prison chaplain to pass a final message on to his wife. Robin Gibb, who wrote the lyrics, said that the man's crime was the murder of his wife's lover, though the lyrics do not explicitly allude to the identity of the victim. Robin said, "This is about a prisoner on Death Row who only has a few hours to live. He wants the prison chaplain to pass on a final message to his wife. There's a certain urgency about it. Myself and Barry wrote it. It's a bit like writing a script. Sometimes you can sit there for three hours with your guitar and nothing will happen. Then in the last ten minutes something will spark." The song was written with Percy Sledge in mind to record it. Sledge did record it in February 1970 but Atlantic did not issue his version in the United States at the time.
Barry recalled, "In those days, the lyrics were almost pretty well done on the spot. I don't remember the fundamentals on how the lyrics were formed, except that we were writing about a guy on death row. That was it."
The preacher talked to me and he smiled
Said, "Come and walk with me
Come and walk one more mile
Now for once in your life you're alone
But you ain't got a dime
There's no time for the phone"
I've just got to get a message to you
Hold on, hold on
One more hour and my life will be through
Hold on, hold on
I told him I'm in no hurry
But if I broke her heart
Then won't you tell her I'm sorry
And for once in my life I'm alone
And I've got to let her know just in time before I go
I've just go to get a message to you
Hold on, hold on
One more hour and my life will be through
Hold on, hold on
Well I laughed but that didn't hurt
And it's only her love that keeps me wearing this dirt
Now I'm crying but deep down inside
Well I did it to him
Now it's my turn to die
I've just got to get a message to you
Hold on, hold on
One more hour and my life will be through
Hold on, hold on
I've just got to get a message to her
Hold on, hold on
One more hour and my life will be through, hold on
Songwriter: Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb
I've Gotta Get a Message to You © Crompton Songs, Universal Music Publishing Int. Mgb Ltd., Redbreast Publishing Ltd.
